# Experiences with Washington DC Metro Rail? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 29, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiences-with-washington-dc-metro-rail/594527 "2011-08-29T18:40:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiences-with-washington-dc-metro-rail/594527/41 "2011-09-01T14:31:30Z")
> [@bobkitty](#): > > I didn’t know there was a bus. Metrobus is even more unpredictable than Metrorail because buses get stuck in traffic. Use your smartphone to figure out where the next bus is, because the bus schedule is essentially fiction. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiences-with-washington-dc-metro-rail/594527/42 "2011-09-01T14:43:10Z")
> [@bobkitty](#): > > Any experience Metro users who can give me any tips/suggestions? Major suggestion is don’t worry so much, it’s a train trip to get you where you need to be, relax about it, it’s relatively safe and reliable and pretty much set up for you to succeed in your goal of arriving at your desired destination, in that respect it’s working for you. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiences-with-washington-dc-metro-rail/594527/43 "2011-09-01T14:46:25Z")
Reading the responses inspired me to go look up slugging in DC. Pretty impressive community problem solving 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiences-with-washington-dc-metro-rail/594527/44 "2011-09-01T14:48:46Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > … > > (2) Service is unpredictable. There are frequent breakdowns and unforeseeable delays. You won’t be able to reliably predict exactly when you’re going to arrive at work. > > The system seems to have been designed without the consideration that large numbers of commuters would be using it. Thus, there are no bypasses and if one train is stuck, then every single train on the line is stuck. True - but these are not, normally, daily occurrences. So on average, your Metro commute will be a bit more reliable than a driving commute (I used to work 9 miles from home, and the commute ranged anywhere from 25 minutes to an hour depending on traffic and weather). The trains can be a godawful zoo in the afternoons especially. The orange line seemed to be especially awful. Back when I worked downtown, I would occasionally get on it in the wrong direction for a couple of stops, just so I had a better chance of getting on at all, and maybe even getting a seat. Sounds like the OP won’t be hitting the truly horrible stations like Farragut West (phew!). ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiences-with-washington-dc-metro-rail/594527/45 "2011-09-01T15:56:07Z")
One real annoyance is the escalators, which are in a constant state of broke. The Washington Post ran a funny article comparing DC metro escalators to Moscow metro escalators, which never break despite being longer, older, more crowded, and in freaking Russia; a country not know for efficiency or incorruptability. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiences-with-washington-dc-metro-rail/594527/46 "2011-09-01T16:10:59Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > One real annoyance is the escalators, which are in a constant state of broke. The Washington Post ran a funny article comparing DC metro escalators to Moscow metro escalators, which never break despite being longer, older, more crowded, and in freaking Russia; a country not know for efficiency or incorruptability. Well, to be fair, the Moscow Metro [apparently](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/14/AR2010121406132.html) has an escalator repair staff of 3,000, while the DC Metro has what seems to be a staff of about 3. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiences-with-washington-dc-metro-rail/594527/47 "2011-09-01T16:34:26Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > One real annoyance is the escalators, which are in a constant state of broke. The Washington Post ran a funny article comparing DC metro escalators to Moscow metro escalators, which never break despite being longer, older, more crowded, and in freaking Russia; a country not know for efficiency or incorruptability. Yes, there’s an old joke that goes something like this: “It was really cold in DC yesterday. So cold, in fact, that the escalators on Metro were frozen in place!” ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiences-with-washington-dc-metro-rail/594527/48 "2011-09-02T01:20:11Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > If you slug you should go to Rosslyn instead of the Pentagon. That way you cut out the long walk into and out of the metro. Lines are usually shorter too. > [@bobkitty](#): > > **puddleglum** , I didn’t realise you can slug to Rosslyn. I might have to look into that (you rightly guessed my plan is to slug to the funny-shaped building 😉 ). There were slugs around Crystal City as well when I worked there a couple of years ago. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiences-with-washington-dc-metro-rail/594527.md?page=2)