Photo of the Day: November 27, 2009
Car Pushed Into Anacostia River By Train
Morning Roundup: Black Friday Edition
Devendra Banhart @ 9:30 Club
Saturday Thanks Don't End At Thanksgiving Photo: November 28, 2009
Have you ever wondered if the emergency intercoms actually work in metrorail cars? Unless you're seated toward the front or the back of a train car with an overly curious tourist child with an affinity for big red buttons, you may have asked this very question. We were on our way to work this morning on the Red Line when a man in a wide-brimmed hat and khaki shorts simply walked up, pressed the button and said (if we remember his name correctly) "Hey Ron!"
This DCist, and others seated around us, turned around in general bewilderment.
"Ron?!" the man said again.
The woman across the aisle from this DCist asked the man: "Is there an emergency?" The man didn't respond.
Then there was an answer from the train operator. "Yeah?"
We paraphrase: "Hey Ron ... I need a Benz truck."
Our fellow passengers were more than a bit perplexed as to the Benz inquiry unfolding in the train car. The voice on the intercom -- which is supposed to be used for mass emergency communication -- can travel quite far into the center of the train.
At this point, the train was approaching the Judiciary Square station and Ron and the wide-brimmed hat man were discussing about when they could talk next (when Ron finished his last train run at around 1:15 p.m. at Silver Spring). Instantly, as the conversation wrapped up, Ron announced: "Judiciary Square, doors opening on the right ... Red Line to Silver Spring."
We assume that this must violate some sort of WMATA protocol. Conducting Benz truck deals via metrorail emergency intercoms in public must be an abuse of the emergency communication infrastructure. Ron's Judiciary Square announcement, after all, was nearly derailed because of the Benz truck inquiry.
(If there's anyone from WMATA reading this, it was car No. 1119)
>> WMATA's metrorail safety Flash animation guide.
>> The Washington Post Express' metrorail emergency preparedness guide.
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DCist is now a 3rd grade snitch? say it aint so!
Yes, perhaps we are a snitch, but becauase it was an emergency intercom in a train car with lots of people in it who seemed a little put off by the unsanctioned use of the intercom, it's worth writing about.
So if somebody losses their job it's worth it?
Worst.
Post.
Ever.
I'm always amused and perplexed by commenters who seem to earnestly (and cluelessly) suggest that DCist NOT report things. "Jeez! Why'd you have to tell people about that? Now, people are going to know about it."
Weirdos!
Well, in this case, it wasn't the train operator who initiated the conversation. It was the strange man in the wide-brimmed hat. The conversation was quick and it stopped by the time of the next station announcement. Remember anyone in the train car could have brought this to the attention of WMATA, filing a complaint is quite easy via the trainsit agency's website. There were certainly many people in the train car who were irked, including the woman who asked the man whether this was a real emergency.
Jow,
If someone loses their job because they violated work procedures, especially when those procedures entail means of communications reserved for emergencies, then why should we be made to feel guilty? This train operator knows that those intercoms are to be used solely for emergencies, and if they can't uphold that, why should taxpayers continue to fund their employment?
Martin
I don't have any problem with this post and I think it is wierd that people would. Whatever...
I'm most interested in "the strange man in the wide-brimmed hat". Isn't that description of Curious George's human friend? WAS there a monkey involved?
That was "the man in the yellow hat," Bob.
And for heaven's sake, this isn't "snitching" any more than reporting bus drivers talking on their cell phones while driving is "snitching."
Now there's a recipe for continued metro screw ups: try and cast pointing out flagrant job screw ups as "snitching". Sure, let metro employees be people; no need for perfection or anything. But over the top stuff like this, that needs to get brought up and stopped.
I had a similar experience on the green line (escapes me now) about a week ago, although I did not see the man talking. I actually think it was the metro operator who was talking. As I gathered, someone was sort of running around in the car or something, and the voice on the intercom said something to the effect of "You need to exercise more often." This, as well, issued a lot of odd, perplexed looks. It was the green line, so I wasn't completely suprised, but if these occur with as much frequency as they did this week, I wonder how many effective they would be in an actual emergency situation.
Ignore that "escapes me now"
Given my recent Metro experiences, I wouldn't @ all be surprised if Curious George was working on the WMATA (perhaps a new edition of "Curious George Gets A Job"? A true classic BTW).
I wouldn't want to be "clueless" and suggest that DCist not report things. But how about something interesting? As it is this story is kind of a snoozer. I have witnessed this on the train before- especially when drivers are changing shifts. Not the greatest idea maybe, but have you ever used email or IM for non-work related purposes? Probably, so cut them some slack. However, if you decide to "report" about someone in an office using IM to set up a benz truck transaction that might actually be the best. post. ever.
What about metro bus drivers carrying on conversations with passangers, when it's plainly posted that "the safe operation of this bus requires my full attention" should we report this to WMATA in a formal complaint or is this post enough?
This one bus driver was all like "shorty looking good today" trying to get her number n' stuff, and this woman had kids n' still he was trying to kick her mad game. what's up with that?
Yeah, report that Joe. Good luck coaxing people out of their cars and onto busses when the bus driver is hitting on passengers while driving.
I love bad comparisons!!
Yeah, I probably would report someone using IM or e-mail for non-work purposes if he/she was doing that instead of flying my plane, driving my bus or operating my subway train. Or if they were using, say, the Emergency Broadcast System to contact their girlfriend.
Two things about this post that people don't seem to get. 1. A short conversation like the one described, in retrospect, may not be that big of a deal. But if something happend as a result of operator error or if there was an actual emergency that couldn't be addressed because of this, people would be mad as hell. 2. Posts like this are created because the author believes they are intrisically interesting/important and indeed, they turn out to be interesting to some people. If you are not interested, by all means, move on.
I'm college educated but it took me 3 readings to get what the hell was going on. It was a little unclear
PS. I don't ride metro