May 3, 2006
Metro Considers Retail Kiosks in Stations
Please let it be true, please let it be true.
According to the Examiner, Metro's Board of Directors will vote this Thursday on a proposal to allow retail establishments in certain Metro stations and parking garages. If approved, the five-year pilot program would encompass 12 stations -- four in each jusrisdiction that Metro serves -- and may even be expanded to include the sale of food and beverages. The rationale for the decision? Money. Says the article:
One reason for easing restrictions is the amount of money these retailers could bring in for the cash-strapped agency. Metro officials had projected the 36 ATMs installed last year would bring in $360,000 in additional revenues. The number is now likely to reach more than $1 million for fiscal 2006, officials said.Most of the retail establishments in the chosen stations would be outside the fare gates, spare Metro Center, Gallery Place-Chinatown and College Park, where they would be inside.
The article also notes that WMATA Chief Dan Tangherlini is considering ridding Metro of its worn carpets, a move we have long promoted.
Picture snapped by JamesCalder.
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Yay!
I do wonder where a kiosk would fit in the fare zone of Gallery Place.. the overpass? Crammed in by one of the exits?
Please please please get rid of those gross carpets. Nothing is worse than the stench from those carpets on a rainy day. And they're not pretty on a nice day either. Carpets on mass transit is just a bad idea.
Wait, why are people so psyched about this? (I'm not trying to naysay, though I could see traffic flow problems in Gallery Place and Metro Center - I'm just not getting the enthusiasm...what're people looking forward to being able to do, specifically?)
Pay toilets! Just place a few strategically place toilets and soon we all will be ridding golden rails . London Underground does this why not us.
Can they sell something, like earplugs or a speaker-hacking device, that will get the new Metro Voice Lady to shut the hell UP? Because two short bong-bongs do the trick. I don't need to hear TWENTY THREE SYLLABLES of you splainin' me the rules. Take that $1.50 ATM fee and buy a clue - people learn by watching, not listening.
(yeah, BAM! thanks folks, here all week.)
Seriously, though? Yes. Please do sell water, coffee, magazines. The trash cans were a brilliant move, Mr. TangherHottie, and I bet revenue would exceed cleanup costs.
Boston has entire magazine/t-shirt stands & Dunkin' Donuts IN their subway system. They also have garbage cans. And somehow they don't seem to have a major problem with trash.
I think the belief (not that I buy it) is that the design of the Metro is such that it can't tolerate even a low level of trash. In old-looking stations like those in Boston or NY, you probably don't notice litter as much as you would in the Stanley Kubrick subway system we have here. I'm not sure that's the case, but the idea seems to have been since the beginning to keep the image of the Washington subway as sci-fi sterile as possible.
It's yet another drawback to my favorite design I love to hate: modernism. It can't handle regular human useage without looking terrible. But enough about the MLK Library...
I have a compromise in the carpet/hard floor debate: astroturf. They could use the new age, soft kind and it could even come in the ugly 70s color scheme.
Holly, I will mock the Metro until the day I die, but, Boston? The T? Careful what you wish for. Their trains are dirty as Hell.
In Chicago, many of the trains (and stations) smell like urine. And the floors of the trains are metal with a slip-free plastic coating. If we had carpeting, a train car would be completely ruined and stinking four hours into its first run. I lived in DC for years. I greatly miss how most people who ride the Metro actually make an attempt to follow the rules. Here, people block the doors, drink coffee and eat on the trains, smoke on the platforms, etc. A city of rule-breakers. I also miss the cushioned seats and spacious cars. In Chicago, soft seats would instantly get carved up (like all the windows and plastic) by all the gangbangers.
@turingcub: you would think so, but given the number of times I've had to unload from a train with all the other passengers because some moron has their ass in the door or something while the doors are trying to close and get us all on our way, I'd say she needs to be LOUDER, not gone.
Also: yay! This would be way too cool, although I worry about trash and the stations eventually getting dirty and grungy-the money they make may be offset by the additional maintenance to keep the places clean, although I would prefer to have them than not.
I have to echo WOV. What would be so wonderful about retail kiosks? Is this joy all about eating on the trains? If so, I'm not exactly psyched to have more odors and messes in the stations and on the trains. If it's not about eating on the trains, what is it about? Are people lacking places to purchase junk?
Reid, I'll suggest that the DC metro stations handle regular usage without looking worse for the wear much better than any other system in the country.
I have to agree with Reid. The metro does look a bit like a 70s sci-fi movie.
I should clarify that I think we should continue the food ban and I am suspicious of how exactly a kiosk will help.
Also, for all it's dated modernism, at least the Metro's design is a complete thought that was well executed. It's too large to change now, and I'd rather we stick with the original idea rather than make a mash of it or let it degrade to NYC-style seediness. I'd prefer the Art Nouveau of New York's nicer stations, but this is what we have. (Note this logic doesn't apply to ugly buildings, which can be torn down and replaced much easier than an entire transit system).
I'm just not sure that Gallery Place and Metro Center have SPACE for retail kiosks, including the line of customers that will form. What they should do is finally build the pedestrian tunnel connecting the two stations, then carve out some space there for the kiosks...
I wonder if Metro Police will give people tickets after they buy the food. Thus, both Metro and the Metro police get money! A win-win scenario!
Ted the tunnels are in the capital plan and do include plans for retail space. Based on the spending plan, it looks like the Metro-Gallery tunnel is scheduled to be built ~2007 and the Farragut tunnel ~2011.. however I don't know if any of the design work has even started.
I just want non-cave-like lighting. :(
No problems with retail in Metro stations, but NO drinks or food. Enforcement of the eating and drinking rules has been pretty lax lately and I had the pleasant experience of what that leads to: a roach nearly crawled on my arm as I sat on the train heading to work. Not the greatest way to start the day...
How about a retail center where one might buy a "Smart Trip" card? Where do you buy one if you live IN the city and don't pass through Metro Center during business hours? I'm so tired of those crappy pieces of paper that are one use only before they disintegrate in your pocket and/or get stuck in the turnstile so you have to go wake up the guy sleeping in the booth to fish it out for you.
The roaches that you see on Metro don't spontaneously generate when food is left around. If the construction around here ever settles down, so might the roaches (and mice.)
I'd also like to see miner hats sold at the kiosks. Am I the only one who can't see well enough to read without getting a headache while waiting 19 minutes for the green line? I can't drink my coffee OR read?
There's a comment above about "NYC-style seediness." This can easily turn into one of those city wars that appear on here every few days. I don't mean to be like that, but since I spend a LOT of time telling people in NY that DC is not what they think; that white people besides me actually do live here; that it is NOT (any more) the murder capitol of the country... I'll just say that NYC is not seedy. DC is pretty bleak, though. My 30 minute walk to work does not involve a single tree nor block free of chicken bones and broken glass.
So there.
Crap. This is the last thing we need.
What's next? Clowns with juggling monkeys on all the trains during peak hours?
TC
Joclyn - you can buy SmarTrips from Metro's website for the same price as anywhere...
back home we have a system of tunnels in downtown so people can walk from building to building without having to be out in the hell-like heat or monsoon-like rain. the tunnels are lined with small food joints and places to buy the paper, you can even buy a bvlgari watch if you are so inclined. has anyone tossed around the idea of connecting some stations with walkways? gallery place and metro center would be a good target, i hate waiting for for a train to transfer there. metro could charge a reduced rate to use the walkway. i bring this up because we are talking about making the metro better, more convenient, up to date etc. it would be a good place for shops and some ad space too. not that we need more ads. but maybe it would just increase your change of being mugged.
just a thought.
Outraged, are you from Minneapolis? The skyway is pretty neat. A carpeted public space that lets you avoid freezing.
I was under the assumption SmarTrip cards were also available at all the stations with parking lots too - I'll cut my assumption down to that based on comments here. I originally figured it was most stations.
I would hope that as the fare machines in Metro stations are replaced over time, new machines that dispense SmarTrip cards in addition to paper farecards will be introduced.
I hope they sell tshirts, posters, and framed autographed pictures of Dan Tangherli - he's hott.