July 19, 2006
Needless Chattering on Metro To Quadruple
We've always been somewhat torn on cell phones in the Metro. On the one hand, those of that don't have Verizon are somewhat jealous that we can't talk to friends and family on long commutes to and from work; on the other hand, though, we're happy that it isn't our phone that's constantly breaking the silence on Metro's otherwise serene railcars. So today's news from the Examiner has left us, well, even more torn:
The nation’s four largest wireless phone service providers are joining forces to land a lucrative contract to revamp and expand phone, Internet and other communication services across the Metro system, officials said Tuesday.Now we'll all have cell phone service on the Metro, which means that we'll all be able to talk. And we probably will. Suddenly, we'll become that person who has to subject everyone else within earshot to the travails of our day, our last date, or how much we're bummed that the Bush twins skipped town. But Metro will reap the benefits of our talkative ways -- according to the Examiner, close to $15 million a year from each provider. Metro could use that money. It could help make our daily ride that much better.If the proposal is successful, wireless phone and wireless Internet devices from the four companies — Sprint-Nextel, T-Mobile, Cingular and Verizon — and others would function at station platforms, tunnels and bus stops throughout the region, according to sources close to negotiations between the companies.
We really can't decide if this is good or bad.
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Ive had sprint for the past year and have been able to talk in the metro....
According to the folks at BeyondDC/Washington Business Journal:
http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2006/07/10/daily64.html?from_rss=1
Metro is getting $35M from ad revenue now and this deal could boost them to over $100M. $65M is a good deal in my book-means we might get to keep our carpet, padded seats, AND have the new cars up and running to increase service levels!
*sigh* I know Metro needs the phone and cell phones are very convenient, but I suppose this means I'll have to put up with overhearing more conversations like last week when I heard this woman say something to the effect of "I'm calling to let you know I'm on my way and will call you in 10 minutes."
Though nothing beats the conversation I overheard a few years ago at a Wal-Mart outside Houston. A woman pushing her cart through the aisle while talking on the phone: "Do I LOOK angry to you?"
i didn't think sprint customers had access to the towers while riding in the metro, though, i did just speak to a sprint rep and he said that there is a plan that you can get from sprint that allows you to roam for free on other networks (aka verizon)
with all that extra money, maybe they can install a few bathrooms?
I strangely get Cingular service on the L'Enfant green line platform over by the escalators and nowhere else on the entire metro system.
Great. There goes my excuse of "I was in the metro so I missed your call."
I was reading about why BART in SF doesn't have carpet in their trains (now) -- part of it was to avoid the waste of all that used carpet. (And cost of replacing it.) But part of it was because of the increase in bicycles on the BART system. It's much easier to take a bike on BART. Or a bike on the CTA in Chicago. Especially for outbound trips or trips not inside the central business districts. DC should be considering this as well. And add it as another reason to take out the d*mn carpet.
I'll tell you, though, as someone that works in advertising. Part of the reason that Metro has low ad revenue -- is that they don't know how to treat advertisers. Specifications for the ads are all over the place. Promised dates for delivery are not met. It's a huge mess. I always wondered why DC doesn't have the huge campaign ads that other big cities did -- where whole stations were blanketed with new ads in the course of an evening -- I think that Metro isn't coordinated enough to handle it. (Or Metro and CBS outdoors -- the vendor.) They can't even figure out how to get the right people in place to get a single billboard up on a promised date.
So these big deals, with lump sum payments, probably work out better for it. Our sanity, though, might suffer what with all that inane chatter.
It'll be nice to finally be able to send and receive text messages on the Metro.
I still don't understand why local cellphone service providers still insist on calling it "wireless" while the rest of the world calls it "mobile." It just confuses the word "wireless" for other free-roaming electronic technologies like wi-fi and cordless phones. I'm making it a point to call my cellphone service "mobile" no matter what the big telcos say in their ads.
I like the idea of cellphones working in the tunnels in case of emergency, or at the MOST, being able to give an ETA to someone picking you up if the train is running late.
I stare at people who have prolonged conversations on their phones on metro. Usually they catch on that I don't care nor do I want to hear their gossip or investment strategy.
Frankly, I think this is great because a) now snobby verizon users can no longer hold it over our heads that they can use their phones on the metro and b) when trains are running late and you have places to be, the ability to send a quick SMS or a short call to the effect of "I'm running behind" is a quite welcome feature. So, use it, but don't abuse it, loud-talkers.
Coming home from a Nationals game two weekends ago and again yesterday as I was leaving work, I was subjected to phones that play mp3 files. Newflash jerks: that rule that says "No Listening to Audio Devices Without Headphones"? THAT APPLIES TO YOU.
So I guess since no one can stop people from being noisy on the public train (darn this free country of ours - ha), I'll just have to always remember to bring my iPod so that I can block out their conservations and singing phones!
Wow. I'm not even remotely torn on this. I hate people that use cell phones in public places with a deep, deep, passion. I must admit that I don't notice it being such a bad problem on the Metro (yet). Where I can't stand it is on the Metro bus.
It must be a cultural/age thing. It seems anyone under the age of 25 (especially women) cannot stand to be alone and not talking to someone for even one moment. I ride a what is essentially a shuttle bus each night, so people on the bus are never more than 5-10 minutes from home, yet they ABSOLUTELY CAN'T BEAR TO WAIT to call up other people (whom I assume are on other buses and similiarly close to their terminus) and regale them with stories of how much of a bitch their boss is or how drunk they got at Front Page last night.
I'm not that much older than these people, yet I feel that since my age group didn't get cell phones until a few years after college, we still feel at least some vauge sense that it isn't acceptable to talk about vapidly personal things in an enclosed space with other people around.
But I know it's just going to get worse.
reid you are the voice of sanity.
I'll take NYC's beaten up-but-cellular-free subways over DC's cell-friendly Metro any day of the week. Silence is golden.
I may be in the minority, but I don't see issue with this at all. Obviously, cell service along the metro is a great benefit in an emergency (of course, in the event of a full-scale emergency, I can see cell service being down or jammed, and therefore of little use). I tend not to talk on my cell all that often, but have never been terribly bothered by other people using theirs while out-and-about.
The way I see it - if you live in (or near) a major city, you have to deal with people and all the noise they make. Just the price you pay. As long as they're using their nice, "indoor" voices, at least. And otherwise, an mp3 player or discman is a good, easy investment to immerse yourself in your own world on your commute.
Blah blah blah.. Some people don't know how to not be jerks in public. Who cares. There's already cell service on the metro and is isn't going away. Might as well take the extra $50 mil or whatever it turns out to be.
awesome. yesterday the red line was late, but I didn't know until I got onto the platform, and I couldn't call the person I was meeting to warn them.
I don't understand people that are overly annoyed by cell phone conversations. Yes there are obnoxious people that seem to have issues with being alone and/or no concern or thoughtfulness for the people around them... but that issue seems to be a larger, deeper issue than the cell phone in their hand.
We should spread the meme of quiet cars. Just like we borrowed walking left standing right from London we can borrow this concept from Amtrak. I suggest making the first and last cars on every train cell-convo-free. (there will still be rl conversations...but those seem to annoy people less.) This can also segregate us on train platforms, where loud conversations will become the latest new thing to bitch about. The problem will be tourists, but if we work on spreading this idea now, maybe Metro will make it official. All you need is buzz, a few signs, and labels for all the front/back cars.
reid: as a female, on my way home, sometimes, especially at night, i would make sure to call someone and talk to them on my short walk home to deter any possible crimes committed against me. i am not siding with those ppl that inappropriately talk about private matters in public, but i can see why some females might want to be on the phone in case someone was lurking in the street waiting to snatch their purse, or do something even worse.
a) Reid's complaint was about people holding full-volume cell phone conversations on the bus, not about people walking alone in the dark attempting to use a cell phone conversation as a security device.
b) Using a cell phone conversation when walking alone at night as a security device is sort of dubious, as you're more likely to be distracted by your conversation than a criminal is to be deterred by it.
Exactly Nate. You should be at full attention when walking alone. That means no ipods, no cell phones, etc.
Of course the way to avoid the problems caused by loud phone talkers on the metro is to text. Let's just spread the word, huh?
Ok. my mistake. i do now see that reid was referring to those ride-and-talk females, but to address nate and dgf, i AM in full attention when walking alone. i feel a possible criminal that sees me using my phone will less likely bother me because i am *on* the phone with someone. a lot of the time i just pretend to be on the phone.
"awesome. yesterday the red line was late, but I didn't know until I got onto the platform, and I couldn't call the person I was meeting to warn them."
How late are you talking? 5 minutes? 15 minutes? There was a time when not everyone had a cellphone, and somehow people still met up with other people, slightly late train or not. I assume that you too were able to meet up with your friend despite not calling him/her.
Besides, the vast majority of calls I hear are not about being late and certainly most calls about being late go on way longer than it takes to tell someone you'll be late.
And sachi, I am not talking about walking alone at night, although I would agree with Nate that the merit of a cell phone conversation as a safety device is shakey at best.
15 million won't go far in Metrodom. It's probably already spent. Repairs will have to wait until they increase fares...or wait, government will now cut their subsidies by approximately 15 million which will go towards an extra hour in Iraq.
There was a time when people didn't have voice mail or even answering machines -- they just called back later. There was a time when people didn't have phones -- they sent letters and telegrams and got along fine. There was a time when people didn't have air conditioning -- they sat on their porches with a glass of lemonade and a fan (not electric) and they liked it. </reid>
A friend of mine refers to loud, pointless cell phone conversations as PDMs, or Public Displays of Mundanity.
Of course, sometimes high drama visits these ill chosen moments of conversation. Once I answered my phone on a crowded Red Line train. On the other end was an old friend who had just discovered in the last hour both her husband's internet dating account, which he had foolishly put on a family credit card, and homemade pornography of himself in a threesome with another couple he had met on this site. Since it really didn't seem right to ask if I could call her back, I tried vainly to be both vague and supportive, while the polite man holding the pole with me looked blankly straight ahead, the sort of look you get when someone else is having a desperately interesting conversation and you are trying very hard to look as though you are not listening.
Y'know, if Tokyo can have frottage-free, ladies only cars on their trains, can't Metro have a cellphone-free car? I'd be willing to pay extra for that.
But I'm sure the ACLU would sue because this is an obvious infringement of riders' First Amendment rights.
Put down the strawman. The ACLU has yet to file suit regarding quiet cars on Amtrak or VRE.
The "N" Metrobus line that runs up and down Mass Ave. is the "quiet" bus. If you so much as LOOK like you are going to talk on your cell phone, the stares of death will stop you from reaching for it. People will actually turn and glare at you if you have a RL conversation louder than a whisper.
Peer pressure. You know what, it works, and we like it that way!