December 12, 2007
Metro on Reducing Train Cars: Sike!
At the end of November, Metro's new rail chief, Dave Kubicek, decided to switch off-peak trains running during the winter months to the shorter, 4-car only versions as a cost-saving maneuver. Ridership is down in the winter, he reasoned, so Metro can get away with fewer cars. This morning Metro decided to scrap the entire plan and bring back 6-car trains immediately.
Metro General Manager John Catoe told the Post he decided to restore service after receiving lots of complaints from customers and then riding the Blue Line this weekend and seeing the crowds and packed trains for himself.
We could be overly critical of the mess Kubicek's decision created on weekend trains over the last couple of weeks, but trying out an idea, quickly realizing it wasn't working, admitting it was a bad decision and fixing the problem over the course of 14 days is pretty much exactly how we want our transit officials to behave, isn't it?
Photo by Rukasu1
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or how about alternating 4-6-4-6 or running at 4 trains but a little bit faster?
They need to run longer cars after 7 on weeknights now too! Last night the red line was running 4 car trains in 20 minute intervals at 9PM! The train was as crowded as the worst train at Rush Hour! I'm all for giving Metro some leeway given how tightwad the local jurisdictions can be in giving a dedicated funding source, but WMATA needs to wake up and recognize that this is a real city that does not stop running at the end of the commute!
What they should have done was schedule a 'trial' run over the course of a weekend, have Metro Officials ride the trains, take notes, etc. and then determine whether they should go ahead with the plan.
They apparently didn't learn from their 2-car train at night debacle a while back. It took a few weeks and they rescinded that decision too.
So what went wrong? I'd assume they did enough research to tell them that 4 cars was okay in the first place. If the Boss had a packed train, was this just bad luck when he went for a ride? Obviously he didn't think so. Therefore, I hope they look into whatever system they used to determine there were few enough riders in the winter to go to 4 cars. If not, they will keep making polices based on poor data.
Am I making any sense?
P.S. Yeah, i have to hand it to them that 14 days is pretty good trun around time for such a policy.
Your headline is killing me! "Psych," please!!
"Sike"? You mean "psych"?
Thank the good zombie jesus for this. Smooshing onto a four-car red line train at 9:00 last night was less than enjoyable.
Oh come on, "Sike!" is a legit slang-spelling for that term.
Typical DC dorks, nothing better to do than comment on the spelling of a slang headline.
Give it a rest.
Yes, it's dorky to complain, but sometimes spellings are just so annoying because they suggest unfamiliarity with the origin of the term. "Psych" suggests the user is familiar with it being short for "psychological", Writing "Sike" suggests the user thinks it's just a nonsense word like "D'oh" or something.
These nerds is wildin' up in here!
Not sure where you guys are from, but sike was the common spelling for teens in maryland, not once did I witness anyone write "Psych!" unless they were excited about Psychology.
Thanks for the etymology lesson.
Even the TV show is called "Psych". "Sike" is just wrong.
Just to get back on the train topic, doesn't metro want crowded trains?
I admit that there is a limit to how many people you can cram into a train, but I wonder if rescinding a plan that presumably had some thought put into it, based on one observation and a bunch of whiners isn't a little rash. Assuming people could still comfortably fit into the train, I say let em bitch about it. It's public transportation people not a day at the spa, even on Saturday.
If it saves metro money, which lets them save me money, that means more beer for me.
I just don't understand this. They have to have known how many riders there were during the off-peak hours, just based on how many people enter the system. How could they not have realized that the number of people in the system during those hours would be too many for a 4-car train?
(And definitely, "psych")
Last week on Saturday (?) on a Blue Line leaving Capitol South, the driver reminded us that this was a four-car train, per the new policy, and invited us to complain to Metro if we disapproved.
I think most kids would spell it "sike". I know I did, when I was in elementary school. Not once, when I was 8, did I think of the etymology of the word. But hey, I'm from MD, so maybe it's a regional thing?
Am I the only one who wonders why Metro only runs trains with an even number of cars?
"Um, we thought there weren't enough riders to justify six car trains, but four car trains were too crowded, so we're going to try... um... six again?"
I was on the Red line last night around 9. Trains were scheduled to arrive at Metro Center every 15 minutes or so. And they were 4-car trains. It was unbelievable. It was a train packed with sardines. And since I had a suitcase with me, it made it even more fun. Plus, there was apparently a hockey game last night (lots of people with Rangers jerseys). Which made it even more stupid of Metro to run short trains.
Metro really seems to try hard to force people to stop using the trains and simply either drive or take cabs.
IF Metro ever gets its heads out of its arses and designs its trains like other cities with normal subway systems, crowded trains will improve. With the current seats-sticking-out-from-the-walls design, you cannot move on and off trains without wondering whether you might not make it. Put the seats against the walls and open up the train cars so that we can all move on and off more easily. You'll piss off a few people in Shady Grove who will shed a few tears because they don't get a seat, but you'll make life easier on the majority of riders.
The cars must be run in pairs. 6-car train is really only 3 cars from a mechanical viewpoint. Each pair shares equipment (batteries, motors, compressors, etc.)
Maryland: Sike
Virginia: Psyche
Maryland: Homey
Virgina: Hommie
Maryland: Krunk
Virginia: Dancing like a retard
Maryland: Off the hook, yo!
Virginia: Awesome
Maryland: Whiggitty, Whiggitty Whack
Virgina: Cool beans
Maryland: Fine Honeys
Virginia: Fat girl with a kid
I think Metro bean-counters make these decisions based only their spreadsheets and charts. Moreover, I'll bet they use aggregate data on ridership without recognizing how crowded trains are at any given point. (Remember those clusters of Metro employees who stand around with clipboards are supposed to be measuring how crowded the trains are, so Metro clearly doesn't know this from its available data.)
While I'm glad that John Catoe was willing to get on the rails to see for himself, clearly it shouldn't take the General Manager himself doing so. Why were other managers tuned in to this? Why were the concerns expressed by rail managers ignored? Why was the Board not out there too?
Yay!
Last night I took my bike on the Red Line at 10 pm and felt like I was trying to squeeze on at rush hour. Dirty looks all around. Of course it was a 4 car train.
So if Metro wants to allow people with bicycles, strollers, wheelchairs, luggage, etc. to use the system, no, they don't want (such) crowded cars.
And people wonder why VA ridership on Metro is dropping. Keep up with the price jacking, the craptacular service, and the occasionall mugging, and DC/MD ridership is going to decline as well.
Having grown up in PG County Murland (that's not a typo) it's definitely spelled "sike." Yes I know what the technical root origin of the word is but if you actually grew up the area it's "s-i-k-e."
Y'all bamas be trippin'.
BTW "root origin" is a typo. Dangit.
I know this is way way too late, but I noticed an online comic that used the spelling "sike" in one of their strips.
So, ya know, one more person siding with Sommer, in case this ever pops up again.