April 22, 2008
The Future of Metro Flooring
This morning Metro invited the media to come take a look at four different models of non-carpeted flooring options the agency will begin testing on its rail cars. Metro General Manager John Catoe has made it a priority to get rid of carpeting on the system's rail cars.
“Non-carpet floors are easier, less expensive and more environmentally friendly to maintain," Catoe said. "They also don’t have a moldy smell that some carpeted rail cars have after getting wet, and it is stain resistant.”
Metro began testing nora brand rubber gray floors in the train operator cabs on two of its 6000 series rail cars in November. Now the agency is testing other styles in three other rail cars: two are other versions of the rubber nora floor surfaces, one that is black with gray and white flecks and another that is gray with black and gray flecks, and a third with a floor called Abrastop, which is a gray and white speckled floor composed of quartz composite. According to Metro, Abrastop is used in Orlando’s Monorail trains and in various other train systems in the U.S., Canada and Europe. The nora flooring is used in some MARC and VRE trains, and rail systems in Miami, Chicago and Seattle and Canada.
It currently costs Metro $5,200 to replace carpet in each Metrorail car, which need to be replaced about every five years. The new floors would cost about $250 more to install than carpeting, but would only need to be replaced about every 25 years.
WTOP says Catoe told them he prefers the black rubber floor with gray and white specks. Which one do you like?
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All the people with Google News Alerts for the word "monorail" are going to be so disappointed when they click on the link in their email to this post.
Well well it surely does make them cars look less depressing.
I wonder though - would the new layout make the floors more slippery when wet? I know it's made of rubber, but on really rainy days - all that rainwater people bring in from the outside ll pool up and then WMATA's only an oopsies away from a lawsuit.
I prefer the ice-blue metalflake flooring.
"stain resistant" not "stain proof". Metro will have to start prohibiting red wine I guess.
if it only costs $5,200 to replace the carpet, why didn't they start doing this years ago? what do they need to test?
"can you walk on it?"
"yep."
"can you clean it?"
"yep."
"have other subways used it?"
"yep."
"ok, put us down for a few hundred orders then."
As long as they color coordinate with the seats? I can't see how a gray floor will match the beige and orange seating on some of the older models.
I've ridden on one of the new 6k cars with the rubber flooring, and I thought it looked very nice. It wasn't slippery (though it wasn't raining that day) and the car wasn't any noisier than the ones with carpet.
Could have used one of those new floors on the way home after work yesterday. The area just inside of the door of the train I was was hideous thanks to everyone's wet shoes and dripping umbrellas.
Why not clear plexi glass...honestly what would be more fun than that!
I like the new flooring. I never quite understood why we had carpet in the first place.
As for color matching, gray goes with both beige and orange. In fact, they look pretty hot. Don't you guys watch "What Not to Wear"?? Stacy and Clinton say that gray is a neutral and goes with everything. I rest my case.
The nora and abrastop are my favs.
black with gray & white flecks is by far the winner in the newer cars.
Why not clear plexi glass...honestly what would be more fun than that!
oooh i wish we had glass-bottom cars, just think about all the wonderful things we're missing!
Sudden Braking = Sudden slippin
What, no gilded marble or black and white checkerboard pattern?
Honestly though, I can't understand how carpet was ever entertained as an option in the first place?
I like the flooring that doesn't get slippery when it rains/snows/ices.
I'm guessing if the flooring in weather-unfriendly Seattle is successful, maybe we should use that one, yeah?
just think about all the wonderful things we're missing!
CHUD-bunnies!
Seriously, those nasty carpets have got to go. I don't care what they replace them with, as long as it doesn't reek of urine on Monday mornings.
Yay! Let's waste more time considering the most pointless decision ever. Choose something else, Metro, and replace the disgusting carpets! You don't need the public's response about the texture of a freaking floor.
Yay! Let's waste more time considering the most pointless decision ever. Choose something else, Metro, and replace the disgusting carpets! You don't need the public's response about the texture of a freaking floor.
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You gotta cooooooordinate
Funfriends,
Public input is the best why to quell public outcry.
Why don't they cover the floor with advertisements and raise money so Metro can actually make improvements that matter to me.
I like the first picture best--the black nora with grey and white flecks.
"Metro will have to start prohibiting red wine I guess."
They already prohibit open food or drink except bottled water.
I fucking hate Catoe. He just doesn't get it, does he?
This is not NYC, it's not even LA. We have been enjoying carpeted trains since 1976, and now in he comes first with his idea for BENCHES and more STANDING room (yeah, try telling people coming in from Falls Church that they're going to have to stand every morning into Metro Center), and now we have the carpetless train car idea.
NO-NO-NO.
This is the god damn nation's capital and we are proud of our system. Take these new cars because we don't want them.
But welles...the carpets are so skanky!
Maybe some tasteful Pergo?
"They already prohibit open food or drink except bottled water"
Wait, your allowed to drink bottled water on Metro? If that is true, that's a HUGE improvement on the absolutely-no-food-or-beverage rule.
the first picture is the best looking by far.
and damn, that last picture of the rank carpeting really drives home just how crap things can look in those cars...
Yeah... like that'd be awesome having clear floors - you'd get to see a grey blur outside, and um pretty much nothing when you're underground. And on top of that - it'll totally freak people out. Example: the glass balcony on the Grand Canyon - not too many go out there because it's just too damn scary (its more of that than the cost of admission - which is equally as scary!)
If plexiglass should be used at all, why not put them on the ceiling? At least we get to see all the cool aerial action above.
No, you are not permitted any beverages, including water.
I will say that in Chicago where is rains/snows constantly, the non-carpeted nature of the trains is never an issue when braking and I have never seen any slip and fall from a puddle.
That being said, the CTA is shitty compared to the Metro, but I think more standing room and no-carpets are both good ideas.
Am I the only person here who has no idea what "nora" is? Expensive, organic, extra-tasty flooring?
Has John Catoe switched places with my wife? Next thing you know, he'll be asking if grey flecks makes his ass look fat. Answer: I don't care. Can we go get dinner now?
"That being said, the CTA is shitty compared to the Metro, but I think more standing room and no-carpets are both good ideas.
Maybe it's because I walk everywhere: to the Metro, from the Metro, up the escalator, down the escalator. Maybe it's because I'm lazy. But I want more seating. I want to sit down.
After all the effort I take just to get to Metro, I think a sit down break is nice from time to time.
I don't understand this in the Metro press release...
"In addition to the new floors, the five rail cars have the spring-loaded overhead handles to give shorter customers who are standing in the aisles something to hold onto for balance and comfort."
Aren't short people the only ones who CANT reach the new handles???
Someone explain this to me please.
on sunday afternoon i took the yellow line home from Reagan and just as i was getting to my stop (shaw) some young girl hurled on the carpet. i couldn't begin to tell you how thankful i was to be getting off at that stop, but it just got me to thinking about how much other nasty crap is embedded in the carpet.
i now realize why the color scheme is piss yellow and poo brown...it's camouflage.
I have to admit I don't quite get all the "oh no I might have to stand!" angst, probably because from what I can tell most people have to stand now, and not just on the shorter trips. I've been on the Orange Line in the morning rush -- all the seats are taken at freaking VIENNA. By East Falls Church you're lucky if you don't have your nose in someone's stinky armpit.
As for the whole to-carpet or not-to-carpet quandry, I was thinking about this recently while riding a decidedly tired BART train in San Francisco (where they not only have carpeted floors, but the upholstery on the seats is also cloth). Carpet doesn't really give off much of a high-end vibe when it's worn out and stinky.
Maybe it's because I'm lazy. But I want more seating. I want to sit down.
Hey, nearly all of us want to be able to sit down on the Metro, but "more seating" just isn't one of the options on the table. In fact, it's probably more or less impossible without massive modifications to the system that would change the overall dimensions of the individual cars. If modifications on the layout subtract a few of the seats in order to avert the massive door-area clusterfuck that every train turns into when things get crowded, it's well worth the loss.
And while I have heard complaints that the spring-loaded handles don't come down nearly far enough to accommodate the short, it's pretty obvious that they're an improvement over the near-ceiling-level straight bars that are in the cars now. What short people have really been lamenting is the loss of some of the vertical bars.
Aren't short people the only ones who CANT reach the new handles???
Well, technically they decided to put in the handles because short people said they couldn't reach the overhead bar and don't seem to notice there are or will be rails near the doors and bars/rails at most every seat.
But the handles I guess don't come down far enough for all of the short folks.
What short people have really been lamenting is the loss of some of the vertical bars.
Just the ones by the doors. Look at the pics above. Vertical bars on every seat.
I heard they were going to get rid of the old "train" format anyway and install huge pneumatic tubes where the tracks currently run. It'll be just like going to the credit union, except a friendly metro employee will be jamming you in a little plastic bullet off to your spot. The interiors will be Nora, in grey specks that will turn out to be thumbprint ads for the LOC on closer inspection.
Wow, a Metro decision that makes sense. Get this done pronto. Those carpets are nasty.
And here is a shout out to DCist...I loved the picture gallery note in the RSS feed. A small thing, but appreciated.
"If modifications on the layout subtract a few of the seats in order to avert the massive door-area clusterfuck that every train turns into when things get crowded, it's well worth the loss."
I doubt it will have such a desired effect unless push comes to shove, literally. It's a fact of life, everyone wants to be by the door to be the first one off. It's like trying to get party guests to not congregate in the kitchen. You can move around the chairs, but that won't necessarily change people's behaviors.
Any floor that I don't slip on in flip flops when it's wet out will be fine with me.
"But the handles I guess don't come down far enough for all of the short folks."
If they did, I suspect METRO would need to require taller folks wear helmets.
I heard they were going to get rid of the old "train" format anyway and install huge pneumatic tubes where the tracks currently run
You may be joking about that, but there was a guy down in Florida a few years ago who proposed essentially such a system for the state's high speed rail line. But I doubt Disney would have gone for it.
Pneumatic tubes are actually older than subways.. and there's a reason why it isn't done. See the Beach Pneumatic Transit Company.
I'm usually all for being more cost efficient and practical, which this decision is, but my fondness for the Metro's carpets overrides any sense or reason. Our carpeted Metro trains is what makes Metro unique. What reasonable person in charge of designing a heavily trafficked public transportation system would dare use carpeting?
With carpeting, Metro's forefathers were essentially daring every rider, "Don't even think about tracking your muddy prints onto my floor." That's some ballsy design, I say.
With carpeting, the Metro, along with its cushiony seats, is a relaxing un-subway subway. With plastic flooring, it will become more sterile and unwelcoming like all the other train systems...
To naalex and others, metro isn't the same small town transit system it was 25 years ago. If you want to ride the "Old Town Trolley" or the Disney Monorail, go do that and leave the subway to the thousands of us who need it to be quick and realiable.
If you need your filthy carpet fix, everyone knows you head to the Mayflower, not Metro Center.
I agree with Naalex. Look, the choice isn't between dirty, dusting carpet and no carpet at all. It's about actually cleaing the carpet on a regular basis before it gets filthy. If they actually cleaned reguarly, then the carpet wouldn't deteriorate and fester to the point that they are now. The preventive maintence on a carpet is NOT that much mroe expensive than a hard floor, it just requires attention sooner rather than later. I promise that these hard floors are going to feel even dirtier than the carpet based on how infrequently metro performs their cleaning (based on my experience).