This Sunday’s opinion piece was written by Kelly Mack. Feel like sounding off? Email us .

Metro elevators are one of my obsessions. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to get around DC, because I wouldn’t be able to ride Metro. Elevators are essential to wheelchair users.

Before leaving for work, appointments, or going out to dinner, I check the Metro website for elevator statuses. When elevators are out of service, I need to plan alternate routes. And while I’m traveling on Metro the worry is always in the back of my mind that an elevator will break in transit and I’ll be trapped inside or outside of the system. As any commuter can imagine, I have a special passion for Metro maintenance. My nightmare Metro scenarios have come to life in missed appointments, unpredictable lateness, time-consuming reroutes, being trapped in stations and platforms, and, alternately, being excluded from entering Metro altogether.

But the most consistent teeth-grinding is incited by the behavior of my fellow Metro riders. These are the people who, though able-bodied and completely capable of using the escalators or stairs, crowd the elevators. I’ve watched a chamber full of pedestrians pack an elevator to leave me behind. I’ve had people shut elevator doors not only in my face, but against others with strollers, luggage, or canes. These riders don’t think about the affects of their additional wear on the elevators, how when the elevators break under their use I am out of transit options for months while the damage is repaired. These riders don’t think about the time I spend while they satisfy their convenience to use the elevator that I require.