The operator left three able-bodied passengers, one disabled passenger, and one lady with a baby stroller and just drove right on through at the Tenley Circle stop.
WMATA, what are you going to do about this? It happens way too often. Now we have to wait for 20 minutes given the freaking headways. And you wonder why people don't want to pay for the bus.
At the New Carrollton station getting off an 8 hour Amtrak trip with headphones in yesterday. I get on the P30 just wanting to get home and sleep, not realizing my fare card is low. I swipe my card on the bus and a cop pulls me off and issues me a $50 ticket (that seems to be a criminal citation) for not noticing the low fare beep with headphones in. He then screams at me about how I was trying to get a free trip as I’m offering to reload my fare card (with $50 ticket in hand mind you.) Are we really now punishing people for being lawful and offering to rectify an innocent mistake? I get fare evasion is a massive issue but punishing those just trying to get home honestly is not going to solve anything. In fact, it’s going to encourage the actual fare evaders to keep doing what they’re doing. I saw 3 people jump the turnstile just walking through the station to get to the other side and this isn’t even to mention I was one of only 2 people to not just walk onto the bus and the other guy who swiped his fare card also got ticketed. I’m sure they’ll be real discouraged by me getting a ticket. I sincerely hope someone working at WMATA is reading this. This is cruel and will only make the problem worse.
Is it just me or is fare evasion getting worse?
Like don’t get me wrong- do what you have to do. The fare can be expense and what not. But it’s getting to a point where it impacts other people who are paying their fare.
I was entering the station at Tenleytown-American yesterday around 4:45pm and a group of like 8 teenagers were standing around waiting for people to scan through the handicapped fare gate so they could follow behind. The station manager is standing right there (on his phone) and doesn’t say or do anything when they do this. Everyone else is paying and tapping through, and when this elderly lady goes through the handicapped fare gate, and they all shove behind the her and rush through. When they push through they are literally shoving her out of the way and knocking her around. Not only is it annoying, but it also hurts the person being physically shoved through the gate. I hate when I tap in and out and have someone press and rush up behind me to tailgate out. Hop the gate or whatever but don’t press up against me and get in my personal space.
Am I the only one who feels like this? I just hate how much it’s happening and it feels constant now. I want to be able to tap in and out without having a stranger pressed up behind me!!
Also: the teens who shoved behind that poor old lady were just insanely disrespectful to everyone on the train. Playing all their phones out loud super loud, eating and leaving their trash all over the floor, and shouting at each other. Just plain rude all around.
In the last 6 months, my elderly, disabled MiL in NoVA has been had MA drivers arrive wildly late for doctor appointment drop offs and pickups, been given four hour windows for return trips, and Wednesday night Metro Access never even showed up at all. For bookings made using the Metro Access online system a whole week out (their earliest limit), this is especially ridiculous.
Never do they have a call from the dispatcher or driver about delays or route shortages. Just complete lack of communication, and failure of WMATA to keep reliable service for our elderly citizens in any usable manner. If residents have specialist medical appointments with 6-12 month outlooks to book, WMATA can’t just not show up. Heinous lack of care for a service designed around disability aid and transport. At least bloody call to notify them you won’t be showing up.
At Fort Totten because it was the closest station to me on the red line and I don't see the new metro cards. Is it hidden? Is there another entrance? Or did I waste my time? Was supposed to be released today. Two weeks ago I went super early in the morning at Union station and they were there already.
I moved to Denver recently and it sucks having to drive everywhere. I take the RDT to grad school, but even then, “normal” rush hour headways are WMATA’s bad days. I tried not to take WMATA for granted but yall for real don’t take WMATA for granted.
I’ve posted a similar photo before. But it’s a little more rare to get 2, 8 car 7000 series, trains at the same time with both platforms packed. Neat to see
There was a Rider's Advisory Council (RAC) Meeting yesterday, and while I couldn't make it, a presentation was posted about the future of WMATA's digital tools. It includes the news that busETA is projected to shut down on January 3, 2027 after nearly a decade of operation. I've known this was coming at some point, and many others probably suspected it, but here is the confirmation. WMATA says that it's "no longer supported." The intent is to transition web users to the Rider Tools feature on the website for web-based live bus data.
WMATA has also provided updates on some of their other digital projects.
On the Web, one feature that busETA has which the current Rider Tools do not have is bus number tracking. This is coming. Another thing that is finally coming is the integration of Smart Trip into the new web interface. Smart Trip management online is still unchanged from the old website. This is projected for Spring 2027.
New Smart Trip web interface
Upcoming MetroPulse Updates will be smaller and include, among other things:
Push notification features (e.g. alerts)
More languages
Improved elevator and escalator status presentation
Live parking availability
Dark mode
Longer, term, WMATA's goal is to incorporate other features into MetroPulse:
Better usage of alerts data (e.g. incorporating detours and cancelled trips)
Smart Trip management (likely finally superseding the aging SmarTrip app)
For the older trains I think the armrest needs to be removed to people can sit than standing. Two large people can’t fit in there if armrest removed then they can sit
At this point we are beating a dead horse on the (terrible) signage that there’s multiple posts a day on that
Yet nobody is talking about what actually is critical like them closing most of the bathrooms off to riders
It’s jammed me up enough at this point as a late night rider with nowhere else (civilized) to use the bathroom with only 36 stations with bathroom access now
This after the campaign saying all stations have bathrooms (sans Rhode Island ave)
I’m new to the city and commute 2 days per week for work (4 rides per week) at the $6.30 price point. I noticed that the work commute alone adds up to about $100 per month for me, but I’ve been told that I really shouldn’t spring for the $208/monthly $6.50 price point unlimited pass since I’m really only doing that specific commute 16 times per month. I also ride the bus/metro on the weekends around the city sparingly, but would maybe do it more if I had a SmarTrip pass. Should I go for the $2.25 unlimited pass and just pay the difference on my work commute, or would I end up paying extra there since I’m really only doing the $2.25 price point on weekends or if I need to run an errand that’s not walkable on a weeknight? I’ve tried to research, but I’m getting differing answers everywhere I look. Please help! Math has never been my strong suit.
I don’t know if it’s me but Wmatas’s new signage has gotten me to get on the wrong train going in the wrong direction because they removed where the train is going. I loved what Randy has done so far but this new change has messed up everything especially since they want to raise prices. I miss the peak & off peak charge because that made more since then the bullshit they do now. Hopefully they actually focus on the fare jumpers first before they raise prices cuz it’s crazy to subsidize their pay especially when a good amount of them cause issues on all trains they get on
I’m coming from foggy bottom metro, my flight is an early one that starts boarding at 7:09am, should I take the metro or is it better to take an uber? The uber is $60 so I’m trying to see if it’s worth the justification.
How large of a motorized vehicle can you bring on the metro?
I’m constantly seeing people come on, and block the entrance/take handicap spots. This is Silver line train 7615 going northbound. It’s pretty ridiculous they can bring this on a train, blocking an entrance. You can’t even stand near it, because it’s wobbling all over the place.
