“X” Marks the Spot, Part 1 

I was in Washington last week for a conference and had the opportunity to travel the DC Metro a number of times. It’s not like I’ve never been to DC before or traveled on the Metro, but since writing about the NYC subway system on Trainjotting I’ve become more sensitive to the nuances of travel underground in other cities. Note, this is not a full survey of the DC Metro lines. I took the Metro five times and visited three terminals – Union Station, Woodley Park Zoo, and Dupont Circle – so my sample size was small. Still, five trips gave me a strong flavor for the larger web. 

The first thing I noticed about the DC Metro cars is that they all look like they were made in the seventies, with either orange and yellow seats, or blue and red ones. It made me feel right at home. I think the blue and red seats were newer, though. The fact that the seats were padded and arranged in rows instead of banks seemed like a good idea. My butt was happier with the extra cushion, and I wondered why there weren’t cushions with slashes and rips across them. Maybe there were and I just didn’t see them. 

I liked even more how the overhead bars were hung. Instead of two running above the banks along the sides of the car the way they are hung in New York, there was only one that ran all the way through the center of the car, between the seat rows. This would definitely eliminate the crotch-staring problem we have in NYC.

But, I wonder if you can pack as many people into the car as we can, with all those extra seats? Does it make the seats more valuable to riders? Are there fights over who gets to sit and who has to stand? Do people rest their butts against the seats or hold on to the overhead bar? It wasn’t crowded enough for me to get any answers. 

There were also bars hung in an X-shape above the doors that really seemed innovative. There are no bars overhead on the NYC subway between the doors. It is a desert without oasis, to be crossed at your own risk if the car is moving, or if you’re stuck in a crowd out of reaching distance of a pole. If you’ve ever tried to hold yourself in place with your fingertips pressed into the ceiling you know what I mean. So DC has placed them right above your head. Genius.  

They had a tri-pole configuration by the doors also. Not one pole to either side, but three together in a triangle. People leaned against them and got knocked from one to the other like ping-pong balls, but at least they had something to grab on to that wasn’t another passenger. The DC Metro has subway maps that are located where people stand, not where people sit. There’s nothing quite like having a New Yorker stare pointedly at you when you’re sitting beneath the subway map, only to realize they’re looking at the map, not you. Then you have to figure out what to do while they continue to look past you and move in for a closer look. Do you lean over to give them a clear field? Do you try to ignore them? Do you look back at the map yourself because you can’t stand the imaginary scrutiny and pretend to be looking for your destination too? Then sometimes they lean in close right above your head and mumble something like, “excuse me,” as they go in for the “zoom” view.  

Not so, on the DC Metro. 

And here’s something that really blew me away. You know the seat at the top of an L-shaped bank on the F-line? If you sit by the window you can try to put your foot up on the panel beneath the seat where the heater is, but it won’t stay. It’s slanted, so every time you put your foot up it slides off – very frustrating when you have either a large person next to you and don’t want to have knee to knee contact, or you’re tired and want to catch some Z’s resting on your elevated knee.  Well, the DC Metro has a flat panel down there. You can put your foot up and it stays – no sliding. I bet you it’s the heater too, and your feet stay toasty in the winter. Somebody’s thinking in the capital city. 

Perhaps most striking, the DC cars have carpet on the floors. Why is carpet good? You only have to ride the NYC subway once on a rainy or snowy day and slip and fall on your ass to know why. Or have somebody spill their drink, or throw up, up-car from you. You can look down and see the river flow by your feet as the laws of physics play out beneath you.  But the carpet provides a non-slip surface. Sure it looked horrible – DC riders spill and apparently barf too. And yes, it was worn from the traffic patterns in some places down to the hard floor beneath. But hey, non-slip is non-slip. Special note: I saw very few drinks underground and no food. Did I miss a sign that prohibited this? 

The train names are interesting too. The red line is the Shady Grove line. It sounds so peaceful, like there’s a big willow tree at the end waiting for me to sit under it. 

Now don’t think I’ve gone all soft on the DC Metro just because they have some interesting innovations. They’ve also got some ideas that, to me, have tanked. 

TO BE CONTINUED…