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More Problems for D.C.'s Metro System
Last month, I put up a post about D.C.'s beleaguered Metro system and how, despite an atrocious safety record over the last few years (including last June's train crash that killed nine people), Metro's board of directors still rewarded director John Catoe, Jr. with a new three-year contract.
It hasn't gotten much better for Catoe or Metro since then. Earlier this month, another pedestrian was struck and killed by a Metro bus. And this week, local radio station WTOP concluded a whopping investigation into complaints against Metro bus and train operators. What they found:
Since 2004, Metro bus drivers and train operators have been cited more than 4,000 times for endangering the lives of their passengers. The incidents of dangerous and sometimes illegal behavior include speeding in residential neighborhoods at more than twice the posted speed, running red lights and collisions with pedestrians, bicycles and even a wheelchair.
In addition to the daily occurrences of unsafe behavior by the operators, records obtained by WTOP through a public records request show there have been hundreds of cases of unprofessional behavior, ranging from physical altercations with passengers to bus drivers urinating into random containers on their buses.
Here's a categorized spreadsheet of the complaints. The report also found that despite the thousands of complaints over the last four years, just 18 Metro operators have been fired over that period.
|10.23.09 @ 12:42PM|#
The report also found that despite the thousands of complaints over the last four years, just 18 Metro operators have been fired over that period.
Duh, they have a union. What else do you think unions are for?
|10.23.09 @ 12:43PM|#
Government Employees Union.
Membership has it's benefits!
This is simply beyond reproach.
Untermensch|10.23.09 @ 12:49PM|#
In all fairness to Catoe, if you look at the spreadsheet linked to, the numbers are bad, really bad, but in all but a few areas they have also improved quite dramatically on his watch. If I had hired someone to run that system who was bringing violation numbers down despite the union’s damnedest to prevent any change, I'd keep him. If the numbers mean anything at all, they don't actually fit the narrative of rank incompetence on Catoe's part. The union, on the other hand…
Ravac|10.23.09 @ 2:42PM|#
Ha, his name is Catoe. Some nutter will no doubt make a lame Pink Panther reference.
|10.23.09 @ 12:50PM|#
You fool! You raving Oriental idiot! There is a time and a place for everything, Catoe! And this is it!
|10.23.09 @ 12:55PM|#
Perhaps if they do this as pusnishment to these noncompliant and impudent drivers, I'll bet their attitudes would change most expidiciously.
NSFW
anon|10.23.09 @ 12:58PM|#
I don't want to defend the metro since I don't believe government should be subsidizing transportation, but that spreadsheet actually makes it seem like this guy is doing a decent job. Bus collisions down from 432 to 16, running red lights from 141 to 8, speeding from 51 to 7, etc. Of course, there's still room for improvement, but a quick comparison of 2004 to 2009 shows things are much better than they were.
hmm|10.23.09 @ 1:12PM|#
Assuming the numbers decreasing is a function of the incidents actually decreasing would be a huge mistake. Especially given this is a quasi-government entity. It's easy to make reported numbers decrease or increase, just change how you report the incidents. A tried and true government method for massaging numbers.
JB|10.24.09 @ 1:37AM|#
Yeah, maybe the guy is more willing to hide the bodies where no one can find them.
|10.23.09 @ 12:59PM|#
Sadly, that's 18 more firings than I expected.
But the Metro system has new radio ads. They assure us (in barey coded language) that if they hit and kill us, they now at least have the decency to feel bad about it. So that's an improvement.
|10.23.09 @ 1:02PM|#
If Catoe reduced stuff that much, then he did a good job, but...one must always question government numbers. Their first and immediate solution to bad stats is "cook the stats".
db|10.23.09 @ 1:04PM|#
Since 2004, Metro bus drivers and train operators have been cited more than 4,000 times for endangering the lives of their passengers.
Not quite true. "ELOP" only scores a "1" (in 2004) out of the total of 4709 infractions.
|10.23.09 @ 1:19PM|#
It's a portmanteau of camel toe, obviously. Something your dates are disproportionately afflicted with.
Warty|10.23.09 @ 1:29PM|#
Because no one understands why she's famous. Is it the stupid costumes, or that she shows her mediocre tits?
|10.23.09 @ 1:30PM|#
Sug, your fascination with her makes me question your heterosexuality.
Warty bangs her because she has a pulse and doesn't wear pants. That at least makes sense.
Warty|10.23.09 @ 1:35PM|#
If I banged her, it would only be because she's the kind of girl who likes having her head shoved in a toilet.
|10.23.09 @ 1:36PM|#
The damn feminism sites talk about her too much. It seeps in, like the semen stains on Steve Smith's jumper.
Anonymous|10.23.09 @ 1:06PM|#
♪ Look for the union label
♪ when you are walking down road, street or ave.
♪ Remember somewhere our union's driving
♪ our wages going to feed the crackheads in the whitehouse
♪ We look both ways, but who's complaining?
♪ Thanks to Metro drivers, we're paving the way!
♪ So always look for the union label,
♬ it says we're free to commit manslaughter in the U.S.A!
Warty|10.23.09 @ 1:06PM|#
What also displeases me is that the spam filter won't let me put my poem in my name. Don Marquis is seldom spam, you dickjizzers.
Warty|10.23.09 @ 1:27PM|#
Yes, your mother tastes like cigarettes and urine. What does that have to do with anything?
|10.23.09 @ 1:07PM|#
The report also found that despite the thousands of complaints over the last four years, just 18 Metro operators have been fired over that period.
I don't wish to excuse a bloated, inefficient government agency like the Metro but without looking, I'll bet that's a higher ratio of firings than the DC police force.
anon|10.23.09 @ 1:14PM|#
If I remember correctly, it's 40 for teenagers, 70 for toddlers, and 100 for 75+ .
CaptainSmartass|10.23.09 @ 1:22PM|#
You should lose points for hitting a senior citizen as it's too easy. It's not like they can jump out of the way.
|10.23.09 @ 1:25PM|#
If it's Robin Williams, you get infinity points and become king of the winter carnival.
|10.23.09 @ 1:23PM|#
I personally award bonuses for baby carriages. And cyclists pretty much trump everything.
John Tagliaferro|10.23.09 @ 1:16PM|#
bus drivers urinating into random containers on their buses.
If they were specific containers, I could let this slide. But now I demand crucifiction!
|10.23.09 @ 3:37PM|#
Right. Were they rolling dice to determine where their micturation would take place or something?
Xeones|10.23.09 @ 1:22PM|#
Urinating in random containers is no biggie. I do it all the time in my coworkers' cubicles.
|10.23.09 @ 1:23PM|#
Time to automate mass-transportation and remove it from street level. This will lower costs and improve performance and safety. Consider elevated Personal Rapid Transit (PRT). Not the "els" that our ancestors knew, PRT is personal, swift, and very quiet, providing direct, non-stop point-to-point service via a light, small-footprint infrastructure that is both sturdy and quick to construct, extend, or repair.
There are several different PRT approaches these days. The most well-developed of them will soon begin passenger service at Heathrow airport in London. For more information, check out http://www.ultraprt.com/cms/. For information about other approaches and PRT in general, check out http://kinetic.seattle.wa.us/getonboard.html.
I suppose that unions wouldn't much like PRT, either, and might engage in old-school sabotage and intimidation to keep it from happening. But I see no good reason why we shouldn't have completely automatic "horizontal" elevators to go with our vertically-oriented ones.
Some people wonder whether we can absorb the cost of even modestly-priced, low-impact new infrastructure, such as PRT requires. But when you consider the expenses in payroll, fuel, maintenance, etc., alongside the costs in injury, medical care, death, and liability, automatic systems such as PRT begin to look like SAVERS of money AND lives.
Bergholt Stuttley Johnson|10.23.09 @ 1:45PM|#
Fact: One of those PRT links is from Seattle.
Fact: Episiarch lives in Seattle.
Coincidence? Two-man con? You decide.
Grummun|10.23.09 @ 1:49PM|#
http://www.ultraprt.com/cms/
The cars will be lined with bodily fluids before you can blink.
|10.23.09 @ 1:35PM|#
Episiarch,
It's imperfect, like my understanding of this newfangled technology, but look upthread at your Robin Williams comment. It's possible to squeeze in a statement or question pre-insulting (or otherwise addressing) a comment, which for many readers will come across as a previous, rather than subsequent, comment.
Bergholt Stuttley Johnson|10.23.09 @ 1:39PM|#
Yes, but it only goes above if it is nested one level below, so it doesn't really work the way you thought..
|10.23.09 @ 1:42PM|#
Yeah, I learned that the hard way. As the Thomas Paine of anti-threaded comments, you can't expect me to understand their tricksey ways.
Warty|10.23.09 @ 1:46PM|#
I wonder how Radley reacts when we ruin one of his threads. I bet he laughs it off and acts like he's cool with it, but then tases some poor bastard on the way home.
Bergholt Stuttley Johnson|10.23.09 @ 2:01PM|#
So John Tagliaferro is Baked Penguin? Then who is Suki? I am so confused!
BakedPenguin|10.23.09 @ 1:48PM|#
They allwatchsnort Speed on a regular basis and get inspired. I know I do.
FTFY.
John Tagliaferro|10.23.09 @ 1:50PM|#
No pingback on this thread yet? Was going to throw in a Ukerbold link for great justice.
BakedPenguin|10.23.09 @ 1:52PM|#
As the Thomas Paine of anti-threaded comments, you can't expect me to understand their tricksey ways.
Give me <blockquote> or give me death?
BakedPenguin|10.23.09 @ 2:02PM|#
Henry, Paine - that's why the question mark was there. Given my general state of dementia, you should be surprised it wasn't a Lysander Spooner quote I mangled.
As for the other question, I'll take the 5th.
|10.23.09 @ 2:09PM|#
When possible, I'm replying right above comments to make it look like I said something before someone else.
SCREW THREADED COMMENTS!
|10.23.09 @ 2:47PM|#
It is at this point that the rebellion reached the unwashed common man and sparked like a flame that engulfed the blogging world like a colossus that was, um, on fire.
Xeones|10.23.09 @ 2:35PM|#
Penguin, you should try replying right before one of Pro Lib's comments, so that it looks like you beat him to the punch.
|10.23.09 @ 2:06PM|#
BP,
When possible, I'm replying right above comments to make it look like I said something before someone else.
Try it, you'll like it!
|10.23.09 @ 2:15PM|#
You almost got it. This is a very transient protest. It loses its effectiveness very quickly, as posts pop up here and there.
John Tagliaferro|10.23.09 @ 2:53PM|#
I hate it when the transients protest. They won't stay anyplace long enough to appear for trial.
Paul|10.23.09 @ 2:09PM|#
This is a Union gig, no? While I'm not ready to defend this John Catoe person, I'll bet there's not much he can do. These operations are run for the benefit of their Union employees, not the public.
|10.23.09 @ 2:13PM|#
BP,
I'm using my mind-control beams on you. The next thing you will say is,"So you don't think Catoe needs Cato, Pro Lib? You can handle the job?"
|10.23.09 @ 3:19PM|#
Paul knows better than to listen to you ProL. No matter how much you plan to butter him up.
Your pending, transparent attempt at flattery will fail.
|10.23.09 @ 3:23PM|#
See? My favorite so far is one I did to someone named Harry P in another thread, but it got mucked up by the inevitable interloper.
|10.23.09 @ 3:31PM|#
Psst, ProL, there's a post by this guy in another thread named Harry P. He'd be perfect for your hack, as long as no one else screws it up.
BakedPenguin|10.23.09 @ 2:12PM|#
So you don't think Catoe needs Cato, Pro Lib? You can handle the job?
BakedPenguin|10.23.09 @ 2:15PM|#
So John Tagliaferro is Baked Penguin? Then who is Suki? I am so confused!
No. If I was going to write a novel, the main character wouldn't be a slightly twisted Japanese American woman. I've dated a couple of those, and they are really, really scary.
Paul|10.23.09 @ 2:19PM|#
Was it worth it, though? I have some experience with crazy, and it can fun... for a while.
John Tagliaferro|10.23.09 @ 2:37PM|#
And Suki isn't Japanese. She isn't crazy either, at least by the time the couple has their Libertarian wedding.
BakedPenguin|10.23.09 @ 2:17PM|#
Pro Lib, that was a set up for "what DC needs is the Censor! And I'm the man..."
C'mon, it's not easy being the straight man. Help a brother out.
Xeones|10.23.09 @ 2:37PM|#
For everyone I'm preempting, please understand it is the system I'm attacking, not you personally. Every revolution requires the blood of innocents. Including Warty's.
|10.23.09 @ 2:45PM|#
Well, yes, Warty must die for the cause. We'll honor his sacrifice when we're running this blog, though. That I swear!
Warty|10.23.09 @ 4:18PM|#
I am not innocent, faggot. But if the revolution lets me put Don Marquis back in my handle, count me in.
Cracker|10.23.09 @ 2:22PM|#
For everyone I'm preempting, please understand it is the system I'm attacking, not you personally. Every revolution requires the blood of innocents. Including Pro Lib's.
|10.23.09 @ 2:24PM|#
Exactly. Now I can go to other threaded blogs and spread the word. My work here is done.
|10.23.09 @ 2:51PM|#
Fuck if I know. This is so confusing and time-consuming that I don't know which comment I made first.
|10.23.09 @ 2:19PM|#
For everyone I'm preempting, please understand it is the system I'm attacking, not you personally. Every revolution requires the blood of innocents. Including mine.
BakedPenguin|10.23.09 @ 2:23PM|#
Was it worth it, though? I have some experience with crazy, and it can fun... for a while.
Not crazy as in "wild as hell, in every possible way". I can see how that could be tolerable, even fun, for a while. Crazy as in jealous, vindictive, manipulative, manic, spooky, etc.
John Tagliaferro|10.23.09 @ 2:41PM|#
Sounds like the stalker I have now, except she is Caucasian and a Hamas sympathizer.
Paul|10.23.09 @ 2:25PM|#
Crazy as in jealous, vindictive, manipulative, manic, spooky, etc.
Oh, no, that's exactly what I meant! So was it worth it?
|10.23.09 @ 5:11PM|#
No, because we have threaded comments. So you can make a statement and see no activity, when, in actuality, people are commenting far above your comment, oblivious to your observations about Japanese women.
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