Thursday, August 9, 2007

The Wheels on the Bus go round and round...

And from my vantage point yesterday afternoon, I could actually see them while riding on the bus!

For those of you who don't know the METRO (subway) had 3 stations closed on the Red Line yesterday due to a suspicious package found onboard a train. That means yours truly here had to find alternative transportation to (at least) the Van Ness station to get home.

When I heard about the shutdown I debated taking a cab or even hiking it up to Van Ness (not a good idea in this heat!) but decided to see how bad it would really be at Farragut North to get a bus.

My thoughts confirmed, there was a mob of about 200 people waiting to board buses. But as I got closer I also saw 4-6 yellow vested Metro employees directing bus and passenger traffic and keeping things fairly orderly. 3 buses at a time rolled in, filled up and rolled out with about 5 min in between waves. The people waiting were getting a little agitated but most were ok with a little inconvenience for a lot of safety. They even laughed at some of my jokes. All this and I was just across the street from the DC Improv. Oh well, next time inside the doors.

Once we got on the bus (I had to wait for 3 but it only took about 15-20 min). We went straight up Connecticut and got to Van Ness, where inside the station by the turnstiles, there were more uniformed metro employees telling us to go right through and not use our fare cards (a free ride...same as on the bus...very nice indeed). More employees were on the track platform instructing us to spread all the way down and not bunch up.

Dare I say it, METRO got this one right. They informed the ridership early about the station closure, provided adequate alternative transportation, and most importantly had uniformed staff there to instruct people on what to do and where to go.

Kudos to Metro and a special thank you to all those staff members who were out in the heat yesterday helping us get home.

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