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AfghanHokie t1_ir5uj1p wrote

Those times depress me. I’m currently in Vienna (Austria) on vacation and they have trains running every 4 minutes in rush hour, clean stations and clean trains. Why can’t a city as important as DC get its system under control.

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cfitzpancake t1_ir60ucc wrote

Because the Metro was designed to be part true subway, part commuter rail. If you look within city limits (probably more helpful when comparing to Vienna, which has less of an American-looking sprawl), you see trains lines doubled and tripled up, such that (under regular operation) you get 4-10-minute headways, more similar to NY’s MTA and European systems.

That being said, is WMATA a world-class powerhouse compared to European systems? Absolutely not, and transit-oriented innovation, development, and incentives have a long way to go here.

But especially as you look out along the suburban strands of every metro line, it’s important to note that it operates like an electrified commuter rail for the purposes of an electrified commuter rail, rather than a true subway. The demand isn’t there right now for trains to serve Ashburn — an exurb over 30 miles from the downtown core — at a frequency of 4 minutes.

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well-that-was-fast t1_ir627q1 wrote

Exactly this.

There is no way you can run trains on 4-minute headways out to suburban parking lots -- which is what most of the system is outside of DC.

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sagarnola89 t1_ir6g6e7 wrote

Agree wholeheartedly except I'd amend this to say outside of the Beltway. Stations outside of DC but within DC (Arlington, Alexandria, Bethesda, Silver Spring, College Park , etc) usually aren't on suburban parking lots.

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well-that-was-fast t1_ir6gzra wrote

I agree there are few non-parking lot stations outside of DC, but this:

> outside of the Beltway.

is pretty generous. Alexandria Eisenhower looks like this and King St isn't vastly better.

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sagarnola89 t1_ir6hx8d wrote

That's fair. Alexandria is especially bad. Better examples would be Arlington, Bethesda, and Silver Spring, all of which have walkable urban cores around their metro stations.

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Aonswitch t1_ir5ypbd wrote

I was in Copenhagen last month and the trains came every 90 seconds. Felt weird waiting 12 minutes for the red line on the same day coming back from dulles

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coocookuhchoo t1_ir6786o wrote

Simply unfair to compare ourselves to Denmark. They really have things figured out.

I remember when I was there taking a bunch of pictures of this road that had an elevated and separated bike lane going in both directions, a separated bus lane going in both directions, and then in the center two car lanes (one in each direction). It was….beautiful.

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Aonswitch t1_ir6crxt wrote

Why is it unfair? It’s literally a capital city with a metro transit system. You think it’s that bad to expect to be better?

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coocookuhchoo t1_ir6d80j wrote

No I was sort of just being cheeky saying it's unfair to compare us because they are lightyears ahead. Would love to be more like them.

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sagarnola89 t1_ir6ghrl wrote

Its unfair because we all know the politics when it comes to government funding of public services (unfortunately) is completely different in the U.S. than it is in Western Europe.

And it's cultural. In the U.S. taking public transit is considered something "poor people" do. I don't own a car and only take public transit, and most of my friends and family are absolutely flabbergasted that I don't buy a car and drive. Or when I suggest we take the metro instead of an Uber. In Western Europe, a man in a suit on his way to the opera would take public transit, no problem.

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CaptainObvious110 t1_ir6iaj7 wrote

Yeah you are correct. I don't own a car and I have friends that are really annoying about me driving and I'm just going to have to be firm and tell them to knock it off already.

I'm an adult, and I don't have to justify to you why I do what I do or don't do something. I've been getting around just fine by means of public transportation and am happy with that. Respect that and kindly shut up about it.

For the majority of what I need to do I can use my bicycle. Why is that something laughable? I'm out her getting excercise and taking better care of myself and that's funny? Yeah ok.

It's definitely cultural and it's sad how people have been manipulated into thinking that this is the way it should be when it isn't. People look absolutely miserable being in traffic or dealing with other folks who can't just be civilized and go where they need to go.

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sagarnola89 t1_ir6j1tp wrote

Agree 100%. And the worst are the people I know who claim to be progressive and care about the environment but never use public transit.

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CaptainObvious110 t1_ir7d92d wrote

It's hilarious when people don't even know how to get to and from with public transportation. If they were were new in town sure I get that at least for a period of time but not when you are born and raised here.

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BoozAlien t1_ir6zqtf wrote

>In the U.S. taking public transit is considered something "poor people" do.

And sadly this is increasingly what Metro is becoming, as the agency shows absolutely no signs that it's capable of returning frequency of service to the levels that people with the means to have different options considered normal before the pandemic and the 7K train issues.

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sagarnola89 t1_ir73cih wrote

Honestly,, I lived in London for a year, which obviously has a great transit system. The DC Metro is by and large much cleaner and nicer, and in the summer the lack of AC on the London Tube can be brutal. But, that didn't stop wealthy Londoners from gladly taking the Tube. I still maintain you can't disconnect public transit issues in the US from cultural and racial factors.

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AfghanHokie t1_ir5z9c9 wrote

Seriously. Right now I’m on a platform and it’s every 2 or 3 minutes. Vienna is a 1/3 the size we are.

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SandBoxJohn t1_ir7rs3u wrote

If WMATA had enough rolling stock they could also do that.

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[deleted] t1_ir60h0o wrote

Thought you meant Vienna, VA for a second and was curious 1) why you’d consider that a vacation destination given your proximity to it and 2) about these 4 minute wait times considering it’s on the Metro line. Makes WAY more sense now 🤣

ETA: the clarification about it being Vienna, Austria came after I posted this.

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Centigonal t1_ir60gmn wrote

for other confused people: Vienna, Austria

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Macrophage87 t1_ir6co6b wrote

Oh that makes more sense, because Vienna, VA is a really good example of American sprawl

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sagarnola89 t1_ir6fbg1 wrote

Well primarily because one of our two major parties is against funding public transit and would rather fund new roads and interstates.

But additionally, I'll defend the Metro a bit. Ashburn is 35 miles from Washington DC. Trains to Ashburn are much more analogous to commuter rails, not rapid transit. Expecting a train from 35 miles away every 4 min is simply unrealistic and not done even in Western Europe.

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AfghanHokie t1_ir6gcqt wrote

That’s a valid reason, but why not have 7 minute trains in the city? Metro use to be great when I was a teen but it’s been a slow decline before the pandemic even. I know it’s by design, but it just sucks when you see the potential for transit when you go to European cities that put the focus on mass transit, bikes and walkability.

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sagarnola89 t1_ir6ho31 wrote

I don't disagree with you. My dream is to transform the U.S. into a transit friendly country like most of the rest of the developed. Sadly, it's not the reality currently. DC transit is still light years ahead of most American cities (the fact that I can live a high quality life without a car would be impossible in 90% of American cities).

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SandBoxJohn t1_ir7r9ga wrote

Metrorail is a hybrid transit system akin to a cross between commuter rail and rapid transit. All of the system built from scratch in the second half of the last century in the United States were planed like that.

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TheExtremistModerate t1_ir63kvl wrote

Because the stations are all super far apart in Virginia, and it doesn't make logistical sense to put out a shit ton of extra mostly-empty trains to artificially bring down suburban wait times, especially when the Metro is already hemorrhaging money as-is.

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Macrophage87 t1_ir6d1x3 wrote

No transportation project is financially viable without taxpayer funds. This way, the metro gets to tap into the tax base of the county with the highest median household income in the US. There's also likely to be some additional traffic benefit from people who come in from IAD as well.

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[deleted] t1_ir71jro wrote

the Vienna metro system is so friggin nice compared to anything in the US. 1 euro a day for Vienna residents, unlimited use on all public transit. its embarrassing coming back to the US after visiting my brother who lives there (oh yeah, he's getting a masters in biochemistry for the brutal cost of 50 euros a semester)

amazing when a society and government place a high value on citizen quality of life over greed and profit seeking

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therealsazerac t1_ir78onj wrote

I don't know, immigration still happens in this country. You don't see migrants in Latin America clamoring for visas to go to western Europe

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wikipuff t1_ir6qlry wrote

Very similar to what I experienced in Moscow during the World Cup. A maximum of 4 minutes wait, even on the very ends during a blizzard. They also had clocks in the tunnels to show how long for a train. I could not be more impressed.

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