PRAISE FOR METRO,

DC STREETCARS

FROM

CANADA, EH

You think you've got it bad! Metro is in serious trouble. Endless track work will continue indefinitely, yet all the work done so far has yielded no tangible or quantifiable benefit discernable to riders. Stations will be closed again on weekends. Riders are returning to cars in droves, even as ridership rises in other cities.

Metro's solution? Charge more than it costs most people to drive for a daily round trip. That should win people over!

I still love our Metro system and its distinctive architecture. It is actually a real subway inside most of DC, which has become a lost art in transit. When did planners suddenly decide that underground subways were obsolete? They allow convenient routing through developed areas without demolitions, offer optimal station placement, travel faster than light rail, create no mess of wires and equipment on urban streets, and are protected from bad weather.

The fact is that developer-beholden politicians don't want to spend subway money, even as they want to facilitate transit-oriented-development everywhere possible. This is how you end up with BRT and light rail. And a Metro Silver Line with no parking for actual human beings who might use it.

So it's not surprising to hear negative reactions to a new subway proposed in Toronto. But you might be surprised to hear praise from Canada for the DC area's rail transit system.

A gent named Peter Witt responded to a comment section debate on a Toronto website with this advice:

"Try visiting Washington, D.C., a metro region the size of the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) where they are BUILDING FIVE STREETCAR LINES IN A CITY WHOSE SUBWAY SYSTEM KICKS THE TTC'S (Toronto Subway's) (fill in the blank). Aargh."

Sounds like things could be worse. While advocating for completion of our highway and transit system, sometimes you have to stop and marvel at our Metro system and Capital Beltway: impressive achievements that apparently could not be built today.