Bethesda Metro station escalator repair, controlled blasting

WMATA is making "minor" repairs to the oft-broken escalator between the plaza and bus bays at the Bethesda Metro station. In related news, there is expected to be controlled blasting near the Metro station for the Purple Line light rail project between now and the end of the year.

When blasting occurs, Metro trains will be held outside the station for several minutes. Passengers inside the station will be directed to exit by personnel, and then re-enter following the detonation. WMATA says to "expect loud noises during this time."

One caveat to all of this, is that the Purple Line contractor has said it will abandon the light rail project in the middle of construction as of today, June 20, unless they are compensated for cost overruns. Stay tuned.

Bethesda Metro escalators: Oh, no, not again!

I am shocked...shocked!...to report that some of the same escalators are out of service again at Bethesda Metro Center. The plaza-to-bus-bays escalator has been closed early this week for what WMATA calls a "major repair." WMATA also reports that a bus bays-to-mezzanine escalator will be out of service for at least part of today for an "inspection repair."

Riders have fled the system for their own personal vehicles or Uber, and only those who get free rides from the government or other employers are returning. The Washington Post has hilariously published recent editorials acknowledging that Metro is still terrible, and demanding that someone devise a way to force people to use it anyway. "Someone figure out how to keep those darn stagecoaches in business!" Good luck!

Escalator madness at Friendship Heights Metro station (Photos)

Escalator "modernization" continues at the Metro station with one of the longest escalator outages in Metro history, Friendship Heights. WMATA says they currently expect the Western Avenue bus bays-to-middle landing escalator to be back in service on December 30 of this year. The longer escalator between the middle landing and the mezzanine is expected to reopen on July 18. Stay tuned!

WMATA misses another escalator deadline at Bethesda Metro station (Photos)

WMATA promised the extremely-behind-schedule repair of the plaza-to-bus bays escalator at the Bethesda Metro station would be completed this week, and that it would be back in service yesterday. Wrong. The escalator was out of service Friday.

“SafeTrack has been very successful in terms
 of safety performance, work completed,
and schedule achieved.” - WMATA

Metro has been blasted by riders now that the final results are in for the "surge" and "Safe Track" efforts, and they have been an utter failure. They didn't even fix the water leaks at Bethesda, and are going to start another Safe Track-style extended station closure scheme this month to "try" to fix it. In fact, the end of Safe Track brought a complete meltdown on the Red Line this week. As I told you all along, Safe Track was nothing more than a way for Metro to save money by not running trains, while "looking busy." This from the transit agency that can't even get automatic train control operational with eight years to fix it. Eight years!

"This is an enormous achievement."
- Metro Board member Jack Evans

Forgive me for having a few chuckles while listening to our inept Montgomery County Council give equally inept Metro boss Paul Wiedefeld a "Heckuva job, Brownie!" warm welcome in Rockville this week. Perhaps in their shared incompetence, they find P.W. a kindred spirit of sorts. It's a match, folks.

There's also some new art in the Bethesda Metro station, and I have to say, I don't like it. I tried to contain myself when the first mural was done around the upper rim of the bus bays. But it basically looks like someone vandalized the station. It would be fine in a different context on its own, but it just doesn't fit with the Metro architecture. When you think of the great artistic triumphs of Greece and the Roman Empire, and then consider public art in downtown Bethesda...Good God, what's happened to
us? We need someone to Make Public Art Great Again!

"The remainder of the system
is in good shape."
- Paul Wiedefeld

“We’ll see a continuation of the
improvement of our infrastructure."
- Joe Leader, Metro COO

Troubled Bethesda Metro escalator misses yet another repair deadline as WMATA fails to show result for surge (Photos)

The plaza-to-bus bays escalator at the Bethesda Metro station has missed yet another repair deadline. WMATA had promised the frequently-broken escalator would be back in service by May 24. Oops, today is June 1. Now Metro says it will be repaired by Sunday, June 4.

Right.

Give these crooks $15 billion
more? HELL, NO!

Commuters this week may chuckle or curse when reminded of bumbling Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld's March 22 comment on escalators at the busy Bethesda station:

"Today, our escalators are the most reliable they've been in six years and an example of the investments we are making to improve service for customers."

Now Wiedefeld is asking for $15 billion more, with no new financial oversight to ensure it isn't just flushed down the WMATA toilet like all the money we've given them up until now. Please.

The "surge," "SafeTrack," and rider-gouging fare hikes have all failed to show any results in safety, reliability, or customer service. They couldn't even restore automatic train operation, after years to work on it. Until there is an independent financial control board in place, Maryland's response to any request for new taxes or funding should be, "Hell, no!"

Plaza-to-bus bays escalator out at Bethesda Metro station (Photos)

Oh, no, not again! "Give us $15 billion more" WMATA can't even keep the often-repaired escalator between street level and the bus bays at the Bethesda Metro center operating. Metro says the escalator is expected to be back in service by Wednesday.

Metro fails Bethesda again (Photos) #WMATA

This many people were waiting
for a shuttle to escape the
shuttered Bethesda Metro station
Wednesday morning...

Commuters were greeted Wednesday morning with the not-so-rare news that trains would be bypassing the Bethesda Metro station due to a (what-a-shock) escalator outage. But what Metro does next typifies the customer service riders have come to expect.

Shuttles were supposed to take would-be subway riders north to the Medical Center station. But during late rush hour, somebody decided to lowball just how many commuters they thought would need the shuttles.

As the line of waiting passengers grew, a bus finally appeared. But those unable to squeeze themselves into the rolling sardine can were left behind to wait.

...and they're all supposed
to fit onto this

Even Metro's biggest apologist, Dr. Gridlock in the Washington Post, appeared to be somewhat distancing himself from the organizational fiasco known as WMATA after the recent death of a passenger on a smoke-filled train. Alas, he's slipping back into his over-rationalization ways in more recent columns.

It's not getting better. The station-closing work plan hasn't worked. And Richard Sarles was hands-down the worst head of the system in its history.

One recent bright spot - the plan to turn around less trains at Grosvenor - was overshadowed by complaints that inbound trains are now even more crowded for those south of Rockville.

Bethesda deserves better. A real leader for Metro, reliable basic service, better handling of emergencies, and 8-car trains on the Red Line would be a start.