Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority

June 27, 2016, the yellow line was not running around 7 PM between Mt. Vernon and L’Enfant. Here’s what I want. The minute there is an issue, I want a text and I want station managers and I want station digital signs and announcements to inform me of the issue and to tell me how to get where I’m going. It could have gone something like this. The yellow line trains are not servicing x, y, z, stops. There is a bus shuttle on the street to take you to L’Enfant. Instead, I entered the Mt. Vernon station. NOT one peep from any of the Metro employees who were all laughing and jiving and standing around having a little block party with each other. I go down the stairs and wait for a yellow to Huntington. After about 20 minutes an announcement all garbled and barely audible says something something about no yellow line service. I go up stairs to ask Metro employees about the yellow line. One says, oh yeah it’s not running. You have to go up tot he street to catch a bus to L’Enfant. I said, why didn’t you tell me when I entered? Why is there no digital update? Uhhh. Duh. It just happened. Well don’t you need to advise folks now. uhhh. Duh. uhhhh. Duh. uhhh. Duh. I received no alerts. then or later. When I checked the Metro web site on June 28 there is NO mention of a yellow line incident. Cover up?

We boarded the green line, in an attempt to take it to the blue or yellow at L’efant Plaza after a Nats game. It was not late, 9:30 for our initial departure, although, as we wait the hours grow later. (It is now almost midnight and we are still awaiting a single blue or yellow to take us to Springfield/​Franconia. Two hours and 15 minutes into our journey from Nats Stadium and we are only at Federal Triangle. Boo Metro. You suck. This is why liberals should never be allowed to run any business. What a shithole service that, unfortunately, has no competition to have its shit filled drawers blown off.

The system is an absolute mess and you should avoid it if possible. Bad customer service, unreliable, and they have had serious safety issues that are well documented in the media and government reports. If you have to use Metro, build in lots of extra time into your commute/​travel plans because trains regularly break down or there are track problems or what Metro calls «schedule adjustments.» Parking can be a challenge at stations outside the District. Most VA and MD stations will fill up by 7:30am. Even though you are not supposed to have food or drinks with you, I recommend bringing water in the summer months because AC can and will breakdown on trains. Metro is not consistent in pushing out information, so I recommend in addition to signing up for the official
that you find all the key twitter feeds including @metrofailinfo @unsuckdcmetro @metroreasons @wmata @metrotransitPD. With all these and the Washington Post you can usually figure out what the problems are near real time and work around them. Have your Über ap at the ready!

Three stars for the region’s bus system, which is great. I’ve gone without a car for the past several years and have done just fine getting around via the bus. It’s actually more reliable than Metrorail…
…which is the single worst public transportation system that I have ever encountered. So it (obviously) gets zero stars. Save your time and sanity, and take the bus, Über, Lyft, whatever you have to do so that you can avoid taking the subway. It really is as bad as they say, and practically unuseable any time it isn’t rush hour.

The Washington Metro attempted to deport me when I tried to use my card. My train arrived extremely late, when I consulted the captain he said: sorry we stopped for a bagel run. When I inquired if he had gotten me a bagel he responded no. I sadly got boarded the train without bagel in tow. The train stopped numerous times because as the conductor put it «this is my jam». The passengers next to me were extremley rude in fact one of them tried to trip me as I got off the metro. Luckily I am as lithe as a cat and avoided this hazard but sadly I was closelined by the conductor as I exited. I then found out the malicilous metro employee had charged me for my ride 10 times instead of 1. Very dissapointed with this service, I have rode on it several times but it was never this bad. Next time Im walking, my fitbit steps will go skyhigh.

I’ve lived in a lot of places around the world with metro/​subway systems and DC metro is the first one that has given me motion sickness. It’s a lot of braking and accelerating jerky motion of the trains. It may not smell as bad as Chicago subways, but it’s nowhere near as odor-​free as subways in Japan and Sweden. The Metro App is also weird and then doesn’t match the web site’s info all the time. I wanted to like the Metro here in DC, but it’s been a disappointment. I’m only here for a few months on business without a car so I have to use the metro, cycle and über a lot but if I lived here I’d try to live somewhere close enough where I could just walk to work. I feel bad for the current metro staff and workers because I know they are dealing with a poorly-​designed system that was put in place way before they even started working there, but hopefully they do some overhaul. Maybe they can start off with teaching the drivers/​conductors learn how to not brake like it’s an emergency each and every time.

The epitome of ignorance: «no, we are no longer single-​tracking going west.» «Sir, you’re not listening to me. Your train is going to go this way.»
The answers you give are either flatly false or insultingly inadequate.

I utilized the DC metro system fairly often while here for a conference recently. This review is for the Yellow and Green lines only, since those are the only ones I used during my stay here.
The good: fast, very clean trains that came frequently. I never had to wait more than 2 minutes for a train. The seats were cushy and comfortable, and the electronic system inside the train made it easy to track which stop you were currently at and how many more stops until your destination. With a Smart Card ($ 2 to purchase), you also save $ 1 per ride.
The bad: the cost per ride is calculated based on how far you travel and whether it is peak or off peak time. It seemed like the cost per ride was fairly expensive compared to the subway system in Boston. The worst part, though, is that the subway doesn’t even START running until 7am on Saturdays and Sundays. What?! I have never heard of a subway system in a major city starting that late. It makes it pretty difficult to get to be airport for an early flight on the weekends — we tried Ubering at 5:30am for our 7am flight and every single Über was booked for the 20 min that we tried.

Where to start? Pathetic incompetence, unsafe (people are stealing cell phones, harassment is not unusual, Metro Police is looking the other way). There is so-​called «Capital Improvement Program». It is causing massive delays. Many lines (Orange, Silver, Blue) are duplicated in terms of direction. Average waiting line is 10 – 20 minutes. Washington is really not a big city, so that inefficient metro has no justification in numbers. On the plus side, employees are considerate, but are unable to provide any effective help. Drivers variate in skills, some are accelerating and breaking a lot, so get a good stomach before entering into a train. And good luck — you’re gonna need it.

Its sad that I think the DC Metro is terrible. Im from the Bay Area so my standards aren’t too high. But sometimes you just get the feeling that Metro is intentionally trying to make your life hard.
Getting from Nat’l Airport on a sunday night, I get on the platform that has trains directed towards Fort Totten. A train pulls up, but on the display screens it just says «train» and on the trains themselves, there are multiple destinations written (some of which made no sense). iI get inside, and the train flips direction, goes towards Huntington.
I transfer to a northbound Blue at Braddock, 24mins. Apparently the yellow line was only traveling south of Nat’l Airport. Furthermore, the Green Line at L’Fenfant Plaza is closed. I would have to transfer at Metro Center to Red, take that up Ft Totten and catch a southbound green line train; just to get home to Columbia Heights.
At Metro Center, the transfer time was 27mins for the next red. Assuming the wait for a Green at Ft Totten, that would still be over two hours to get home from teh airport, which is supposed to have direct train service from my stop.
Needless to say, I took a cab.
They don’t post station closures anywhere in the stations.

Before I start, I’m going to preface by stating the DC Metro is NOT the New York City Subway. Allow me to repeat that. The DC Metro is NOT the New York City Subway.
Nothing will ever compare to the NYC Subway. It’s a 24÷7÷365 system that hustles and bustles in perhaps the largest city in the United States. This system is probably a good ¹⁄₃ of what the NYC Subway is. But this review isn’t about the NYC Subway, is it?
The Metro has its pluses and minuses, like every public transportation system. The pluses? Metro stations are immaculate and safe. The rule about no eating on the station platforms, or on the trains, is strictly enforced, and can result in a nice fine if caught (that is if the cop doesn’t just let you off with a warning). It’s quite rare to find graffiti on any of the station walls, because the walls are away from the platforms so it prevents vandals from acting on it. For the most part, the Metro does take you wherever you want to go, and transfers are really easy. Lastly, the next station signs are quite helpful, especially during rush hour when trains run in as little as 3 minute intervals. This, guided by the blinking lights on each platform to indicate when a train is about to arrive, make for easy knowledge to know when you can expect your next train.
Now for the not so good. Yes, the escalators. Because the Metro is built on a swamp (DC is a swamp), that means many stations had to be built very deep underground. That of course translates into longer escalators. The problem is the escalators break frequently, so riders often have to walk all the way up or down just to get to the train, thus there’s the oft-​not known rule on the DC Metro. If you want to walk on the escalators, stay to the left, if you want to just let it take you up or down, you stay to the right. Then there’s also the fares. Like many public transportation systems, the fares change depending on a couple of factors. In this instance, the fares change depending on where you get off (you pay when you get off the system, not like others where you pay before you get on), what day you are traveling, and the time of day you are traveling. So the further you go, the more you pay, especially during rush hour. Then there’s the Automatic Train Control (ATC) system that the Metro uses. In case you might not have noticed, Metro trains are operated by computer, not by human beings (they were manually operated after the Red line crash back in 2009; but they should all be back to computer operation by now). The operators open and close the doors and make station announcements, and can override the ATC, but that creates more likeliness for issues with the trains.
Sure, it’s certainly got its kinks, like awkward parking, limited spaces, and the fact its not a ²⁴⁄₇ system, but those are neither pros nor cons as they can go both ways depending on how you look at it. However, the Metro serves the DMV area better than you can expect, and will continue to look for ways to expand and grow as more people move into the area. Therefore, you can expect more pros and cons to arise as a result of this action.

If you like being late to work and you want to smell something vaguely burning in the air, have I got a deal for you!
For the low, low price of all of your lunch money, you can ride on the CARPETED FLOOR trains of tomorrow, today!
What’s that smell you ask? Fire? Smoke? Who knows?! Just stand there and ponder that while fellow commuters shift uncomfortably and look at each other nervously as you’re stuck in the same tunnel for 20 minutes because «There’s a car ahead of us and didn’t you have an important meeting to go to?»
When planning your commute, please make sure to add an additional 10 – 20 minutes due to the «Metro Factor». It’s like Chaos Theory with trains and broken escalators.
You can’t win the Metro game, you just survive another day.

Worst customer service possible. Rude, hostile station personnel most of the time. Even train conductors are usually unhelpful and generally treat passengers as malcreants who are responsible for the Metrorail mess. Newsflash — passengers are not the problem, but rather the victims. But who can say this except our Congressional delegations? Web based site offers no possible way for passengers to provide feedback or input. Trains in wretched condition, tracks poorly maintained, safety is lowest priority. Very seldom on time. Venture into metro at your own peril. One star is being generous. No star at all might be more honest.

They are the company responsible for DC’s Metrorail and bus system.
This is garbage-​level public transport from the most inept company in the United States. Multiple deaths and crashes, nothing is on time, no updated trains for decades with piss-​poor interior design causing congestion in the cars when there should be none. Poorly trained, miserable staff.
No major city in the world with a subway system uses this dumpy interior layout designed by an Italian company in the 1970s. They put split rows of double seats perpendicular to the train’s exterior walls in the center of the car so there is no standing room. Every major subway system in the world uses seats parallel to the exterior walls to maximize central standing room. This includes the subway in Rome, which, shockingly, has been updated since the 1970s.
If you know someone who believes the American capitalist system works, show them the United States capital city’s public subway system. They’ll be voting for Bernie Sanders as soon as they can escape the station.
Anyone who thinks DC’s metro is anything but 1-​star level has never experienced subway systems around the world. Delhi, India has a better subway system. Hell, Disney World’s monorail is better.

Left Franconia at 9:20. Still on platform at van dorn at 9:40? Some unintelligible announcement about single tracking and maintenance but no information on whether each stop would be affected. Ruined our day trip downtown.

My wife and I stopped to see Washington, DC on a Sunday. We can’t really afford the trip, but we were in our way back from a wedding in NJ, so we took advantage of being in the area. We researched cheapest options and decided to use the metro.
A big part of our decision was free parking on the weekend. When we got back from the Smithsonian to our car, we were trapped in the lot, and the attendant wouldn’t let us out until we paid. We didn’t like it, but we figured it would be $ 5, and we were willing to pay that much just to get out of there.
The receipt say FIFTEEN DOLLARS?! The website explicitly states, «Weekends and federal holidays: Parking at Metro-​operated lots is free.» (
).
We found out later that there was a sporting event somewhere in Washington so they jacked the prices up for that. But we had no reasonable way to have known that or expected that. We don’t care anything about sporting events. We just came to see the monuments and museum. We have receipts from downtown. We were there all day.
We want a refund. Will we get one?

Wonderful system. Be sure to get a Smartcard and save $ 1.00 on each trip. You can load how much you will need onto the card in advance. Safe and mostly clean.
You should figure out if a daily pass or weekly pass is right for you. You might be better off just paying for each trip.

Fairly easy to navigate, system is old, and not well maintained, the trains do not seem to be on any kind of schedule, they sort of come and go whenever. For the most part we got where we need to go in a timely manner, but we a had a few instances of long waits for a train. I do not like how they down right divide the rail and bus riders, no single pass available for both, and no discounts with the smart card when transferring unless you used e-​cash for both modes. Probably the most expensive system to use in the country behind BART in SF.

Unreliable service, trains without AC. Band new train with mechanical problems. Packed trains high fares to name a few.

I may be a girl from the midwest, but I’ve experienced my fair share of public transit. After a month in the DC area, I’ve had enough of the Metro.
It’s easy to navigate, I’ll give it that, but actually getting somewhere in a decent amount of time is not Metro’s forte. I get that traffic might not be quite as busy as rush hour on the weekends, so trains might not need to operate as frequently. But apparently it’s the norm for there to be some sort of maintenance every weekend, and therefore the trains need to be spaced so that the entire state of Texas can fit between them. I’ve literally spent more time waiting for a train than actually riding it. And heaven forbid you have to transfer lines, where you might wait anywhere from a few minutes to 20 minutes for the next train. It’s like your own little Hunger Games… may the odds be ever in your favor.
Be sure to avoid the Metro around a busy event like right after a Nats game. WMATA does not plan ahead for these things and add service, because that would make sense. Instead, you may find the train you just waited 20 minutes for so overcrowded you can’t get on, so now you get to wait another 20 minutes!
Despite all the unreliability, they still think they should charge you like it’s first-​class service. A 28-​day pass on the SmarTrip card sets you back $ 237. I didn’t buy one because I was mainly using the Metro on the weekends. However, I still spent close to $ 100 this month just loading it up as needed. For that same amount, I could get a monthly pass in Chicago and almost a monthly pass in NYC, and I’m pretty sure with both of those you get bus service too. Just saying.
Sure, it’s arguably cleaner than the NYC subway, but should that be the standard? «Wow, no rats or constant smell of urine? What a clean transit system!» There’s definitely room for improvement. And while the NYC stations may not be glamorous, you also aren’t at them for more than a few minutes either.
The workers I’ve interacted with have been mostly friendly. However, the drivers could use more training on the art of maintaining a constant speed. Dancing between fast acceleration and slamming on the brakes is not good for people like me prone to motion sickness.
There are things I will miss from my time here in the DC area, but the Metro is not one of them. I never thought I could appreciate my driving commute back home so much. Say what you want about the «costs» of owning a car, but at least I don’t have to sit in my garage waiting 24 minutes for my car to show up.

Out of the many public transportation systems that I have had the pleasure of riding, the Metrorail in Washington DC is up there as one of my favorites. Compared to New York City, the subway in DC is much smaller, much cleaner and much easier to navigate. Instead of having many different numbers and letters representing the train lines, it is done by color. There are also only a handful of lines, compared to the many that NYC offers. Of course, DC is a much smaller city than New York, but the lines are laid out much more logically.
The stations themselves are very clean, well lit and spacious. This is a stark contrast to the cramped, polluted, stinky and dim stations in the NYC system. The rails themselves seem to be cleaned out regularly, and I have not seen a single vermin on the tracks as of yet. There is also a police presence, which is huge when traveling late at night or in rough parts of town. The trains are also clean, and from the few days I spent in DC, they arrived regularly on time. Maybe a minute or two off, but not a huge deal. Light years better than most public transportation systems in this country.
Even the payment system, which is a card you tap on the turnstile, is very nice. Fare is based on the distance that you travel, instead of a single purchase (like most cities). You tap the card when you enter the station, and when you leave. There isn’t a weekly or a monthly pass, but I found this system to be convenient and possibly more affordable. Especially if you work only a few stations away. You pay a cheaper price than if you travel to the other side of town.
The system is overall very solid, and makes me envious of my friends who live in the Washington DC metro area. Considering it is the capitol of our great nation, it really deserves such a great system. I’m giving it a rare but well deserved five stars.