Author Topic: Nationals Games & Metro  (Read 4220 times)

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Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: Nationals Games & Metro
« Reply #75: August 26, 2012, 10:36:22 AM »
and vastly more horrible
Chicago and NY are vastly larger cities.


Offline Clever

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Re: Nationals Games & Metro
« Reply #76: August 26, 2012, 10:38:00 AM »
NJ transit is commuter rail- you might as well throw in amtrak
The original statement was about other cities having a superior combination of commuter rail and subway.

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: Nationals Games & Metro
« Reply #77: August 26, 2012, 10:38:16 AM »
Metro is a good system, at least on paper...but operationally it has become a bit of a $hitshow.  And so it will probably remain unless it gets some sort of dedicated federal funding.

Online HalfSmokes

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Re: Nationals Games & Metro
« Reply #78: August 26, 2012, 10:42:23 AM »
The original statement was about other cities having a superior combination of commuter rail and subway.

The original statement was about metro

Offline mitlen

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Re: Nationals Games & Metro
« Reply #79: August 26, 2012, 10:48:32 AM »
Whenever I think of Metro or ride it, I think "quaint".    It's cutesy for moving tourists and others to the middle of the city.   It's not functional on a daily basis as a rush hour/crowded/people moving system.   It wasn't designed to be that.   A two track system that doesn't reach the major international airport for over 35 years?    It's easier to drive from Shady Grove to Catholic University or Tyson's Corner to Bethesda.    It certainly wasn't built to move people from a sold out baseball game nor was the stadium built in a place that makes it easy to move masses of people by public transportation.   Metro is great if you live near it and can be home by midnight.   It's a pain in the ass for the other 5,000,000 people in the area.

Offline blue911

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Re: Nationals Games & Metro
« Reply #80: August 26, 2012, 10:52:13 AM »
Whenever I think of Metro or ride it, I think "quaint".    It's cutesy for moving tourists and others to the middle of the city.   It's not functional as a rush hour/crowded/people moving system.   It wasn't designed to be that.   A two track system that doesn't reach the major international airport for over 35 years?    It's easier to drive from Shady Grove to Catholic University or Tyson's Corner to Bethesda.    It certainly wasn't built to move people from a sold out baseball game nor was the stadium built in a place that makes it easy to move masses of people by public transportation.   Metro is great if you live near it and can be home by midnight.   It's a pain in the ass for the other 5,000,000 people in the area.

It's designed to move people into or out of the city, not around the city and certainly not around the suburbs.

Offline mitlen

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Re: Nationals Games & Metro
« Reply #81: August 26, 2012, 11:10:14 AM »
It's designed to move people into or out of the city, not around the city and certainly not around the suburbs.

Exactly, but I worked so hard on my rant.   :)

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: Nationals Games & Metro
« Reply #82: August 26, 2012, 11:20:57 AM »
Very tough to have viable train-based rapid transit where you don't have the density.  It'll never make sense outside its main task, which is to pull people into the core from radial spokes.  I'm a skeptic of the purple line and the concept of loop lines outside the core.

That said, it works pretty well for the ballpark for anyone who regularly commutes by rail. The ballpark is close to the core.

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: Nationals Games & Metro
« Reply #83: August 26, 2012, 11:24:11 AM »
The purple line will quickly and efficiently transport housecleaners and restaurant staff to Bethesda and then back to the barrio in the evening.

Very tough to have viable train-based rapid transit where you don't have the density.  It'll never make sense outside its main task, which is to pull people into the core from radial spokes.  I'm a skeptic of the purple line and the concept of loop lines outside the core.


Offline mitlen

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Re: Nationals Games & Metro
« Reply #84: August 26, 2012, 11:26:46 AM »
The purple line will quickly and efficiently transport housecleaners and restaurant staff to Bethesda and then back to the barrio in the evening.



Oh no he din't.

Offline blue911

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Re: Nationals Games & Metro
« Reply #85: August 26, 2012, 11:30:04 AM »
Exactly, but I worked so hard on my rant.   :)

and it was a good one.




Offline blue911

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Re: Nationals Games & Metro
« Reply #86: August 26, 2012, 11:32:54 AM »
Very tough to have viable train-based rapid transit where you don't have the density.  It'll never make sense outside its main task, which is to pull people into the core from radial spokes.  I'm a skeptic of the purple line and the concept of loop lines outside the core.

That said, it works pretty well for the ballpark for anyone who regularly commutes by rail. The ballpark is close to the core.

Light rail is a better option than the massive costs to build an underground system. This was the core of public transportation until the oil & gas companies brought congress in the '50's.

Offline OldChelsea

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Re: Nationals Games & Metro
« Reply #87: August 26, 2012, 12:54:53 PM »
Metrorail/bus has a lot of faults (It really has problems with crowds after Nats matches, and can get a bit time-consuming in that respect) but when all is said and done it serves my needs OK.

(And of course there really is the matter of those closure times if/when the Nats reach the post-season - I really don't want to have to put half my playoff tickets on StubHub, like I have to do with the ESPN Sunday nighters.)

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: Nationals Games & Metro
« Reply #88: August 26, 2012, 01:01:34 PM »
Elevated light rail has been a huge success in some of the world's most densely populated and congested urban areas...the Bangkok skytrain will get you down the length of Sukhomvit in the time it would take to drive one block during rush hour.

Light rail is a better option than the massive costs to build an underground system. This was the core of public transportation until the oil & gas companies brought congress in the '50's.


Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: Nationals Games & Metro
« Reply #89: August 26, 2012, 02:36:18 PM »
Light rail is a better option than the massive costs to build an underground system. This was the core of public transportation until the oil & gas companies brought congress in the '50's.

yes.  but be careful - you are being watched by them. 

And, as long as we are being watched, I'm all for them keeping $4B in tax breaks while defunding wind  power and alt energy.  We should not be picking winners.  We should just feel fortunate that the winners allow us to subsidize them.

Offline tomterp

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Re: Nationals Games & Metro
« Reply #90: August 26, 2012, 08:00:44 PM »
Metro is a good system, at least on paper...but operationally it has become a bit of a $hitshow.  And so it will probably remain unless it gets some sort of dedicated federal funding.

It needs better management and a new culture more than it needs money.

Offline CALSGR8

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Re: Nationals Games & Metro
« Reply #91: August 26, 2012, 08:55:22 PM »
metro isn't the dc government though- MD and VA have no vested interest in the Nats and it's probably in their interest for the area to stay underdeveloped to the extent development poaches residents and employers

Yeah?  All jurisdictions, Maryland, Virginia and Dc fund Metro!  If they didnt more cars would be on their roads causing more congestion, accidents, and road repair.

Offline tomterp

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Re: Nationals Games & Metro
« Reply #92: August 26, 2012, 09:11:56 PM »
Yeah?  All jurisdictions, Maryland, Virginia and Dc fund Metro!  If they didnt more cars would be on their roads causing more congestion, accidents, and road repair.

Nobody is disagreeing that all jurisdictions fund metro, Halfsmokes merely pointed out that the DC Government is not the same thing as Metro.  Nor is Fairfax the same thing as metro.

Offline OldChelsea

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Re: Nationals Games & Metro
« Reply #93: August 30, 2012, 09:41:04 AM »
Metro may or may not run all that well these days...but get caught on one of their trains engaging in a bit of auto-eroticism and they are ON IT! http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/news/PressReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=5318

Offline CALSGR8

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Re: Nationals Games & Metro
« Reply #94: September 18, 2012, 05:01:17 PM »
From WTOP. FANS GUARANTEED METRO TO STAY OPEN!

 http://www.wtop.com/109/3042897/Evans-guarantees-Metros-home-run