By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Metro has finally decided whether the tiles on its subway station platforms will be hexagonal, part of Metro’s trademark look, or squares. They’re going to be both: hexagonal designs inside squares.

The transit agency has picked a concrete tile to replace the original tiles that were adopted during the construction of the rail system, which began in 1969. At outdoor stations, the tile platforms are treacherously slippery when wet. The Metro board had one lengthy discussion almost three years ago to decide what to do about the tiles. There’s only one source for the distinctive six-sided tiles, and Metro officials have been trying to find a more durable tile that features the same terra cotta color and six-sided shape.

Agency officials tested the new tiles at the Takoma Metrorail station from December to April. The new ones are more durable and not as slick when wet, officials said.

Metro plans to replace old tiles with the new ones this fall at outdoor stations not covered by a canopy. The life expectancy of the old tiles is about five years, and the estimated cost of replacing them is between $1.2 million and $1.4 million, officials said. Officials could not provide an estimate of the life expectancy of the new tiles but said the durability of the concrete is likely to result in lower maintenance costs.

KO-mmentary: I do really love the hexagons, but less slippery tiles are nice. When I was leaving Gmont today maintenence had just mopped the floor. I grandma walked to avoid slipping. The ground looked more like it was covered in ice than in Spic ‘n Span.

Board Rejects Take-Home Food Sales

By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 29, 2009

So much for buying a chicken dinner at a Metrorail station on the way home from work.

Metro board members decided yesterday that proposals for retail kiosks in subway stations will not include food or beverages, overruling a staff recommendation to broach the idea. It is the second time in three years that the board has said no to food and drink sales at stations.

Although members welcomed retail sales of umbrellas, newspapers, flowers and dry-cleaning services in stations, they were unanimous in their belief that food sales would lead to more eating and drinking in the system. There was also concern about trash removal. Eating and drinking on trains and buses are among riders’ top complaints, and they say Metro police do not enforce the rules.

“I’m very concerned that once we open this door, it will swing wider and wider and never be able to close,” said Metro board chairman Jim Graham.

Under the staff proposal, food and beverages would have been required to be “packaged to discourage consumption.” An example would be take-home frozen dinners, said Nat Bottigheimer, Metro’s planning and development chief. Explained Metro General Manager John B. Catoe Jr.: “It’s not ice cream cones or hot dogs or Cokes.”

But, Maryland board member Peter Benjamin wanted to know, where does one draw the line? What about prepackaged ice cream?

Board member Anthony Giancola, a daily Red Line rider, said students who ride the system to and from school “are the worst violators.” He said he sees a police officer about once every 100 rides, with very little enforcement at station entrances or on the train itself. He suggested that transit police issue more tickets.

After nearly an hour of discussion that included complaints about lax enforcement and worries about overzealous enforcement (the 12-year-old handcuffed for eating a French fry in 2000, the woman jailed for chewing a candy bar in 2004), board members agreed to keep food and beverages out.

Virginia member Chris Zimmerman said there should be plenty of vendors who want to sell items other than food. “They sell umbrellas, they sell newspapers, they sell flowers and they rent DVDs,” he said.

Members also wanted to make sure that small businesses have a chance to be involved. The original proposal called for a “master licensee” to contract to set up vending at a minimum of 12 stations. Members said they want to open up the bidding process to focus on small businesses.

The board also asked that the staff reconsider the location of stations chosen for retail kiosks. The stations were initially selected based on available space and ridership. But Virginia member Jeff McKay said some of the stations have vendors in the surrounding areas. He suggested that isolated stations, such as Franconia-Springfield and Van Dorn Street, which have no nearby retail services, be included as well.

Metro officials are expected to rework the proposal and bring it back to the board next month.

KO-mmentary: Awesome. There’s nothing worse than having to smell someone’s takeout while confined to a small place. Plus people are slobs and I like that Metro doesn’t let anyone bring stuff on that could make it gross. There’s nothing worse than having someone’s MacDonald’s cup roll around on the ground, but maybe i’m just a little OCD.

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Anywho, I’m sure none of that is uncommon behavior, but it always amazes me the way the human is able to separate himself from the environment. Someone could be sitting in a noisy traincar with several strangers and still act as if they are by themselves. Still carry on a personal conversation, live in their own fantasy land or just freeze everyone out and pay attention to the words on the page.

On old TV shows, we’d see scenes of boy meeting girl on a train and striking up a romance or of someone meeting a wise sage, but that can’t happen today. Aproach someone on a train and they would think you are absolutely crazy and just pretend to not see you. I guess that’s not necessarily a bad thing -I mean its important to not talk to strangers because of course you never know who they are but that can also work in the other way as well. Give someone a small chance because you never know who they are -a love, a friend or maybe just someone whose lonely (or doing a personal project on people and transportation *ahem*). Opening up a bit doesn’t always mean inviting an axe murderer to your house for dinner, it could be just taking in your current environment for just one second and appreciating the surrounding world.

Song of today’s journey:

Here is the WaPo article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/26/AR2009052603286.html?hpid=artslot

Newspapers are dying -or so they say. Yes, it is true that several newspapers have folded this year and yes, consumers can get almost all the news they want on the internet. However, there is one market where I find that print will always live and thats with public transportation.

In the morning as communters rush down the escalators, almost all of them grab The Express, A free thin morning paper that is made by The Washington Post which features the big stories from the actual WaPo. Everyone on the train is either reading that or the actual WaPo, or the Wash Times, etc etc. You can’t get wireless underground and if you’re on a long journey, who wants to just sit? I think the industry should try to capitalize on this market more because it might be the small crack that print can slide into and expand itself.

I’ve ridden the Metro before…well, the subway part. I always enjoyed the subway because it gave me, a suburbanite used to being toted around in cars, the opportunity to feel like a city girl. To be catching the 10 o’clock, shuffling on-board with the commuters dressed up in their suits with id badges dangling down their necks made me feel official, I loved it. But there is a clear class difference between those who are riding the underground rails into Washington and the people who are riding the buses. The buses are for the commonfolk -The ones without licenses who straggle their kids and grocery bags to the nearest seats. Riding the buses are hardly glamorous and in the elite suburb I live in, it’s a bit unthinkable. But as the saying goes its a hard knock life. And I got no better lesson of this than with my inaugural bus ride today.
Ironically enough, I am currently taking morning driving school classes in Wheaton, a town about 15 minutes away which is well-known for its Hispanic immigrant presence. The driving school there offered the cheapest prices (a mere $280 instead of the $565 the driving school near my house was), which was music to my father’s ears, er pockets. The plan was in the morning my dad would drive me down there on his way to work, and at noon when my classes were done, i’d take the metro back home. My route home is this: Red line metrorail from Wheaton to Glenmont, from Glenmont, I take the Y9 bus headed north to Montgomery General Hospital and get off at the Old Baltimore bus stop where I then cross the road and walk home. Mission complete. In all, this journey takes me about half an hour and $3 to get home.
Well, today, the first day I make this journey was the rainiest day of the summer since i’ve been home. Wet, nasty, windy, gross. Naturally, I woke up in a really bad mood. However, once I got on the transportation I felt better. There were a lot of people on the Y9, mainly elderly and I noticed all of them knew the bus driver. He stopped where they got off before the rang the bell, he knew their names, they talked about their days, it was a great driver-passenger relationship that I had no idea existed.