On reliability

I live in an apartment building, and over the last month and a half or so, we’ve had to make due with one elevator, as opposed the usual two. After nearly four decades of faithful service, both elevator cabs and motors will be replaced with modern equipment. As each elevator gets replaced (a process that takes about three months apiece), my fellow residents have to make due with just one elevator.

This can be problematic. Soon after the engineers de-coupled the electronics to remove the first elevator, the remaining unit could not be called back to the lobby – it had to be sent back, something people (especially those on higher floors, of course) forgot to do, despite the signs covering the elevator and halls. I greatly strengthened my calves during this period.

Now, they’ve ripped the floor indicators from the walls, replacing the ‘50s-style panels with shiny digital replacements. The catch is that they won’t actually tell you which floor the elevator is on until both elevators are installed in four and a half months. So given the one working elevators’ propensity to occasionally not work and my inner New Yorker’s natural antsyness, waiting for the elevator is now nearly unbearable. Not only does it take longer than it did with two old but working units, I don’t even know if it’s working at all.

What does this have to do with transit? Well, aside from the fact that elevators are technically transportation, it brings up the issue of reliability. My elevator causes me a hassle at least once a day out of an average of 4-6 daily trips. When I drive, I end up taking longer than I expected, get lost or run into a traffic jam about a third of the time, more during periods of increased workday driving. Metro escalators, unreliable as they seem, are perhaps out once a month at most, which comes out to one out of every 50 rides (up and down), although some outages can last far longer.

But the Metro, where I spend the bulk of my commuting time and money, has brought me to work late on three occasions in the nine months I have been working at my current job. Which means that a much-maligned government-run money-losing system is more reliable than my elevator, laundry machine, computer, car (in terms of punctuality) and the pilot lights on my stove combined. In fact, my microwave and stereo may be the only complicated mechanical devices in my life to work on a more consistent basis.

Not bad for an essentially socialist enterprise.