Several other pink supporters said the color could help raise awareness of breast cancer, which has long been symbolized by pink.
"Having people think more about breast cancer could not be a bad thing in our society," wrote Mary Elizabeth Buttitta, an 8th grader at Northside Catholic Academy.
Because whenever I take the Red Line, all I can think about is AIDS.
The California High-speed Rail Authority has been quite busy over the past few years. Their web site has lots of interesting information on their plans and deliberations. When I lived in the Bay area, this seemed like more of a dream, but they are definitely a pretty serious bunch. They have identified where the rail line should do from San Diego all the way up through the Central Valley to Sacramento, and they now have to figure out how out to connect to and travel through the Bay Area. They also will require a lot of money - $33 billion for the entire system, $9 billion for the first part. Some interesting details (dreams?):
once built, the service provided by the system is expected to yield annual operating surpluses in excess of $300 million
because high-speed attracts more passengers, generates more revenues and lowers unit costs of production... The resulting combination of higher revenue and lower unit operating costs has made all highspeed train services net contributors to the financial performance of their operators.
Express high-speed trains will take one hour and fifteen minutes between San Diego and Los Angeles, and a little over two and one-half hours from San Francisco to Los Angeles. When time to get to, through, and from stations and airports is factored in, high-speed train travel will be as quick or quicker than air travel for most trips, and less time-consuming than all but the shortest intercity trips by car.
High-speed train fares will be set between the cost of driving and the fares for air travel and will vary depending on the service chosen, the demand for seats and time of booking. To meet passenger demand forecast by 2020, 86 weekday trains in each direction are expected to run in a mix of express and local trains.
California’s high-speed trains will use state-of-the-art electrified trains capable of speeds of up to 220 mph in revenue service similar to those in service today in Europe and Asia.
and realities:
In California, a high-speed train will compete with automobiles and airplanes, which have enjoyed a century of substantial public funding and are well-established. Until the high-speed train system operates at a surplus, public resources will be needed for capital and deployment costs.
More people are commuting earlier and later, so the New York City metro area transit agencies are adjusting their schedules to match spread out commute hours. As the article mentions, flex time is much more common, so people are adjusting their schedules to leave earlier and do more in the morning before work, or work later and leave later. I definitely saw this out in the San Francisco Bay area, which had very spread out commute times.
I also think that the increase in extreme commutes is contributing to the amount of people spending more time on transit at the edge hours.
Newsday's free morning daily amNY has a good blog for breaking New York City subway and transit news.
I like their post (with pictures) a week or so ago about the removal of the "flap" style signs from the LIRR terminal at Penn Station. I love those type signs also. They have one of those signs in the collection of the MOMA here in New York City, manufactured by a company from Italy, Solari di Udine.
Metro's at a crossroads, having completed construction of what is now a 106-route-mile network just recently. For the first time since it opened, Metro isn't building any new tracks.
Metroblogging DC has an interview with Zachary Schrag, who has penned The Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro.
As for the future, Northern Virginia has pinned a lot of hope on a rail extension to Dulles Airport, but the project's increasing costs are continuing to cause headaches for the planners and financiers. They have now eliminated a tunnel from the plan for cost reasons, which will send a soaring elevated track through Tysons Corner. Tysons sits on a slight hill, which means rail through the area will have to use either a tunnel or a high bridge.
Operator dozing on WMATA runaway train; NTSB faults operator, Metro practices
NTSB investigators say a dozing operator played a part in a November 2004 Red Line crash. Washington Post story; NTSB summary (they do not seem to have posted the whole report yet.) The operator's train rolled backward for 78 seconds before slamming into a train servicing the Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan station. Investigators figure at least 79 people would have been killed had the runaway train been loaded.
Investigators recommend that all trains be equipped with "rollback protection" and that Metro retire its oldest Rohr cars before 2012, or otherwise significantly strengthen them to improve their crashworthiness.
Metro's spin on this is alarming. "Metrorail trains, equipment did not cause 2004 collision." Metro press release. A character in Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny said the Navy was designed by geniuses to be run by idiots. This would also seem true with Metro, with its sophisticated automatic train operation systems. Despite that, it seems top officials reserve the right to blame an idiot (the operators) for incidents, rather than blaming themselves (the ostensible geniuses.) Moreover, the agency seems more interested in blaming others and vindicating itself than on fixing things. The easiest way to prevent arguments about blame while standing over a tombstone is to keep wrecks from happening in the first place, and dismissing this as an "isolated incident due to operator error" is not going to prevent any wrecks.
Furthermore, Metro's bragging about the safety of its equipment and practices does not square with the NTSB's own summary of its report: "Contributing to the accident was the lack of a rollback protection feature to stop the train when operated in the manual mode." Furthermore, "If the equipment on train 703 had been equipped with a rollback protection feature in the manual mode, the train could have been safely stopped, regardless of the train operator’s action or inaction, and the accident could have been prevented." The summary continues: "The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority was unaware, at the time of the accident, that the rollback protection feature was generally not available when a train was operated in the manual mode, and consequently no specific training was provided to operators about the lack of this feature on all cars."
Though the operator may have been dozing, NTSB doesn't give Metro a pass for this. "The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s practice of allowing train operators to return to work after having as few as 8 hours off between shifts following prolonged tours of duty does not give train operators the opportunity to receive adequate sleep to be fully alert and to operate safely." Furthermore, "The low task demands and unremarkable operating environment during the accident trip were conducive to the train operator becoming disengaged from some critical train operations."
NTSB recommends that Metro train its operators on what to do in rollback situations. How does Metro respond to that? "Urgent Safety Recommendation R-04-9 is classified “Open—Unacceptable Response” in the “Rollback Protection” section of this report."
Shame on Metro for glossing over and ignoring several key elements of the NTSB's report.
First they put in automatic trains, now they're even willing to tell riders when the next train will arrive. New York MTA will install electronic message boards on subways platforms by the end the year, reports Yahoo! News. It's about time.
The D.C. Circulator bus will be adding a new National Mall route just in time for the Cherry Blossom Festival. The service started operating this weekend, though it will "officially" start Tuesday. The Circulator web site has yet to be updated.
Predictably upset is the operator of Tourmobile, the lumbering buses that ply the Mall, Mount Vernon, and Arlington Cemetery. His bus costs about $20 per day; the Circulator is $1 per trip.
So far Circulator ridership has been disappointingly low. I'm thinking it might pick up this tourist season as information about it makes its way into tourist books. The Smithsonian will add information about it to its websites and handouts, which I'll bet would be a big boost.
The Circulator is the brainchild of former D.C. Department of Transportation head Dan Tangherlini, who is now WMATA's general manager.
A tunnel collapsed on top of a moving Moscow subway train on Sunday, reports CNN.com. According to CNN, a concrete roof section collapsed on a train between Sokol and Voikoskaya in Moscow, apparently because workers were building a billboard on the street above and damaged the tunnel's structure. The subway is currently halted.
WMATA considers increased off-peak, holiday service
Metro officials are considering ramping up rail and bus service on weekends and holidays. They've also worked out possibilities for restructuring rail service to accommodate increased passenger loads, including an extension of the Yellow Line and a "Blue Line split." This and a lot more was discussed at a meeting of the Riders Advisory Council's rail subcommittee this past Tuesday, March 14.
The subcommittee received a "Metrorail 101" class from three Metro officials. First was Steve Feil, Metro's chief operating officer for rail. Feil discussed a recent reorganization of personnel on Metro's rail side. As an organization, Metro used to focus on construction of what has become a 106-route-mile rail network. Now, however, his organization must focus on operations and, to help facilitate this focus, they've reorganized operation of the system by splitting it into three parts. Observant riders will remember that this is the "line manager" program, with the Red Line having a manager of its own, one manager assigned to the Blue and Orange lines, and a third for the Yellow and Green lines. (At an earlier meeting of the Riders Advisory Council, General Manager Dan Tangherlini said he is considering instituting a similar program for Metrobus.)
Metro's Operations Control Center, and operations planning
Feil spent some time describing Metro's Operations Control Center, a room in Metro's headquarters where supervisors oversee the rail system. Considerable information about rail operations flows into the OCC; for example, station managers must report on conditions in their stations on an hourly basis. Station managers also notify the OCC if certain situations occur in their stations. For instance, a station manager will inform OCC if overcrowding develops in the station, and OCC will dispatch additional staff to assist. The OCC also gets information on vertical traffic flows; for example, the OCC might have an escalator's direction reversed if traffic conditions in the station so dictate.
Broken elevators and escalators are a persistent complaint of Metrorail customers, and Feil assured the committee that he's always on top of the status of Metro's hundreds of pieces of vertical machinery. Each day he reviews reports regarding elevators and escalators (including any elevator entrapments!) and regarding other mechanical failures in stations.
Feil plans ahead for coming operational challenges--plans are already underway for the upcoming National Cherry Blossom Festival. When cherry blossom time arrives, Feil and his staff will establish a separate cherry blossom command center which will monitor conditions. They've also drawn up an operational plan for frequency of service and for staffing at popular cherry blossom stations, such as L'Enfant Plaza. Feil tries to plan but points out that sometimes unexpected things happen.
Infrastructure rehabilitation
The scourge of every weekend Metrorail rider is track work. Feil explained that his staff of 3800 people plans to install ten miles of welded rail, 8000 crossties, and 30 or so turnouts in the next year. All work must be planned carefully to minimize inconvenience to riders, though some inconvenience is unavoidable. Feil says that there just isn't enough time at night to do all maintenance while the system is closed. (I suppose this situation has gotten more challenging in recent years as Metro's service hours have lengthened, especially on weekends.) So Metro does some work during the day on weekends and even in some parts of the system during weekdays, in instances where single-tracking may be done with minimal operational impact.
Feil says on-time performance is at about 98.6 percent right now, which he says is pretty good considering the level of maintenance that he has to perform.
In response to a question, Feil discussed lighting in rail stations (my father always says they're too dark.) He just completed a report to the general manager on station lighting. There are some stations where lighting problems need to be addressed, but sometimes lighting upgrades are tough to carry out because of limitations in station circuitry.
Metro's short term infrastructure upgrades
The next speaker was Jim Hughes, the acting deputy general manager for customer service. He supervises bus, rail, cleaning, elevators, escalators, and more. (The previous speaker, Steve Feil, reports to Jim Hughes.)
Hughes described Metro's short-term infrastructure plans. In next year's budget is $7 million for new rail cars; 136 cars will be arriving by the end of fiscal year 2007. The new cars will start running sometime this summer. (Hopefully they're doing a better job bringing these cars in than they did with the 5000 cars, which brought a number of operational glitches.) Half of all peak-hour trains will be eight cars by the end of 2008.
Increased holiday service
Hughes explained plans to increase holiday service on both bus and rail. Holiday ridership has increased in recent years, and he will propose (? I'm not sure if the board of directors has approved this yet or not) increasing service on four holidays a year (I never got to ask him which four, exactly; however, my guess is that they are Martin Luther King, Jr. day; Washington's Birthday; Veterans' Day, and Columbus Day.) On those four holidays, Metro could begin operating a normal weekday schedule, though with fewer rail cars in service and with no "trippers."
A "tripper" is an extra train: ordinarily on the Orange and Green lines, trains run every six minutes. But every now and then Metro will insert an extra train. Some of the trippers on the Orange Line run from Vienna to Stadium-Armory, where they turn around. Metro also runs three trippers on the Green Line on weekdays, from Branch Avenue.
Hughes also discussed increased holiday bus service. Currently on holidays Metro runs a Saturday schedule for buses, meaning that they run only 136 of 340 routes. He will suggest running regular weekday service on four holidays.
Hughes is also considering running the same train consists all year long. Currently during lower ridership times such as wintertime, some train consists run with four cars rather than six during the mid-days and weekends. But ridership has picked up.
Yellow Line extension
Hughes described the possibility of running the Yellow Line to Fort Totten instead of to its current terminus at Mount Vernon Square. This is being pushed by Metro board members from the District as well as by other District officials. Currently the stations on the mid-city Green Line (Fort Totten, Georgia Avenue - Petworth, Columbia Heights, U Street, and Shaw) are the only ones in the District where trains run as little as four times an hour. A possible fix is to run the Yellow Line to Fort Totten, but only during off-peak hours. Hughes explained that he can turn trains around east of Fort Totten, but that the maneuver takes so long that he couldn't do it during rush hour without causing backups for the Green Line trains coming from West Hyattsville. (Hughes says that from an operational standpoint it would be easier to run the Yellow trains all the way to Greenbelt, because it's easier to turn trains around there. But he says Maryland officials have little interest in increasing frequency on that segment of the Green Line and that they instead are more interested in more service on the west side of the Red Line.) In addition, Metro currently uses all its available cars during rush hour, but there are some extra cars that can be used to increase off-peak service.
The Yellow Line extension would require some improvements to signaling systems at Fort Totten. It would also be confusing for the public--not only would maps change, but also service would be different depending upon the time of day and day of the week.
Red Line extension
Hughes says there's been a lot of growth in traffic on the Red Line between Shady Grove and Grosvenor. Now only half of all Red trains serve those stations, leading to crowding--sometimes trains have only standing room when they leave Shady Grove. So Metro is considering running all Red Line trains all the way to Shady Grove, but only during the off-peak (equipment shortages again.) This would cost $3 million. Of course he could also run all trains to Shady Grove even during peak hours, but this would require more cars.
Blue Line split
This is the most complicated operational change that Hughes is considering. It would address a considerable operational problem at Rosslyn: trains from the Orange and Blue lines often back up when approaching Rosslyn because of the large amount of train traffic there. Metro did an engineering study and determined that the highest number of trains they can run through the tunnel under the Potomac is 26 per hour. Metro currently runs 27 trips per hour, though there were 29 per hour before the agency cut the number of trains slightly and extended other trains to eight cars.
A possible solution to this is something that Hughes calls a "Blue Line split" but that he also explains would really create a whole new line. Under the new plan, all Blue trains would originate at Franconia - Springfield, as they do now, and they would follow their present route to Pentagon. At this point, half the Blue Trains would follow their present route to the next stop, Arlington Cemetery. The other half would then follow the Yellow Line bridge across the Potomac and would then run all the way to Greenbelt. Somehow he would do all this without reducing the number of Blue trains originating at Largo.
This "Blue Line split" would help ease the traffic crunch at Largo, but of course it would be awfully hard to explain it to anyone. (I remember standing on platforms in New York, reading the signs explaining the train routings that varied depending upon time of day. I would typically give up and figure "I think I'm standing at the right platform...") The Blue Line split would operate only during rush hours.
Infrastructure improvements
The last speaker was Takis Salpeas, head of Metro's Planning, Development, Engineering, and Construction department. His department was in charge of constructing the Metrorail system, so understandably he's proud of what they achieved. Metro's first five stations on the Red Line (from Union Station to Farragut North) opened on March 29, 1976, which will be thirty years ago this year.
Salpeas discussed improvements at many stations, including Ballston and King Street, and the replacement of the PIDS (the information displays on the platforms.) Now staff can monitor the entire PIDS system from headquarters. He briefly touched upon other construction projects, such as new parking garages at many suburban stations and a new station for the Metro Transit Police. He also talked about the automated teller machines that are in stations. This shouldn't have surprised me, but it did: ATMs are allocated to preserve the sectional balance between Metro's three member jurisdictions--that's right, there are an equal number of machines in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Within each jurisdiction the machines are allocated depending upon traffic at the station and other factors, such as whether the station manager can see the machine from the station manager's kiosk.
Some capital improvements have been made in order to accommodate more eight-car trains, such as improvements to traction power substations (what a typical above-ground traction power substation looks like) as well as improvements to train stopping systems, to ensure that eight-car trains don't overshoot the platforms.
A Live from the Third Rail exclusive!
See, I really should have gone into television news...here you'll find Takis Salpeas' slides of capital improvements. This is a 100MB download that will make good use of your high-speed Internet. Also, here are Jim Hughes' slides about Metro's operational plans.
Often you're on the D.C. Metro, trying to get home, and you're standing on the platform. You hear a muffled announcement about a broken down train somewhere and that "support personnel are on the scene." Or, you're stuck on a train, which sits immobile between stations, and the operator tells you there is a train experiencing mechanical difficulties some eight stations down the line. So you wonder: this is a two-track railroad and there are no tow trucks. How do they move trains off the tracks?
Well, wonder no more because a week or two ago I was stuck aboard a Red Line train--not an unlucky train that was behind one that had mechanical problems, but rather, I was aboard the train with troubles. The Glenmont-bound train had stopped at Brentwood Yard, between Rhode Island Avenue and New York Avenue, as trains often do to pick up or discharge Metro employees. Then it was time for the train to move again. The un-rehabbed Breda car made a strange noise, but did not move.
My eyebrows instantly shot up and after hearing that strange sound, I was not surprised when we were still sitting on that same spot on the tracks several minutes later. There was no word from the operator about what was happening though.
However I got such a clue myself, as I was on the last car of the train. Another train inched up behind the one I was aboard, and eventually the two trains mated. The actual coupling was imperceptible, and I was only sure it happened when a couple of Metro employees boarded the broken-down Breda from the savior train.
Finally a word from the operator, telling us the train would need to be "recovered" and to remain calm. His soothing words (though delivered so abruptly) were just what I needed: I had been so afraid that I had ducked under my seat in paranoid fear, but upon hearing this I slowly crawled back onto the orange cushion.
A couple of Metro employees, one of them a rail supervisor, came through the car. Neither seemed to be a train operator, and I still haven't figured out how they made their way to the savior train so it could execuite its mating maneuver. At any rate, one of the employees had several people give up their seats. Underneath some of those beautiful orange cushions is a lever that cuts out the train's brakes. Sort of like putting the car into neutral, I guess. To access the levers one pulls up on an entire set of four seats, tipping the seats into the air.
After some further radio communications, the two trains started to inch forward, which some further strange noises, to Rhode Island Avenue. The crippled train arrived the platform, where we were promptly told to get off the train. Then the two trains pulled forward. The pushing train was full of passengers too, and they were kicked off that train. Both trains then inched down the tracks to Brookland. Apparently they turned the trains around, because a few minutes later I saw both trains rolling down the Shady Grove track at Rhode Island Avenue. I suppose the two trains went right back to Brentwood Yard.
Total delay for me was about a half hour, but at least now I know the delicate dance Metro goes though to get broken-down equipment off the tracks. I wonder if it's a trickier maneuver at downtown stations.
Sure, you've heard about the Japanese train workers whose job it is to shove people into crowded trains, but how many of you have actually seen them in action?
The National Transportation Safety Board has determined that a Baltimore, Maryland water taxi that flipped over in 2004, killing five people, did so because the average weight of those on board was significantly heavier than what the boat was rated for.
The NTSB said the Coast Guard underestimated the "tippiness" of the 36-foot Lady D pontoon boat because it used the results of a stability test designed for a different type of vessel.
The Coast Guard also assumed the average weight per passenger was 140 pounds, a standard measurement that hasn't changed since 1942, the safety board said.
The average weight among the Lady D's 25 passengers when the accident happened was 168 pounds, making it 700 pounds overweight, investigators said.
So now, that only do you have to worry about heart attacks, stroke risk, and other weight-related problems, but you have to worry about being the case for a mass transportation accident.
New WMATA GM hopes to be "the first general manager of the new WMATA"
New interim Metro General Manager Dan Tangherlini hopes to be "the first general manager of the new WMATA," he said at a Wednesday meeting of the new Riders Advisory Council.
Tangherlini attended the second meeting of the RAC to build a relationship with the new panel. In previous conversations with RAC Chairman Dennis Jaffe, Tangherlini said he hoped to frequently attend RAC meetings. He explained that the Metro system is entering a new phase: the 106-route-mile system has been built out and equipment is aging, yet ridership is breaking records. Metro's no longer an experiment, Tangherlini said, and the organization will need to change to meet new demands. Despite his spot as the lucky thirteenth general manager, he hopes his role can be a transformative one.
Tangherlini explained that he doesn't have a 23-point plan for Metro. Instead, he has a one-point plan for Metro: putting the system's customers first. He's been traveling throughout the system, soliciting advice from Metro's employees for ways to improve the system.
MetroAccess woes
Top on the new GM's list is addressing woes with the MetroAccess service (related story in today's Washington Post.) Tangherlini acknowledged that there is a "major problem" with MetroAccess, though he believes the situation is improving slightly. His short-term goal is to reduce the number of missed MetroAccess trips by fifty percent.
Mary Williams is chair of the RAC MetroAccess committee. She has spearheaded a day for MetroAccess riders to share their concerns with WMATA on Monday, March 13 at Metro headquarters. From 3-5 pm and from 7-9 pm, there will be a public forum, and from 5-7pm, Metro staff will be available for one-on-one talks. She expects there will be a lot of anger at the forum--which is understandable, considering the deplorable state of MetroAccess service. However she is also hopeful that a constructive dialogue will take place at the forums.
In addition, the WMATA Board of Directors has created an ad hoc committee co-chaired by board member Dana Kauffman and RAC chairman Dennis Jaffe. It will deliver a full report to the Board in mid-May with recommendations for MetroAccess improvements.
Comment cards!
Tangherlini also says that he is bringing back comment cards. They will be distributed to customers on rail platforms. After some prodding by RAC member Denise Brown, he agreed that distributing comment cards to bus passengers will also be a good idea. Metro's 1.1 million daily customers have good ideas, Tangherlini said, and I want to be able to hear and consider them.
My comments on Tangherlini
He makes a positive impression. He seems genuinely interested in listening to the new RAC and to the agency's workers and customers. He also was wearing his badge! I know this may seem trivial, but such a small thing can be symbolic--it says "I'm just another employee, just like all the other folks here in HQ who wear badges and the thousands of employees in the system who wear uniforms."
Tunnel advertising
The RAC takes public comments at its meetings--you too can address them. I said that riders shouldn't be delayed for the installation of tunnel advertising. Metro's head of customer communications, Leona Agouridis, addressed my concern. She says Metro wanted to get this work done before the tourist season ramps up, and that the delays should be minimal. Metro's been monitoring customer complaints, which have also been minimal, and there won't be any single tracking when there are events going on downtown. Of course I think there would be more complaints if people knew why the delays are happening. I wouldn't mind if the delays were for system maintenance necessary to ensure our safety...but advertising? Agouridis says Metro's contractor has some lucrative ad contracts lined up for when the advertising is installed. I would hope some of that cash could have been used to ensure that all work takes place only when the system is closed. Of course the issue may not be as simple as this; maybe if the work were dragged out longer, it would conflict with track maintenance or something...
Agouridis says that tunnel advertising will also be installed in two other sites in the system. One will likely be near Pentagon, and she says that because of the track layout there, rider delays for installation likely would be minimal.
Get involved with your RAC and WMATA Board of Directors
The RAC's Metrobus and Rules subcommittees will be meeting on Wednesday night, March 8, at Metro headquarters...details currently at the bottom of Metro's homepage. Also I have learned that the Metro board meeting releases live audio of its meetings, which are also archived. Public comments are taken at the Board's committee meetings, but not its plenary meetings, something which RAC chairman Dennis Jaffe hopes to change.
RAC plenary meetings are open to the public and are on the first Wednesday of the month at 6:30 at Metro's Jackson Graham Building, 600 Fifth Street NW in downtown Washington. (Catch the Red Line to Judiciary Square, the Red, Green, or Yellow Lines to Gallery Pl - Chinatown; or ride the 70, 80, P6, X2, or Circulator, all of which stop nearby.)
Well, writing this has worn me out...last week I had the privilege of being stuck on a broken down Red Line train at Brentwood Yard; in the next few days I'll write about the exact way Metro moves stuck trains.
And a final sidenote: Metro police chief Polly Hanson was sitting at the guard desk at the headquarters building's front door. She was talking with one of the guards, who apparently had a problem getting his paycheck. It's good to see the chief out mingling...
(Corrected: this post is corrected from an earlier version. Now Leona Agouridis' name is spelled correctly and details about the MetroAccess ad-hoc committee are corrected.)
For the first time in as long as I can remember, I encountered a begger on WMATA's Red Line. For those more familiar with the NYC subway system, beggars on WMATA trains are very rare. This guy was dressed in a full blue suit (with mis-matching blue shoes) and was asking for 75 cents to pay the exit fare on his card. After departing the train, he crossed the platform and waited for a train going the opposite direction.
In the outside world, beggars on the street rarely worry me, nor would I generally do anything about them. Something about a beggar on the WMATA system, though, rubbed me the wrong way. I think it falls into the "broken window" theory of crime, which argues that if enough people break the little rules, it creates a sense of disorder that encourages larger crime within the boundaries of the relevant area -- in this case, the transit system. So, I reported him to the station manager. Who knows if anything will came of it.
- Work is beginning on the Bangalore Metro. Insert outsourcing joke here.
- NYC subway workers find another Revolutionary War-era wall. No word yet on whether it was Peter Stuyvesant's pegleg that caused the F train delay last week.
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For the first time in as long as I can remember, I encountered a begger on WMATA's Red Line. For those more familiar with the NYC subway system, beggars on WMATA trains are very rare. This guy was dressed in a full blue suit (with mis-matching blue shoes) and was asking for 75 cents to pay the exit fare on his card. After departing the train, he crossed the platform and waited for a train going the opposite direction.