O joy, o rapture! Metro has started random searches. Sounds like security theater to me, and I don’t intend to be a part of it. (Gladly, I walk to work and most shops.) If you enter a Metro station where a screening is taking place — they come before the fare gates — you have… Continue reading I do not consent to being searched in Metro
Category: Transit
Making do with Mennonites
I haven’t been blogging since Hubby and I took a vacation this week to Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Ah! the food! Chow-chow, kraut, apple dumplings . . . and more meat than I’ve eaten in the last six months. But people are drawn there also for watching the plain people — a distasteful act, I think,… Continue reading Making do with Mennonites
Evacuation!? No, a really useful bus map
A little lunchtime blogging, following a quick review of the news feeds. (DCist) Seems Metro has issued emergency evacuation maps keyed to each exit for each Metrorail (subway) station. See each station page — like Dupont Circle — to download the PDFs. In each one, you see a map and landmarks for what’s in a… Continue reading Evacuation!? No, a really useful bus map
We need transportation options
I want you to call your representative, or better call your representative’s legislative assistant on energy or transportation, and say you support the newly introduced H.R. 6495, “To authorize programs and activities to support transportation and housing options that will assist American families in reducing transportation costs, and for other purposes.” (OpenCongress, missing full text… Continue reading We need transportation options
The limits to regionalism, opportunities of transit
Ah, another lost article, but more pertinent than ever. (I knew I had written it, but it was tucked away for the last two years as a “private” post.) The de facto Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) church planting model of the last half-century is to follow the population to the growing ‘burbs, serving as regional… Continue reading The limits to regionalism, opportunities of transit
Slugging on the G Word
Slugging — a uniquely Washington, D.C. suburbs way of informal carpooling — was featured tonight on G Word, a show on the Planet Green cable channel. (It is also one of the better shows on the channel, which is much too absorbed with twee and fundamentally fake green habits by people with more money than… Continue reading Slugging on the G Word
Rail happy!
House Resolution 6003 “To reauthorize Amtrak, and for other purposes” has passed the House. Since the Senate already passed an Amtrak resolution, does this mean it’s bound for conference? I’m too zonked to think straight, but I know I want this to be made law. (The President threatens a veto, but I don’t think he… Continue reading Rail happy!
An idea for Maryland commuters
I want to talk about commuter bus service from the far Maryland suburbs and towns into Washington, D.C. Today has been a bad day for the Washington-area Metro system, following a bad week. Today, an Orange line train derailed — no injuries, thank God — and last week downed live wires on the Orange line… Continue reading An idea for Maryland commuters
We’re above $4 a gallon, if you’re keeping score
For the first time, the average all-United States price of a gallon of regular gasoline has risen above $4 a gallon. For several months, I have been tracking the oil futures and spot markets. (My workmates can corroborate.) A couple of weeks ago, I added the pump prices, and this morning the United States reached… Continue reading We’re above $4 a gallon, if you’re keeping score
Helping Lower Walnut: demanding public transportation
The Rev. Angela Mather, minister of the Lower Walnut Universalist Church, has been hearing the grumblings at the grocery store and bank. Gasoline and diesel fuel prices have skyrocketed and other prices are beginning to follow. She knew it was bad when the an egg salad sandwich went up a quarter at Niko’s Cafe. Niko… Continue reading Helping Lower Walnut: demanding public transportation