Let’s face it, one of the biggest letdowns when you ride Metro is getting to your destination then realizing you have to walk up or down a broken escalator.
After some serious feedback from riders, Metro is bringing in an outside expert to look into the chronic problem plaguing the agency's elevators and escalators.
Metro has 588 escalators and 252 elevators in its rail system. On Tuesday, 63 units were out of order, and as of Wednesday morning, 62 were out of service, according to Metro's website. Several of those were scheduled to be out of service for a number of days. With more than 735,000 riders on Tuesday, there were likely thousands inconvenienced.
Steven Taubenkibel, a Metro spokesman told the Washington Post, some of the biggest trouble-maker units the consultant will look into include:
- Bethesda
- Woodley Park/Adams Morgan
- Dupont
- Foggy Bottom
The expert will be in Washington this week and will spend several weeks assessing the situation.
Elevator and escalator reliability has become a problem in the last three years for Metro.
- 2007: 93.7%
- 2008: 93%
- 2009: 90.5%
Replacing escalators has also been a difficult process, as many of the companies who originally installed the units are no longer in business.
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