Months have flown by since the Gang had a quorum to hold a meeting. Unlike the Governor of Wisconsin, we held to the principles that a discussion and a vote must be taken at a duly approved meeting. That said, we postponed all official business until such time as we could all get back together.
The month of March seems to have has the power to influence personal work schedules, train time decisions and in some cases actual job choices. Bicycle Coast Guard Girl got a promotion to Mother with a new daughter, Amelia. After much initial confusion (by the Gang not the mother) the names Hanna and Amanda were but to rest as the name. Bicycle Coast Guard Girl must under go a similar renaming to Candice since she sold her folding bicycle and resigned the Guard to be the full-time mom. Her days as a Car 5 Commuter dwindled down each week as the final month of service obligation was fulfilled.
Amelia made a one-day commuting appearance due to papa's schedule conflict. We all gushed and fawned over the cuteness of the child. Grandpa George who had been circulating the baby pictures of his daughter's baby over the past few months felt the competition brought on by attention to baby-Amelia.
Baby pictures, typically of grandchildren, nephews and nieces get a place on the agenda at every turn. Child pictures are more than likely those of puppies and dogs since more folks have them than do they have toddler-aged human offspring to flaunt the pictures of.
And speaking of pictures, Mikey shared his recent global pictures from down-under. They represented both hemispheres and depicted the affect sea-floor spreading. We heard from alum Princess Carly from her temporary home-away-from-home in NC. Her gallery of pix proves that she is having a great time down there. Anyone wanting to nominate pictures of their own for inclusion in future Car 5 posts should send them to Car5Gang@Modalchoice.com saying that you would like to have them included. I don't want to assume.
The end of March brought about a return to the pizza and beer commute courtesy of Sandy. Attendance was light so we did not conduct business.
Commuting by MARC and Metro remains an adventure. The schedules received a major overhaul that has the entire system shook up, at least in the short term. Additional train times were added but they had to shorten some trainsets in order to make the new ones. Our beloved 5:20 express lost a car and sometimes two are out. This makes for more crowding in the mezzanines. Eventually, everyone will adjust and the pressures of timing and having to stand will redistribute the overload. An example is that the 5:20 no longer stops at Halethorpe after the BWI stop. This forced a lot of people to either the 5:10 or the newly created 5:25 Union Station Departures. A secondary affect has been that about a one parking level quantity of possibly Halethorpe commuters suddenly shifted to the BWI garage. I observed that on the same day that the schedules changed I had to begin parking on the fourth level instead of the third. Although that seems to have settled down a bit, there are many days where the number of people parked in the Number 1 garage is up. Could be those rising gas prices, too.
The elevator project is moving along, albeit slowly. We could be using the second set by the end of April, maybe. All the platform work at BWI is finally done, but the access ways to the new elevators have not yet been cut through the railing.
The connections at Union Station have been dismal for months lately. First they shut down the elevators for a twelve week overhaul. That actually did little to impede mine or most people's commutes. But then they closed the one escalator next to the elevator for its overhaul project. That closure created a huge backlog at the elevator. It amazes me how many women have bad knees and feel that they must announce it as a prelude to using the elevator while waiting for it or riding in it. Coupled with that is the number of people with wheelie carts who are unable to travel with that load without the benefits of electric stairs. Congestion relief will come when WMATA is finished overhauling the second escalator that is by the elevator. Each of the three projects has been scheduled for consecutive 12 week periods. Meanwhile my commute has been made ever the more complex and uncertain.
The prognostication I made at the start of 2011 was that this will be the worst year for Metro Rail operations. Essentially everything will get worse before it gets better. This fact is partly due to the maintenance of access that must be kept while the work progresses. The other part is that while they are doing the major scheduled overhaul work, other equipment will fail at unscheduled intervals. The third part is that everything has gotten a year older since the beginning of 2010. The upside is that work is getting done now.
WMATA has had its operational deficiencies, management deficiencies, funding deficiencies and deficiencies in the design and installation of essential mechanical systems. That all notwithstanding, moving forward from here is the important thing. The infrastructure of this entire country is in the same state of disrepair and decay. Therefore, I do not blame WMATA specifically for its poor condition. Everyone who uses the system daily has seen and knows that there have been unaddressed issues. The problem is that those people do not have the political influence to create adequate funding and demand excellent management.
