Rosenheck is not alone: as of Wednesday afternoon, around 2500 of his District neighbors have signed the Change.org petition.
Service outages have become more frequent — and frustrating to DC residents — in the past few years. Over 200 fires have plagued the subway since 2013. On Tuesday, 250 Metro riders were trapped in a tunnel for over an hour between the Columbia Heights and Georgia-Petworth stations after the 3rd rail lost electrical power. Riders had to be rescued by emergency personnel.
A sample of the tweetscape back through this spring reveals DC rail fires — and the train delays they wreak — have been, well, a thing. Metro has become, for many District residents so chronically late for work, a tired reminder of the decay of urban transportation architecture, searing its misery with snark throughout the city.
May 11th:
200 smoke/fire incidents reported on DC Metro rail since early 2013.
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) May 11, 2015
Well, the DC metro is maybe on fire again. In other news, the sky is blue and grass is green.
— Lisa (@fullnby) May 11, 2015
May 19th:
"Whoa oh oh I'm on fire." — the DC Metro, once every damn week.
— LaurieMenser (@lauriemenser) May 19, 2015
May 28th
DC Metro is on fire again.
— Deus Rex Machina (@FraaRex) May 28, 2015
June 13th
The amount of times the DC metro is on fire is too damn high.
— Krizhek (@krizhek) June 13, 2015
Aug 6th
@wmata please fire everyone that works at DC metro. Thank you. #circus pic.twitter.com/AJsoIGlP0v
— Phillip Ahn (@pahn88) August 6, 2015
In anticipation of Pope Francis’ visit this week, the frequency of the snarkrage seemed, in fact, to ramp up.
Sept 2nd
I was on the Northbound Green Line Metro @ Archives. We heard bang, lady behind saw flash. Station started filling with smoke. Everyon left.
— good bad predictor (@samknight1) September 2, 2015
Sept 3rd
The second person to report that the DC metro is always catch on fire!?!? @potus https://t.co/8UWDVoG6LR
— brian urinal (@HairySkeletor) September 3, 2015
Sept 8th
@MilesMetro the DC metro is literally on fire and trust me, it happens more than you think
— Harry Lee III (@HGLIII) September 8, 2015
Sept 18th
Another #dcmetro fire at #stadiumarmory station. When will @wmata get it together?
— Caitlin Hanzel (@iamchanzie) September 18, 2015
Sept 21st
I swear the DC Metro catches fire at least once a week.
— Desmone Gambrell,MBA (@DcsMediaDiva) September 21, 2015
The DC Metro literally, literally catches on fire every single day. #WMATA https://t.co/dcJ8vqZ2nE
— Anthony LaMesa (@ajlamesa) September 21, 2015
There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of relief in sight, if the current frequency of train delays is any indication. But if the pontiff’s blessing can repair aging electrical engineering, District Metro riders will take a miracle if they can get it.
