D.C. Metro System Washington D.C. is the pride and joy of America. We put all of our major monuments there, we hold all of our major government facilities in that area, and it’s even where we house one of the most important people in the country, the president himself. With over 600,000 people living in only 68 square miles, that’s almost 9,000 people per square mile and that is including places like the National Mall on which no one lives, the truth is that it is neither effective nor environmentally safe for everyone to have a car. Because of this we have the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, or locally known as the Metro. The metro, thought of at the beginning of the 20th century, began being built in the 1950s and was supposed to be an incredible and effective underground transportation system so that people could more easily get around D.C. without a vehicle. It was supposed to be a national wonder! It was supposed to be revolutionary! The results were a little less than pleasing. …show more content…
In 1996, ice caused the car to skip the track and the operator was killed. In 2004, there was a collision that killed twenty people. In 2016, a metro car actually detached and was left on the track. These are only a small fraction of the tragic and deadly incidents that have happened regularly since the opening of the Metro. It is truly appalling how little the metro authorities have done to address these issues over the years. The metro authorities have scheduled many repairs and shut downs but they are often delayed and altogether ineffective. They don’t seem to take the issues seriously at all. Part of this issue is that the political people behind the choices have no clue what they're dealing with because metro systems are complicated and difficult. They need to put someone in charge of the metro who actually knows what theyre dealing with and know how these things
Not just city wide, but nationwide interest, must be raised. Then and only then do I think there is a possibility for improvement.
Since the beginning of the United States the American people have been on the move. Public transportation has played a major role in the development of this nation and in bringing its citizens together. In the book “Divided Highways”, author Tom Lewis takes the reader on a journey of the building of the Interstates and the consequences(good and bad) that came from them. Lewis believes that the Interstates are a physical characteristic of America and that it shows “all our glory and our meanness; all our vision and our shortsightedness”(xiv).
Since the early 1990s, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) had been exploring public transit resolutions that would improve access to Cleveland’s two largest employment hubs, downtown Cleveland and University Circle. During this examination period, GCRTA’s discussions with the local communities and local business leaders specified that there was a major need for improved public transit mobility along the Euclid Avenue Corridor. These discussions led to the development and evaluation of alternatives to the current bus route that served this area, the local bus route #6. By coordinating with Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, and by hosting a series of public meetings, GCRTA had more than enough input and assistance in the final determination of alternatives to meet the transportation needs of the community and the Euclid ...
The issue lies in the decline of the city. With the population shrinking from what it once was, industry moving away, and the highest rate of unemployment in the country, it may not be completely shocking that the whole metropolitan area has trouble keeping up. Amount of vacant buildings is on the rise and number of firefighters, and funding for fire departments, are on the decline. Emergency responder response time was once abysmal, and although it has improved with some effort, the city still has room for improvements elsewhere. It has to be hard to keep pace with a city that has a burnt down building on every other block, while fire stations are closing, staffing is not improving, and fire hydrants are falling into disrepair.
Washington D.C: Our Nation’s Capital Although the entire world is familiar with the City of Washington as the United State’s capital, the city was nonexistent when we became a nation in 1789. Thanks to the brilliant design of the French born engineer, Pierre Charles L’Enfant and his assistants Benjamin Banneker and Andrew Ellicot, our capital city that was once a swamp now is beautiful with many different parks, gardens trees, tall buildings and wide avenues. Washington, District of Columbia named after Christopher Columbus, has played a unique role in the wars of our nation and has been dramatically affected by their awesome events.
public transit networks. But just how serious is the burden of car ownership, and how exactly does
The rail systems put into place in Chicago have always been a major factor in freight transportation. The city provides a centralized hub for the railways throughout the country. After a long run the system is bound to find flaws as old technologies are passed by new ones. The existing railroad structures have in time taken a toll over the years of service. “The railroad system of Chicago has been around for a long time now. After many years it has gone past time time of despair. With the new project it is hoping to bring the popularity back to where it once was” (Chicago Transit Renovation to Improve Service). This update needed will guide Chicagos railroad system into the future. The city also has to take a look on how it is going to keep up with the constant increase of railcars on their tracks. With the new technologies of the future Chicago can only make their infrastructure better. The aim is to stay on time with the railcars to diminish the amount of overcrowding presented in the old rail systems in Chicago.
Transportation systems are what support the high levels of accumulation and concentration within cities. The bigger the city, the more complex its urban problems are if not properly managed. The largest transportation problems occur when public transportation systems fail to fulfill the many requirements of urban mobility. Urban efficiency is highly dependent on its transportation systems to move consumers, labor, and goods from one point to another. The most outstanding urban transportation issues in the United States are: traffic congestion, longer commuting, inadequacy of public transport, green transportation difficulty, and good distribution (Rodrigue).
Have you been late for the metro, on certain occasions, or has the metro had maintenance, casually most of the time, well I am here to discuss this problem and give my own personal opinions and experiences.
Automobiles play a major role in today's society. Almost every American owns at least one motorized transportation vehicle. Some say they make our lives better by reaching places faster than before. Others say they are a harmful to the environment. Have they made our society better or worse? They may be fast, but do we as humans want our environment to suffer because of time. Face it, cars pollute. And they release destructive chemicals into the air. Air pollution can threaten the health of many subjects in the environment including human beings.
The first problem you need to address is with the delays of subway trains. I have seen many people who use the subway trains daily are worried about running late. I have been personally late for my exams and missed two of them. One of the lateness was because of the ‘E’ train. I was stuck for more than an hour and a half. Since the train stopped in between the tunnel, I could not exit and look for another mode of transportation. These delays arise because of lack of maintenance. The subway trains are not maintained by rectifying the minor errors immediately. Path trains, an alternative to subway trains, are well maintained. Their repair works are done regularly without any delays, and its architecture is up to date. The MTA delay the work
To many people public transportation is a plus. It is cheap, reliable, and it takes you anywhere you want to go. Common people use public transportation every day, to some it’s part of their daily routine, to others it is an emergency measure or just to a reliable way to travel to get somewhere they have to go. But are there any dark, secret, and negative effects that the people in our community do not think of? Many people answer yes to this question and say public transportation is death, death to our planet. They say public transportation although, cheap reliable and is everywhere all around communities helping low income people that can’t afford to own a car, or even people who can afford owning a car but choose to take public transportation to a place because it might be easier for them or because gas prices are too high and public transportation is cheaper, is death to our environment. This however is not a concrete fact. Yes cars are advancing and are heading into a new era of electric powered cars, but so is public transportation with their new dash and bus models.
There are also Amtrak and MARC rail stations which connect travelers to popular destinations, such as NYC, Philadelphia, and Boston. The subway system, better known as Metro, connects Downtown DC to the suburbs in Maryland and Virginia. However, the metro system does not operate 24 hours, and does not provide service to all areas of the city. For example, Georgetown does not have a metro station. The neighborhod is only serviced by Metrobus and DC Circulator which connect Georgetown to rest of
In this essay, I will discuss the topic of urban public transportation and how it relates to the Church and Wellesley BIA. The nature of transportation in Toronto is a highly complex topic. As discussed in the article Transportation: The Bottleneck of Regional Competitiveness in Toronto, there are many concerns with transportation in regards to international transport, roads, highways, rails, bike lanes, buses etc. (Keil, Roger, Young, 2008). These transportation variables all have a greater economic, health, and environmental impact. The article goes on to describe that mobility in Toronto suffers because its management is uncoordinated, and there is a gap in regional interaction (Keil, Roger, Young 2008). The scope of this essay will be to
Furthermore, the high-speed rail network could mean twenty-nine million fewer car trips and 500,000 fewer plane flights annually, according to a 2006 study ...