I know it's only day one of Rush Plus and I should at least let them have a few years to work out the kinks in their stupid idea, but I don't have that kind of time. Besides, if it's actually making things worse, people should know about it.
Bottom line - when I got to the platform at Court House at 8:05 the trains were running five minutes or more apart. They're usually lined up two minutes or one minute apart. So that's not cool.
As usual everybody stuffed into the the lead train and the one right behind it was pretty much empty. However, with the trains actually spread out five minutes apart, the platform actually filled up enough to make that train 75 percent full when it left. It was interesting because I think the longer interval between trains helped keep there from being one train in three with nobody on it.
During the time I was on the platform, Orange Line trains headed to Vienna (west) were arriving a minute apart completely empty - literally entire cars with nobody on them. I was perplexed by this, but then quickly figured it out - the new schedule sent a ton of trains east before 8:00 and they were all returning now and after Metro Center they had nobody looking for a ride. What a waste - they miss the entire 8:00 to 8:30 rush.
I got to work later than usual due to a lot of waiting for trains ahead of us taking for ever to clear the platform. I'm not sure if it was just one train with a bad driver or what, but we had a lot of "stand clear, train is moving" announcements that were followed with nine feet of rail advancement.
I have to say that I developed a metro crush on this really cute goverment employee chick with a Bonnaroo bracelet who told this asshole trying to rush the door before train stopped at Farragut to chill out and wait. The moron had luggage and was worried he couldn't make it four feet to the door and decided to endanger everyone by trying to push through before we even go to the platform. She put him in his place and my heart melted! Who knew hippie chicks could turn on the bitch when needed?
I will admit - the Bonnaroo bracelet threw me at first because I'm a fan of the Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor of the same name, not the concert. I didn't put two and two together until I remembered that Bonnaroo was a concert and it's likely they made some deal with the ice cream hippies. It was kind of cool for a minute to think she loved a Ben & Jerry's flavor that much, though. So... there was one good thing about Rush Plus today...
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