Gallery Place/Chinatown. December 2021
In 1976, the inaugural stretch of the Red Line ran from Rhode Island Avenue to Farragut North station. By the time I reached Washington as a university student the metro had already been expanded to include 2 more lines, the Orange and the Blue. Much to Georgetown's later regret, it lobbied AGAINST a metro station which meant my taking the metro as a student was a long walk to Dupont Circle, Foggy Bottom, or Roslyn, Virginia. None of the walks were exceedingly long, but they were annoying nonetheless.
These were the years that the public transportation which did exist in the USA was nearing the end of a long decline. The NYC subway was dangerous and disgusting - the same could be said of the "L" in Chicago and the "T" in Boston. DC, however, had launched a project that was futuristic. While other systems were crumbling, Washington was embarking on a new adventure. The original underground metro stations downtown are still "futuristic" even if they are approaching 50 years old.
Metro was born from DC residents' fight against slicing the city up with a multitude of highways. Some of those highways were unfortunately built, some were half completed, and yet others never came into being. In a rare victory for the residents of the "unrepresented" District of Columbia, they stopped the highways and won a combination light rail/subway system. Metro is far from perfect, but the alternative would have made Washington a completely different city (and far less livable).
Metro might not be the best way to get around DC (personally, I find Washington small and walkable), but it is certainly the way to get into the city from the outskirts and is the best way to get across town quickly. I have always been and will always be a huge fan of the metro.
The best stations are the big transfer stations underground that look like something out of the movie Tron had it been filmed in black & white. The best exits are those with the SUPER long escalators like Dupont Circle or Rosyln. Outside visitors are generally impressed by the capital's metro system. I love the minimalism and subdued lighting in those cavernous stations - it is somehow calming. Maybe that is why, overall, DC metro is safe - could those vaulted interiors with their backlighting help reduce crime? In New York City the subway makes you feel like a rat - in DC you feel like you are on some futuristic ride created by Disney.
The sad thing about the metro (and other "new" subway systems around the world) is that they were built thinking for some reason they would never age nor need maintenance. When the MRT in Singapore started breaking down for the first time, there were national inquiries!! When Dubai Metro had its first age-related problems, even the Sheikh of Dubai became involved. In DC, metro suffered from benign neglect until, unfortunately, there were accidents (some fatal) that caused the Washington Metro Transit Authority to wake up and understand that their "old" futuristic subway system not only needed maintenance, but also needed funding. Welcome Metro and the District of Columbia - to train delays, closed stations, and never-ending trackwork that no one wants to pay for. You have officially arrived.
Indeed, part of life in a city with "old" public transit is system maintenance and train stoppages - ask anyone in New York, Moscow, London, Tokyo, or Paris. Oh ye upstarts in Washington, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Dubai, and Singapore - only a lot of rider swearing and pain awaits. I will always remember my friend RS at NYU who commuted into the Village from Brooklyn once said, "There is a reason they call it the F train, you know" Part of a big, mature system is big, bad breakdowns. In the end though, it is worth it - and necessary. Most cities end up feeling proud of their subway systems. In spite of its foibles, DC residents probably now cannot imagine their city without metro - even if they never ride it.