In the middle of the mishegoss, Metro gets one right.

Now, I’ve done my share of bitching about Metro this Summer. Not without cause. Since the terrible accident in June and a series of other mini disasters, the Red line (the line I know well) has been a total disaster. Long waits, nauseatingly jerky rides, inexplicable off-loadings and sloooow service, has made it a really unappealing way to get around.

I’ve seen it good and I’ve seen it bad and this summer it’s been bad, which is why my fuse was short when the weather warmed up and the platform at Bethesda became uninhabitable. Combine that with the longer waits for packed trains full of angry, aggressive commuters, and I got all in a snit. I dashed off a quick note to WMATA customer service expecting little. Imagine my surprise when I got a great, timely, attentive, detailed, personable and professional response. Yes! This from the same people who are shutting the airport stop for the duration of a holiday weekend! Which, I’ve got to say, is a bold “Eff You” to the city.

I’d like to give a little credit where it’s due, particularly since they’re having such a hard time this year. Having received permission from WMATA, here are some excerpts from that correspondence. I’m not publishing the name of the excellent rep who wrote to me, but if Metro wants to give some credit for a job well done, the case # is 503500.

My original email:

It is insanely hot on the Bethesda station platform, and has been all summer. Now that the weather is reaching DC’s usual summer highs, this situation is getting more dire. Please, please, please make whatever repairs or adjustments are necessary.

And the relevant part of their lovely reply:

Thank you for your recent email.  The air conditioning units that blow the cold air are operating and the temperatures inside Bethesda station remain in the 70s.  However, the Bethesda units are some of the oldest units in the system and need to be replaced.  We are working to get them scheduled for replacement, which may be a few years out as funding is always an issue.

Okay, I’ll give it another couple of days, I thought. And I did. And I noticed that I could feel the hot air actually blowing up the long escalator, wilting my suit as I descended into hell. So I wrote back.

Thank you very much for your reply. I must, however, respectfully disagree with you about the temperature on the Bethesda platform and encourage WMATA to have another look…  Perhaps when Metro Center is done with the fans (which have been a great help this summer), a couple of them could be deployed to Bethesda.

Then! Get this! She sent it to the air conditioning department! Who also wrote back!

I had the temperature checked today at 10:30, and the temperature in the middle of the platform was 78 degrees – not bad! Not sure why the customer feels different. If at all possible, I can have a supervisor meet the customer and look at temperature readings so we can know exactly what time they are there and experience what they are feeling.

We will continue to try to find ways to improve air circulation until the units finally get replaced.

We are apprehensive about installing fans for safety reasons, and with temperature readings below 80 degrees, doesn’t justify putting fans down there.

I declined, with thanks, the offer of a meeting nd thanked them both for looking into my complaint.

Really, I’ve had some customer service nightmares (Comcast, anyone?), and I’m very impressed with this response. Kudos Metro. I hope that this experience is one you can emulate throughout the network. And I hope you get the funding to do it.