silence is golden

One of the nice things about riding the Metro is that it is generally a quiet experience. Non-Verizon cellphones do not have serivce in any of the underground stations, conversations are typically conducted with "inside voices" (excluding weekend nights when the Orange and Red become the Virginia and Maryland Drunk Lines), and most travellers are solitary commuters listening to their mp3 players or reading. Unfortunately this may soon change as Metro is considering lifting it's 30 year ban on "performers" in the stations. Apparently this initiative is being driven by Metro's desire to improve the riding experience.

One of the more amusing quotes in the article is from the Metro general manager stating, "It's a nice, uplifting way to start the day." Really? Has this guy ever been on the Orange platform at Metro Center during rush hour? Imagine hundreds of people crushed into a holding pen trying to board an already overloaded train. Metro management believes that this experience could be improved by some guy with an out-of-tune acoustic guitar butchering "Boogie On Reggae Woman." Surreal? Defintely. Amusing? Maybe. Uplifting? I don't think so.

The article tends to agree with this theory by intimating that Metro could end up being more like the New York Subway which is "known for its troubadors." My response to that is, Fuck New York. DC's inferiority complex when it comes to the Big Apple really annoys me. Why would we want to emulate a city that prides itself on being singular and shits on any other metropolis that would dare compete with that? So our Metro is quiet and riders sit in "sci fi silence." That's our trip. We ride, ignore, and eschew human interaction during our commutes. Is that so bad? Maybe we don't have future Met and Philharmonic stars entertaining us during the morning rush, but you know what? I can still buy a beer here for $2.50; try doing that in Manhattan.

I'll take the quiet sterility of the DC Metro over the NYC Subway carnival any day of the week.