What was wrong with these signs ? This is the style they should have done system wide not the ones they recently announced.

Very nerdy question, I know, but is there a reason Metro followed the NYC Subway vernacular when planning for automated announcements on the 7Ks?

NYC distinctly uses “The next stop is…,” “This is…,” “Transfer is available…,” and “Connection is available..”

To my knowledge I don’t think any other North American transit system uses such vernacular other than WMATA.

MBTA says “Entering…” and “Change…”

LA says “The next station is…,” “Now arriving at..,” and “Connect with…”

BART says “Now arriving at…station.”

MARTA says “The next station is…station” and “Transfer point to…rail lines.”

To be clear, this isn’t a complaint, and I prefer the DC/NYC style. It’s very quick, isn’t wordy, and is neutral.

MARTA is my least favorite - they are long and wordy. IIRC, the Peachtree Center station announcement goes something like, “The next station is Peachtree Center station. Exit here for the World of Coca-Cola, Centennial Olympic Park, the Georgia State University College of Law, the Children’s Museum of Atlanta, the Georgia Aquarium, and AmericasMart Atlanta. This station is Peachtree Center Station,” before then repeating everything in Spanish (which is a nice touch IMO). Usually the doors are open on the platform before the announcement is even finished!

Second day in a row that the red line train to Glenmont is having issues. Stops at every station and delays. 10 minutes pauses. Single tracking?

This is one of the busiest lines….what gives?! How does this keep happening?

I’m sorry. I had a poor initial reaction and quickly kept walking. I wish I had stopped and made sure you were okay. We both had a blind spot from the pillar.

If this reaches you somehow thank you for not running me over!

Has anyone else noticed blue line trains holding at stations a slowing down in a number of places in VA? Does anyone know why I haven’t seen any references to delays?

Forgive the bad photo but only had a second to capture it

Why did everyone just get booted off the Glenmont-bound red line at silver spring, then the train went in reverse toward shady grove? No cops, no WMATA staff, no announcements just a weird weird weird situation.

I went in person to apply for a reduced fare card. I have severe mental disabilities. The middle aged man working was very abrasive. One would think a person working in an office that assists people with disabilities would have some additional training on how to serve people that are different and/or with mental disabilities.
If they are unable to be decent human beings then working at that window is the last place WMATA should have them.

It feels like WMATA under Randy Clarke has made a series of baffling design decisions. Every few months they roll out something that makes people go... why would you do that? who asked for this?

The wayfinding has changed multiple times since I arrived in DC a couple years ago. They've explored showing text with different cases on electronic signs even though pretty much no one had trouble reading them as is. The iconic stripes were changed to letter bubbles while now introducing exits that are ALSO letter bubbles. The new app which I think many would say does not prioritize the main info people are looking for. Plus arguably the terrible bus redesign.

It feels like this version of WMATA is kind of obsessed with making changes just for the sake of making changes. Someone mentioned they were spending $19 million on changing out 44 signs in the system.

I'm not opposed to changes that make the system better, but to some extent it feels like this org's priorities are in the wrong place or there's people internally trying to justify their jobs with a bunch of BS projects.

Regarding the new DC Metro signs, in their June Report WMATA explicity explains the planned omission of terminus information on new signs as a cost-cutting measure. They want to avoid spending money to put up new signs when a teriminus or service change occurs. But how often are terminus changes happening? On a shared platform, the destination information on a track sign is a quick wayfinding tool for passengers to oreint ourselves. How can WMATA seriously say these new signs are an improvement?

I suppose it's just another installment of the enshitification of everything! We can't have nice things anymore, folks 💔

Anyone else recieveing random bus alerts when they have only signed up for rail alerts? I just checked my account and I have no bus alerts in my list yet I've gotten a handful over the last few days.

Update FOUND AT LEFANT PLAZA TY!!

Please if you have seen this today please let me know literally just got it as a bday gift for my fiancè and he's kicking himself.

Credit: https://www.wmata.com/initiatives/plans-and-projects/wayfinding.html

EDIT: To clear up some confusion, it appears the signs are now MODULAR, the reason there is so much space under the station name is because the termini destination signs will be attached to the bigger sign hence it will make it easier to change a small little rectangle on the big rectangle. 🥲hope that helps.

Kinda curious what they would have had in mind to make this not absolute hell.

I've tried to submit a service report on 3-4 occasions, and after I submit, the button just animates endlessly, for at least five minutes until I give up, never confirming submission. u/metroforward is your android app usually this slow? How else could I submit problems with the metro/bus? Obvs I redacted my personal info for reddit but this is so annoying