January 4, 2011 | 1:42 PM | By

Metro’s Resolution for 2011: Working Escalators?

FILED UNDER: Public Transportation, Access, Metro, WMATA

DCentric

These "Precision Escalator Products" were sitting next to the elevator at the Tenleytown/AU station, yesterday.

Finally– some good news, especially for those with mobility issues, who are extra-inconvenienced when a Metro escalator is broken (via WAMU):

Metro is focusing extra attention on its problematic escalators, a frequent source of complaint from riders. The transit agency is starting the new year with a newly appointed general superintendent for elevator and escalator programs.

Veteran engineer Rodrigo Bitar has been assigned to the position. His task: to oversee the repairs and upkeep of hundreds of escalators and elevators that Metro has failed to maintain.

In October, six passengers at the L’Enfant Plaza station were injured when the brakes on a Metro escalator malfunctioned. After the incident, a system wide inspection found additional problems with various Metro escalators.

Bitar will be charged with shepherding repair work laid out in an agency assessment made public earlier this year.

Rodrigo Bitar has previous experience with Metro; in the past, he was the “Director of Quality Assurance and Warranty”. If there’s anything that I encounter on a daily basis in this city that needs some QA– it’s Metro. Go Rodrigo!

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DCentric was created to examine the ways race and class interact in Washington, D.C., a city with a vibrant mix of cultures and neighborhoods. Your guides to the changing district are reporters Anna John and Elahe Izadi. View all posts by Anna →

  • Zaczek

    Mr. Bitar,
    Two subway systems that I use are in Buffalo, NY and Toronto Canada.  Both have escalators and most all have doors to the outside.  I invite you and your team to visit one or both of these cities and find some LONG TERM solutions to your mechancial problems. AS you already know  your problems started out as really bad design problems.  Please reply to zaczek@prodigy.net and I will try to show you first hand some root cause solutions before you spend that $16 Billion dollars.