Dumb and Dumber

Yesterday, the Washington Post, in an effort to be relevant, I guess, hosted a "Hangout with Dr. Gridlock" on Google+ featuring Metro boss Richard "Dick" Sarles.

The production quality was about what you'd expect from a newspaper trying to do TV, and the answers from Sarles were as predictable as gravity, but what really stole the show, for me at least, was the question from the one, plain ol' rider on the panel. He was supposed to represent riders and riders' perspectives.

With his big chance to ask the Metro honcho tough question during the rather short 30-minute chat, what did he come up with?

"Why are some stations center platform and why are some stations side platform?"

Gah!

I'd like Unsuck readers to try to come up with a worse question.

I'll get the ball rolling:

Why do trains have wheels?
Why don't Metro trains have cabooses?
Why is the subway underground?

I'll send the dumbest five to Stessel.

I should warn you that I don't anticipate a response since he still hasn't coughed up the full $200,000 "report" on " what if there were no Metro" even though he said he would and, like all of you, I paid 16 cents for it.

Other items:
Metro hiring 1,000 more (WaPo)
Look at all the Metrobus accidents (WTOP)
Riders say they will abandon Metro (Examiner)

The Age of the Train

The Government announces that High Speed 2 will go ahead...

Britain needs a fast and integrated rail network. It lags far behind its nearest neighbours, largely due to Thatcher privatising the railways in the 1980s when other nations were investing. To her, spending money on roads was investment, spending on railways was subsidy. Is this finally The Age of the Train? In a country almost 600 miles long by 300 miles wide, the 90 miles that High Speed 2 (HS2) represents will not make a difference for the vast majority of rail users.

For the record, I haven't really done any research for this post, its only a bit of fun. I don't have the time or inclination to wade through the volumes of reports, assessments and evaluations that are available.

An extra 8 miles of the route will be in tunnels to mitigate environmental concerns...

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