Curious lack of replacement bus service
Hurricane Sandy has reminded me of something that bothered me in the past – the lack of substitute bus service when the weather shuts down rail lines for long periods of time. For example, I lived in DC the summer of 2009, and a few months later I was reading about metro being closed for almost a week due to snow. My friend who still lived there reported the office was open, so commuters were expected to make their way in. Without a car, and without transit service, what is one expected to do? I had lived in Takoma, and without Metro, making my way to work would have been near impossible. Public officials provided no substitute bus service even though the roads had been (eventually) plowed. For a region so dependent on public transport, I’ve always found this to be very odd. My memory is hazy on all these snowmaggedon events, but VRE and MARC were closed for some time as well, with no provisions for alternate travel.