Foggy Bottom Metro Escalators Broken Again

As of December 15th and till today, two out of three street-level escalators at Foggy Bottom Metro station are closed. Only one narrow escalator serves double duty as up/down stairs for rush hour crowds. It’s an outrage and an unmitigated catastrophe in progress, but still nothing new to this beleaguered Metro station. This means more lines, more crowding, more walking down broken steps. Avoid it if you can: use this handy map to find alternative Metro station entrances. More on this from Dr. Gridlock.

Update: As of about 7PM, the middle escalator has been opened, but only as stairs, with escalator #3 going up. There was no backup or bottleneck; how was it for you?

Roving Asian mendicant, can occasionally be seen wandering the streets of downtown Washington, muttering unintelligible gibberish to passers-by while pushing a “bag lady” shopping cart full of old blankets, American flags, soda cans, and healthy secondhand snacks from organic food shop dumpsters. Used to live in a cardboard box at 16th and K but the rent was too expensive.

6 thoughts on “Foggy Bottom Metro Escalators Broken Again

  1. Same situation at Capitol South. Only one of 3 escalators has been working since last month. As a result, we’ve been forced to walk down the cement stairs to get into the station. Some older people may not be able to that.

    Metro keeps delaying the date the third escalator will fixed. The middle one is undergoing rehablitation and is not expected to be in service until Jan. 21 – the day after inauguration.

  2. I am a huge fan on the Metro. I hate to criticize the people who get me to and from work everyday. But seriously, why is it that hard to replace escalators? It seems like it could be done in a night. If it is a matter of parts don’t they keep extra on hand?

    I just don’t get it.

  3. Seems to me that their money can be better spent on covering the escalators from rain, sleet, snow, etc. rather than continually fixing the broken ones.

  4. Metro finished rehabilation the escalator at Capitol South ahead of schedule. Their website said it would be done 1/21/09, but the escalator is back in service this morning. Now, they need to fix the third one.