"Riding on the Metro..."
--The Metro, Berlin/Bella Morte
First off, you all need to go see Amelie. It's French, but don't worry - it has subtitles for all you Yanks and assorted Anglophiles. How good is it? I've seen it twice, and LotR twice, and I can't decide which will be next. That's how good it is.
Secondly, the following will eventually be moved to the Rants section as well, but since it was prompted by something that occurred today, it's here too:
I needed to get to a place that I've never actively sought out before. I get to the sbway station, board, and then look at a map. I am confident doing things in this order because the subway rocks like that. And guess what? It drops me off a block from where I need to be. No, make that two half-blocks. Metro? Even when it gets me to Pentagon City Mall, the WotC is across the mall and three floors up. So so far. And that's the closest to an interesting thing that this poor excuse for mass transit can provide for me.
Next is the schedule. Subway = 24 hours = good. Metro = lifespan of a mayfly = bad. I'm going to Rocky at night - in DC, that would mean a cab. Suck.
And you can eat food in the subway. Hardcore Metro fans jump on this as a flaw in my logic - "Ha, but that means you guys have rats! We have no rats!" Well, gosh darn it, you got me there. But let me tell you a little secret: I like rats. Asshole. So we win again.
The Metro also requires you to have a nebulous amount of money on your farecard to get out of the damn place. Which means that if you leave your house with little cash you might be stuck in the metro system until the employee types deign to grace you with their goodwill. The Metro was designed by a man who can best be described with the words "prick" and "sadistic," and not in that order.
The Metro does have a few saving points. One is the flashing platform lights - nothing is more fun when waiting for a train than playing the flashing light game. Also, every once in a while when you forget what the place is for, you think you've wandered onto one of the indoor sets for some version of Dune. And of course, you get to hum a really great song.
So in summation, the Metro is quirky and useless. The Subway is simply too ninja for it.