This question implies that Metro is sometimes "responsible" when we all know it never is, then again, that is what you get when the government consistently bails out a failing company such as Metro. I wonder what we are headed for in the auto and bank industries. Metro is unreliable and unsafe to say the least. The only reason I ride is because my work pays for the trip. I would never use my own money to ride Metro since it is cheaper and faster for me to drive.

Yes. If this is a "result of long -planned track work", I'm interested in finding out what their plans are for Thanksgiving.

At this point, do we REALLY expect better from METRO? I know I don't.

When I heard that they were closing the station for Labor Day weekend, I thought about all the people who made travel plans ahead of a time for Reagan National Airport specifically because of the metro station stop. Now these people have to pay even more money for a taxi. The should just do the work at night when metro is closed.

No, it is not irresponsible but it may not be real bright. It will not be impacting people going to work and has been announced far enough in advance for people to plan how to get to the airport for their vacations. It is better to shut down for a holiday weeekend than three days during the work week.

Metro just continues to astound me with their incompetence. Who is in charge? It ought to be someone who actually rides the rails on a regular basis.......

Listen, it's a 3-day job. Would you rather them close it on workdays? And weren't you just complaining about the lack of maintenance? Pick one side or the other-- you're sounding a lot like the C Street Republicans! Deal with it.

Metro has said they could not do this over a normal weekend and it needed to be done on a holiday weekend. Their records show that travel on Metro on Labor Day weekend in the past is below normal. Since the airline industry is experiencing below normal travel, I think it makes sense. If Metro DID NOT do maintenance this weekend and another accident happened, then they would be critized for NOT doing the mainentance work. I agree that Metro has a long way to go but it seems that no matter what they do, it will ALWAYS be perceived as wrong.

I understand the need for maintenance, but a little more notice would have been nice. Also, is this weekend really the best weekend to do it? I really don't expect anything different from METRO.

This is unbelievable. If Metro were in charge of health care, they'd shut down hospitals during swine flu season.

CATOE MUST GO!

"Their records show that travel on Metro on Labor Day weekend in the past is below normal." - JEV

What is normal? 1,000,000? 500,000? 250,000? What is below normal?

@ Common Kevin

At the risk of being labeled a Metro supporter, which I am not, but I am SO curious I can't help asking what private metropolitan transit authority are you comparing with Metro? Where in the use do we have private industry running the show in the urban transportation arena? How large is the city it serves? What are the rates it charges for rail, bus service? Did the company take over an existing rail system or did it launch a new system? I am eager to hear what private industry is doing, without any governmental assistance, to provide a far superior service.

I think it's questionable at the least why any subway system would close a station that serves a major airport during a known busy travel weekend. Why couldn't Metro have done this maintence last weekend, or next weekend?

If major work is needed, it would be irresponsible for Metro NOT to take advantage of a low-traffic weekend to accomplish it. All systems need maintenance, and there are many alternatives for getting to the airport.

@ Rachel

Metro buses go to the airport as well. Those will still be running and are cheaper than taxis.

@ tscream80

Metro said the work will take three days. Name a three day weekend that is not a holiday weekend. Would you rather it be shut down when you have to go to work?

According to this morning's Examiner, last year, an average of 227,000 riders took Metro each day and a normal Saturday sees 330,000 riders.

Inconvenient, yes. But irresponisible, no. I can't think of a more convenient 3-day period, particularly if some of the work is outdoors.

Common Kevin, Let me take a crack at this. DISNEY. Disney world in Orlando, FL is a privately owned (Not government) company that has it’s own monorail and hundreds if not thousands of buses and they were all paid for completely with private money. They move hundreds of thousands of people every day…for FREE. It does not cost you a dime it ride their transportation system. It is new, clean, and very efficient.

MildlyMisanthropic,
My wife immigrated to this country and asked me before we got married if anyone had a private transportation business like buses to transport people or if it was all government. Having traveled to well over twenty countries, I can tell you it is a far better service when dealing with the subway or buses in other countries and it is very affordable when converted into their dollars and standard of living because the free market works. Sadly you are correct and all of the transportation industry, aside from Taxi's are government owned in this country. As GW would say, and I agree, we need the government out of the transportation industry. Obama seems to want to mimic the U.K., France, and Canada when it comes to health care, but we could really take a lesson from mass transit in other countries in that the government is not involved and yet the fares are very reasonable/inexpensive, the service is reliable, and the free market works without the government putting their nose into it.

I recently read that the word fail is being used much more frequently in everyday lingo, much due to the popularity of things like failblog. I think this is a good time to use it. Metro FAIL.

This is the most asinine plan Metro has come up with yet. If they planned this far in advance you would think they would notice this was LABOR DAY WEEKEND, one of the biggest travel weekends of the year. Why not close it the weekend before or after Labor Day?

Most definitely. But irresponsibility has been the name of the game at Metro for years -- just ask anybody who's ever stood on a severely overcrowded platform when Metro was down and has heard nothing on the PA system except elevator outage announcements and endless repetitions of the hideous "see it say it" commercial. So why should we be surprised?

Wow, this is unbelieveable what I am reading from the postings. For Metro, it's damn if they do and damn if they do not. Come on people. You can't have it both ways. You can't complain that the system needs repairs and not allow them to do the repairs. It's a 3-day long repair job. They could do it on a long weekend or do it during a work week. What would you rather have? Air travel on Labor Day is low compare with other holidays anyway.

Not only will this inconvenience those DC residents travelling this weekend, think about all the tourists staying in Pentagon and Crystal City. They rely on Metro as a means of transit for their vacations, and probably picked closer in hotels so they wouldnt have to rent cars. Being a resident of the area, I could figure out alternate transportation another weekend...these people will be all but stranded, or completely reliant on expensive cabs. So much for a fun weekend in the Nations Capitol.

To close the Reagan National Airport stop over the Labor Day weekend is very poor planning.

Anonymous @ 9:12 AM
Trust me, it's all paid for, and it is causing you more than a dime. Where? From the overpriced items you buy at their shops, parking at their parks and of course, the entrance cost for each park.
It's a business, it's out to make money.

Irresponsible? No. I think the irresponsible thing to do would be to to put off the fixtures for later while in interim the potential of track malfunctions inherent in an aging transportation system increases and having what happened in June occur again. We can't afford that! Labor Day weekend gives the mechanics the longest stretch of time at which the demand for access to work is greatly reduced thereby allowing them enough time to take their time to make the appropriate fixtures. And to all who believe that Labor day travel weekend makes it a bad time to close the airports should realize that this isn't something that happens all the time and there are shuttles being provided. So let's cut the heavy criticicsms and learn to be patient.

If the "advanced warning" they gave is that inconspicuous press release from early August, that is an insufficient way to inform the public about this kind of closure.

This is not only terrible for Labor Day weekend travelers, but for the residents of Pentagon City and Crystal City as well. And this is a day after it took me an hour and 45 minutes to get from Dupont Circle to Crystal City because of track work on the Yellow Line. I understand the need for track work, but this is just getting ridiculous.

I'm surprised at stats that show it's a low-ridership weekend, considering many people travel on Labor Day weekend, and many people use National Airport because of its proximity to Metrorail. I understand the work is a three-day job, but couldn't they have broken it up into chunks so as not to disrupt holiday travelers?

But TH, you're right, they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. I still think it's lousy, lousy timing.

Irresponsible and p*ss poor planning.
TH,
True that the cost is reflected in the price of a ticket, but the ride is free. Why do we still pay for Metro when our tax dollars go to fund it as well? This is like a typical fair where you have to pay admission and pay for each ride. At least with an amusement park you can choose to go to another one if you desire, but with Metro (assuming you have no car) you are at their mercy and have no other option, but their other tax funded option, the bus. Anything the government touches they mess it up including medical and Social Security. Why not just mandate that people save 5% or 10% of their income in investments (bonds if you are worried about losses)? Social Security gives you a rate of return of about 1% to 1.5% when inflation is typically about 3%. You would be better off saving that 6.2% for social security in your bank account then letting the biggest Ponzi Scheme operator safeguarding your money. Please free us from this government opression that our founders fought for in order to free us from over 200 years ago.

Are we really supposed to believe that these "repairs" are supposed to take 72 non-stop hours? If not, then why can it not be done over some other weekend or at night?

TH – First post. By all means please do the maintenance. More than 3 days notice would have been nice before one of the busiest holiday weekend. People’s plans have already been made, now they are scrambling to accommodate METRO. 3 days notice is dropping the ball.

TH- Second post. I didn’t say it wasn’t paid for without corporate profits. I said it was paid for privately, was clean, efficient, and free to ride. It does not cost a dime to ride, of course the reason you ride it is to get from Hotels to the parks, shops, ect. All those places do cost something, same thing as going to the Nationals Game, or Verizon, or shopping in DC. That Cost you something to get there PLUS the cost of the ticketed admission. Also it is not as nearly efficient.

The problem is the choice of which three-day weekend. Labor Day is a big travel weekend, while Columbus Day in October is not nearly so much.

I think the problem here is that Metro should post expected trackwork on their website and alert news media months in advance. Keeping the public informed is all we ask of an important utility like Metro.

National Airport is the only airport accessible by Metro! How crazy to shut down Metro access to National Airport….on a long weekend no less. What are they thinking and why….? - Lowspark

As I'll be returning to DC via National Airport on Labor Day weekend, I'm not thrilled with Metro's decision. That said, I'd rather make it home safely in a cab than be a victim of a "rail incident" or whatever other euphemism WMATA will use for its next deadly mishap.

@ Anonymous 9:12 AM
Your Disney World analogy is as goofy as your logic (yes, pun intended). During its peak operating season, the park has only 75,000 visitors per day, which is a mere fraction of the number of people Metro moves. Plus, those "commuters" pay $79 per day for the privilege of a roundtrip ride on the monorail (and day at the park). Thanks, but I'd rather stick with Metro's current pricing structure.

Metro needs to learn how to plan better.
Diogenes,
You don't have to come back from your trip and that way you will not have to take a cab. Unlike Metro, Disney World is cheaper the more days you go and it is much more fun than riding the death trap of a Metro. Tickets are even cheaper for military veterans which is not the case with the Metro. Oops, sorry. I agree that Metro does have more than 75,000 visitors a day and it SHOWS.

This has been in the works since early August. Granted not many of us read Metro press releases (myself included), but the information was there (after I went looking for it). 8/5/09 to be exact. Those who live off of the blue and yellow lines (south of Rosslyn and L'Enfant) have been dealing with nightly track work and station closings, Sundays through Thursdays, since 8/9/09. Is Metro being irresponsible? No. Does the timing leave something to be desired? Yes. Given the upcoming weather conditions and the remaining 3-day weekends this year that track work can be done, is Labor Day weekend the best weekend for this? Yes. I'm just hoping this is the end of the track work in this area of the system for quite sometime.

Metro is making an effort to improve it's infrastructure and it should be allowed and tolerated without a lot of whinning, by you unappreciative riders whom want a safe train system, but don't want the downtime that it takes to repair and maintain it. Grow-up and stop watching so much make believe TV programs. This is the real world and in the real world there are no perfect metro systems anywhere...

I don't mind that they are doing the work on a holiday weekend but long range planning on Metros' part should have included informing people further in advance. Consideration to DC area residents (not only traveling to the airport but getting around the three stops) as well as to people traveling to DC from outside the DC/MD/VA area would have been nice. On the positive side, Metro is offering assistance to people.

Al,
The D.C. Metro system is far from perfect and to have a single point of failure that resulted in the recent Metro accident that claimed many lives is flat out irresponsible at least and on the verge of manslaughter.

Based on the numbers as of now, 9 out of 10 people would rather Metro close during the work week than to interupt a vacation. You still have to go to work whether metro has a problem or not.

Is it possible this is some sort of conspiracy involving the taxi companies?

Metro's doing necessary track repair at a time least likely to impact its regular customers (commuters). Its also offering shuttle service to/from the airport to the Pentagon station. Look, I hate metro as much as anyone, but their only misstep here was not better publicizing this. I'm not even convinced the fault lies with metro, since they put out the press release a month ago; perhaps that means the blame should be placed on local media.

@Common Kevin

Google Earth is a very poor substitute for actually visiting and traveling through a country. Your lack of real-world experience shows.

Traveller (aka Diogenes),
Say what you will. How would you claim that I have a "lack of real-world experience?" Let's see, I have been to Portugal, France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Israel, Moldova, Japan, Philippines, Croatia, Bahamas, Canada (extension of U.S.), U.A.E., Bahrain, Qatar, Indonesia, China, and a few others that I am forgetting. Where exactly have you physically been to? Feel free to enlighten us all there Traveler. Funny how you claim that you "travel," yet you can not even spell the word traveler correctly.

How can Metro cry about financial woes and then shut down a busy airport during a busy holiday. Ridiculous!

Let me put it this way: If you voted no you're a moron.

I don't drive, so I depend on Metro, and not just when I go to work. On Monday, I'll be on an international flight from Dulles (BTW, I bought my tickets in May), and normally I'd get to Dulles by taking the Washington Flyer from West Falls Church station. Now I have no way to get to WFC, and taxis are far more expensive. Luckily I can get a friend to drive me. I guess visitors will have to fend for themselves. It's embarrassing when a major world city does not have reliable transportation to and from its airports.