DC Trawler

The guy in charge of DC Metro escalators just got promoted

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If you don’t understand why that’s funny, come to DC sometime. Or better yet, don’t.

And now, today’s lesson in How Government “Works” from WaPo:

The head of Metro’s escalator and elevator department is taking over its track and engineering services unit.

Metro officials said Tuesday Rodrigo Bitar will become assistant general manager for the agency’s transit infrastructure and engineering services division, which has 4,800 employees…

For the last three years, Bitar served as general superintendent for Metro’s escalator and elevator division.

That’s good to know, because I’ve lived in Washington for the last three years, and I’ve come to dread hobbling down into a Metro station because I never know how the hell I’m going to get to the damn train. You know what I’m talking about, DC. If you think it’s a pain in the butt to navigate a huge broken escalator, try doing it on crutches.

But at least when I finally get to the train, it takes me where I need to go. Usually. Now that this guy’s in charge… who knows?

Oh, and here’s another comforting tidbit of information:

Bitar joined Metro in 2008 and worked on the quality assurance group, which supported the 2000, 3000 and 5000 series rail cars. Those rail cars have had troubles with brake parts falling off of them.

Is that all? Well, who needs those silly ol’ brakes anyhow?

Happy riding, commuters.

P.S. If you want to keep track of all the broken escalators in DC, check out @MetroEscalators on Twitter.

11 whole days. That’s pretty good, right?

P.P.S.