Arthur David Olson

As is usually the case, it's "service cuts" rather than "service adjustments." Please, @mcdotnow.bsky.social, do not euphemize.

Closeup of eye-level electronic bus information display. Header text includes "Feb 14" and "9:17 am." Footer text includes "Glenmont+Bay H" and "2001046." No arrival times or service alerts are shown.

New @metrobusinfo.bsky.social check: no real-time display arrival time, Glenmont Bay H (stop 2001046).

Fix: install and maintain paper timetables everywhere, then remove and sell every last expensive, unreliable electronic display in the system.

@wmatagm.bsky.social

YouTube video by koollatter The Pointer Sisters - Salt Peanuts

Theory: the dialog delivery on The Gilmore Girls was inspired by The Pointer Sisters.

youtube.com/watch?v=pkUR...

On an exterior concrete wall, a mural with the title Penguin Rush Hour. Cartoon penguins, some with newspapers and briefcases, are seen outside and aboard buses and trains. None are wearing masks.

Quarterly @metrorailinfo.bsky.social check: and last and least for now, still no masked penguins on Silver Spring Transit Center mural (as a way of indicating that mask use is accepted/encouraged).

@wmatagm.bsky.social

Inside Metrorail's Silver Spring Station in Maryland, a fare machine topped by a fare chart.

Detail from fare chart, showing a $2.25 fare to Silver Spring Station. In the lower-right-hand core, the text "Efectivo Julio 2024; Silver Spring."

Quarterly @metrorailinfo.bsky.social check: fare machine charts still shows "fares" to the stations themselves.

Fix: eliminate fares, then remove all fare equipment (including fare gates).

Or: further customize the charts by dropping the self-referential entries.

@wmatagm.bsky.social

At Metrorail's Silver Spring Station, a fare machine.

Detail from fare machine, including the text "take pass/farecards."

Quarterly @metrorailinfo.bsky.social check: fare machines still include "farecard" references, more than a decade after the 2015 demise of the farecard.

Fix: eliminate fares and remove all fare equipment and fare gates.

@wmatagm.bsky.social

On a concrete exterior wall, two stacked signs including the text "Paul S. Sarbanes Transit Center." Top sign is lighter gray and wider than bottom sign. Bottom sign includes Braille; top sign does not.

Quarterly @metrobusinfo.bsky.social and
@metrorailinfo.bsky.social check, from your Department of Redundancy Department: still two "Paul S. Sarbanes Transit Center" signs at the Silver Spring Transit Center level 2 entrance.

Fix: keep just the bottom one (which has Braille).

@wmatagm.bsky.social

At the Silver Spring Transit Center in Maryland, overhead signage. In foreground, a sign with, at left, an upward-pointing arrow to the right of covered text. In background, a sign with, at right, an upward pointing arrow to the left of covered text.

At the Silver Spring Transit Center in Maryland, an overhead sign at the top of an escalator. Sign includes a rightward-point arrow on the right, to the left of covered text.

Quarterly @metrobusinfo.bsky.social check: still unlabeled arrows on signs at the Silver Spring Transit Center, dregs after the removal of the MARC bridge.

Fix: remove or cover the arrows.

@wmatagm.bsky.social

At the Silver Spring Transit Center in Maryland, side-by-side, eye-level, portrait orientation posters. Left-hand poster is headed "Boarding Locations and Service Days." Right-hand poster is headed "Directory Map."

Detail from directory map. Under the leadings "Level 2" and "Level 1," boarding locations appear, sorted by bus bay number.

Detail from "boarding locations" poster. In a table, entries are sorted by route identifier.

Quarterly @metrobusinfo.bsky.social check: Silver Spring Transit Center "directory map" poster still has index entries ordered by bus bay rather than route.

Fix: order entries by route identifier, as with the "boarding locations and service days" poster.

@wmatagm.bsky.social

At Metrorail's Silver Spring Station north entrance, three electronic displays, a landscape-orientation display above two side-by-side, eye-level, portrait-orientation displays. None have audio options.

At Metrorail's Silver Spring Station south entrance, two side-by-side, eye-level, portrait-orientation displays. Neither has an audio option.

At Metrorail's Silver Spring Station south entrance, an overhead electronic display of train arrival times. There is no audio option.

At Metrorail's Silver Spring Station south entrance, an overhead electronic system status display. There is no audio option.

Quarterly @metrorailinfo.bsky.social check: still no audio options for in-station electronic displays, neither eye-level nor overhead.

Fix: remove and sell every last expensive, unreliable electronic display in the system.

(Images from Silver Spring Station.)

@wmatagm.bsky.social

At the Silver Spring Transit Center TRips store in Maryland, view in to the store. On a wall, a rail system poster.

Closeup of rail system poster. No Silver Line service to New Carrollton is show; Yellow Line service to Greenbelt has been redacted with black.

Quarterly @metrorailinfo.bsky.social and @rideonmct.bsky.social check: still out-of-date rail system poster (lacking Silver and Yellow Line service to New Carrollton and Greenbelt) at Silver Spring Transit Center TRiPS store.

Now: remove poster.
Later: install updated poster.

@wmatagm.bsky.social

At Metrorail's Silver Spring Station north entrance, one side of the attendant booth. Plastic literature holders are visible; all are empty.

At Metrorail's Silver Spring Station north entrance, second side of the attendant booth. Plastic literature holders are visible; all are empty.

At Metrorail's Silver Spring Station south entrance, one side of the attendant booth. Plastic literature holders are visible; all are empty.

At Metrorail's Silver Spring Station south entrance, second side of the attendant booth. Plastic literature holders are visible; all are empty.

Quarterly @metrobusinfo.bsky.social and @metrorailinfo.bsky.social check: still no Metrobus schedules (not even faux Metrobus schedules) at either Silver Spring Station entrance.

@wmatagm.bsky.social

Wide view of north exit from Metrorail's Silver Spring Station. A lone Exitfare machine is visible.

Quarterly @metrorailinfo.bsky.social check: still a lone Exitfare machine at Silver Spring Station north entrance, leaving riders in the lurch when it breaks.

Fix: eliminate fares, then remove all fare machines and fare gates.

@wmatagm.bsky.social

At Metrorail's Silver Spring Transit Center in Maryland, a view of bus bay 102. An eye level information display has empty poster holders in the center and at the right.

At Metrorail's Silver Spring Transit Center in Maryland, a view of bus bay 102. An eye level information display has empty poster holders on the left and in the center.

Quarterly @metrobusinfo.bsky.social check: still no replacements for paper timetables, bus service maps, and bus line diagrams at bus bays of Silver Spring Transit Center.

Best fix: install and maintain the above items.

Or: remove and sell the holders.

@wmatagm.bsky.social

At Metrorail's Silver Spring Station, a two-panel backlit innformation display. Right-hand panel is headed "Station Area Map."

Detail from map, including the text "Silver Spring Police Dept."

Detail from map, including the text "Children's Hospital" by a brown H on a white rectangular background.

Quarterly @metrorailinfo.bsky.social check: station area map at Silver Spring Station still dangerously and irresponsibly shows closed police station and hospital.

Now: remove the map.

Later: install an updated map.

@wmatagm.bsky.social

Mosaic of four rows of images with, from top to bottom, four, three, four, and three images per row. Each image shows overhead signage including a fixed part with bay numbers; the numbers, from top to bottom and left to right, are 105, 106, 107, 108, 110, 111, 112, 222, 225, 226, 227, 229, and 232. The first 13 images include a two-line electronic display showing the text "RideOn live data unavailable" while the final image includes a two-line electronic display showing the tet "UM schedule unavailable."

Quarterly @dots_umd.twitter.com, @metrobusinfo.bsky.social, and @rideonmct.bsky.social check: no real-time data for U. M. Shuttle and Ride On routes at Silver Spring Transit Center.

Fix: install and maintain paper timetables everywhere, then remove all electronic displays.

@wmatagm.bsky.social

Quarterly @metrobusinfo.bsky.social check: multi-bay display at Silver Spring Transit Center second level still lack audio, doesn't show bus bays for @rideonmct.bsky.social routes, and uses lower-case x for routes such as D6x (with upper-case X being used elsewhere).

@wmatagm.bsky.social

Quarterly @metrobusinfo.bsky.social check: multi-bay display at Silver Spring Transit Center first level still lacks audio, doesn't show bus bays for @rideonmct.bsky.social routes, and uses lower-case x for routes such as D4x and D6x (with upper-case X being used elsewhere).

@wmatagm.bsky.social

Quarterly @metrobusinfo.bsky.social check: still no audio from real time display at Silver Spring Transit Center Bay 115.

Fix: install and maintain paper timetables everywhere, then remove and sell every last expensive, unreliable electronic display in the system.

@wmatagm.bsky.social

Quarterly check good news: audio now working on real-time display at Silver Spring Transit Center Bay 110. Thanks @metrobusinfo.bsky.social

Next steps: install and maintain paper timetables everywhere, then remove and sell every expensive, unreliable display in the system.

@wmatagm.bsky.social

At south entrance to Metrorail's Silver Spring Station, side-by-side, eye-level, portrait-orientation electronic displays. The left-hand display is blank. Footer text in the right-hand display: "Feb 13th 3:10 pm."

Renewed @metrorailinfo.bsky.social check: real-time display out at Silver Spring Station south entrance.

Fix: remove and sell every last expensive, unreliable electronic display in the system.

@wmatagm.bsky.social

Today's Google's Greatest Hits: figuratively and literally, literally and figuratively, figuratively and figuratively, aw well as literally and literally over time.

Spoilers: literally and figuratively >> figuratively and literally; no instances of the other two.

books.google.com/ngrams/graph...

Marketing note: a smart phone app for #Quakers is best sold as having two syllables ("Q-App"), not one.

YouTube video by Toonimation Entertainment The Yogi Bear Show Theme Song (1961-1962)

Wondering today whether the average number of syllables in "average" is falling with the waning cultural influence of Yogi ("smarter than the av-er-age") Bear.

youtube.com/watch?v=u6Bg...

www.dictionary.com/browse/average

Outdoor entrance with signs to the left. Left-hand sign incudes the text "MARC Silver Spring." Right-hand sign include the text "MARC Bridge to Northbound Platform."

Outdoor entrance flanked by signs. Left-hand sign includes the text "MARC Silver Spring." Right-hand sign include the text "MARC Bridge to Southbound Platform."

Quarterly @mta.maryland.gov check: MARC platforms still unmoored and drifting north and south at the Silver Spring station, at least according to the signage.

Fix: change "platform" to "trains."

@govwesmoore.bsky.social

Cover of a brochure with the title "Your Guide to Metro."

Detail from back cover of brochure, including the date "12-25."

Detail from a table in the brochure, including an entry for "National Zoo" with the station name "Woodley Park."

Quarterly check mixed news.

Good: up-to-date—12/25—Guide to Metro (with half-time Yellow Line service to Greenbelt) now available. Thanks @metrorailinfo.bsky.social.

Bad: I found no online version.

Bad: still shows Woodley Park for Zoo.

nationalzoo.si.edu/visit/parkin...

@wmatagm.bsky.social

In Silver Spring, Maryland, a pedestrian island in the Blair Mill Road median. In the foreground (left to right), a downed flex post, downed pedestrian crossing signage, and an erect flex post. In the background, erect flex posts flank downed pedestrian crossing signage.

Quarterly @mcdotnow.bsky.social check: still a downed flex post and two downed pedestrian signs on Blair Mill Road at Eastern Drive.

Fix: these measures having been ineffective, close the road to vehicles.

#TakomaPark council #GavelDown (actually tonight, but just a bit before the start of hour six).

Next live posts: 2/18/2026, starting about 7:15 p.m. (barring an intervening Secret Session or Super Secret Session). Don't miss it if you can.

#TakomaPark council: Mayor Searcy calls for a vote on moving forward with a 3/11 public hearing. Six ayes; one nay (Councilmember Schlegel).

#TakomaPark council: Councilmember Honzak: "I definitely don't want to talk about this during budget season."