March 12, 2010 12:00 AM
Washington, D.C.'s Metro remains a great manifestation of liberalism
today. Although it was created at the zenith of the Great Society, and
although its union workforce gains overly generous pensions and
maintains ridiculous job security, it is Metro's management of its
passengers—its attempt to save passengers from their own idiocy—that
earns it this title.
Metro riders receive all kinds of helpful announcements: They’re
told to cover their mouths while they cough, pick up their newspapers
when they’re done reading them, not to leave their cellphones behind,
wash their hands regularly, not to sit on the escalator stairs or stand
too close to the edge of the platform, that inclement weather can make
floors slippery, and to stand clear of the closing train doors.
Repeatedly.
Despite the best efforts of the sybarites at the Cato Institute we
have largely become a non-smoking society. In Washington, D.C., smoking
hasn’t been allowed in public places since 2006. So people know not to
smoke indoors in Washington, D.C.
However, one entity still feels obliged to provide constant
reminders that smoking is not allowed on its premises—the Washington
Metro. Despite the fact that smoking has never been permitted in the
Metro, and I have never witnessed (or heard of) anyone doing in a Metro
train, during any given commute riders can expect to hear at least one
announcement reminding them that smoking is prohibited on Metro.
Metro also feels obliged to give a welcome to new riders—every five
minutes or so, by my estimation—and to provide them a quick tutorial
(train doors do not function like elevator doors, stand to the right on
escalators). To make sure all new riders understand these tips, they
even run a few variations of the announcement.
Metro also thanks its riders—a lot—and also asks them to
keep an eye out for unattended packages and to report anything unusual
either to a station attendant or to Metro police, whose ten-digit phone
number Metro helpfully provides.
And, just to make sure its announcements are heard, Metro prefaces them with two loud chimes.
In short, Metro bombards riders with announcements, ranging from the
banal, the irrelevant, to the redundant, from the moment they step into
a station until they walk out.
http://weeklystandard.com/blogs/metros-inherent-liberalism