A blogger is starting his annual campaign for Metro to cool down its rail cars, months earlier than past years, in the latest sign of the region’s unusual weather.
The first year, the campaign started in July. Then last year, it began in May.
Now, FixWMATA.com is starting the hot car watch in March.
“This has been a really weird year,” site creator Chris Barnes told The Washington Examiner on Thursday, when temperatures crept close to the 70s on the first day of March after a mild, nearly snowless winter.
Barnes said he was hesitant to start so early but said he has already fielded complaints about hot rail cars from commuters and heard testimony about the problem at a recent hearing.
By midafternoon Thursday, the site had two reports.
But because he’s starting so early, the problem may be a question of turning off the heat, not just fixing broken air conditioning on older rail cars.
Barnes’ website enables Metro riders to report the identification number of a too-toasty rail car with the date and time. Barnes said he hopes it can give riders a place to make themselves heard and help Metro know which of its rail cars need help.
Barnes, who moved to the Washington area from Houston and originally hails from Atlanta, remembers thinking when he heard the first hot car complaints, “Y’all don’t know hot.”
But, he said, he saw a need to fill and noted it’s a quantifiable issue that is easily tracked. Barnes, whose day job is in information technology, also had the skills to create a website to do it.
Metro’s rail fleet of more than 1,120 cars, varying in age and make, is set to regulate temperature between 68 and 72 degrees through automatic sensors, said Metro spokesman Philip Stewart.
But the agency historically has had a tough time keeping the temperatures constant in the rail cars, letting in the outdoor heat and cold each time the six sets of doors per car open at a station.
