Love them or hate them, some of the signature features that have made Metro feel like Metro since the rail line’s early days are slowly disappearing.
As Metro nears the end of its first generation — which for transit systems is 30 to 40 years, expert say — many of its original parts are being replaced and updated.
First on the casualty list: the color scheme.
Metro’s once-ubiquitous orange and brown seat cushions first were swapped for burgundy and blue ones when the agency ordered its 5000-series railcars in 1999.
“It was a fashion of sorts in the ’70s, but it had been outdated for 10 years before I even joined the board,” Metro Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman said of the old colors.
He recalls fighting with one of Metro’s original board members, Cleatus Barnett, about which new colors to pick when Zimmerman, now the senior board member, joined Metro in the late 1990s.
“I kind of innocently wandered into the first big controversy over color,” Zimmerman said. “[Barnett], one of the most senior members of the board, said he was against changing the color to anything, because he was against changing it. I said I was for changing it to anything.”
After weeks of visiting rail yards to evaluate colors, Barnett gave in, Zimmerman said.
The 1970s-era cushions are now visible only on the few hundred old railcars the agency hasn’t rehabbed.
Carpet is likely to be next on the chopping block as Metro officials lean toward replacing the colorful threads with neutral-colored, nonslip vinyl flooring.
“The carpet — there was always a debate about that, because some people like it,” Zimmerman said. “In the end, we wanted it to look really good, and we were trying to attract a class of riders that really don’t have to ride. And we’ve been successful with that.”
Still, the vinyl floors are easier to clean, more sanitary and three times more durable, officials have said.
The board this month will consider replacing Metro’s brown six-sided floor tiles with concrete at outdoor stations — another case of practicality trumping sentimentality. The tiles are prone to water damage and are difficult and expensive to maintain, officials said.
Metro is also on the verge of adding thousands of flat-panel television screens displaying customer information and advertisements to stations, railcars and buses.
Zimmerman said that despite the changes, he believes the stations’ iconic vaulted ceilings — designed by Harry Weese in the 1960s — will keep Metro looking like itself.
“But there are definitely some improvements that have been made on the original development of the system,” he said.
