The Washington DC Metro system opened on March 27, 1976. Much has been written recently, over the past few years and further back as well, about the system’s deteriorating safety, reliability, passenger dissatisfaction with increasingly frequent delays, overcrowding and relentless service delays. Citizens and public officials have called for much need improvements that include the purchase of updated train cars, fixing escalators and elevators that always seem to be broken whereever you may travel in DC, Maryland and Virginia, and restoring trust in a system that at 40, seems worn out, often dirty and uncomfortable, and much less accessible for the disabled than acceptable. This New York Times article shines a light on the nation’s second busiest transit system as it faces a crisis of rider trust and a the high hurdles of extensive and long overdue systemic repairs to all its lines.