Metro trains often run 20 minutes apart in the late evenings, even though, according to this blogger, they wouldn't have to if federal subsidies had increased with inflation. I have been astounded ever since I moved to this city that people consider a 20-minute wait time acceptable, even when they might have to transfer and wait again. In my world, rail transportation that takes more than 10 minutes to arrive is not a subway; it's a train. (And by this I mean that it might as well have all the ceremonial inconveniences one expects from a train: Tickets, waiting rooms, talking to a man in a funny hat. The Baltimore light rail system is charming, or it was for me the couple of times I tried it; it has the feel of an old-world streetcar, the way it creaks up the hill from the harbor every half an hour, but it would be absurd to rely on it for a daily commute or errands.)
Greater Greater Washington puts it this way:
As Metrorail continues to rack up
ridership gains,
especially during off-peak periods, WMATA has continued to operate
off-peak headways more appropriate for a sleepy, commuter-only city.
The word "sleepy" is perfect. If we want to be taken seriously as a city, we deserve an affordable way to promptly get where we're going.