Compared to NYC or Paris, the DC Metro is limited, but it's still the second-most-used system in the country, and far ahead of most American cities (SF in particular). Train headways are as low as 2 minutes during rush hour, and the system runs until 3 AM on Friday and Saturday night (unlike the BART which stops at midnight). It also goes close enough to almost everywhere you need to get to.
I agree that maintenance-related delays on evenings and weekends can be significant, and packed Orange Line cars are a real problem. Hopefully the former will go away as the current round of maintenance is completed; we'll probably need to build a second Potomac River tunnel and the M St subway to resolve the latter.
I agree that maintenance-related delays on evenings and weekends can be significant, and packed Orange Line cars are a real problem. Hopefully the former will go away as the current round of maintenance is completed; we'll probably need to build a second Potomac River tunnel and the M St subway to resolve the latter.