I find it pretty hilarious there are review of Metro stations on Yelp, so I felt compelled to add one for my neighborhood station. Of course, if you need to get off at Shaw-Howard, you need to get off at Shaw-Howard--it's not like you're going to walk from Mt. Vernon Square or U St. instead if there's not a 5-star review.
How much can you say about a Metro station? Escalator works when it wants to (and sometimes they switch which escalator is going up which has led to me embarassing myself on more than one occaison trying to walk down an up escalator), station managers aren't that helpful (I mean, pretty much everyone who uses this station is a local--I saw someone exit with a farecard and was kind of confused). Elevator never works (April 2009 completion, my ass).
You also get kids hanging outside the station in the evenings--especially during the summer--which I could see being intimidating, but apparently I've perfected my icy bitch exterior enough to where they leave me alone.
Also, don't fooled by the station name--it's not that close to Howard's campus. It's over a half-mile from the north station exit. But there is a campus shuttle or you could catch the 70 or 71 bus.
In short, it's what you'd expect for a Metro station in a rapidly gentrifying part of DC. read more