They have become so frequent in the past year that Ms. Rogers — like legions of young professionals starting their careers here — now plans her morning around how long it will take her to get to her job near Union Station.

If the Metro is not a first-order topic of conversation, it is certainly a ubiquitous one, Ms. Rogers said, from “game-time analysis” of schedules at the office to venting sessions over happy hour with friends.

“Someone strolls into brunch 15 minutes late and says, ‘Oh my God, the Metro,’” she said. “And there is a conversation that no one can quit for an hour.”

Like most of her friends, Ms. Rogers said, she has few alternatives. She owns a car, but the cost of parking is prohibitive. Living in a neighborhood closer to work would be nice but too expensive.

“It is really building a reputation,” Ms. Rogers said, “and it is really hard for people who are young and trying to figure out how to make life work in D.C.”

There is a joke, Ms. Rogers said, among her co-workers at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence: “The Metro is on fire because it’s a day that ends in y.”

When Ms. Rogers found herself on just such a smoking train one morning last month, she said, most riders shrugged and calmly filed off as if it were the norm.