The man behind the popular social media account “UnSuck DC Metro,” which aired anonymous complaints and inside jokes that only commuters in Washington, D.C., would understand, died at his home in Arlington, Virginia, on Sunday, according to his family. He was 54.
Matt Hilburn was a well-known journalist in the Washington area, working as a reporter for Voice of America for the past 11 years. But in between lulls at his job, Hilburn created a blog-turned-Twitter account where he could share his personal gripes, under the mask of the “Unsuck” pseudonym, about the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
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The account quickly became a hit after its debut in 2009, and it garnered more than 81,000 followers on Twitter throughout Hilburn’s online reign — far surpassing other accounts that posted similar content.
Posts mostly kept away from the drama that occurred behind the scenes with WMATA’s management and instead focused on everyday mishaps that Hilburn referred to as “slipshod” customer service that commuters had to deal with despite rising fares. These posts included information on derailments, which have plagued the Metro system over the [ast nine months and caused the agency to pull 60% of its fleet off the tracks for safety inspections.
“UnSuck DC Metro” became a community forum, with regular commuters sending photos and videos to Hilburn about train delays, broken card machines, and more to be posted online. Other times, posts would complain about petty annoyances committed by random strangers.
At times, the account could take a pessimistic turn, as some online users complained it used “hostility and public shaming” against “low-level Metro employees or the riders themselves,” according to DCist.
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Throughout his time at the helm of the account, Hilburn kept himself anonymous — although it was still widely known he was the one behind the keyboard, as he would often give journalists his name and referred to, albeit not by name, his LinkedIn profile.
Hilburn died of complications from kidney cancer that had metastasized, his father told the Washington Post. He is survived by his two parents, Paul and Rowena Hilburn.
