All Posts Tagged With: "metro"

One minute, I was at the polling place. Half an hour later, I was on the train going to work. This was the first time I’ve voted in a primary election. As an independent, I didn’t know that I was able to (probably because I started voting in DC which has closed elections). After finding out that I could vote in Virginia primaries, I did some research to see what other states have open primaries. Looks like I missed some primary voting opportunities in Wisconsin as well. I should have known that the Wisconsin primaries were open because one can actually walk up on election day, register and vote right there on the spot. I did that the first time I voted there.

Wish this had been clearer and less “yellow”. Blame Metro for that. I should have used my flash but I didn’t want to alarm anyone.

Originally uploaded by kenyaoa

(Updated: I also made a video.  I guess I was excited.)

On Sunday, January 6, Metro raised fares on Metrorail and Metrobus service. In addition, rates at the Metro parking lots and garages throughout the system were raised.

Suburbanites, like me seem to be bearing the brunt of the fare increases. While the fares were increased by only a few cents for folks living and working in the District, my total fare is now more than $15 per day to park at the Vienna Metro Station and make a roundtrip to McPherson Square. Incidentally, it cost exactly $15 to get valet parking at my office building in downtown DC.

Here’s the breakdown:

There is a shuttle bus that runs pass where I live that goes to the Vienna Metro station. I could catch this bus but my work schedule is not predictable enough for that bus to work for me. If I leave work too late I will have missed this shuttle all together and have to take a taxi home from the Metro station. I did this twice last week while my car was out of commission.

If I have to get to work at a certain time, I can see why I would want to catch Metro as there is no other way to get downtown from the suburbs by 8 or 9 a.m. on a weekday. But if I don’t, I’m having a hard time justifying it. If I wait a little while, I can drive to work with a lot less traffic for relatively the same price. And I don’t have to endure the overcrowed Metro cars with weird people standing too close or trains that break down on the very instance that I absolutely have to be somewhere.

Of course, the price of gas is a factor that I have not addressed. It undoubtly came into play in Metro’s decision to raise prices. Even with that, however, it would seem that commuters would still look to ways to get to work other than using Metro. (Car pooling seems like a viable option. Maybe I-66 will get SLUG lines like I-95/395.)

At any rate, I’m looking for motivation to use Metro any more than I have to.

Tags: wmata metro raise fares public transportation

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Today’s commute was quite amusing. Back in November, the temporary parking lot at Vienna Metro station was closed because condos are going to be built on that property. Parking has been scarce ever since especially on warm days. People have been making their own parking spots where spots don’t exist and some people have been parking in the reserved parking. Lately Metro police officers have been out ticketing those cars especially on Tuesdays. Yesterday they were there ticketing and of course there were no spaces where I could park until 10 when the reserved parking opened up. I couldn’t wait that long so I drove to work. Today when I got there it was about 8 minutes to ten so I parked and stayed in the car. There were lots of others sitting in or standing around their cars as well – all waiting for 10:00. I saw a few people get out of their car and start walking toward the station but they went back to their cars. I’m guessing maybe they saw some officers out there writing tickets but I’m not sure. At 10:00, however, people came from all directions toward the metro station. All these people were essentially “squatting” in spots until the time restriction was over. The flow of people reminded me of the herds of people arriving at an amusement park and walking toward the entrance.

We obviously need more parking at this Metro station. The temporary parking lot that was closed had 680 spaces which were typically filled. Every day Metro is losing parking fees for these 680 spaces. If these people have found another way to work they are losing the fares as well. Perhaps the tickets are a way to make up some of that lost revenue. I don’t know how many with reserved passes park on a given day but it seems mostly empty in the North Garage where the entire third floor is reserved. I imagine that this no parking situation will be a common occurrence for me as I tried to get a reserved pass but wound up pretty far down on the waiting list.

Metro has proposed a new parking garage that would be completed two years from now. In the meantime, we need some alternatives. I haven’t heard of any alternatives but I have suggestions. One idea is to shorten the reserved parking time – open them up at 9:30. Another is to set up temporary parking off-site with shuttle buses. Anything would be a relief.

For the second day in a row, I’m at McPherson Square Metro. When the Orange Line train comes in, there are cars with the lights off and no one in them. Yesterday it was one car; today it was two. When the doors open on the normal cars, the doors on these cars don’t open. So everyone is forced to get on the remaining cars. People are crammed in their respective cars on a train that is carrying empty cars. What the heck is up with that? If they just need to move cars around can’t they wait until after rush hour to do it? When the Orange Line trains are already packed, it is ridiculous for half trains to show up in the station. This has happened on other occasions as well and I don’t get it.

I missed the 8:30 bus this morning. As I walked down the steps it drove by. I decided to drive to the metro station instead of waiting half an hour for the next bus. I passed the bus in my car but still couldn’t catch it because there is nowhere to park on the way to the metro station. At the metro station, I go to the first garage and drive all over the entire thing and there are at least 30 reserved spots that are open and nothing else. It was the same in the second garage – only reserved spots (plenty of them) were open. I didn’t even try the overflow lot. I drove back home and caught the 9:00 bus. I can’t imagine what parking would be like at the Vienna station when they get rid of the temporary lot and build condo city. I don’t see how anyone thinks that building these condos will reduce the number of people driving to Vienna metro. The only way that it would is by reducing the number of parking spots which means these people are going to be further congesting 66. I seriously doubt that any of the people who currently drive to Vienna metro would move to these condos. Like everything else they will be overpriced and the people who live farther out live farther out because they can get more for their money. If anything, the condos will most likely attract those who live closer in to move farther out since the condos will be metro accessible. That would further congest the metro – and trains already leave Vienna packed (like sardines) during the morning rush.

Last week this guy lost control of his car, became airborne and crashed through the brick wall at Hecht’s in Friendship Heights. The car burst into flames and the guy tries to escape on a Metrobus. This weekend two dudes escaped from jail and were last seen on a Metro shuttle bus between the Stadium-Armory station and the Minnesota Avenue station. WTH! This is hilarious and gives new meaning to the Metro motto “Metro is Accessible”.

Since I’ve been catching Metro into DC everyday for work, I’ve been seeing some weird things. I decided to blog about it because some of these things are crazy. I’ll mention some of the other things later but today I saw something that if I wasn’t there I wouldn’t believe it. I live about 2 miles from the Vienna Metro station and I typically catch a bus there to avoid having to park. I’m on the bus and the bus driver is going along. All of a sudden a police officer steps into the road and directs the bus to pull over. The bus driver was like “Me?” and the officer told him to pull on a side street.
“Do you know why I pulled you over?”
“No.”
“This is a 35 mile zone and I clocked you at 47.”
“I couldn’t have been going that fast. I just took off.”
“May I see your license sir?”
…
The bus driver got a speeding ticket. All of us passengers were in as much disbelief as the driver was. I don’t know how fast the bus was going but pulling over a bus full of commuters is ridiculous.