The Commute...

I have returned to the "normal" DC area commute since starting my new job in Clarendon. I say normal in quotes because although it is a tad long for me, the DC area is repeatedly near the top of the rankings in terms of average commute times and it seems pretty normal for these parts. If you have already glanced at my nice graphic breaking down my everyday commute, you can see that I have embraced public transportation for the majority of my daily trip to work. The main reason is the dreaded 66 HOV restrictions inside the beltway for all lanes between 6:30-9:00 AM in the mornings and 4:00-6:30 PM in the evenings. It basically means I'd have to leave my house by 5:30 to beat the traffic and HOV restrictions. Luckily, we happen to live almost exactly 1 mile away from one of the main bus stations (known as the park & ride) in Fairfax County. So I can actually take the express bus from the park & ride to West Falls Chruch metro, then take that a few stops on the Orange line to Clarendon. Our building is so close to the metro station that there is actually an underground tunnel directly to our building check in. I hate getting up early and I hate driving in heavy traffic, so the public transportation route was a fairly easy choice. How long does it take? Well I haven't been timing it quite as often but going in takes an average of about 50 minutes (45-55 minutes) and coming back in the evenings takes 55 minutes (range from 50 - 60 minutes). Both the buses and the metro trains come pretty much continuously in the morning, but both come slightly less frequently in the afternoon. The bus is always faster in the morning because there is a "secret" exit from the park and ride to the highway, but unfortunately no secret entrance, which means you have to go through a few stop lights in heavy traffic on the way home.


That being said, sometimes public transportation blows...

1. Buses are damn hot in the summer: combine tons of people with spotty air conditioning and 90+ temperatures and prepare yourself for a sweaty bus ride. Never, ever sit on the back row on the bus in the summer - the engine is directly underneath the seat cushion. At first I was like "this isn't too bad its like the seat warmer in fancy cars", except this one goes to about 150 degrees and you can't turn it off
   
2. Being a Metro Sardine. It doesn't always happen but sometimes there are mechanical problems and every train is crowded or you just don't feel like waiting another 8 minutes and squeeze your way on...in any case less crowded are just more pleasant.
   
3. The Metro crazy guy. Why did I assume he was crazy you ask, well he did take the metro advertisement out and started writing (a monologue I presume) in long flowing cursive on the back. He also occasionally made strange grunting sounds and knocked on the ceiling and asked if anyone was there. Not something I usually do on the metro, but to each their own I guess.