How was Your Commute this Morning?

by Prince Of Petworth June 6, 2016 at 11:25 am 39 Comments

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Thanks to a reader for sending:

“I have *never* seen this custom, Madmax inspired Thunderdome rail car in the wild”

Now that SafeTrack is in full effect – how was your commute in today? Have you noticed a lot of people working from home in your office? Are you working from home? Are your bosses sympathetic if you come in late? If anyone took Uber – was there a surge this morning?

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Jill

My commute was not any slower than usual, but the blue/orange/silver leg of my trip was so incredibly crowded. The operator mentioned something about single tracking. A trickle-down from the planned track work further down the line, or were there unexpected repairs on the Largo/New Carrollton side?
Then I got off at L’Enfant and the station seemed eerily empty. There were definitely fewer people on the platforms than usual.
Then I got on the yellow line which was nice and empty (as it normally is headed out to VA).
- Traveler
  
  Sounds like we have a similar commute. I take the b/o/s from Potomac Ave. to L’Enfant and switch to yellow towards Crystal City. My commute was the same; no delay in trains and came quickly. I got seats in both trains. The b/o/s train coming from Largo/New Carrolton seem less crowded than usual at 8:20AM.
  - Jill
    
    Hello similar commuter! I wonder if you caught the b/o/s train right after mine, as I got on my super-crowded one around 8:20 at Eastern Market. The conductor was trying to discourage people from cramming on, saying there was another train directly behind us, but I didn’t trust her. :)
    - Traveler
      
      Hello!! Maybe I was in the one directly behind. I got to the station and it was kind of on the empty side; I assume a train must have just gone by. I think I caught a silver line train.
    - Adam
      
      I think I was on this train as well…Much more crowded than usual at that time of morning. But at least the conductor was making very clear announcements about what was going on with Safetrack, crowding, etc.
      
      And walking from Metro Center to my office on 11th I saw more bikes than usual.
      - Jill
        
        She was very clear! I think she said something about being a student driver. I’m sure in a month she’ll get lazy and stop being so helpful. :)
dupont neighbor

No change on the redline around 9 between Dupont and Medical Center. Can’t speak for the rest of the line. No one working from home in my lab, but only two of us use metro.
spookiness

Same 2.5 block walk as always, but my light timing was bad.
Maybe Not During Morning Rush?

I was delayed by the single tracking between Dupont Circle and Judiciary Square. Same story last Friday. Does anyone know how long that’s going to go on for? I can’t find info on this work on the WMATA.com and it doesn’t seem to be a part of “Safe Track” plan.
- Pixie
  
  The red line has been single tracking from Farragut North to Judiciary Square as part of scheduled mid-day track work for what seems like a few weeks now. I’m not sure when that work is supposed to be finished.
  - west_egg
    
    “Monday through Friday | June 6 – June 10, 2016, 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.” is all I can find on WMATA’s list of advisories ATM.
- jumpingjack
  
  Dr. Gridlock got this question today and said he didn’t know of a target end date.
FridayGirl

My commute wasn’t any different since I’m pretty out of the affected area except that TWO not-full S1 buses in a row blew right by me and a bunch of other people waiting…. third time in the past month and a half. And yes, I’ve complained to WMATA every time.
.
On the upside, my office is being really flexible about telework/adjusted hours.
- Anon
  
  Have you noticed longer head ways between buses on the S line recently? I’ve taken it for over 7 years now and I have increased my commute time by 20 minutes now because I keep getting caught by 15 minute waits for buses. I have flexible hours and usually head in later than most commuters, but I’m typically at the bus stop by 9:30. Also, that drives me nuts when drivers blow past stops. They do it pretty frequently.
  - FridayGirl
    
    I have noticed that, and I leave much earlier than you (before traffic, around 7:15am). I waited over half an hour for a bus last week (not one bus went by around 10am when I went in late to work! It ended up taking me 45+ minutes for what should be a 20 minute commute). And the S1s are clumping up in the mornings more than they used to.
    - Anon
      
      Well, that likely confirms my suspicions that they’ve cut buses on the route in the morning- I was hoping I was just being paranoid. I’ve noticed more clumping too, but where I used to see 3-4 buses at a time, I’m now seeing two. It’s much worse now than when they were working on the bridge at Military Road. Frustrating.
Meg

My commute sucked on green line and it had nothing to do with safe track. Just another day in paradise on WMATA.
oh2dc

Rode a Silver train from McPherson to Rosslyn round 7:30 am. Grabbed an 8-car train upon getting on the platform and arrived quickly. Train crowd volume seemed about normal. At Rosslyn there were a lot of people on the platform waiting to go into DC, which seemed much more crowded than usual. I think there was a switch problem near Falls Church metro station, which may have made some matters worse.
abdc

My bus seemed a lot slower than usual. (about an hour for 4 miles). Not sure if it was just a particularly slow Monday traffic day, or more people driving to avoid metro mess.

On another note, has anyone been affected by the change in bus time apps? Well, not that WMATA has an app anymore, you have to go through the bus eta website…but this hasn’t been very reliable, and is more of a pain to access on my phone. I’ve also been using the Transit app which works okay, but there still seems to be ghost busses or inaccurate predictions on both systems.
- Jill
  
  My bus seemed extra slow today (I could have walked in the same amount of time) but I think we just had terrible timing with the lights.
- anon
  
  I drive to work and I noticed traffic was definitely heavier than normal this morning. I have a feeling it’s going to get worse before it gets better (if it ever does).
  - Brentwood
    
    I also drive to work (NE DC to Rossyln) and for me it seemed very Average Monday (Mondays typically have the lightest traffic for the week for me, by 10-15 minutes). I did notice an above-average number of cyclists in my neighborhood today.
Anonymous

Mine was lighter and quicker than usual. Bus->Petworth/GA Ave->yellow line->Gallery Place->Red Line->Farragut North.
CHGal

Grabbed a green line south from CH around 8:15 and nabbed one of the last seats. Transfer to eastbound red line at Gallery Place was actually easier than usual. A few folks who come in on O/B/S have taken advantage of increased flex time and telework options, but I’m sticking with the regular schedule for now.
Anonymous

My commute took 60% longer than usual. Most of the hold up was at Ballston, since Silver line trains were spaced far apart. Lots of inbound Orange line trains though. There were a number of Metro employees/volunteers at Ballston, but they weren’t very proactive in telling riders when the next trains were (the displays didn’t show arrival times) or which side of the station to stand on.
LMS

I was already running late this morning so I took an Uber around 9 am from Cap Hill to Ballston – no surge pricing. There was definitely more traffic on the road than normal though.
squish

Driving traffic seemed a little more congested than normal, but that could also be due to the first full week back post-Memorial Day (maybe folks took the whole week off?). Not sure its SafeTrack-related yet.
***

Noticed they retimed the lights coming down Connecticut – it caught me off-guard on my bike. I’m so used to having to stop at the same lights every morning, I naturally slow down as I approach them and was pleasantly surprised when I didn’t have to stop. Between Nebraska Ave and Woodley Park I think I hit maybe 6 red lights.
A. Nony Mouse

Has anyone else noticed the traffic at Riggs & North Capital has gotten worse the last couple of weeks?
logancirclegirl14

Silver line commute took twice as long today
soozles

Decent bike commute from 14th and Webster to Crystal City, except for the head wind and bad timing with the lights. Need to bike more to lose this weight and to be in shape for when they close the Crystal City stop in July.
Anon

Wow, so many of us commute to Arlington! Next week, when I start working in Springfield, I’m just going to drive. Even under optimal conditions that’s a long ride from DC.
- Anon
  
  PoPville carpool?
- womp
  
  the reverse commute and empty trains are so nice, though!!
  - Anon
    
    I’m surprised the trains are as empty as they are. Almost everyone I know reverse commutes, and lots of city-dwellers don’t have cars, and it’s not like there are good bus options from DC to NoVA.
jenster8dc

My commute is half RL and half SL. I worked out a deal with my boss to telecommute 3 days this week and next, including today. So an easy one for me! Downside is I’m getting fewer steps on my Fitbit.
- textdoc
  
  At first I thought “RL” here was an abbreviation for “real life,” and was puzzled as to what “SL” was.
BMouse

On Bus downtown and evening traffic is hell. Either a lot more people drove, or there’s some other DC clusterf** blocking traffic all over.
Uptowner

My normal 15 minute bike ride to work took 15 minutes today. :)

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