Dear PoPville

Seeking Amtrak Advice: “Thanksgiving Travel Planning (in July!) Help – Did I miss some Amtrak pricing change?”

By Prince Of Petworth


photo by Emma K Alexandra

“Dear PoPville,

My birthday is in mid-September, and in the decade+ I’ve lived in DC, I’ve always followed this rule that I should have my Thanksgiving and Christmas Amtrak tickets home to New York purchased before my birthday in order to secure a good price.

In recent years for Thanksgiving, for example, I’ve departed the day before the holiday and come back to DC over the weekend. Since the pandemic, I’ve paid $120-150 for roundtrip coach tickets (though one year, I got a steal with $58 roundtrip tickets from a promotional sale).

I just took a look at the website and a one-way ticket is a whopping $286 for any time slot– and this is well earlier than the time I usually look for tickets. (more…)

“Is this the new norm?”

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoPville,

Driving to work this morning, a bikeshare rider swerved out in front of me so I lightly beeped my horn. Not aggressively but to give a warning as I had the space to drive around him in the other lane. He proceeded to film me and aggressively blocked my progress between the intersection of P St NW and the Rock Creek offramp (Georgetown) and P and 23rd. I didn’t engage and stayed calm although very unsettling. Is this the new norm? (more…)

“Perplexed by DCDPR’s deck attire rule”

By Prince Of Petworth

Naira asks us:

“Perplexed by DCDPR’s deck attire rule forcing people to undress into swim attire even if they don’t want to swim & are just in the deck area was being enforced today. This is incredibly dangerous from a sun safety PoV & insensitive to many cultures- what’s the logic?”

DPR has previously explained the rationale: (more…)

“It could almost be comical if it was not such a disaster and a true danger to all involved”

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoPville,

I wonder if you have been hearing from the folks in Adams Morgan about the DDOT disaster on Columbia Road NW?

I am referring to Columbia Road specifically, usually between 16th and Mintwwod. It feels like a Dr Seuss book, walking down Mulberry Street with trucks askew, blocking the crosswalks in the bike lanes, people almost getting run over trying to look around a hand truck filled with towering boxes crossing the street while cars are veering around to get by. (more…)

“Gas price differences, what gives?”

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoPville,

This is a topic that has puzzled me for YEARS and I hope the community can shed some light on it.
In the triangle between Georgia Ave, Pine Branch Ave and Sheridan there’s TWO gas stations: an Exxon to the north and a BP to the South.

The BP is consistently more expensive than the Exxon, no big deal, right? Free Market.
But these days, (more…)

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