BUS STORY # 181 (The Metro, D.C. Style)
I’ve recently returned from my first trip ever to Washington, D.C. Among the many firsts of that trip was the opportunity to use the legendary Metro.
The Metro (officially known as the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority) is sometimes referred to as the Metro Link because it includes both the Metro Rail and the Metro Bus systems. But the home page calls it “The Metro,” and so does everyone else.
The Metro Home Page
The website is excellent, and I used it to plan my trip from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to the corner of 18th and Wyoming NW which is about 2/3 of a block from my destination. Pretty awesome, that.
The plan was to catch the Yellow Line at Reagan and disembark at the U Street station, then catch either the 90 or the 92.
Since I was arriving on a Saturday, I was facing reduced schedules. The Yellow line was only running every 12 minutes from the airport.
I’m glad I first saw this online, in the privacy of my own home. If I’d have seen this for the first time there at the airport, people would have seen this rube from the sticks staring slack-jawed and pop-eyed at this version of “reduced service” and thinking of the 50 back home running every hour – and starting two hours later, stopping two hours earlier, and no service at all on Sunday.
On the other hand, there were probably more passengers on my ride into the city than take the 50 the whole of Saturday.
According to the online trip planner, once I got off at the U Street station, I would catch either the 90 or 92 within 5 minutes. That would get me to my destination in another 6 minutes.
In fact, the trip planner delivered. The 92 arrived about five minutes after I emerged street side from the station. It took me less than 30 minutes from the time I boarded the Yellow line at the airport to the time I got off the bus at the corner of 18th and Wyoming NW.
Sunday morning, after sharing a dim sum brunch with my daughter and son-in-law at Tony Cheng’s in Chinatown, I walked across the street and took the Metro back to the airport. My flight back was not quite as on-schedule as the Metro, but the airlines got the job done.
Total cost for using the Metro: $4.80.
So: did I get any bus stories on the Metro? Well, nothing on the order of the one I got a year ago in Dallas, but I did get a series of “shorts” which I’ll post next week.
__________
The photo at the top of this story is titled Metro HDR and is posted with the kind permission of geoff.greene. You can see this and all geoff.greene’s photos on Flickr at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ggreene/2819964407/
The photo in the middle of this story is titled IMG_3587_edited-1 and is posted with the kind permission of Beechwood Photography. You can see this and all Beechwood Photography's photos on Flickr at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/beechwoodphotography/4283050663/
The first photo at the bottom of this story is titled D.C. Metro and is posted with the kind permission of gregms. You can see this and all gregms's photos on Flickr at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregms/2593998344/
The Metro (officially known as the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority) is sometimes referred to as the Metro Link because it includes both the Metro Rail and the Metro Bus systems. But the home page calls it “The Metro,” and so does everyone else.
The Metro Home Page
The website is excellent, and I used it to plan my trip from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to the corner of 18th and Wyoming NW which is about 2/3 of a block from my destination. Pretty awesome, that.
The plan was to catch the Yellow Line at Reagan and disembark at the U Street station, then catch either the 90 or the 92.
Since I was arriving on a Saturday, I was facing reduced schedules. The Yellow line was only running every 12 minutes from the airport.
I’m glad I first saw this online, in the privacy of my own home. If I’d have seen this for the first time there at the airport, people would have seen this rube from the sticks staring slack-jawed and pop-eyed at this version of “reduced service” and thinking of the 50 back home running every hour – and starting two hours later, stopping two hours earlier, and no service at all on Sunday.
On the other hand, there were probably more passengers on my ride into the city than take the 50 the whole of Saturday.
According to the online trip planner, once I got off at the U Street station, I would catch either the 90 or 92 within 5 minutes. That would get me to my destination in another 6 minutes.
In fact, the trip planner delivered. The 92 arrived about five minutes after I emerged street side from the station. It took me less than 30 minutes from the time I boarded the Yellow line at the airport to the time I got off the bus at the corner of 18th and Wyoming NW.
Sunday morning, after sharing a dim sum brunch with my daughter and son-in-law at Tony Cheng’s in Chinatown, I walked across the street and took the Metro back to the airport. My flight back was not quite as on-schedule as the Metro, but the airlines got the job done.
Total cost for using the Metro: $4.80.
So: did I get any bus stories on the Metro? Well, nothing on the order of the one I got a year ago in Dallas, but I did get a series of “shorts” which I’ll post next week.
__________
The photo at the top of this story is titled Metro HDR and is posted with the kind permission of geoff.greene. You can see this and all geoff.greene’s photos on Flickr at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ggreene/2819964407/
The photo in the middle of this story is titled IMG_3587_edited-1 and is posted with the kind permission of Beechwood Photography. You can see this and all Beechwood Photography's photos on Flickr at:
The first photo at the bottom of this story is titled D.C. Metro and is posted with the kind permission of gregms. You can see this and all gregms's photos on Flickr at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregms/2593998344/
posted by Busboy at 5:00 AM
2 Comments:
Ok, I just needed to say this:
You are brilliant. I feel like this needs to be published. I chanced upon this blog and thought it looked interesting so I followed it. I've had to do some homework for quite some time now, and i keep telling myself "just one more and then I'll do my work." But before I know it I've already read four. I just want to keep reading. I'm going to use your blog as something to look forward to after a hard day.
I love how random each story is, but then again that's the bus for ya. It's just... i dunno... worth reading. I mean, it's different, new, fresh, fun. I feel like I'm just babbling now so I'll stop for your sanity's sake.
Thanks so much.
-mezie
Mezie - thank you so much for your kind words. You have certainly made my day! I'm pleased you are enjoying the stories. And you are so right about never knowing what the next bus ride will bring.
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