Silver Line - Do you use it? (Arlington, Reston: transfer, calculating) - Northern Virginia - Virginia (VA) - City-Data Forum

spencgr · 08-13-2014, 06:03 AM

Now that the Silver Line is open, I am curious to see who has changed their commuting pattern to now use Metro? If you do, is it a lot faster commute? Also, are you originating close to a new Silver Line station, or farther away?

tysonsengineer · 08-13-2014, 06:44 AM

I use it about 1 to 2 times a week for work meetings/happy hours. Wife uses it every day. It's saved her about 15 minutes on her former commute to WFC, and is more consistent than the old 425/427 used to be in the afternoons (used to get stuck in traffic so typical commute would suddenly balloon as she waited). I'm Tysons to typically Arlington. She's Tysons to NOMA.

djplourd · 08-13-2014, 08:21 AM

I've tried it a few times but it costs more and takes more time than the bus I had been using. It does provide greater flexibility but the extra time/cost doesn't make it worthwhile for me.

Mombrarian · 08-13-2014, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spencgr

Now that the Silver Line is open, I am curious to see who has changed their commuting pattern to now use Metro? If you do, is it a lot faster commute? Also, are you originating close to a new Silver Line station, or farther away?

I commute every day from Herndon to Pentagon City. Same time door-to-door, and it costs more. It reduces my commuting stress now that I park at the garage and no longer use a connecting bus.

gomason · 08-13-2014, 08:45 AM

Yeah I don't know who is going to want to ride Metro from Ashburn to DC. It will be like the same price as the Greenway and Toll Road!

tysonsengineer · 08-13-2014, 08:47 AM

I think the thing that is annoying most Reston/Herndon residents is the fact that it costs more than what the old bus transfer did, sounds like its a net wash in time from that particular area (although some more reliability than bus perhaps). WMATA hasn't changed their formula for how they are calculating the fare, I think this might point to the fact that the old bus was a really good deal but likely lost a lot of money from being so affordable but driving basically from north county down to Falls Church.

Not sure if anything could be done to solve that.

tysonsengineer · 08-13-2014, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gomason

Yeah I don't know who is going to want to ride Metro from Ashburn to DC. It will be like the same price as the Greenway and Toll Road!

I've always thought for anyone past Tysons -> DC its not for them. What it will do is remove a lot of people who commute from Ashburn to Reston, and Ashburn to Tysons from the toll road and route 7, thereby making life easier on those who have to go all the way into DC. Don't discount how many thousands of people do the latter commute. I'd bet more Loudouners work in Fairfax than they do in DC.

gomason · 08-13-2014, 08:50 AM

Theoretically I guess Fairfax and Loudoun could subsidize the fares even more. But that'll never happen.

Candicem · 08-13-2014, 08:52 AM

We do not use it. We live in Leesburg. My husband works in Tysons area and I work in Lovettsville, so there really is no need for us to use it. Now if we ever wanted to take the kids into DC for the museums or something then maybe we would take it. The last couple times we went out there we drove and just found parking.

mdcrim · 08-13-2014, 09:14 AM

I weighed the options last week- Ashburn to Noma. Drove by the Weihle Avenue station and 43 minutes later was at my building. According to the metro website, the same trip (Weihle to Noma) would have taken 56 minutes (not including parking time, walking to the platform or waiting for the trains). Fare was $5.90 each way from there and parking is about $4.75? Parking in Noma was $7 plus my extra round trip toll fares at Route 7 of $5. So that part of my trip was $12 driving (plus gas) versus $16.55 on the metro. I saved a ton of time driving...