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You are making the very elementary mistake of assuming that the Metro map you see on the trains and stations is to scale. You are assuming that the new Silver Line stations cover a small geographic distance that is dwarfed by the distance the train runs through DC, because it looks that way on the map. This is false.
So no, it does not "essentially" cover the same route. It is a huge expansion.
You're right. It is an ungodly extension. Why Ashburn is getting a metro station before Fairfax and Centreville is beyond me. I don't see more than 2 people getting on the Metro on the weekends in Ashburn.
You're right. It is an ungodly extension. Why Ashburn is getting a metro station before Fairfax and Centreville is beyond me. I don't see more than 2 people getting on the Metro on the weekends in Ashburn.
Because Ashburn is coming up very fast as a major corporate and business hub.
There are also many many Ashburn > DC commuters throughout the week as well as weekends, so it makes perfect sense to connect Ashburn to DC. Much more so than Centreville.
Fairfax is already served by Vienna and Dunn Loring stations.
The Silver Line basically goes through the regions high tech corridor. The reason why it developed is likely for reasons of brining people from Arlington, DC, and elsewhere into the reston area without having to drive to that area. I will be honest, even though it is a long train commute, it is a ton better than driving to that area from anywhere in region. It is one of the worst areas to drive into, and always congested. The line is not so much about people from that area commuting to other places. It is basically making the area metro acessible for the region.
THAT is why the silver line was built. If it were just a simple "suburb into city" commute, it would have not seen the same level of investment. The reason why this was given priority is this corridor of the DMV is a major jobs center. Fairfax, Centerville, are much less so.
Fairfax is not served by Dunn Loring. That is not Fairfax and the Vienna Station is on the very edge that everyone has to drive to.
The Dulles Corridor is literally probably the least congested area in Northern Virginia. Drive the Dulles Toll Road during rush hour and compare that to 495, 66, or 95/395. It might take you 13 mins to get from Tysons from Dulles instead of 10.
I'm not arguing that the major job centers of Tyson's, Reston, and Herndon don't need metro. However, Ashburn is a bedroom community and not a major job center. Fairfax is right up there with Reston and Dulles in terms of job center size: http://cra.gmu.edu/pdfs/2030_Group_Report.pdf. All I'm saying is investing in metro in Fairfax would be much smarter than Ashburn. Not to mention that it is going to take more than an hour on metro just to get downtown and at least $7 one way.
Fairfax is not served by Dunn Loring. That is not Fairfax and the Vienna Station is on the very edge that everyone has to drive to.
The Dulles Corridor is literally probably the least congested area in Northern Virginia. Drive the Dulles Toll Road during rush hour and compare that to 495, 66, or 95/395. It might take you 13 mins to get from Tysons from Dulles instead of 10.
I'm not arguing that the major job centers of Tyson's, Reston, and Herndon don't need metro. However, Ashburn is a bedroom community and not a major job center. Fairfax is right up there with Reston and Dulles in terms of job center size: http://cra.gmu.edu/pdfs/2030_Group_Report.pdf. All I'm saying is investing in metro in Fairfax would be much smarter than Ashburn. Not to mention that it is going to take more than an hour on metro just to get downtown and at least $7 one way.
Part of the goal was extending the metro a little past dulles while they had the chance to do so. Is Fairfax on this silverline route...no, it's south of the silver line and not in the general vicinity. You are talking about extending the orange line past Vienna, which would be a seperate project with it's own pain points and costs. It may happen eventually, but as it stands most people see it as something covered by the Vienna stop. This may happen eventually, but Fairfax is not the economic powerhouse of the Dulles corridor, nor does it have the same regional economic importance as the corridor or the airport.
Covering the dulles corridor though was absolutely critical, far more critical then covering fairfax for the purposes of regional economy. While traffic may be light for you living in proximity, and dependent on a car to get there, it presents an issue to many of the other people in the DMV region. If you were to ask most people in the region one of the most inconvenient places to get to, they would say the Dulles corridor. It may be easy if you are in northern virginia as close to it as Fairfax, but outside of that area, it is incredibly painful. Again, you keep stressing driving to dulles corridor, from somebody where doing so is convenient. The reality is for many having to drive in from elsewhere they have to avail themselves in the most congested roadways just to get to the Dulles corridor for work. Again, connecting the employment centers to the metro ecosystem was critical, as was connecting to the areas largest airport. FAR more critical then extending a metro line to Fairfax. The Dulles corridor is a major employment center, and had the largest regional airport, making it remain car-only corridor and not connecting it to the metro line, is absurd.
Part of the reason Ashburn got covered is because they could as part of this project. It may have also be because they had the space for maintenance facilities at the end of the line. Often times this is why a location is chosen. Dulles itself would not be a good location for these facilities...which is likely why they chose ashburn as the final stop.
Last edited by DistrictSonic; 06-26-2014 at 11:41 PM..
Fairfax is not served by Dunn Loring. That is not Fairfax and the Vienna Station is on the very edge that everyone has to drive to.
The Dulles Corridor is literally probably the least congested area in Northern Virginia. Drive the Dulles Toll Road during rush hour and compare that to 495, 66, or 95/395. It might take you 13 mins to get from Tysons from Dulles instead of 10.
I'm not arguing that the major job centers of Tyson's, Reston, and Herndon don't need metro. However, Ashburn is a bedroom community and not a major job center. Fairfax is right up there with Reston and Dulles in terms of job center size: http://cra.gmu.edu/pdfs/2030_Group_Report.pdf. All I'm saying is investing in metro in Fairfax would be much smarter than Ashburn. Not to mention that it is going to take more than an hour on metro just to get downtown and at least $7 one way.
Where in Fairfax are you referring to? Dunn Loring serves both Fairfax and Falls Church. Vienna covers most of Fairfax - the bus/shuttle network from Fair Lakes to the Vienna stop is rather extensive, so it works well enough.
Ashburn is home to regional HQs and large offices of Verizon, AOL, Facebook, JP Morgan, and a number of other firms. The list is only growing.
Yes, it way far out in the exurbia of DC, but important to be connected to the city finally.
Where in Fairfax are you referring to? Dunn Loring serves both Fairfax and Falls Church. Vienna covers most of Fairfax - the bus/shuttle network from Fair Lakes to the Vienna stop is rather extensive, so it works well enough.
Ashburn is home to regional HQs and large offices of Verizon, AOL, Facebook, JP Morgan, and a number of other firms. The list is only growing.
Yes, it way far out in the exurbia of DC, but important to be connected to the city finally.
This. We should call the silver line the silicon line. This is pretty much where many of the tech companies in the region reside, and it connects the heart of the regional tech economy, with the larger regional mass transit system. It is far more important then just another suburb connecting into the city for commuter purposes downtown commutes. It is a public investment that can pay massive economic dividends. This gives DMV region leverage to really compete against other tech economies, no other one has a mass transit system going from the urban area to the suburban tech corridor. Yes, some have commuter rail systems, but none are integrated into the urban mass transit system. This has the potential to bring up DMV region to compete against SV/SF. It essentially creates a mass transit ecosystem with the largest pool of STEM workers in the country. Ashburn being part of this, with things such as Amazon EC2 and many other server farms being based there, is critical. It's a public investment which can lead to a great deal of economic growth, not just for NOVA, but the entire region. A bioscientist from bethesda can now hop on the metro to meet with an engineer in Reston. Likewise a IT consulting team for a political campaign from DC can meet with a service provider in Ashburn for a major political campaign which may take scalable cloud services. I can go on and on...it's huge, and Ashburn needs to be part of it.
The Pharma/Biotech boom is going to happen in MoCounty because the infrastructure and a few mid sized companies connected to larger ones, are already there. And it will NEVER be on the level of the Bay Area because those companies are filled with folks that have more in common with Politicians than true Scientists/Researchers.
4. Rudeness in general. I dunno if this is just a DC thing or a east coast thing, but back home in Cali people are not nearly this rude.
You're from California and you call it "Cali"?
....... ..........
Generally, I would have to agree with your assessment though. People aren't THAT rude and in my experience LA people are just as full of themselves and their "great city"
I'd take DC over every place in CA except the bay area, central coast, and San Diego.
This is what happens in a DC thread... It goes from the OP to discussing ONLY commute lines and congestion. This is the disconnect that I speak of but nobody else sees it. But I am the crazy one that everyone thinks is too intense and I have no idea what I speak of when I notice all the disconnect... But since there is nothing offensive, the MODs will let this continue.... YOU GUYS ALWAYS TALK ABOUT STRUCTURAL BARRIERS AND COMMUTER LINES!!
The thread has gone in the direction of being more technical and relating to structural issues rather than the emotional disconnect of those that initially complain about DC. This is what I mean. I am not saying these topics shouldn't be discussed but when an OP is seeking emotionally related answers other than the structural and technical issues, getting so heavy on commute lines is not the way to go for others that may have the same complaints (and there are many like the OP). If someone that is from a different city and has concerns due to the massive amount of similar complaints read or heard on numerous blogs and articles, this thread going off into the strictly technical areas leaves people even more confused and without answers on the emotional level. It becomes a nerd fest. Nothing wrong with that but there are many other threads for that information and not everyone is on some technical talk. Some just want to understand the city from a more emotional perspective such as why people act, say, and do the things that they do.
its a perfect example of technical talk vs emotional talk. Some can't relate to all technical talk. Those that express such emotional passion is not looking for a thread filled with structural and technical responses. I understand that it shouldn't be limited to the emotional aspect but the lack of that is the main problem people experience here as seen on many threads.
Let me help you- this is what the point of the OP: "On the positive side, DC as a city is quite beautiful (as long as you don't cross the bridge into Anacostia). I love my apartment and many things about the city....it's just that the people here seem so...self absorbed"
Quote:
Originally Posted by gekishinken
Moved here for a job two months ago and already planning my escape back to California after my lease ends next year.
The main things I have noticed about DC since I have been here...
1. The Metro is utter crap. Weekend service is a joke and there are commonly delays on the Blue and Orange lines (when is Silver even starting up?)
2. Type A personalities galore! I've met many people during the two months I have been here and at least half of those encounters have consisted of the person I was with being the sole person talking and me just being expected to sit there and listen. I met someone for happy hour at Poste near Archives metro and he spent the entire two hours talking about himself. Thank god I had a glass of wine to keep me company, otherwise I would have been bored out of my mind!
3. Too much name dropping. Everyone feels so self important because they've met "X" and they feel the need to constantly share it with you.
4. Rudeness in general. I dunno if this is just a DC thing or a east coast thing, but back home in Cali people are not nearly this rude.
5. Rent is stupid expensive for no reason other than "because it's DC". I'm from California, so I know expensive rent, but there just seems to be no reason for rent prices being the way they are here. Even slums (oops, sorry, "gentrified areas") in DC cost AT LEAST $1000 a month for a studio.
On the positive side, DC as a city is quite beautiful (as long as you don't cross the bridge into Anacostia). I love my apartment and many things about the city....it's just that the people here seem so...self absorbed?
Quote:
Originally Posted by gomason
You're right. It is an ungodly extension. Why Ashburn is getting a metro station before Fairfax and Centreville is beyond me. I don't see more than 2 people getting on the Metro on the weekends in Ashburn.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PK12
Because Ashburn is coming up very fast as a major corporate and business hub.
There are also many many Ashburn > DC commuters throughout the week as well as weekends, so it makes perfect sense to connect Ashburn to DC. Much more so than Centreville.
Fairfax is already served by Vienna and Dunn Loring stations.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DistrictSonic
The Silver Line basically goes through the regions high tech corridor. The reason why it developed is likely for reasons of brining people from Arlington, DC, and elsewhere into the reston area without having to drive to that area. I will be honest, even though it is a long train commute, it is a ton better than driving to that area from anywhere in region. It is one of the worst areas to drive into, and always congested. The line is not so much about people from that area commuting to other places. It is basically making the area metro acessible for the region.
THAT is why the silver line was built. If it were just a simple "suburb into city" commute, it would have not seen the same level of investment. The reason why this was given priority is this corridor of the DMV is a major jobs center. Fairfax, Centerville, are much less so.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gomason
Fairfax is not served by Dunn Loring. That is not Fairfax and the Vienna Station is on the very edge that everyone has to drive to.
The Dulles Corridor is literally probably the least congested area in Northern Virginia. Drive the Dulles Toll Road during rush hour and compare that to 495, 66, or 95/395. It might take you 13 mins to get from Tysons from Dulles instead of 10.
I'm not arguing that the major job centers of Tyson's, Reston, and Herndon don't need metro. However, Ashburn is a bedroom community and not a major job center. Fairfax is right up there with Reston and Dulles in terms of job center size: http://cra.gmu.edu/pdfs/2030_Group_Report.pdf. All I'm saying is investing in metro in Fairfax would be much smarter than Ashburn. Not to mention that it is going to take more than an hour on metro just to get downtown and at least $7 one way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PK12
Where in Fairfax are you referring to? Dunn Loring serves both Fairfax and Falls Church. Vienna covers most of Fairfax - the bus/shuttle network from Fair Lakes to the Vienna stop is rather extensive, so it works well enough.
Ashburn is home to regional HQs and large offices of Verizon, AOL, Facebook, JP Morgan, and a number of other firms. The list is only growing.
Yes, it way far out in the exurbia of DC, but important to be connected to the city finally.
Last edited by halfamazing; 06-28-2014 at 02:31 PM..
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I met someone for happy hour at Poste near Archives metro and he spent the entire two hours talking about himself. Thank god I had a glass of wine to keep me company, otherwise I would have been bored out of my mind!
