Parking in side streets near Metro Stations... (Arlington, Falls Church: apartment, transfer)

[Archsquare]

I'm moving to Arlington, VA soon. Either there or around there. I will commute to DC. Is it easy to find a parking spot in the side streets near a Metro Station?

For example: I was planning on getting an apartment in the southern part of Arlington and then driving to the Orange Metro and parking in a side street and walk a few minutes to the Metro. Is this possibly?

The same goes for other cities. I don't feel like taking the bus to a metro stop and then taking the train to DC. I rather drive and park near a Metro Station and then take the train to DC.

[saganista]

Originally Posted by Archsquare

I don't feel like taking the bus to a metro stop and then taking the train to DC. I rather drive and park near a Metro Station and then take the train to DC.

You'll find that there are no area jurisdictions that have any sympathy at all for your predicament. Quite the contrary, they all agree that those who live or do business near a Metro station should not have to endure the daily insult of having all their streets and parking spaces clogged up by selfish commuters. Hence, there are residential parking permit districts around every Metro station, and if you park in any of them without a proper and displayed permit, you will receive a discouraging hefty summons. Here is a map...

Arlington Residential Permit Parking Districts

[mjw703]

Like Saganista said, it's not easy to park near the Metro stations in Arlington. You either have to have a residential parking permit or pay a meter. Since I moved to Arlington over a decade ago, I got over my aversion to buses real quick, and actually prefer them to Metro since it's a smoother ride and I can see where I'm going. There's actually bus service (16Y) from South Arlington to downtown D.C. so it's possible to not ride Metro at all if that's where you will be working. Also Columbia Pike and Shirlington have very frequent bus service to Pentagon Station, which would get you to the Yellow and Blue line. You would actually lose time if you were to drive to N. Arlington and park here, since you have to find a space (and very few spaces have more than a two hour limit) and then the Orange Crush means that you have to wait for several trains to pass by before you can board. People on the Blue and Yellow lines don't have to deal with the insanity.

[Archsquare]

Thanks! I was looking at the map and yah its not worth it. To be able to find parking in a side street you have to walk around 10-15 minutes each day to the metro. Good if you want to stay fit but a waste of time if you in a rush.

[irvine]

You can park in the free Commuter lot (deck E only) over I-66 at W-L HS, but get there early, because high schools students tend to fill up the lot quickly. It's roughly a ten minute walk to the Ballston Metro station from there. The Ballston mall parking garage offers monthly parking rates which some commuters use. It's a very quick walk from there to the station.

But as others have said take an ART (local bus) or Metrobus to Metro, or directly to downtown. And the buses run frequently during rush hour, so it may be quicker to take a bus to Metro than to drive to Ballston and park. A large PDF map of all the bus routes can be found on the WMATA website.

[irvine]

Originally Posted by mjw703

Since I moved to Arlington over a decade ago, I got over my aversion to buses real quick, and actually prefer them to Metro since it's a smoother ride and I can see where I'm going.

Trains are always smoother than buses. Anything on rails is smoother than buses. The buses here though are pretty good, and convenient.

Originally Posted by mjw703

the Orange Crush means that you have to wait for several trains to pass by before you can board. People on the Blue and Yellow lines don't have to deal with the insanity.

I commuted on the Orange line to downtown for a few years, and I always managed to board a train in Arlington during rush hour. They can get very crowded during rush hour closer to downtown, but there's always room on the trains which arrive about every three minutes. During major events (like the fireworks on the mall) crowded trains will sometimes skip stations.

When trains are unusually crowded, you can expect a mention of it on the various transit blogs.

[saganista]

Yeah, Orange Crush is mostly a thing of the past in that regard. The addition of 8-car trains and running trains that start at West Falls Church helped a lot, and now peak-of-the-peak pricing is encouraging more not to travel when things are apt to be at their worst. Crowding is still a factor, but waiting on Ballston Corridor platforms in the morning while over-stuffed train after train rolls by is not actually a part of reality any more.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by irvine

During major events (like the fireworks on the mall) crowded trains will sometimes skip stations.

Wow. What if someone had to get off the train at one of those stations? They'd have to get off past their destination and then board an inbound train back to their previous station?

[ngadude]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Wow. What if someone had to get off the train at one of those stations? They'd have to get off past their destination and then board an inbound train back to their previous station?

Simple logistics/common sense. Or, does it make more sense to allow more people to get on packed train causing overcrowding, risk to injury, etc.? So, let people that want to get off there, double back one stop, it won't kill them, cost them any more money, and so it will take a few more minutes of their time. What's the big rush? There isn't any, and most people will gladly understand that. Also, most people are probably traveling further than that anyway. This is just simple logic, and for the mild inconvenience that a few people incur, much safer for the masses. No one's really in that much of a hurry anyway, and if they are, too bad! I don't see the harm here, in making them get off a stop later, take an uncrowded train in the opposite direction, versus adding MORE people to an already over crowded train, thus risking injury and adding to the overcrowding. I am glad Metro has this policy!

[cdmurphy]

Originally Posted by ngadude

Simple logistics/common sense. Or, does it make more sense to allow more people to get on packed train causing overcrowding, risk to injury, etc.? So, let people that want to get off there, double back one stop, it won't kill them, cost them any more money, and so it will take a few more minutes of their time. What's the big rush? There isn't any, and most people will gladly understand that. Also, most people are probably traveling further than that anyway. This is just simple logic, and for the mild inconvenience that a few people incur, much safer for the masses. No one's really in that much of a hurry anyway, and if they are, too bad! I don't see the harm here, in making them get off a stop later, take an uncrowded train in the opposite direction, versus adding MORE people to an already over crowded train, thus risking injury and adding to the overcrowding. I am glad Metro has this policy!

Also, they usually do this in-town (Smithsonian Metro is usually closed during those kinds of events) where the stops are fairly close together and it's not too much of a hardship to walk another block or two. I don't recall them ever skipping a transfer station.