Silver Line - Phase 2 (Arlington, Reston: insuring, construction, contractor)

[TheWatchmen]

Originally Posted by kiplingif

Any idea how long the airport to Metro Center would be?

With stop, after stop, after stop, it will probably feel like a pretty long trip. But at least you won't have to transfer train lines.

[kiplingif]

Originally Posted by TheWatchmen

With stop, after stop, after stop, it will probably feel like a pretty long trip. But at least you won't have to transfer train lines.

Trip Planner says it is 41 minutes from Wiehle-Reston to Metro Center. I've no idea how much further it would be to the airport.

[mdcrim]

I used to have to go to NE DC from Ashburn for work every so often. When the metro opened I seriously considered taking it from Wiehle to NoMa but the trip on the metro, without taking into consideration driving to the metro, parking, walking to the train, waiting for the train, was 56 minutes. I can drive to that area in about 50 minutes from Ashburn if I time it right. It was such a tremendously bad decision not to build an express line into the plans. No one I know is going to waste so much extra time each day to bother with it.

[tysonsengineer]

Originally Posted by mdcrim

No one I know is going to waste so much extra time each day to bother with it.

Thousands of people do. It's just that for your particular trip it didnt make sense; and that's ok. Metro can't serve every one, if it did, it would be 50 times more expensive, and people would still complain. Express trains are great, but SV could only have expressed to EFC. After that, it would be stuck on the same 2 tracks that the rest of the metro has, and the extra cost would have added nearly 2 billion dollars to the project just for the stations between EFC and Dulles. I don't recall a lot of people stepping up and saying, lets spend an extra 2 billion dollars; in fact I remember a lot of people pennywise poundfoolishly cutting even basic elements like tunneling in Tysons, and an airport terminal station without exterior exit.

BTW, if you can make it from Ashburn to NE DC in 50 minutes, more power to you, you must be getting up at 3am because last I heard people complain and complain and complain that it can take upwards of 45 minutes just from Ashburn to Tysons... and I sure as heck can't get to NOMA from Tysons in 5 minutes even if I had a jetpack.

[gomason]

Originally Posted by kiplingif

Any idea how long the airport to Metro Center would be?

It would be about 50 minutes. In the outer suburbs, Metro trains go up to 65/70 MPH because the stations are so far apart which means its roughly a minute a mile.

Originally Posted by tysonsengineer

Thousands of people do. It's just that for your particular trip it didnt make sense; and that's ok. Metro can't serve every one, if it did, it would be 50 times more expensive, and people would still complain. Express trains are great, but SV could only have expressed to EFC. After that, it would be stuck on the same 2 tracks that the rest of the metro has, and the extra cost would have added nearly 2 billion dollars to the project just for the stations between EFC and Dulles. I don't recall a lot of people stepping up and saying, lets spend an extra 2 billion dollars; in fact I remember a lot of people pennywise poundfoolishly cutting even basic elements like tunneling in Tysons, and an airport terminal station without exterior exit.

I wonder how many more people would drive instead of take the Silver Line if the Dulles Toll Road weren't a toll road. It just struck me the other day about how people in Reston are in a unique situation because obviously 66 and 395 aren't toll roads and people in Vienna and Springfield, for example, don't have that same decision to make. I'm sure it's in the hundreds if not thousands.

[dkf747]

I'm used to long Metro rides, having lived in Gaithersburg for 7 years, and using the Red Line from Shady Grove to various stops. One in particular was Shady Grove to Noma area. To drive took fro 35 minutes on the best day, to 2+ hours on the worst days. Average was about 100 minutes during commute times. Taking a bus to Metro always took exactly 90 minutes (including bus and walking time) It was the same every time. I have no doubt that, when it finally opens to Ashburn, that the story will be similar, just with longer times. I quite preferred the consistency of Metro over driving. It's not for everyone, as another poster said.

[Major Barbara]

Originally Posted by kiplingif

Trip Planner says it is 41 minutes from Wiehle-Reston to Metro Center. I've no idea how much further it would be to the airport.

It also says 21 minutes from Wiehle-Reston to East Falls Church. Mileage and number of stops between Wiehle and Dulles will be comparable to but perhaps a little less than that, so it will likely be in the neighborhood of 35 minutes from Dulles to Tysons and just about an hour from Dulles to Metro Center.

[Major Barbara]

Originally Posted by mdcrim

I used to have to go to NE DC from Ashburn for work every so often. When the metro opened I seriously considered taking it from Wiehle to NoMa but the trip on the metro, without taking into consideration driving to the metro, parking, walking to the train, waiting for the train, was 56 minutes. I can drive to that area in about 50 minutes from Ashburn if I time it right. It was such a tremendously bad decision not to build an express line into the plans. No one I know is going to waste so much extra time each day to bother with it.

From what I've experienced, Ashburn is way outside the line that sensible people draw and refuse to live beyond if they have to go into the District on any sort of regular basis during the week. Living in Ashburn and working a 9-5 job in DC are things that are currently incompatible with each other, and they will be still even after Phase-2 is opened. No person valuing his or her sanity should try to do both.

[Fantasticx]

Silver Line phase 2: now arriving in 2020

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...iving-in-2020/

As my neighbors said, don't expect it until 2030...

[stpickrell]

Originally Posted by Major Barbara

From what I've experienced, Ashburn is way outside the line that sensible people draw and refuse to live beyond if they have to go into the District on any sort of regular basis during the week. Living in Ashburn and working a 9-5 job in DC are things that are currently incompatible with each other, and they will be still even after Phase-2 is opened. No person valuing his or her sanity should try to do both.

It's doable if you work off hours or have a SAH wife who can accept that you'll be commuting a long distance. Even then, most wives who like their husbands will eventually raise a complaint.

EDIT: seems you pointed out that off hours works.