Friendship Heights vs Silver Spring, public transit commute to Bethesda? (neighborhoods, live in)

[confusedasusual]

Hello:

I have lived in DC for the past ten years in several different neighborhoods, but I always seem to end up working in the 'burbs. I now work in Bethesda (Medical Center).

Due to a recent marital separation, I am looking to get new place. I have identified two possibilities-- one in Friendship Hgts and one in Silver Spring.

I rely on metro/busses to get to work, and have looked at the Trip Planner, which claims that the J1 or J2 bus from the Silver Spring metro only takes 23 mins to get to Medical Center. I find this hard to believe with rush hour traffic. Any thoughts on how true this is?

The Friendship Heights location is of course a much easier commute, but the place is much smaller and doesn't have as many amenities. Commute is only one piece of this puzzle.

Thanks!

[coldbliss]

I don't know. I live in Silver Spring and the 23 minutes from downtown Silver Sprint to Medical Center sounds realistic. It really depends on the time during the commute. Between 7:30-9:00 a.m., it might take 30 minutes for the bus ride. Still...that's not a bad commute time.

I vote for Silver Spring but that's because I live there.

Originally Posted by confusedasusual

Hello:

I have lived in DC for the past ten years in several different neighborhoods, but I always seem to end up working in the 'burbs. I now work in Bethesda (Medical Center).

Due to a recent marital separation, I am looking to get new place. I have identified two possibilities-- one in Friendship Hgts and one in Silver Spring.

I rely on metro/busses to get to work, and have looked at the Trip Planner, which claims that the J1 or J2 bus from the Silver Spring metro only takes 23 mins to get to Medical Center. I find this hard to believe with rush hour traffic. Any thoughts on how true this is?

The Friendship Heights location is of course a much easier commute, but the place is much smaller and doesn't have as many amenities. Commute is only one piece of this puzzle.

Thanks!

[HurricaneDC]

You wanna live somewhere where you'll be comfortable. It sounds like the Silver Spring location fits that bill. It definitely shouldn't take more than 30 minutes by bus, which frankly is better than it sounds since you don't have to do the actual driving

[HumbleSeaGoat]

Silver Spring sounds like an ideal situation, and I'll venture to guess that, worst case scenario, it'll be a 40 minute bus ride. I've personally loved taking the bus (I walk to work, now). Did a lot of reading on my trips, and managed to eliminate my backlog of books that, otherwise, I would have never completed.