Originally Uploaded to flickr by foxymoron
I first arrived in DC and 2001 and soon after my contentious relationship with DC’s transit system was born. So many unappealing things about the whole experience, above ground stops that leave waiting passengers sweltering in the summer and freezing in the winter, and fare card machines that are functional except they won’t take coins (this, on the day when all you have is a wallet full of spare change).
About a year ago, a new colleague was moving from Philadelphia and asked for advice on where to live. The overwhelming response from coworkers at my office was to tell this person wherever he decided to live, it “had” to be on the red line. This was right around the time I had become a new homeowner in Southeast, and their suggestion had me seeing red (Horrible pun? Too late, I went with it). My aversion to their praise made little sense seeing as I hardly took metro anyway, so before I got on my soapbox, I dusted off my Smartrip card and ventured out to get acquainted with my neighborhood Blue/Orange line stop.
It didn’t take long for the positive attributes of the Blue and Orange to shine through. I quickly found how easy it was to hop on and arrive at Eastern Market minutes later. Trips to the Harris Teeter were made extra enjoyable because of the store’s proximity to the Potomac Ave. stop, and my commute to work became a mere 10 minute walk once I exited at Capitol South. I’ve found that people that don’t live on this line liken it to some far off, unknown place like… Arlington, Virginia. Oh, they’ve heard of it, they just don’t want to explore it. But metro riders of DC, I implore you, give the old Blue/Orange a try. You don’t want to waste time fighting us Zone 6 residents for parking near Eastern Market on a weekend anyway.
Yeah it is a good line but my favorite line is no line…bike commuting! Another great day out there.
Sept 1, the day I had enough of metro. Been ridin my bike from Potomac Ave to Foggy Bottom every M-F since.
Agreed! All you hear about is Red Line issues, the Blue/Orange is great more often than not. *knocks on wood*
Living a few feet away from the Metro myself, I couldn’t agree more!
That being said, a lot of what Metro refers to as “improvements” will be going on the Blue and Orange lines this weekend:
http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/news/PressReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=4792
It’s really tough to beat the blue/orange line:
–goes everywhere downtown
–very easy access to south Dupont via Farragut West
–AND you’re basically getting twice the service. This is especially important on the weekends. Poor red liners end up waiting up to 20 minutes for a train, but rarely does that happen on the B/O line
Glad people are sharing my love for the Orange & Blue. Let’s hope these “improvements” don’t lead to my biggest metro peeve…non working escalators!
Not to mention easy access to the Mall stops and the White House when you need to play tour guide to visitors (or need a museum fix).
I think these “line wars” are odd, to say the least. It actually seems to me that there are more delays on the blue/orange line than on the red and that the time between trains winds up being about the same. The grass is always greener, I guess. (And I usually ride the bus, walk, or bike anyway, so I’m by no means a metro expert.)
I think one thing we can agree on is that you can get to nearly every line easily from the Hill.
If you’re up by Union Station you can hop on Red, or catch the Green if you’re down by the Navy Yard. And of course the blue/orange runs throughout. Unless you’re going to Eisenhower Ave or Huntington you’ve got your bases covered on the Hill.
Funny, I always hear people say you “have” to live on the blue/orange line. I think this has more to do with the perceptions people have of the neighborhoods it goes through: the “nicer” parts of DC and the yuppiest parts of Virginia (they generally ignore whatever’s east of RFK).
http://unsuckdcmetro.blogspot.com/2011/01/gunmen-storm-orange-line-train-beat-and.html