"Are you a mega commuter?

 

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Readers share their road stories of commuting in the Greater Washington area.

We got quite a bit of traffic on our traffic story. You know, the one that asked the question, "Are you a mega commuter?" and was based on a U.S. Census bureau paper showing Greater Washington as the third-worst area in the U.S. to commute in regard to travel time.

I told you about my daily home-to-work-and-back-again ride between Chantilly and Rosslyn. I asked for your road stories. You shared (and thanks for all of your emails):

From Teresa Mannix, assistant dean for communications, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University: I just had to see "I-66" in your story to know that you feel our pain! I commute in from Gainesville to Georgetown, and the day it took me five hours roundtrip is the day I found a carpooler. But, it can still take us more than an hour to get here.

While I think my story is typical, I know that there are plenty of people who commute in from farther out. For years, my dad drove from Warrenton to the Navy Yard. He called in to WTOP so often to report the traffic (because, really, what else are you going to do when you are sitting in it?), that he became known as "John from 66" on Bob Marbourg's traffic reports.

Thanks for the story — even though it confirms what we already know about the region's traffic, sometimes it's therapeutic to know that we are not alone! I look forward to reading your follow-up on the crazy things people see. I can't top yours, but I bet many others can.

From Kenneth Acoff Jr.: When I read this article, I had to chime in. My commute is a part-time job, without the pay! In fact, I am the one paying for the privilege to spend four-plus hours a day commuting roundtrip from my home in Woodbridge to my job in Falls Church — less than 25 miles. And I've done it for almost two years.

My daily routine consists of walking from my house to the VRE to a commuter bus to a Metrobus then walking to work. I leave at 5:50 a.m. to arrive at work a bit after 8. Then, once work ends at 5 p.m., I get to do it all over again, in reverse. Because I would rather take public transit than eat up time, not to mention money, paying tolls on 95 and 495 and gas, I get to read, check my phone, or sleep, at least. That makes an otherwise, harrowing commute somewhat bearable.

Still, of the areas I've lived and worked — Chicago, Atlanta — I have never spent such a large chunk of my day commuting. Unless you are "fortunate" enough to live in a Metro-centric community. Who's responsible for the transportation planning in this region anyway?

Time for us to lobby Congress to provide a tax break to all D.C.-area commuters unlucky enough to live more than a 10-minute walk or ride from their jobs. Long commutes — a rite of passage for every D.C.-area resident.

From Tucker Riner, store coordinator for WaterWorks on M Street in Georgetown: Great read in the Business Journal yesterday, thanks for the article! I have a nightmare-ish mega commute to share with you. The reason I say "nightmare-ish" is because I happen to enjoy it very much, despite pushing two hours each way. I live out in Centreville, Virginia, but work in Georgetown, two places that can be equally difficult/undesirable to get to. When I was first offered my current job, I was intimidated by the thought of my commute here into the city during morning and evening rush hours. I take the Fairfax Connector which picks me up right outside of my apartment building and takes me to Vienna/Fairfax–GMU Metro station. This portion of my commute takes, typically, 45 minutes to an hour. From there I take the Orange Line for the, roughly, 40-minute train ride to Rosslyn. From Rosslyn I typically walk to my office, which is about a 15-minute walk across the Key Bridge and a block down M Street. I have the option of taking the Circulator bus, which I often do on hot and-or rainy days, but that takes about 5 minutes longer than walking.

Not as crazy as some, but pretty cumbersome. I’ve decided to live carless for economical reasons, but discovered it was an incredibly efficient, eye-opening experience. Up until 100 years ago, we had no other way to get around our cities besides our feet! I love this concept and seeing everything from a pedestrian point of view has been exponentially interesting.

From Chuck Coleman: I commute between Rose Hill and Suitland. Yes, I work at Census. My commute is normally about 110 minutes each way. I walk 15-20 minutes to Huntington Metro, a distance of about 0.7 miles. Then, I take the Yellow and Green Lines to Suitland. My commute would be much shorter if there were reliable circumferential transit across the Wilson Bridge. For a while, the N13 ran between King Street and Suitland, but died due to lack of information at the Suitland Federal Center and lack of use of the N11 running the other way, intended to take commuters from the Oxon Hill Park-and-Ride to PTO. That is not to say there are not benefits. I get exercise every day and can read the newspaper on the train.

From Kevin T. Parker: I drive from Owings Mills to Bethesda every day. When school is in, it takes me on average about 2 hours each way. I use Twitter, Waze, WTOP and WNEW to track the traffic. My traffic Twitter account is @WeHateTraffic. I even use the Automatic device to track the gas and travel time. I usually take the back roads to 29, then 29 to 495. Sometimes, I take 795-695-70-29-495 route. I have even gone 70 into Frederick just to come down 270. Sometimes I take the ICC over to Layhill Road or New Hampshire Avenue.

I don't take public transit because it will take just as long, if not longer. The MTA goes to downtown Baltimore and is not convenient for going south into D.C. Day care and family support system exists up here and I love my job, so it's a difficult change to make. I've been doing this commute for three years. It's about 43 miles each way.

From Matt Friend, president of Tactical Force Group Inc. in La Jolla, California (and a former area resident): My father would commute from Gainesville to Rosslyn every day. He would start by driving to the bus stop, then taking the bus to the Vienna Metro, then the Metro to Rosslyn and walking a few blocks from there — around 1.5 to 2 hours twice a day (my wife knew people from Delaware that commuted via train to Arlington).

My commute was easy when living in Arlington. I just had to get to Shirlington on neighborhood roads. One of the reasons my wife and I moved was to get away from traffic. We moved to San Diego. People always think San Diego/Southern California has bad traffic. L.A. does but San Diego is a breeze. People get angry here when they have 15 minutes of traffic. Oddly enough, our traffic pattern is fairly backwards. It is harder to get into the city in the afternoons than it is in the morning.

I hated planning my life around 66-495-395. I love mountain biking, hiking and the beach, but leaving on Friday anytime after 1 p.m. was a nightmare. You might as well wait till 9 p.m.