Transportation in Logan

A few things caused me to ponder transportation issues lately. The first is my own increasing frustration when trying to park my car. The second was a post at Greater Greater Washington advocating more infill stations on Metro rather than suburban train sprawl.

I could feel the cold, judgemental stares of some readers even as I typed that I find parking frustrating. Yes, I drive almost daily. Let me explain: I can drive to work in about 35 minutes, but commuting by bus and train would be a 90 minute ordeal, requiring that I leave home shortly after 6 a.m. As I am not a morning person and my chosen profession is teaching sixth graders, this commute scenario conjures up visions of a Lord-of-the-Flies-like scene in my classroom as my students and I become progressively more and more exhausted throughout the week. Even in my wildest fantasies of fitness, biking would be a similar time drain. Granted, though my morning commute by car is relatively fast, my evening commute is hairier. On truly ugly nights, it can take 75 minutes, if I include the time it takes for me to get parked at home in Logan.

Mr. 14th & You also has a commute conundrum. He works about a mile from home, which is great. The conundrum part is that there is no Metro or MetroBus that will get him to work. So Mr. 14th & You takes a Capital Bikeshare bike (when one is available) and gets to work in about 10 minutes. Absent an available bike to let, Mr. 14th & You walks to work. When attired in a suit on a hot or wet day, the commute that otherwise seems like a lovely opportunity for some light exercise becomes a 20 minute slog. Though cabs are certainly an option, the price of a round-trip fare and tips is comparable to the cost of using a parking garage for the day.

Despite these (minor) commuting challenges, both Mr. 14th & You and I love our jobs and love our apartment. Depending on the day, I mostly accept the trade-offs of life in a vital urban area. I offer these scenarios not as complaints. These are the daily journeys that our household makes for better or worse.

Now, let me get to the other reason why I have been thinking about transportation options. While reading the above-mentioned post on Greater Greater Washington, I noticed the following comment from Tom Coumaris: "I live at 14th and S and Metrorail is worthless to me except for DCA." Other GGW readers jumped on Tom for this statement. One retort was, "14th and S NW? 3 blocks from the U Street Station? How is that worthless?" This back-and-forth got me thinking. How often do Mr. 14th & You and I use Metro? How often could we use it.

As it would be for many Logan/U St. residents, the U Street stop on the Green Line is our closest Metro station. My opinion, informed by eight years of experience riding the Green Line from U Street is that it rarely offers a time benefit over other alternatives. The Circulator gets me to DC USA faster than walking to U Street, awaiting a train, and riding one stop. Even driving will get me to CoHi and parked within 15 minutes for very little money. Metro is a great way to get to Penn Quarter, but cycling is still faster. Where time really starts to drag, though, is when one attempts to transfer to the Red or Blue/Orange Lines from the Green Line. In such cases, I will typically begin my trip by walking to Dupont Circle or McPherson Square, respectively. Why do I walk to McPherson? Because, if I jaywalk judiciously, I can keep pace with a bus from 14th and R to 14th and L during rush hour. When one factors in waiting for the bus to arrive, walking almost always saves time.

Speaking of the bus, it's mostly off my radar. Though I can understand the utility of using Metrobus to commute north-south along 14th or 16 streets, it doesn't get me many places where I need to be. Two summers ago as a grad student at GW, I thought I'd finally make friends with the bus. Alas, the WMATA trip planner said it would take me either a bus to Metro tranfer or two bus lines to make that 1.8 mile trip. Total trip time was optimistically estimated at 31-33 minutes by WMATA and 25 to 27 minutes by Google Maps (assuming the bus was one time, heh). Mr. 14th & You, in a push to be an enlightened non-car-dependent urban dweller, once recommended that we take the bus to Georgetown. We spent 15 minutes sitting on G2 bus at 14th and P awaiting a driver shift change that day. Once the bus finally achieved forward momentum, we stopped on the 1500 block, the 1600 block, AND the 1700 block. All members of our party agreed that taking a cab home would be wise.

So the answers to my own questions are that Mr. 14th & You and I might go weeks between using Metro and Metrobus even if we tried to use them more often. Fortunately, walking and driving are typically convenient for us. I might be better able to leave my car parked if I embraced Capital Bikeshare. I'm still overcoming my fears of urban cycling that stem from the close calls I witness between cars and cyclists every day. Also, though I can ride a bike competently on the tow path, I am easily overstimulated and have a significant lack of large motor coordination. If you ever see what appears to be a tangle of knees and elbows zig-zagging down the road, it likely means that Mrs. 14th & You is now using CaBi.

I do understand, though, that we are just one case study of travel habits among Logan Circle households. I'm curious how other residents feel about transportation options along 14th and U Streets. We have more choices in transportation than many of our DC neighbors, not to mention residents of other cities. Trends in parking space utilization at new condo developments certainly seem to show that many folks are giving up cars in the city. Do you feel like you have been able to get away from using a car? Have you tried to avoid using a car and been frustrated by the experience? If you were being 100 percent selfish, how would you re-align existing transportation options to better serve Logan residents?

P.S.: Yes, this post was penned by the Mrs. 14th & You, the very same woman who walked off of blog duty about two years ago to go back to school and change careers. You may see some more of my ramblings between now and the start of the school year.

Spotted in Georgetown This Weekend

Note the handsaw that is attached to the hood. Note, too, that the Wicker-mobile is parked illegally. Can you imagine going to impound lot and describing this vehicle?

We're just going to give this one a big old WTF and move along.