Sick – First time on Metro in 2 years

[MCL1981]

You think it’s damp now… try it when it is 90 in august. You think it smells now…. try it when it is 90 in august after a big marathon downtown.

[dasgeh]

I think Metro does a lot to encourage bike commuting in the area (and not by installing bike parking at stations…)

[Mariner]

When I read the thread title

Sick – First time on Metro in 2 years

I though the causal relationship was the reverse of what was actually intended.

[jrenaut]

@dasgeh 12972 wrote:

I think Metro does a lot to encourage bike commuting in the area (and not by installing bike parking at stations…)

From the look of the bike parking at Metro in the city, I think Metro encourages bike stripping for parts.

[JeffC]

I am a mixed mode commuter, take Metro a few days a week, bike a few days.

To put things in perspective on Metro, compared with some other systems I’ve taken (like New York and some in Europe) it is cleaner, then again compared with others (like BART in San Francisco) it is a lot worse. In my mind much of what makes Metro suck is which line you take. Orange Line SUCKS big time, Red Line is a close second. On the way home to Falls Church in the evening, the Blue Line trains are half empty while the Orange Line trains are packed to the gills. If you ride Blue, Green, or Yellow, Metro is not so bad. If you are on the super crowded Orange or Red, it’s awful, particularly if you live in Northern Virginia on the Orange or from Mo Co on the Red into DC in the morning. Metro in the winter is not so bad, in the spring and summer with the throngs of tourists, it gets worse.

Blaming Metro for getting a cold is a bit unfair. Do you work in a crowded building? Do you have kids? Are you anybody but the boy in the plastic bubble? Maybe you got sick from something else? Being exposed to germs this way is actually good for your immune system in the long run.

While most bike commuters are polite, especially in the winter, I get my fair share of bikers who pass without warning, I have to deal with Ninjas, and the condition of the Custis Trail which sucks almost as bad as the Orange Line.

All this to say, I enjoy having the privilege of knowing that I can bike but I can also take Metro. I also rent a bike locker at Metro so even if I take Metro most of the way I have a 3 mile round trip ride to it. Freedom and options are nice, having to do the same commute over and over and over again like a broken record is not.

[pfunkallstar]

@JeffC 13055 wrote:

I am a mixed mode commuter, take Metro a few days a week, bike a few days.

To put things in perspective on Metro, compared with some other systems I’ve taken (like New York and some in Europe) it is cleaner, then again compared with others (like BART in San Francisco) it is a lot worse. In my mind much of what makes Metro suck is which line you take. Orange Line SUCKS big time, Red Line is a close second. On the way home to Falls Church in the evening, the Blue Line trains are half empty while the Orange Line trains are packed to the gills. If you ride Blue, Green, or Yellow, Metro is not so bad. If you are on the super crowded Orange or Red, it’s awful, particularly if you live in Northern Virginia on the Orange or from Mo Co on the Red into DC in the morning. Metro in the winter is not so bad, in the spring and summer with the throngs of tourists, it gets worse.

Blaming Metro for getting a cold is a bit unfair. Do you work in a crowded building? Do you have kids? Are you anybody but the boy in the plastic bubble? Maybe you got sick from something else? Being exposed to germs this way is actually good for your immune system in the long run.

While most bike commuters are polite, especially in the winter, I get my fair share of bikers who pass without warning, I have to deal with Ninjas, and the condition of the Custis Trail which sucks almost as bad as the Orange Line.

All this to say, I enjoy having the privilege of knowing that I can bike but I can also take Metro. I also rent a bike locker at Metro so even if I take Metro most of the way I have a 3 mile round trip ride to it. Freedom and options are nice, having to do the same commute over and over and over again like a broken record is not.

I didn’t get sick riding Metro, but it certainly didn’t help anything. I live out in Falls Church so it was all Orange Line all the time for me, which made me sad. Luckily I’ve improved over the past two days so I’m back to biking. Having spent a lot of time on the Moscow metro, our system frankly sucks.

[KLizotte]

I live on the yellow line which is infinitely better than when I lived on the orange line.

I used to live in London, UK and there the tube is always packed and none of the cars are air-conditioned (and yes, the trains get very, very hot). On the plus side, however, the rush hour trains are spaced 30 seconds apart on most of the tube lines so I never bothered hurrying to catch a train. The tube network is also far more extensive and runs express service (similar to NYC). Nothing was more shocking to me than coming back to DC and seeing how infrequent the metro trains run, even during rush hour. Grrrrr

[MCL1981]

Prior to biking, I used the red line. It still do in bad weather. However, I live right by the Grosvenor stop. Every other train on the red line starts/stops at my station. Which means every other train into DC from my stop is EMPTY when I get on it. On the way home, a lot of people pack onto the trains that go all the way to Shady Grove leaving the trains that turn-back at Grosvenor much thinner. The front two cars outbound on the Grosvenor trains in the afternoon are usually all open seating. For this reason, I LOVE my red line compared to any other line. If I lived elsewhere and didn’t have that advantage, I might hate the red line more.

[Author]

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