What is wrong with people?

You encounter so many people on public transit if you take it everyday. WMATA has the joy is serving every type of customer in the Washington, DC region, but you get some very interesting characters on the MARC train as well. Here are a few of the experiences I've had, as well as deplored the people making these strange, and gross things happen.

So, on the MARC trains, they very explicitly ask you to not put your feet on the seats of the cars, but yet it happens.

This is not your living room. Please put your shoes back on.

Speaking of shoes, I've definitely heard the sound of nail clippers on the train before. I really hope that they're doing their hands and not their feet, although both are equally gross, in my opinion, to do in a public space.

My face the first time I heard that sound...and it continued for an entire train ride to DC.

Then there's the smells. Sometimes in the summer, we've all sat next to someone who didn't apply deodorant as liberally as one should during June, July and August in swampy DC, but hey, it's summer, it's gonna happen. And unlike WMATA, you can bring food and drink onto the train to eat and sometimes I'm jealous of those people's dinners with the smells I'm smelling, but other times it's something so all-encompassing that it just elicits an... 

'Nuff said.

Can anyone say seafood? 

Finally, yesterday I had one of the most annoying experiences on a train. The man across from me did not stop for about 40 minutes straight, chomping his gum, with his mouth hanging open, between chews. I tried to glare at him, but it didn't work. I even tried to put a piece of gum in my own mouth, hoping the sounds of myself chewing (mouth closed, of course) would drown him out in my head. Nope. Needless to say, I was happy to finally get off the train and let him continue on to his destination and have dinner with the cows. 

Yeah, I went there.

I mean, from time to time, I'm sure I do things that annoy or gross people out on the train. You know like putting on my make-up because I was running late that morning, or pulling my hair back into a ponytail, or probably the one thing that actually MAY gross someone out, depending -- changing from my regular walking flats to my gym socks and sneakers to save time. Yeah, all those things I just listed...not that gross!

Anyway, hopefully this is the only list I have to make and it never gets any longer. And for your Friday...

Pounce!

Oof.

Past my time!

I'm overdue for a post. 

I know it's been awhile since I was regularly posting and I had taken a hiatus from commuting for about 2 weeks in June and just never got back to thinking about funny stories or interesting topics for you all. 

Also, I've been pretty lucky in these few weeks since I returned to commuting on the train again, so in that honor, I'll leave you this GIF and make the promise to start thinking deeply about my commutes once more.

Thursday Blues-day...wait, that doesn't rhyme...

Yes that doesn't rhyme and it was just one more thing to go wrong on my commute home yesterday. I left work right around 5 pm, but a couple minutes later than I normally would. I will call this mistake number 1. 

I waited at Judiciary Square on the Glenmont side for probably 20 minutes. 2 trains came through in that time, both of them packed to the gills with people and no one getting off. During this same time I counted 7 or 8 trains going towards Shady Grove -- clearly they were not having any issues on that track. I finally gave up and decided to walk to Union Station* (mistake #2 -- more explanation on that at the end of the post). PS - I've been having an issue with my right foot in the last week and it gets irritated the more I walk or use it, hence, all the time I'm upright, so this was a fun almost mile walk, in the heat yesterday afternoon. 

By that point, I had missed the 5:20 pm train, and might make the 5:40 pm departure. Nope. Didn't happen. Especially with the foot issue. I walked into the station right at 5:40 and wasn't even going to attempt any sort of rushing movement. 

I was definitely no Betty Boop yesterday. 

All red-faced and limping.

The next train didn't leave until 6:20 pm, so I sat and waited. Only to receive an e-mail that THAT train might be delayed due to equipment issues. By 6:13 pm, a track still hadn't been posted for the 6:20 train (they usually post them anywhere from 15-20 minutes out from departure, if known). At that point, I received an e-alert that the 6:20 WOULD in fact be leaving on time, but with one less car, so to expect "crowded conditions". Yay. 

Because I received the e-mail, I started making my way out to the platforms and as I reached the door, I was lucky enough to hear the MARC customer service rep say that our train would be on track A-15. Yippee! I was one of the first people on the train and got a seat thankfully due to that saintly MARC rep. 

But wait, there's more.

::Stomps foot::

But, I don't wanna, Heather Dubrow of the OC Housewives (love her!).

The train I got on had no power, so it was hot. And quiet. And dark. And it seemed like the conductors weren't sure it would turn on, hence the delay and issues. But come what may, at 6:35 pm (15 minutes after the train was supposed to leave, if you're keeping track), the power came on and by 6:40, we were moving westward - Hallelujah!

I finally arrived home at 7:30 pm, 2.5 hours after I left work and ready for some pizza - thanks, hubs! - and HBO -- re-watching The Wire after reading this yesterday...LOVE LOVE LOVE that show. 

*Ultimately, I should have decided to just cross the platform at Judiciary Square and take a train in the other direction towards Shady Grove, getting off at Rockville and catching the MARC train to Germantown from there. I probably would have caught my earlier intended 5:20 train or at worst, the 5:40 train from Union Station from there AND I wouldn't have lost money standing on the Metro platform. Oh well, lesson learned. 

I still don't know why everything was royally messed up yesterday afternoon, maybe it had something to do with the fabulous year WMATA has been having so far. Lord only knows.

Happy Friday, y'all. Here's a puppy rolling around in a ball pit to make myself and you feel better about life.

Signage much?

Just read this in the WaPo about better signage at Metro stations and how we could all stand to learn a few lessons from our forefathers in London. 

Honestly, I don't really know if it's bad or good in terms of signage on the Metro. Maybe it's because I've just been riding long enough to know which stop I'm at without looking up (at least on the Red Line). Either way, a few times I've had to look up (I was tired, ok?) it is sometimes VERY hard to see outside the windows to a sign and if you're on an older car, the inside LED screens NEVER work. So, I guess WMATA could stand to make things a bit brighter and re-program some of their technology.

10 years in the making...

So, I realized I needed to write this post before the month of May is over; it's been sitting as a draft in my folder since March or before. Anywho, the point of this post is to celebrate that I've officially been a commuter for 10 years now. Well not full-time for the whole 10 years, but it was 10 years ago this month that I had my first taste of what it would be like to commute daily to a job, via a train. 

It was what I liked to dub "the best, most expensive summer" of my young life. I was 21, had just returned from an amazing study abroad experience with my art history pals in Greece (the best and most expensive part). I had actually had my birthday to celebrate my legal drinking status while in a small fishing village, in the southernmost part of the Peloponnese region of the country -- probably my best birthday to date. 

See!? There's me and a cake in that tiny fishing village in Greece! 

Opa!

I returned home and within a day or two, was set to start a full-time, 2-month, unpaid internship in the heart of Washington, DC at the Smithsonian American Art Museum  -- again, hence the expensive part bolded above. To help with those expenses, I lived at home with my parents in Frederick County, Maryland and decided I would take the MARC train each day, versus the Metro where you faithful readers would know, I'd had to pay to park and it would have easily been a 1-hour drive on the congested I-270 from my little rural town just to get to Shady Grove (I'm much more conveniently located nowadays).

I remember the Sunday before I was supposed to start, my parents and I took a drive from Middletown, MD to Brunswick, MD, showing me the beautiful route through Burkittsville, MD -- where they are most famous for this cult horror film. It was about a 20 minute drive to the station from my childhood home and there was ample parking in Brunswick, so was the ideal place for me to pick-up the train. My parents thought if I could buy my ticket the day or night before I wouldn't have to worry about it on my first day. I remember I wasn't able to since the station was closed for the weekend and alas, the ticket would have to be bought on the train the next morning. (I'm just now remembering how much planning my parents instilled in me -- it's very evident as I get older.) 

The next day, I woke up at 5 am (yes, you heard me) to catch the 6:30 train from Brunswick. I got to the station in plenty of time and was one of the first people on the train since Brunswick was the point of origination for this particular train. I remember the feeling of nervousness and excitement, all contained in my young, fresh 21-year-old self and I definitely remember feeling how mature I seemed -- commuting into the big city with all these seasoned, hardened professionals! 

90 minutes later, I believe I made it to DC with no incident and proceeded to take the Metro the two stops on the Red Line over to Gallery Place/Chinatown. My first day, I'm sure, was a blur, and most of the other interns were living in the city, paying several hundred dollars to rent a room or be a part of a house-share, as they were not local. In that, I was very thankful. (Even though the 5 am wake-up time continued ALL. SUMMER. LONG. Let me tell you, as a college student...this was not easy and usually resulted in a 10pm bedtime...oy!) But I do remember the return trip home that first day.

Since it was the end of May, late afternoon summertime storms are a regular occurrence in an area like Washington due to all the humidity. Our train (at 5:20pm, I believe) was delayed leaving the station for some reason -- maybe for only 10 minutes, but still, delayed. Then there were heat-restrictions in place, meaning the trains have to travel at a reduced speed when the temperature gets above a certain point (85 degrees Fahrenheit I want to say?). Then finally, as we got closer to Brunswick, I recall the heavens opening up and dumping something fierce on the train. Lightning, thunder, and bears, oh my. It only lasted maybe 5-10 minutes before it was over and then the train stopped. Whaaaaaa?

Apparently lightning had struck a tree further up and part of it had fallen along the tracks. Now, we were stuck. I think we finally started moving about a half hour later. By the time I reached my car at Brunswick, it was after 8pm and I knew that when got home, I'd only be able to eat dinner before I passed out to do it all over again the next day. My mother (to this day even) could tell you I was so irate by the time I came home; I kept telling her how helpless I felt being stuck on the train and "at least in a car, you can find an alternate route!!" ...Oh, tiny, young little Me, how little did you know. How impatient you would become. 

She seriously thought I wouldn't last the whole summer doing this commute. Neither did I. Today, I much prefer the being trapped on a train if there's an issue, because being trapped in a train happens FAR LESS than being trapped in car, in slow-moving traffic, in this VERY, VERY congested area of the country. Thankfully, I think I just had bad luck to have the one of very few times the train had an issue on my first day. After that, I only remember one other serious delay that summer and that was with Metro, within the District, and well, you all know how regularly that happens. (No thanks to this!)

When my internship ended at the end of July, I spent the rest of the summer before my senior year traveling to Arizona and cruising the Caribbean for one of my best friend's weddings (again, another reason why it was the best and most expensive summer ever). The internship and all the traveling had left me feeling so grown-up and ready for the next phase of life and starting my career. 

Here I am in Cozumel, Mexico (via the cruise), apparently showing off a cow.

There were also moments on the train that summer where I felt very lucky. Each and every morning, the train would come around a corner before arriving at Union Station and if I was in the correct seat, you could see the dome of the Capitol in the distance. The first time I saw it, I got goosebumps and continued to get them everyday. How lucky was I to be able to travel to and from the Nation's Capital each day to learn from the people who were working in my desired field, and in part because of that experience, where I would ultimately end up for my career.

I wouldn't commute on a train again until I started working once more in the DC area back in the spring of 2010. I would then start commuting full-time on one in the fall of 2012. And since then, each and every day, I still feel that lucky as I did in 2005. You can no longer see the Capitol Dome as you round that corner -- much of the area around Union Station has changed in that 10 year period and although no buildings reach higher than the Dome, the angles and shapes of the newer buildings do obscure it from view. 

But you know what? I still get goosebumps. I get them when I step off the train and all the people rush towards the station each morning. I feel them as I see the Capitol right in front of me as I exit Union Station. I get shivers daily when I walk into my Museum, knowing I ultimately ended up right where I belong. And, it's overwhelming when I actually think about it all and thank the universe for giving me that opportunity so long ago.

Sorry to have been such a sap and reminisce on this long post, but I have been crafting it in my head and in my drafts folder, probably since I started this blog, or before. Thank you for sticking with me -- through the post and through the blog so far. I hope I can continue to offer witty, intelligent and sometimes silly commentary on the life of being a commuter. Apologies for any typos - I'll firm up soon.

Don't stop, MOVE (to the side)!

Ahhh, warm summer months in DC bring the most dreaded time of year for anyone who lives here -- tourist season. Although it technically starts much earlier in March or April with the Cherry Blossoms, it continues straight through Labor Day with Segway tours, matching t-shirts, and just overall hell for the crowd-anxious people of the world (me). And as much as I appreciate them stimulating our local economy with their hard-earned tourist dollars, I just implore one thing to them as a daily commuter...

For the love of Pete (Sorry, Pete, whoever you are), if you're going to stop and look at your phone on what Metro stop you need next, or check a map for directions (do people still use these?!), or perhaps dig around in a purse or pocket to find your Metro card, PLEASE (and I really do say this nicely...in exchange, I will not yell at you on the escalator when you stand to the left, mmmk?), MOVE TO THE SIDE AND GET OUT OF THE WAY. 

Maybe this is Pete's sister?

I feel this is just common sense whenever you visit a new city or place, but it baffles me how many people don't realize how bad of an idea this truly is at 5pm on a Tuesday at Union Station. Anyway, rant over. Go about your days, people. 

Oy vey, Monday.

Oof, it was a bad start to the week on Metro this morning. Thankful I don't have to ride the blue-orange-silver line most days and not thankful that it makes for a very simple blog post from the Local Motive Girl. Still, I think the going score is Smoke and Fire - 2, Metro - 0.

We feel your pain, Woody.

A Metro Love story

Awww, read this and you'll be even more happy today besides the fact that it is Friday. 

It makes me smile to read about other people's happiness and reminds me of my own proposal and love story :) Ours was on a beach since my husband knew I loved beaches and it was my first time on a Florida gulf beach -- beautiful! Only downside was that it was August and SUPER hot. Still, it obviously ended well and it's nice to talk about and relive that moment together. 

Can we go back? Pretty please?!? :)

There are certainly cute ways to get engaged these days -- flash mobs, jumbo-trons, romantic dinners, and it can definitely lead to creative wedding theme ideas -- I especially like the Metro-themed tables at the end of the article -- delays of your meals are bound to ensue!

Happy Friday, everyone!

Um, no thanks.

So I've posted before about paying for Metro, waiting for a train for 10 minutes, only to leave the Metro and still paying $2.15. Well, I did that again today, but only waited about a minute before I made the decision to back up and leave.

I arrived in Union Station from my MARC train and walked to the Metro without checking my e-mail for alerts <--foreshadow: that was a mistake. I entered the turnstiles, registered my card and saw all the people at the top of the escalator looking down on the platform at all the OTHER (ahem, a lot) people waiting for trains. That was all I needed. I immediately turned around and walked back out the turnstiles to walk the .9miles to work. 

Oy, when will Metro get something to alert people as they enter the station BEFORE they pay for their entry? Also, I wondered if there was a grace period about entering and exiting a station within a minute if you don't get charged...my initial research came up with one of my favorite Traffic bloggers in the area, Dr. Gridlock, and something he posted about it in 2010:

Q: If you enter a Metro station and see that the platforms are overcrowded, etc., and then just turn around and go back into the office, you are charged for entering/exiting the same station (minimum fare).

Metro claims that they do this so as to prevent a conspiracy of two people exchanging farecards/SmarTrip cards and then entering/exiting "same" station. The problem with this response is that there is still a monetary incentive to do this type of conspiracy because of the the distance charge.

Furthermore, couldn't metro just have a 10-minute grace period of entering/exiting same station? You go in and realize it's terrible. Or, they could just apply zero charge for entering/exiting station to SmarTrip cards and have triggers whereby it's not allowed more than X number of times per month. Can we just get Metro to admit that they are just trying to get more money out of us even when they have disaster days (not uncommon)?

A: I think what Metro should do is make sure that its station managers are alert enough to discover problems on their platforms and have the means to quickly post signs warning incoming riders about severe delays.

Right now, riders don't necessarily have a way of knowing what's going on before they see the platform. (We talked about this a moment ago regarding the lack of consistent e-alerts about disruptions.)

Source: http://live.washingtonpost.com/gridlock-1025.html 

So it appears you do get charged (at least back in 2010) and they still HAVEN'T found a way to know about delays before you pay to enter the station! Grrr...just another fun day as a Metro rider in DC.

Concrete jungle where dreams are made of

I'm not leaving today, but last weekend, we left for New York! We stayed with friends in Baltimore to catch the train out of Penn Station there and had a very early wake-up call to do so that Friday morning. 

Our Amtrak experience was stupendous -- it was my husband's first time on the Northeast regional and probably my third or fourth time. It's so simple and easy to take the train. Honestly, I would take trains more often when I travel vs. planes if I had the time. 

Once we arrived in New York, we were off! We did some brief sight-seeing in Midtown, but soon took the 4 or 5 express down to Bowling Green to catch a ferry over to Ellis Island. That was one of my requests since I hadn't been there in my few times to New York. [Fun fact: Suspicious packages apparently gets one  stuck on Ellis Island for a short amount of time because all the ferries are evacuating people from Liberty Island, where said suspicious package is spotted. Yay! Us native DC-er's weren't actually phased too much by this and were more inconvenienced about the timing of it all -- it was lunchtime! We seriously considered taking a ferry to NJ and a PATH train back to Manhattan but alas, it all worked out.] 

Skyline from the Ferry. 

After we made our way back across to Manhattan, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed over to the World Trade Center and 9/11 memorials and Museum. We ended up not being able to get into the Museum due to timed tickets, but walked around the beautiful fountains they've created for each of the two former towers. From there, we walked a bit, checked out Freedom Tower and caught the A or C train back uptown to Penn Station where we had stashed our bags. [Another fun fact: if you ride Amtrak, it only costs $5 per bag + tax to stow your bag at Penn Station in NYC -- totally worth it if you ask me!]

We were staying in Brooklyn, so now we had to get back downtown on the R or N lines. Now this is where I went wrong and where the NYC subway system completely baffles me. When just looking at a New York City Subway map, I saw both lines and assumed they both stopped at our stop on 25th Street. So we got on an N train, realizing about 2 minutes into the ride, we actually needed an R train, so go off at Union Square to wait for one. Now that I look, and as the weekend progressed, I learned to actually look at the station stop and see what letter was below it before figuring out which train to take. 

The other issue was there was some track work going on when we were there so were impacted by which station we could access on Saturday and Sunday...i.e. not the one closest to our hotel and instead had to walk about 11 blocks SOUTH to go uptown to Manhattan. Live and learn, I suppose. 

On Saturday, we ventured south in Brooklyn to Coney Island and Brighton Beach -- how fun! It is quite a hike from even where we were staying in Brooklyn, but totally worth the time, if you have it, to see such  iconic and diverse places. From there, we went back up to Manhattan on the Q line to go to the Met. Again, I think we transferred at Union Square to catch a 4, 5, or 6 to get off at the 86th Street stop. No major problems here. Again some track work was impacting stations that were not open, but other than that, we were OK on our route.

Then after an afternoon of art viewing, with an evening of Pastrami eating and visiting with old friends, we caught the 6 train back downtown for transfer back over to an R or N train to 36th Street in Brooklyn. It took some time, but we made it back to our hotel alright. 

The next morning, we had an early train out of Penn so took an N train from our hotel up to 34th street/Herald Square and walked a few blocks over to the train station. Overall, I feel much more comfortable navigating the Subway in NYC -- the express vs. local trains always messed with my brain, but now they make more sense, but I'm sure unless I did it everyday, I'm always going to be double and triple checking lines and stops each time I visit there. At least now I know I could figure it out on my own and probably not end up in Queens or at LaGuardia unintentionally. 

Anyway, until next time, you big concrete jungle apple.

Iconic Grand Central Station.

No, you're the worst!

So I've returned from the Big Apple and will definitely blog about it here soon, but in the meantime, I read this article in the Washington Post today that seems appropriate for my recent trip and my new love of public transit visits to other cities!

I do think above all, DC has one of the cleanest public transit systems in the country and it's not as bad as people think it is in terms of delays, track issues, etc.. Even with all my complaining, I still ride it and support its improvement and upkeep! 

Overall, the DC Metro definitely has more challenges than other cities do in working with two different states, the Federal government and all the jurisdictions it reaches in its 117-mile radial span. Funding, maintenance, emergencies, infrastructure, and expansion planning all can be put to a halt by one of the governing bodies, no matter how good of an idea it truly is. Ugh -- politics!

NY, NY

I'm headed to New York City this weekend for the first time in 2 years and the first time since I started this blog, so we'll see if I have any travel woes or issues getting there (via Amtrak train) or around the city (yay, subway!) I'm staying in Brooklyn so there will definitely be some public transit going on and hopefully, there is success!

See ya on the flip side, Tina!

Good morning

So today, I walked to work. No, not the whole way from my house to Washington. I decided to make the trek from Union Station to my work. I sometimes do this, especially as the weather gets warmer or I am able to catch an earlier train. It's only about a mile and when the weather is nice, it's a pretty decent way to wake myself up after the lull of the train, or just get some fresh air and exercise. 

I typically walk along Massachusetts Avenue which is going through a lot of change and construction up at the 395 interchange. I write this post not because it has something to do with transit (it does, a little...) but because there's another reason I enjoy the walk to work when I do it.

Just past Union Station, if you exit to the west side of the station, along Mass. Ave. on the Postal Museum side of the street, there usually (if not always) sits a man greeting everyone who walks by. "Good morning, young lady. How you doing? Have a nice day!" And it's said with probably the biggest smile I've ever seen. He never asks for anything, he just wants to offer up his happy outlook of the day laid before us all. 

And you know, sometimes in life, it's easy to rush by, ignore the hello or questions from the folks you'll pass in any city setting, but when I make that walk from Union Station to my work down Mass. Ave., it makes my day to see him and hear his voice. And you know what else I've learned? I've learned that saying "Hi! Good morning. You too!" back makes him smile even bigger. 

Maybe one day I'll stop and ask his name, take his picture so you too can see his smile, or perhaps the anonymity of it is what makes it so pure and genuine. I wish we all, all the time, could stop and say hello back to whomever is speaking to us. I wish it weren't strange to do so, or our lives less hectic than just trying to rush along to the next thing on the schedule. 

Anyway, I write about this because even though I commute on mass public transit, and the mornings and evenings are typically fast-paced and hurried, that sometimes by getting to and from work this way, makes me, at least, stop and think about the larger picture of life and how we all operate in this world day to day. And the brightest spot of this continually spinning journey is sometimes just a simple "Good morning". 

Not my fault

You know what's not my fault? You not getting up when the doors open at a Metro station you need to get off at and it's rush hour. You waiting 5-10 seconds AFTER the doors open and then trying to push your way through all the people trying to board the train at a busy platform is not my fault. It's DEFINITELY not my fault that I saw you coming, turned around to see if I could step back on the platform to give you room and all I see is a sea of people rushing towards the interior of the Metro car. Eventually I am able to clear room to get back on the platform, out of the Metro car, so you may exit. Also, not my fault. But you felt it necessary to yell, in a not-so-nice tone, "EXCUSE ME!" like it WAS my fault.

I'll chock it up to a bad morning for you. Even a bad week perhaps. So, I'll forgive you for placing undue blame on me, the simple Local-motive Girl just trying to get to work on a Thursday.

On the express train to DC town

Sorry, it's been a busy couple of days this past week or so with a conference in Baltimore, MD to start my week and now I'm playing catch up before all the holidays start tomorrow (Passover, newphew's birthday and Easter - phew!). 

Anyway, an update to the experiment I did a few weeks ago -- I actually timed the "Express train" the P878 to see how much time it actually takes off a one-way trip to DC from Germantown, MD. 

Again, I took a screen shot of my timer and drum roll, please...

It saves approximately 3 minutes and 15 seconds off a normal one-way trip. Again, the first time I did this, we did sit at Union Station for a bit before finally coming to the platform, but still, that means I save 2,762 and 1/2 minutes of my life if I take that train daily; 46 hours or almost 2 days worth. That's a mini-vacation I could be taking! :) But in all seriousness -- I'm happy getting up a bit earlier to get to work a bit earlier and savor a bit more of this wonderful thing called daylight when I get home in the evening. 

Anyway, I have some blog topics living in my head I hope to talk, er, I mean, write about here soon. In the meantime, here's an article I saw a few weeks back that could be fodder for us DC commuters: 

http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/26083/heres-where-metro-railcars-go-after-they-die/

The weekend is almost here!

An experiment...

So, today I decided randomly to see how long I was on the train, while in transit. I pulled out my trusty iPhone and started the stop watch feature as soon as the P876 on the Brunswick line (my usual train that leaves at 7:11 am) started leaving the Germantown station. 

As we pulled into Union Station, I checked the stopwatch and it was at 41 or so minutes. We waited for probably 5-7 minutes and I finally clicked stopped as the train came to a stop at the platform. 

51 minutes and 45 seconds. This felt like a typical commute for the most part -- sometimes it's longer, sometimes it's shorter. For reference, MARC train schedules estimate that this trip should take 1 hour and 4 minutes, on this particular train. The time on my phone says "8:08" and the MARC schedule says this train is estimated to arrive into Union Station at 8:15, so an early train - woo!

Note that I started the timer when the train started moving, NOT when the train pulled into the Germantown station -- that's probably another good 3-4 minutes of people getting on the train at Germantown before it pulls out of the station. Remember, The Line?! That's how MARC determine trip lengths by when a train arrives at a station.

Also for reference there are trains that don't stop at all the stops so can significantly cut back on the travel time. The P878 -- 7:34 am departure from Germantown -- is what I like to call an "express train", or one that doesn't stop at all the little villages and towns along the way. 

Now, I did some more fun math this morning. I've been a full-time commuter on the MARC train since October 2012, meaning I use the MARC train daily more than 4 times a week. As I've noted before, because of my job and schedule, I often times have to take Metro to and from work to account for late hours, etc. So, I tried my best to estimate, based of previous spreadsheets I kept to track my finances with and just relied on general knowledge of holidays, vacations, days off, etc. to see how many trips I've taken on the MARC train in the last 2.5 years.

Drum roll please...approximately 43,964 minutes of my life have been spent on a commuter train so far (I'm not counting METRO at all). That's 732 hours and almost 45 minutes worth of sitting, and riding, and waiting. That's almost a full month -- 30.5 days -- - of commuting via MARC. 

That equals a nice, LONG vacation. Two paychecks worth of time. A full cycle of bills to be paid. That's 8% of a year of life. That's 6.3 years of the average American's life expectancy! That means that, at this rate, I'd have to ride the train daily as a commuter, for another almost 30 years (29.92 exactly) to have ridden the train non-stop for a full year of my life. Make sense? Holy bananas. Sad part is, that's not unrealistic to accomplish and I'm sure others have been doing it for 30+years already. And, since the Brunswick line goes all the way out to Martinsburg, West Virginia, some people are getting to that mark even quicker.

Anyway, a fun thing the mind does when sitting on the train -- it thinks of blog topics that either fascinate you or make you really, really sad for me. Hopefully it's the former.

Living transit maps

I get daily Washington Post alerts and in today's, the lead article was about what a computer programmer did with the information from the Oyster cards used on London's Tube and visualized a day's worth of commuting in a very, cool map. 

Can someone do this in DC? Pretty please?!

MARC train has multiple personalities

How's that for a headline? Well, it happened this morning on the MARC train into work. 

I've been bragging about riding on the new MARC double-decker train cars this past week or so and love the new features. So, I was on one again this morning (and yes, those plugs ARE under every seat I've sat in, so far!). As the train pulled into Union Station, in WASHINGTON, D.C., I noticed something out of the corner of my eye that looked like "NJT" on the electronic scrolling screens, on the inside of the train. But then it flipped back to saying something about MARC. Proof below.

Then all the the sudden, the automated recording comes on the loudspeaker, telling all us WASHINGTON commuters "Thank you for riding the New Jersey Transit." Well, that woke everyone up and if you were really groggy, hungover, or just not with it, you might have actually thought you were arriving into Newark, NJ for a New Jersey Devils game (no idea why I chose that team, other than the fact I remember passing their arena on my few Amtrak train trips into New York City, which rides parallel to the NJT for a bit, if I remember correctly). It was hilarious. And probably was a "you had to be there" kind of moment, but still, it made my morning!

Clearly, the Maryland Transit Administration will need to update that, but I'm still a fan of these cars and hope I get to ride on them daily...which if I keep taking the 7:11 one out of Germantown in the morning, it appears I will! 

So, Happy Friday to all and hope you have a weekend as happy as this puppy is! 

Best feature ever!

A few days ago, I blogged about the new MARC train cars and today I discovered the best thing discovered since the dawn of time. Well, that might be a slight exaggeration. But look!

I understand technology and upgrading take time, but my, oh my, why hasn't this been here since cell phones were invented?! There is no doubt, riders will rejoice and this will this do wonders for myself and all of the MARC train passengers who use their phones/computers/devices constantly during their commutes. Thank heavens. 

FYI - These are located underneath the seats in front of you and I'm assuming they are under each seat, but since this was the first day I've seen them, I'll have to sit in a different spot to truly know. Seriously though, best hump day discovery ever! 

Exact change

Just an interesting read about getting the perfect amount of money on your NYC subway fare card, here. 

Thankfully (?), D.C. doesn't have flat fares and I can literally put the $5.90 it costs me to go from Shady Grove to Judiciary Square, on my SmarTrip card, when I ride the Metro. 

Happy Monday, all!

Brand spankin' new

The other day, I got on the train and it was a new model of the double-decker cars on the MARC train system. I'm in love. (I think technically they are called "bi-level" cars, but I love London, so double-decker it shall be on this blog!)

The picture doesn't do it justice but it also smells brand spankin' new. Like a car just off the lot. :)

I'm assuming these are the ones that former Governor O'Malley mentions in this press release because I saw those 4 additional side doors as I exited the train the other day! Ooooo, fancy. 

Currently MARC has three models that I've ridden in/on. First, there's the old-school double-decker ones -- carriage cars. The lower level has normal 2x2 seats where you sit either facing the direction you're going or backwards. The upper level has a single row of seats, half of which face either front or back and the other half face towards the center of the car, with the space between the two sides, open to view down to the first level, and vice versa. Photo of exterior below. If I can find an interior, I'll update for sure!

The door is in the middle of the carriage cars, rather than the ends of the car.

The one that I tend to be on more than other ones is a single level with just a long row of seats. I posted a picture of the interior in this blog post. It has come to light, in recent events, that they are not the safest of train cars, when in a collision. 

The third kind are the newest model I've ridden on (until earlier this week). They are very similar to the newest car, with two levels. Almost like a split-level house, you have to choose whether you want to sit upstairs or downstairs almost immediately after entering the train car. The doors are at both ends and there seems to be more accommodations on these double-deckers for a larger quantity of people and even more ADA compliant than the single level cars. 

I'm super pumped to see this newest model in action on the Brunswick line earlier this week and hope to get more chances to test-ride in the coming months! Also, as much as the carriage cars are unique and old-school, I'll be glad when those are phased out of circulation. 

A travelin' (wo)man...

I was thinking this morning that I've traveled a lot in my life and in recent years have found myself wanting to take public or mass transit when visiting other cities and countries, if nothing else, to see how their systems compare to my beloved DC. 

So I cataloged all the US cities and international cities where I've utilized their public or mass transit systems. First note to mention: I say 'mass transit' in addition to 'public' because a lot of time overseas their transit is actually privatized, at least in Europe, and that's a whole 'nother discussion for a different post (andwhyIthinktheUSisbehindontransit, coughcough).

I also would like to define what I consider to be "mass or public transit". This is city/county buses, commuter/regional rail, subways, trolleys and light rails. This does NOT include passenger rail (i.e. Amtrak), planes, ferries, or taxicabs. 

So without any further ado, here is my ever-growing list that I would like to continue to enhance! (ordered by proximity to where I call "home")

Washington, DC (obvi) and surrounding jurisdictions (MoCo, NoVa, etc.)
Baltimore, Maryland
New York, New York
Columbus, Ohio
Boston, Massachusetts 
Chicago, Illinois
San Francisco, California 
Seattle, Washington

London, England
Paris, France (twice!)
Pisa, Italy
Rome, Italy
Athens, Greece

Sadly, I've been to plenty more cities than this, but either due to circumstance, stupidity or age, we didn't utilize the public transit systems in those places, walked, drove, or cabbed A LOT, or I just don't remember it. Here's to hoping that changes and I can teach my future children about the importance of it someday and cities continue to improve their transit so that tourists feel compelled to use it! 

Brr, Brr, Brring it on, Spring!

So, unless you've been living in a ice-encrusted igloo somewhere on one of the Poles and have no access to electricity, you may not be aware that the entire continental US has entered into the end of days with the polar vortex of 2015. 

My thoughts on this today, the coldest day I've experienced by far in my 30+ years of life (and was record breaking in DC), when my car read 1 degree this morning when I got in at 6:15am and didn't rise much above that after the sun came up:

-It's really cold and yes we're going to complain about it until the cows come home. I live in the mid-Atlantic, not Canada, not Boston, not Chiberia, so when I complain, it's because WE ARE NOT LIVING IN THOSE CITIES, therefore SHOULDN'T HAVE my eyes water and immediately freeze when stepping outside. Ok, end rant. (PS - I have to admit that I do like to give our family in Florida a hard time when they complain it's cold outside when it's 40 or 50 degrees. You wish.)

Never moving to Chicago -- sorry, Grandipants.

-Despite my complaining, I'm very thankful for a warm home, car, and workplace to relish in 23.5 hours of the day during these crazy-town temperatures.

Smart little creature.

Wish I had one of these, but the vents in my ceiling work just as well.

-There are some nutbags (and by nutbags, I mean LADIES) walking around with skirts, AND NO TIGHTS ON in this weather (I've blogged about this before). Now, I saw one woman with knee socks on, but still, that's a lot of thin layering going on between the knee and the waist...more than I can handle on a 50 degree day, honestly. Brave women. Stupid women, but brave. 

There's no shame in that, Joey.

-Commuting sucks in this weather. This might be the only time of year I wish I drove to work and only had to be outside for about 10 minutes of my day, versus waiting for a bus or a train for 5-10 minutes each time. On that same regard, waiting in The Line also blows in a climate like this. I really wanted to yell at some people when they cut in line today, but my lungs hurt too much from the cold to attempt to. 

I do feel for our furry friends during this cold. Their poor wittle feet. :(

-Finally, I'm going to have to invest in a few massages come spring because I find myself lifting my shoulders in a shrug-like position and HOLDING them there when it's this cold. Almost like I'm trying to keep my ears and neck warm with my bony shoulders. I'm a weirdo. 

I'm permanently stuck like this, December thru March.

Alright, enough complaining, but good news is, only 1 month until Spring officially comes back to taunt us, sticking around for maybe 45 days before it's seeping hot in DC once more. Yay. 

Bad Luck Friday (and Thursday)

So, WMATA/Metro is on my list. Thanks to a 12 minute wait, ON THE TRAIN at Judiciary Square (across from my work, where I catch the Metro each day) last night, I missed my 5:40 MARC train out of Union Station (as did a lot of other people). The next one wasn't until 6:20, overcrowded and getting me home at 7:15pm, when I usually leave work at 10 until 5pm. Gah. 

My annoyance at last night's issues.

Then this morning, you lovely public transit system, I arrive at a crowded Metro platform at Union Station once I got off the MARC train, to find it filled with people, anxiously awaiting a train on the Shady Grove bound side...the direction I want to go. 

My thoughts exactly, Liz Lemon.

A train pulls up and is stuffed to the gills with people. Your ever so communicative train operator says "Please do not try and get on this train if there is no room. There is a train directly behind this one. I repeat, there is a train directly behind this one." So, I wait. With bated breath. 

Pardon my French, train conductor, but directly behind you, my rear-end?! I stood for another 15 minutes to wait for that train, supposedly coming directly behind you. Blarg. 

Preach, Amy.

The platform continues to fill with people and FINALLY a miraculous sight appears: an utterly empty Metro train. We all rejoice and I still made it to work by 8:45am (with a stop off at CVS to buy Valentine candy for my wonderful co-workers). 

Thankfully my mood improved after that and even though I missed two opportunities this week to use my monthly MARC train ticket to ride Metro for free, it's finally Friday, albeit the 13th, and Valentine's Day tomorrow. Who doesn't love spreading a bit of love around on a globally concluded unlucky day of the year?! Happy V-Day, y'all!

I plan to.

Bad commuter, Bad!

So, as a commuter, usually I'm super good about being prepared before I leave the house each morning with what I might need for the day, umbrella, boots, hood, coat, gloves, etc. But I'm also careful to not have to cart everything with me if I don't need to. That just causes undue shoulder pain, lugging all that around in my bag.

Yesterday they were calling for rain in the evening, so I packed my umbrella as a smart commuter would, but I do remember thinking to myself, before I left the house: Should I wear my rubber boots? 

Alas, I didn't. I walked out of the house in my flimsy little black flats I wear 4 days out of 5 and boy, did I regret it. When I left work yesterday afternoon to head to my board meeting, it was raining, but not too terribly hard. Well, it was not falling hard from the sky, but the wetness already on the sidewalk soaked straight through my shoes, into my socks and I was miserable the rest of the night. Ick. Nothing is worse than wet socks. Well, there might be a few things, but that's close to the top of my list.

Needless to say, going forward, I'll answer 'YES' to my hypothetical questions when I leave the house each morning. I'm pretty sure I ruined my shoes and I'm lucky I didn't wake up all snuffly and sickly this morning.

Poor, sad, little commuter. You gots your feet all wet.

Holy snow

Found this gem today, via The Washington Post. Apparently a freight train in Canada ain't scared of no snow, no sirree. Click the link below to see pretty cool (ha!) footage of him plowing through the white powdery stuff. It gets good around the :26 mark. And I love the photographer being a true craftsman and artist at the end and wiping his lens free of the frozen stuff.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/02/06/snow-is-no-match-for-this-new-brunswick-locomotive-video/

I've always wondered how deep snow would be for a train NOT to get through on the tracks, but apparently this one has upped the bar. 

Happy Friday, dear readers!

RIP SmarTrip card

Today is a sad day in the history of my public transit days. I had to say goodbye to my original SmarTrip card. For you Londoners, it's like your Oyster Card, or for Red Sox fans, the Charlie Card; the SmarTrip is just DC's version.

Originally intended and marketed for daily commuters, the DC Metro now incentivizes purchasing these for anyone traveling on Metro as it's an additional $1, each way, for using a paper fare card, and as DC commuters are aware, it's already pretty expensive to ride the Metro. It is a minimum $10 to purchase -- $2 for the actual card and $8 pre-loaded onto it when you buy it.

I remember when Metro first came out with these and they became the necessary method of exiting a paid parking facility of Metro. Once, in the early days, my mother and I had a hilarious time thinking we could pay cash to leave the lot and there was no attendant to pay. So we backed out over the curb and grass to exit the lot, versus just running back to the station to buy one of these puppies. Whoops! Now, thankfully, you can use credit card OR SmarTrip to pay for parking at a Metro lot. 

On the top is my new card, purchased fresh this morning and the bottom, is my fairly in good shape original one. Recently, every time I went in and out of the turn stalls, I'd have to swipe it 3 or 4 times to get it to register, if it registered at all. Even more recently, it'd usually not work after those few swipes, so I'd go to the purchase machines and get it to at least register on them...then it would seem to work to pass through the gates. 

In the past few days, I had to resort to going to the Metro attendants and have them "reactivate" or swipe it in their magic machine to make cards work. I tried to see how long I could do this as I had more than $30 left on the old card. Well, I couldn't hold out any longer. I became that person whose card didn't work and was holding up the line, pretty much every time. I'll figure out how to use the money on there, whether it's to pay in a parking lot on the way out, or just use it when it's not rush hour. 

Either way, so long first SmarTrip card -- it's been a good decade-plus run. You were the OG of SmarTrip cards and I'll miss you. Well, not really that much. 

The woes of commuting and losing weight

This week I've relied solely on caffeine and the good merits of my career to get me through. A huge exhibition opens at work this weekend and with that comes tons of events and hopefully lots of successful fundraising (that's what I do, PS) and donor cultivation. 

With that, I'm proud to say I've stayed on track with my clean eating for the month of January -- which meant no refined carbohydrates in my diet. That is: no breads, no pastas, nothing with exorbitant amounts of wheat in it, no sugar or sweets (although I allow myself one icee-pop after dinner each night), no (white) potatoes and limiting my dairy intake. (My husband likes to call it "Paleo-lite".) Since the first of the month, I have lost almost 7 lbs, so I'm taking this as a win all around (the goal is 15), but with that comes some woes for commuting...

Passing the Crumbs Bake Shop in Union Station daily is torture, but oh-so-satisfying when I don't let them taunt me and the scale reflects that.

 I'm with you, Dog.

Passing the Sbarro's shop as well, is difficult -- if nothing else, my college days should tell me that eating there is NEVER a good idea, but oh, the smells...the smells!

Oh, sweet, sweet bread. I do miss you.

Drinking so much water that you have to allow more time to get to the train because more pit stops have to be made more frequently. Ugh, stupid bladder.

I've been there, Forrest. Just replace the Dr. Pepper with 15 waters.

Finally, when you lose weight, your pants/tights/hosiery get looser - yay! When you walk as much as I do during a commute, that's not always a good thing. You've never truly lived until you realize how uncomfortable it can be to walk close to a mile with your tights almost down past your rear-end and nowhere to stop and fix them.

 Whoops!

But the good news is, I'm losing weight, so I'll deal with these problems if it means being healthier, fitting into all my clothes better and continuing to feel fit!

Yeah, I've got my tight pants...somewhat.