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.

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.