Can DC physically handle the RTO?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course DC can handle it. Until the last few years, everyone went to the office 5 days a week. And, many private companies are not going back to 5 days a week. I know my law firm is staying at a recommended 3 days in office, although most people are back ~4. It will still be well below pre-pandemic levels. DC, metro included, will adjust, just like it adjusted down in the early days of the pandemic. 5 days in an office was the reality for many of us for decades of our working life. It is not impossible for people or for governments to handle this.

I have worked since 1995 and have never worked in an office 5 days a week. My corporate employer allowed telework. I started in the federal government in 2010 and my agency had telework back then. The maximum days I have worked in the office is three days a week. The flexibility allowed for less traffic. I can't imagine what traffic will be like with the end of federal telework.

Well, you are the odd man out. Telework in my agency didn't start until covid. And, yes, it has been abused. As a supervisor, I'm glad it's over.

I understand that I worked for a company that adopted telework earlier than most. I too am a supervisor and I have no problem managing my staff from wherever they work. The slackers are going to slack in the office too. Many have or will get RAs so if you think RTO means you don't have to step up and be a manager who can handle a hybrid team well, think again.

What is an RA?

Do your own research DOGE!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t buy anything in DC. Don’t get lunch out, don’t pay for parking if you don’t have to, don’t stay for HH. It’s not our problem to prop up their economy.

Unclear why you are so angry with DC. Better not to buy a Tesla.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course DC can handle it. Until the last few years, everyone went to the office 5 days a week. And, many private companies are not going back to 5 days a week. I know my law firm is staying at a recommended 3 days in office, although most people are back ~4. It will still be well below pre-pandemic levels. DC, metro included, will adjust, just like it adjusted down in the early days of the pandemic. 5 days in an office was the reality for many of us for decades of our working life. It is not impossible for people or for governments to handle this.

I have worked since 1995 and have never worked in an office 5 days a week. My corporate employer allowed telework. I started in the federal government in 2010 and my agency had telework back then. The maximum days I have worked in the office is three days a week. The flexibility allowed for less traffic. I can't imagine what traffic will be like with the end of federal telework.

Well, you are the odd man out. Telework in my agency didn't start until covid. And, yes, it has been abused. As a supervisor, I'm glad it's over.

I understand that I worked for a company that adopted telework earlier than most. I too am a supervisor and I have no problem managing my staff from wherever they work. The slackers are going to slack in the office too. Many have or will get RAs so if you think RTO means you don't have to step up and be a manager who can handle a hybrid team well, think again.

What is an RA?

Do your own research DOGE!

Does it mean ritten assignment?

[Anonymous]

Wondering what time you all are planning on driving in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course DC can handle it. Until the last few years, everyone went to the office 5 days a week. And, many private companies are not going back to 5 days a week. I know my law firm is staying at a recommended 3 days in office, although most people are back ~4. It will still be well below pre-pandemic levels. DC, metro included, will adjust, just like it adjusted down in the early days of the pandemic. 5 days in an office was the reality for many of us for decades of our working life. It is not impossible for people or for governments to handle this.

I have worked since 1995 and have never worked in an office 5 days a week. My corporate employer allowed telework. I started in the federal government in 2010 and my agency had telework back then. The maximum days I have worked in the office is three days a week. The flexibility allowed for less traffic. I can't imagine what traffic will be like with the end of federal telework.

Well, you are the odd man out. Telework in my agency didn't start until covid. And, yes, it has been abused. As a supervisor, I'm glad it's over.

I was teleworking in the late 1980s for a university, and many feds could telework in some form by 1995 because of Al Gore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Public transportation will get better as more people take it. The metro is already pretty good. The buses could be improved. It'll feel less sketchy the more commuters are on it and they can ramp up the frequency of buses if the demand is there.

not when no one pays and there's no penalty.

Exactly how many office-returning feds do you think will be jumping the turnstiles?

With RTO the number of paying customers will increase greatly while the number of fare-jumpers will stay the same. It will only be a good thing for Metro.

Metro can put buses on the road that it doesn't have, and it can't put trains on the tracks it doesn't have. It also can't keep psychotics or thieves or violent criminals out of the system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Folks need to embrace the bus more. And we need more routes.

I don't have any issue with the bus in the morning but the pm is terrible. I'd be thrilled if someone would start rush hour routes by 3 pm but there's no consistent service until really after 345 or 4 pm. I need to be home by 330 pm so I have to waste a lot of time standing around waiting for a bus thats still on a once an hour schedule. It adds an extra 30 minutes to my commute vs the morning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course DC can handle it. Until the last few years, everyone went to the office 5 days a week. And, many private companies are not going back to 5 days a week. I know my law firm is staying at a recommended 3 days in office, although most people are back ~4. It will still be well below pre-pandemic levels. DC, metro included, will adjust, just like it adjusted down in the early days of the pandemic. 5 days in an office was the reality for many of us for decades of our working life. It is not impossible for people or for governments to handle this.

Most government workers weren’t in the office 5 days a week, 8:30-5. My agency was 4 days a week with situational telework. Because we are a law enforcement agency, we had a lot of situational telework so most people—like at law firms—were not physically in the office by 8:30 am.

As a reminder, this isn’t an RTO. This is a telework ban.

The morning commute is going to be absolutely brutal.

a lot of my agency has teleworked 3 days a week since 2012. It is a huge agemcy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are literally bidding wars at high end office buildings in Manhattan right now.

Everyone there is back pretty much back. Guess what people make it work or they quit and get a job closer to home or find a rare remote job.

So, how long have you lived in DC if ever? Living close to work in manhattan is possible because of how the city was developed and zoned. Not so in DC. Federal buildings are largely in areas without housing.

Have you ever been to Manhattan. People commute *hours* each way to get to work, from Westchester, LI, Northern NJ. Two hour door to door is not uncommon. People can't afford to live closer. Even within NYC a commute from the boroughs to a Manhattan office can be a hour each way.

By contrast, plenty in DC do live reasonably close or within walking distance of their offices. It's going to be entirely the person and job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are literally bidding wars at high end office buildings in Manhattan right now.

Everyone there is back pretty much back. Guess what people make it work or they quit and get a job closer to home or find a rare remote job.

So, how long have you lived in DC if ever? Living close to work in manhattan is possible because of how the city was developed and zoned. Not so in DC. Federal buildings are largely in areas without housing.

Have you ever been to Manhattan. People commute *hours* each way to get to work, from Westchester, LI, Northern NJ. Two hour door to door is not uncommon. People can't afford to live closer. Even within NYC a commute from the boroughs to a Manhattan office can be a hour each way.

By contrast, plenty in DC do live reasonably close or within walking distance of their offices. It's going to be entirely the person and job.

So what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are literally bidding wars at high end office buildings in Manhattan right now.

Everyone there is back pretty much back. Guess what people make it work or they quit and get a job closer to home or find a rare remote job.

So, how long have you lived in DC if ever? Living close to work in manhattan is possible because of how the city was developed and zoned. Not so in DC. Federal buildings are largely in areas without housing.

Have you ever been to Manhattan. People commute *hours* each way to get to work, from Westchester, LI, Northern NJ. Two hour door to door is not uncommon. People can't afford to live closer. Even within NYC a commute from the boroughs to a Manhattan office can be a hour each way.

By contrast, plenty in DC do live reasonably close or within walking distance of their offices. It's going to be entirely the person and job.

So what?

You should concede you lost that particular argument. Manhattan has among the longest average commutes in the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here a DC worker in a nutshell.

His Gardner - Can I work from home? No
His Main - Can I work from home? No
His Garabageman - Can I work from home? No
His Starbucks Barista - Can I work from home? No

Boss asks them to come to office, How dare you!

Different jobs have different plusses and minuses. Some jobs require no education, some require college or a phd, some give you summers off, some have big bonuses, some have sabbaticals. They are not equal or comparable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are literally bidding wars at high end office buildings in Manhattan right now.

Everyone there is back pretty much back. Guess what people make it work or they quit and get a job closer to home or find a rare remote job.

So, how long have you lived in DC if ever? Living close to work in manhattan is possible because of how the city was developed and zoned. Not so in DC. Federal buildings are largely in areas without housing.

Have you ever been to Manhattan. People commute *hours* each way to get to work, from Westchester, LI, Northern NJ. Two hour door to door is not uncommon. People can't afford to live closer. Even within NYC a commute from the boroughs to a Manhattan office can be a hour each way.

By contrast, plenty in DC do live reasonably close or within walking distance of their offices. It's going to be entirely the person and job.

Those people are also paid a lot more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are literally bidding wars at high end office buildings in Manhattan right now.

Everyone there is back pretty much back. Guess what people make it work or they quit and get a job closer to home or find a rare remote job.

So, how long have you lived in DC if ever? Living close to work in manhattan is possible because of how the city was developed and zoned. Not so in DC. Federal buildings are largely in areas without housing.

Have you ever been to Manhattan. People commute *hours* each way to get to work, from Westchester, LI, Northern NJ. Two hour door to door is not uncommon. People can't afford to live closer. Even within NYC a commute from the boroughs to a Manhattan office can be a hour each way.

By contrast, plenty in DC do live reasonably close or within walking distance of their offices. It's going to be entirely the person and job.

So what?

You should concede you lost that particular argument. Manhattan has among the longest average commutes in the country.

So what? Unless DC is Manhattan what point are you trying to make?

[Anonymous]

How was traffic this morning?