Average commute times?

[Anonymous]

In the weighing of factors over school districts, people toss around "close in suburbs" like Arlington and Bethesda as if they are fungible. In my mind, the NoVa locales have a longer commute because of the bridges. Am I delusional? What about McLean and Silver Spring? I can offer up what I know. We live in AU Park and I have a 20 minute commute to downtown, occasionally 30 during the peak of rush hour. This is without a child drop off or pick-up. Are there close in suburbs with good school districts that can match that on a consistent basis?

[Anonymous]

Well, its kind of a stupid question, OP. Commute time totally depends on where someone is going and at what time, so it is impossible to generalize. Also, few people will admit to how long their commutes actually take because it is all so depressing.

[Anonymous]

OP here, I posed this question because I did not want to derail the thread of the person with the scenarios about where to buy a house/public vs. private. She seemed to be focused on Upper NW DC (JKLM schools) or Bethesda. Someone else threw out Arlington and their great schools as an option she should consider. I completely agree Arlington has great schools and I have many friends that live there. But my impression is that the commute is too long for us. DH and I have weighed the commuting factor heavily in our decisions re where to live and our compromise when we had to consider schools was Upper NW. I know that we could be in Bethesda just north of Western and have an identical commute, what I do not know is what it is like elsewhere.

Sorry it is depressing, but that is why I asked the question. If we eventually decide we need to move for schools I am interested in what locales with good schools actually have bearable commutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In the weighing of factors over school districts, people toss around "close in suburbs" like Arlington and Bethesda as if they are fungible. In my mind, the NoVa locales have a longer commute because of the bridges. Am I delusional? What about McLean and Silver Spring? I can offer up what I know. We live in AU Park and I have a 20 minute commute to downtown, occasionally 30 during the peak of rush hour. This is without a child drop off or pick-up. Are there close in suburbs with good school districts that can match that on a consistent basis?

Yes -- but it depends upon what time of day for the commute in and out and exactly what part of "downtown" you are referring to. Certainly doable from many parts of Arlington and McLean, as an example.

[Anonymous]

depends on if you live near a metro and if you work near a metro. From East Falls Church metro, takes just under 20 min to get to metro center, no worry about traffic, no parking garage costs, though the metro has it's own issues, of course.

[Anonymous]

We live in Rockville. I work in MD and my commute is 15 - 20 minutes during rush hour - about 10 minutes mid day. My DH works DT DC and his commute is 1:10 each way. When we bought our house, we took my commute into consideration rather than his as it would be me picking up the kids if they are sent home ill, or to volunteer periodically. If we both worked in DC, it would be much more difficult.

[Anonymous]

Town of Chevy Chase - 30 minutes to downtown DC. Maybe 40 minutes if the traffic is really bad, 25 on a good day.

[Anonymous]

All respondents should say where they are going downtown. IME it makes a big difference.

I live in CC DC and getting to 20th and Pennsylvania takes much, much less time (13 minutes?) than my previous commute from the same address to the Hart building.

[Anonymous]

If you are going down town, Arlington is very convenient. If you want to keep your kid in an upper-northwest private, not so much.

[Anonymous]

I regularly drove from N. Arilngton/Glebe Rd area to L'enfant plaza in less than 20 minutes. I usually left my house around 7 a.m. and I had parking in my building.

When I lived in Clarendon, my commute to McPherson Square via Orange line was about 30 minutes from front door to desk, but that included about a 10 minute walk to the metro. This was about 10 years ago though before metro delays were so ridiculous.

Most of Arlington is much closer and more convenient to downtown offices then upper NW or Bethesda.

[Anonymous]

"All respondents should say where they are going downtown. IME it makes a big difference.

"I live in CC DC and getting to 20th and Pennsylvania takes much, much less time (13 minutes?) than my previous commute from the same address to the Hart building."

Agree with this completely. I used to live in Woodley Park, but now live in Old Town Alexandria. My commute from Alexandria to Capitol Hill is shorter than it was from Woodley Park. Same deal with Arlington to downtown vs. upper NW to downtown. Depends on what part of downtown you're going to. In my experience, if you have to get east of the White House, the commutes become very comparable.

[Anonymous]

I think you're right about the bridges. My coworkers in Montgomery County have shorter commutes than I do from close-in Fairfax and the mileage isn't dissimilar. For me, coming from Fairfax, timing is everything. Before I had my daughter, I could leave home around 6:30 a.m. and get to work at 13th & E in 34 minutes or my current job at 7th & E (NW) in 37 minutes. Now, with daycare dropoff, I've never made the commute in less than 55 minutes, and it's usually closer to 65-70 minutes, no matter which route I take. The bridges are huge chokepoints. Metro is pretty consistent, and takes no longer than driving, so I usually take that. Commutes are shorter from Arlington, though it's harder to get on a train - they're usually pretty packed by Ballston. Ballston has the advantage if your two-income couple has jobs in DC and Tysons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All respondents should say where they are going downtown. IME it makes a big difference.

I live in CC DC and getting to 20th and Pennsylvania takes much, much less time (13 minutes?) than my previous commute from the same address to the Hart building.

Is this door-to-door? Do you drive your own car or is this via public transport?

[Anonymous]

I live on Capitol Hill, child attends Gonzaga and I work in Southwest DC. I can leave home at 7:30 drop the son off, park in the garage, catch the elevator, walk across the street, enter the building, badge-in, catch the elevator, enter the office suite, and cut on the computer all by 8:55.

But the return home trip takes about 15 minutes longer.

Next year, child will be ablt drive to school and that should cut off about 10 minutes but add on about 50 years of worrying.

[Anonymous]

I live in N Arlington. Before i lived close in in NW. N Arlington commute bridges and all hands down easier than NW DC. True of everywhere my husband and I have worked since we've been there. I wish it weren't true bc i'd like to move to DC or MD. But on the commute issue, i really have no case to make.