Can DC physically handle the RTO?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm pretty old and have a quite different take. The gentrification drove the federal workforce quite far out. People have always lived far out, yes, but not nearly in these numbers. Many feds had great deals in DC and Arlington, where housing is now affordable on federal salaries. I lived in Clarendon, for example, before anything was there. It was cheap. Times are really different and it will be a mess.

I agree with this. It's not that living near a metro isn't important to younger people, it's that newer feds can't afford to buy 2-3 bedroom places walking distance from metro anymore.

I really valued this but had to move out of an apartment when I had my second kid. The closest we could find with a $400k max was College Park or Greenbelt back in 2019. Those houses cost way more now.

[Anonymous]

FAFO is all I can say. I remember the smell of smoke at L’enfant plaza. Anyone else? See y’all in the gridlock.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. It’s never handled it. The commute was HELL. It doesn’t matter where you live, if you can’t walk to work, you are signing up for an hour long commute, minimum.

This.

Of course it matters where you live. I commute downtown and use Metro, the bus or my bike and it is never an hour. But I choose to live close in for this reason. The tradeoff is a small place which most of you couldn’t bear to live in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. It’s never handled it. The commute was HELL. It doesn’t matter where you live, if you can’t walk to work, you are signing up for an hour long commute, minimum.

This.

Of course it matters where you live. I commute downtown and use Metro, the bus or my bike and it is never an hour. But I choose to live close in for this reason. The tradeoff is a small place which most of you couldn’t bear to live in.

.

Sure. Do you live with your family?

[Anonymous]

The metro has already been messy this week. It will only get worse.

[Anonymous]

I lived in Arlington, AT A METRO STATION, and it regularly took me an hour to get to my office in SW DC, that was also at a metro station. Doesn’t get much “closer in” than that. Assuming metro actually ran on time without any delays it would have been more like 35 mins. But that was a very rare day.

[Anonymous]

It would be great if DOGE had a study on missed work, cost of commuters missing work due to traffic, having to use sick leave, etc. I know in my office, most all of us will not sign up for situational telework, which now will only be granted at behest of the Govt, ie snow days, other events.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It would be great if DOGE had a study on missed work, cost of commuters missing work due to traffic, having to use sick leave, etc. I know in my office, most all of us will not sign up for situational telework, which now will only be granted at behest of the Govt, ie snow days, other events.

Pretty sure OPM and GAO have already studied this exhaustively. We know that flexible work policies are a net benefit. Unless you’re planning to actually cut the workforce in half, the cost of full RTO without any flexibility is going to outweigh the benefits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jump in that slug line!! They were created for this reason.

Ew.

[Anonymous]

270 is already a parking lot at rush hour. Fun times await.

[Anonymous]

I get lots of agencies offered some telework before but I've lived/worked in DC for going on 30 years and only started being allowed to telework in 2013. I don't think the volume of people coming in is going to be much different from around 2010. Especially because some agencies are still allowing union workers to telework, some agencies have moved out of DC in the time, and a lot of private employers now offer telework when they didn't back then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I get lots of agencies offered some telework before but I've lived/worked in DC for going on 30 years and only started being allowed to telework in 2013. I don't think the volume of people coming in is going to be much different from around 2010. Especially because some agencies are still allowing union workers to telework, some agencies have moved out of DC in the time, and a lot of private employers now offer telework when they didn't back then.

Think about the amount of development that has occurred since 2010 in the close in suburbs. Traffic and congestion are going to be much worse. It’s already pretty bad if you’ve been going in. I drive in and it’s just as bad as ever.

[Anonymous]

It’s all going to have to melt down in front of their eyes if we have any hope of being allowed some telework flexibilities.

And for Muriel Bowser: be careful what you wish for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My metro train already delayed this week. Can 270 495 66 all handle feds coming in 5 days a week, which honestly hasn’t happened since pre 2010?

I have my doubts. Will they add more metro trains?

Will DOGE take away transit benefits next?

What happened in 2010?

[Anonymous]

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'm so tired of dumb-dumbs like you. Nothing you said was accurate. Are you in the private sector? Aren't you supposed to be the pinnacle of intelligence and efficiency?