Best way to commute from Springfield, VA to downtown in mid-afternoon?

[Anonymous]

What is the best way to get from downtown to Springdfield at 3.15pm? I currently do this commute at 4.15pm, so it's rush hour and metro is running much faster. The options are:

1. Driving and picking up slugs
2. Taking the Franconia-Springfield metro
3. Taking a bus to and from the Pentagon
4. Riding as a slug

The one negative about doing the metro is that at 3.15, trains run much less frequently and by the time you factor in a transfer at the Pentagon, you can be waiting for 20-30 mins for trains.

Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Why not just drive and skip the slugs?

[Anonymous]

395 should not be too bad then, I'd just drive that and not worry about slugs

[Anonymous]

OP here. If I drive in the PM, I'll have to pick up slugs in the AM because I start work at 6.45am.

[Anonymous]

Depending where you are downtown in DC, you can also take the VRE from Union Station or L'Enfant to Springfield (Fredericksburg Line, not Manassas Line).

[Anonymous]

Why can't you drive alone? It really is not that bad. It is much, much lighter traffic than the traffic going to Richmond in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

You don't need slugs if you are arriving at work at 6:45am, the traffic on 395 isn't bad then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don't need slugs if you are arriving at work at 6:45am, the traffic on 395 isn't bad then.

OP here. Really? I currently slug and 395 always seems to be a parking lot at that time.

[Anonymous]

VRE, one leaves at 3:35 and arrives at Franconia Springfield at 3:57.

[Anonymous]

You are arriving at work in DC at 6:45am? 395 is not normally heavy at that time. At 3:15 in the afternoon it's not terrible (yet).

[Anonymous]

If you arrive at 6:45 this shouldn't be a problem. I drive from Springfield to DC and I leave my house at about 6:45 and I'm in my building by 7:15.

[Anonymous]

OP here. To be fair, since I slug to the Pentagon, I don't know what the rest of he commute would be like. I'm at the slug lot by 6am and am on 395 anywhere from 6:05 to 6:30 or 6:40ish, then metro to Chinatown. I'll pay more attention, but I really do see lots of traffic on 395, some of which looks really backed up.

[Anonymous]

You could go 495 to van dorn to king to 395 if there is too much traffic on 395 at that hour or justt go down to van dorn to king to 395.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You could go 495 to van dorn to king to 395 if there is too much traffic on 395 at that hour or justt go down to van dorn to king to 395.

Van Dorn is a parking lot in the morning. A 10 min commute takes me 40 minutes...