Can DC physically handle the RTO?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

You can't use the bus if you have a set time to clock in. It's rarely on time and when it's too delayed you end up watching a full bus pass your stop. There's also additional drama not seen on the metro such as delays involving the driver arguing with a vagrant over not paying, doubling back to a missed stop, or getting into an accident.

I don’t feel safe on the bus. Too many sketchy people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Honestly screw her too. All this blathering about supporting DC businesses when she’s done nothing to crack down on the out of control crime in DC. Sure, I’m going to risk my life getting a sandwich. My friend’s agency literally told them not to leave the office between certain hours due to crime from kids getting out of school.

I don’t buy a damn thing in DC.

News is already reporting Musk’s next hyper fixation is taking over GSA and cutting all the federal office space. FAFO, Muriel. No one is actually coming back downtown, but enjoy losing even more of your tax base if Musks succeeds in firing everyone.

Yep, lol @ everyone voting for Bowser. DC is going to be chain restaurants and federal park/monuments service jobs.

[Anonymous]

Just ride a helicopter to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just ride a helicopter to work.

It’s terrible I laughed at this. Did we ever find out who the black hawk was dropping off?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Honestly screw her too. All this blathering about supporting DC businesses when she’s done nothing to crack down on the out of control crime in DC. Sure, I’m going to risk my life getting a sandwich. My friend’s agency literally told them not to leave the office between certain hours due to crime from kids getting out of school.

I don’t buy a damn thing in DC.

News is already reporting Musk’s next hyper fixation is taking over GSA and cutting all the federal office space. FAFO, Muriel. No one is actually coming back downtown, but enjoy losing even more of your tax base if Musks succeeds in firing everyone.

Elon is a weirdo but at least he seems to quickly lose interest and move on to the next thing. And yes, evidently the agency I support’s building is on a list for sale.

Elon is going to be 80 years old still ranting about DC/the government and his employees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

Issue is, bus are unfrequent. You may get off the clock at 3pm, but bus comes at 310 and you can't get there, so now you wait till 410, etc. totally not worth it.

This. I take the MD commuter bus 3x a week (soon to be 5x). Pre-covid, there were 8-10 trips out in the afternoon about 40 min apart, starting at 2:30 and going until around 6 (for my stop). Now, there's 4 total in the afternoon. If you miss one, you're waiting at least 60 min for the next one. And they are unlikely to add more trips due to the budget crisis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Honestly screw her too. All this blathering about supporting DC businesses when she’s done nothing to crack down on the out of control crime in DC. Sure, I’m going to risk my life getting a sandwich. My friend’s agency literally told them not to leave the office between certain hours due to crime from kids getting out of school.

I don’t buy a damn thing in DC.

News is already reporting Musk’s next hyper fixation is taking over GSA and cutting all the federal office space. FAFO, Muriel. No one is actually coming back downtown, but enjoy losing even more of your tax base if Musks succeeds in firing everyone.

Elon is a weirdo but at least he seems to quickly lose interest and move on to the next thing. And yes, evidently the agency I support’s building is on a list for sale.

Please, I hope so. He is now trying to access the Treasury.

[Anonymous]

I moved close to the office in 2002 because the commute from even as close as Arlington became unbearable. It got much worse since then. But I’ve been working at home 3 days a week since 2008, like many others. If everyone comes back 5 days, we are fully screwed.

[Anonymous]

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.

Like everyone else. Why should you be at home when others have to be in the office? You wanted a job in DC and a big house in Loudoun, so now you have to get over it and commute just like the rest of us. The influx of work from home feds drove Loudoun home prices up sky high, making it unaffordable for people with lower paying jobs, that are working outside their homes every day, paying for childcare, gas and all.

[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.

Like everyone else. Why should you be at home when others have to be in the office? You wanted a job in DC and a big house in Loudoun, so now you have to get over it and commute just like the rest of us. The influx of work from home feds drove Loudoun home prices up sky high, making it unaffordable for people with lower paying jobs, that are working outside their homes every day, paying for childcare, gas and all.

Why should you be in the office when others work at home? There are many WFH jobs. Why did you not choose to work in one? I don’t think ordinary Americans have much sympathy for people who made a personal choice to work at an office when they could have accepted another job. They’ll have even less sympathy for people who think their personal choice should dictate what happens at other people’s jobs. Are to sure you should be discussing this? Not a good look, IMO.

[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.

Like everyone else. Why should you be at home when others have to be in the office? You wanted a job in DC and a big house in Loudoun, so now you have to get over it and commute just like the rest of us. The influx of work from home feds drove Loudoun home prices up sky high, making it unaffordable for people with lower paying jobs, that are working outside their homes every day, paying for childcare, gas and all.

Do you mean like nurses are in the office or do you mean everyone? When a VA nurse needs to work in the office they already have to appear in person. Same with fed plumbers and electricians. If you mean retail cashiers and McDs drive-thru then sorry, the government doesn't have those just jobs.

[Anonymous]

Beach Dr. should be reopened weekdays. No parking on Connecticut in rush hour too.

[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.

This. I have been working in this area for over 35 years. Many more government workers/contractors live in the ex-burbs. People living in the close in suburbs, like my North Arlington neighborhood (where new houses start at 2.8 million), are only for the very, very wealthy. And telework and flex schedules (working 4 days a week) was very much in effect before COVID. Not on such an extreme scale, but it was common for mothers and others working in the government. Every Friday or every other Friday off has been a thing since I started working all those years ago.

[Anonymous]

However you want to spin it, until 2019 there were way more people commuting on a given day, and yes, the region handled it. I don't doubt it will handle many more people now going back to the office.

[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.

+1. Pre-Covid I went in twice a week. One day was Monday specifically because it was the lowest commute day for Feds and it took 1/2 less time.