Anonymous
Post 01/22/2020 08:36     Subject: Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
They should really get rid of electric car in HOV range. It is still clogging a lane even if electric if only one person. Also make HOV a minium of three people in car.
Anonymous
Post 01/22/2020 08:35     Subject: Re:Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Anonymous wrote: Am I reading that right? The toll to DC is $46.50? Holy crap!


This is not new. It's been like this ever since they started the tolls.

Ride metro or encourage slugging.
Anonymous
Post 01/22/2020 08:31     Subject: Re:Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:No one has bought with a single person driver commute dependent on 66 for decades. Until the tolls were added, only HOV 3 then HOV 2 were allowed. Now people can legally drive single singleton drivers, they just have to pay. The pay is dependent on how many people are using the road. If you dont want to pay, you can car pool, take another route or take Metro- which were your options all along.

This, this, this, this, this. It drove me crazy when Barbara Comstock tried to base her campaign on this a few years ago. You couldn't use the road before if you were a single driver. Now you can, but you have to pay for it, and the tolls are rarely that high. Usually if there's a Metro outage or big accident, you'll see that kind of spike, but the toll is usually between $10-25 if you're taking it the whole way.

I do agree with the PP though, it's annoying that they extended the hours, so that people who worked, say 6AM-3PM, or 9AM-6PM can no longer take advantage of non-HOV hours like you could before. Now non-HOV is before 5:30, after 9:30, before 3, and after 7.


I didn’t realize they’d changed the hours. Really glad we moved from Vienna when we did.
Anonymous
Post 01/22/2020 08:18     Subject: Re:Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It costs 46 bucks to ride a public road in VA to downtown? Who came up with this idea? Wasn’t that road free in the past?


It was HOV-only until recently. Now it’s HOV or toll.

How did OP commute before it opened up to non-HOV traffic?


I remember that originally it was only HOV from 6:30 - 9:00 am. And 4:30-6:00 on the way home. And if you were going to Dulles airport, you were allowed to use it. Now they have increased the HOV to 8 (eight) hours a day!
Anonymous
Post 01/22/2020 08:14     Subject: Re:Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:No one has bought with a single person driver commute dependent on 66 for decades. Until the tolls were added, only HOV 3 then HOV 2 were allowed. Now people can legally drive single singleton drivers, they just have to pay. The pay is dependent on how many people are using the road. If you dont want to pay, you can car pool, take another route or take Metro- which were your options all along.

This, this, this, this, this. It drove me crazy when Barbara Comstock tried to base her campaign on this a few years ago. You couldn't use the road before if you were a single driver. Now you can, but you have to pay for it, and the tolls are rarely that high. Usually if there's a Metro outage or big accident, you'll see that kind of spike, but the toll is usually between $10-25 if you're taking it the whole way.

I do agree with the PP though, it's annoying that they extended the hours, so that people who worked, say 6AM-3PM, or 9AM-6PM can no longer take advantage of non-HOV hours like you could before. Now non-HOV is before 5:30, after 9:30, before 3, and after 7.


Yes, I have to leave 30 minutes earlier. Not earth shattering.
Anonymous
Post 01/22/2020 08:08     Subject: Re:Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:No one has bought with a single person driver commute dependent on 66 for decades. Until the tolls were added, only HOV 3 then HOV 2 were allowed. Now people can legally drive single singleton drivers, they just have to pay. The pay is dependent on how many people are using the road. If you dont want to pay, you can car pool, take another route or take Metro- which were your options all along.

This, this, this, this, this. It drove me crazy when Barbara Comstock tried to base her campaign on this a few years ago. You couldn't use the road before if you were a single driver. Now you can, but you have to pay for it, and the tolls are rarely that high. Usually if there's a Metro outage or big accident, you'll see that kind of spike, but the toll is usually between $10-25 if you're taking it the whole way.

I do agree with the PP though, it's annoying that they extended the hours, so that people who worked, say 6AM-3PM, or 9AM-6PM can no longer take advantage of non-HOV hours like you could before. Now non-HOV is before 5:30, after 9:30, before 3, and after 7.


Isn't it also true that you have to pay the toll when accessing the Dulles Access Road? I remember Dulles-bound traffic wasn't subject to the HOV restrictions, but I believe that went away when the HOT conversion took place.
Anonymous
Post 01/22/2020 08:04     Subject: Re:Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Anonymous wrote:No one has bought with a single person driver commute dependent on 66 for decades. Until the tolls were added, only HOV 3 then HOV 2 were allowed. Now people can legally drive single singleton drivers, they just have to pay. The pay is dependent on how many people are using the road. If you dont want to pay, you can car pool, take another route or take Metro- which were your options all along.

This, this, this, this, this. It drove me crazy when Barbara Comstock tried to base her campaign on this a few years ago. You couldn't use the road before if you were a single driver. Now you can, but you have to pay for it, and the tolls are rarely that high. Usually if there's a Metro outage or big accident, you'll see that kind of spike, but the toll is usually between $10-25 if you're taking it the whole way.

I do agree with the PP though, it's annoying that they extended the hours, so that people who worked, say 6AM-3PM, or 9AM-6PM can no longer take advantage of non-HOV hours like you could before. Now non-HOV is before 5:30, after 9:30, before 3, and after 7.
Anonymous
Post 01/22/2020 07:51     Subject: Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Anonymous wrote:I-66 isn’t only exurban commuters


No one said that, but most of the traffic on weekdays is comprised of exurban commuters on their way to/from jobs in the closer-in suburbs or DC.
Anonymous
Post 01/22/2020 07:45     Subject: Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
I-66 isn’t only exurban commuters
Anonymous
Post 01/22/2020 07:44     Subject: Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Anonymous wrote:All roads should be toll. Price in the negative externalities of pollution and congestion.


It wouldn’t be needed if we priced fuel correctly
Anonymous
Post 01/22/2020 07:39     Subject: Re:Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Whenever I check WTOP traffic in the morning (usually around 5:30), I-66 is always "heavy" with "volume traffic" coming out of Haymarket.

AT 5:30 AM!!!

Every. Single. Day.


This isn't unique to I-66. I-95 is heavy out of Fredericksburg very early, as is I-270 out of Frederick. People out in the exurbs need to get an earlier start.

With that said, what would bother me most about an I-66 commute is the sunshine. Heading east into the sunshine in the morning. Heading west into the sunshine in the afternoon. I know there are times in the year when it's less of an issue, but driving constantly into the sun would bother me.


This is right. The title of the post should be, "Never buy in the exurbs."
Anonymous
Post 01/22/2020 07:35     Subject: Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
The times for tolling are longer than the times used to be for HOV only. So that did screw over a lot of commuters.
Anonymous
Post 01/22/2020 07:18     Subject: Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
All roads should be toll. Price in the negative externalities of pollution and congestion.
Anonymous
Post 01/22/2020 07:05     Subject: Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Anonymous wrote:How did you commute when 66 was only HOV?


Maybe OP was an HOV violator before the toll...
Anonymous
Post 01/22/2020 07:03     Subject: Re:Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:No one has bought with a single person driver commute dependent on 66 for decades. Until the tolls were added, only HOV 3 then HOV 2 were allowed. Now people can legally drive single singleton drivers, they just have to pay. The pay is dependent on how many people are using the road. If you dont want to pay, you can car pool, take another route or take Metro- which were your options all along.


This.

But Americans are obsessed with their personal vehicles as some sort of mini home they must take with them always.


No. We value the freedom of movement that personal vehicles provide.


Lol that's the same exact thing, just another way of saying it.


NP here. Valuing something and being obsessed with something are not always the same thing. Also, the first post clearly had an implied criticism. The second post did not. I happen to agree with the second post.