I didn't read the whole thread but metro is gross and can be really inconvenient when there is track work or unexpected issues. It was fine in my 20s but I can't stand to take it now.

Anonymous wrote:I wish the MoCo politicians that are building ever more development in Bethesda would read this post.

Amen.

I wish the MoCo politicians that are building ever more development in Bethesda would read this post.

We live a little less than a mile from the metro in upper NW; my husband takes it to work, because there's nowhere for him to park at work and the driving commute would be miserable. He walks our kids to school, then continues on to work.

I drive because I do have a place to park, and my commute by car is 20 minutes, about half what it would be by metro.

So for us, it's about convenience/practicality--we're each taking the quickest, cheapest, least-frustrating form of transportation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Metro sucks. I live 1/2 mile from the Red Line and can't stand it. I took it 1992-2005 and it deteriorated so badly I couldn't do it anymore.

I agree with this, too. It's more expensive and crowded than ever while simultaneously being less safe and less reliable. Stellar combo.

+6

I cannot believe how expensive it is, as well.

In both of my houses, I've dropped my kid off at daycare/preschool and then taken the metro to work. I like the Metro - it keeps me from feeling road-rageous all the time, and I like being able to read while I commute. And I don't see metro delays as a major problem - maybe 1 commute a week, out of 8, and it's generally minor.

That said, I understand why some people prefer their cars. My commute involves 8-10 minutes of driving, maybe 10-15 minutes of walking and about 20 minutes of metro, each way and it still costs 200/month to park and metro. Not everyone wants to do that.

Two kids at separate schools, one is nowhere near a metro. The school that is near a metro is a 20/25 minute walk from our house with the kids. Our kids will both be at the metro accessible school next year and we are considering our options, including possible biking to work and walking home with the kids.

Our elementary school is right at a metro and many parents walk their kids to school and hop on the metro and reverse it later. The ones that I know well live within a much shorter walk to the school than us.

I am a 20 minute drive from work, probably a 40 minute metro and walk combo.

I am guessing that 7 out of 10 people I work with metro in or a combo of metro and biking.

When I was single, childless, and living in a non-metro accessible location I took the bus to work for years and loved it. When my office moved and I had to do a bus/metro combination it got more expensive and a lot longer and I switched to driving.

When we bought our current home metro did not really factor into our neighborhood choice but it was a nice bonus. We bought for the community and the schools.

We live a mile from a metro stop and I take it to work every day. Believe it or not, I consider taking metro a real treat. For years we lived in a suburb of NY and I wished for a job that was train accessible. Alas, I never found that type of job until I moved to DC. Years and years of driving in traffic, having to find parking, driving long distances on highways to work -- I don't miss any of that. For the moment at least I'd rather put up with Metro's problems than deal with the driving. Plus my car is old and it's great not having to use it too much.

I live walking distance to the metro and I drive from DC to Ballston. It takes 20 min to drive and 45 min to Metro. Parking is $5 and Metro is $6.50

We live across the street from a metro station, and used to commute via metro every day. Then we had a kid and a nanny-share drop off that was not metro accessible. So now we drive to work (DH and I commute together -- just one car) and metro on the weekends.

Anonymous wrote:We live near metro and DH and I take it nearly every day (unless there's a specific reason to drive e.g. middle of the day appointment, leaving from work for a road trip, need to bring lots of stuff to work, etc). It lets us be a one car family. Of our 4 closest neighbors, at least one of each couple also takes metro to work.

Ditto. In fact we rely on it so much that we lived in the suburbs for nearly 4 years without owning a car. We finally bought one, but we still metro to work. We don't touch the car except for weekend excursions or errands that are over a mile from the house or require hauling heavy objects. Metro can be a pain but because our schedules are reasonably flexible, we can deal with the unreliability. If I had to be at work at 9 am on the dot and had no leeway, however, I probably wouldn't use it.

I imagine it will be harder once our first kid is born, but I am only researching day cares within walking distance of either the metro by our house or the ones by our workplaces, because I am dead set against driving in rush hour traffic around here. I just can't stand it. If that means it's less efficient or I walk more ... well, I like walking anyway, and having never owned a car until my thirties, I am well used to it. But not everyone has the flexibility or ability to make this choice.

If you can afford a SFH within a mile of the Metro in NW DC, you're probably a partner in a law firm or other high powered job and get off work so late, it doesn't make sense to Metro and child care locations are very limited. For us, we don't like to drive and prefer Metro so we bought a SFH near a suburban metro stop with parking and we drive to Metro and our child care is convenient.

Because they bought there for bragging rights on "walkability" but never really actually walk anywhere

We have the perfect set up which is .5 mi to the metro. DS's preschool is also metro accessible, but between walking on both ends, it can take 25 min via metro and only 5 min driving.

So I metro to work; DH drives to preschool for drop off and parks on the street (same parking zone). He metros from preschool to work.

In the afternoon, I metro to preschool, then find the car (he emails me the location) then drive home. DH metros straight home.

We both refuse to start driving to work -- it actually takes longer (because of traffic) and so much of our home cost was based on its proximity to metro that we aren't going to start another monthly expense for parking. Plus we only have one car and we share pick up/drop off duties.

I live 3/4 mile from the metro and work right next to a different stop on the same line. I walk to the metro every day for my commute. DH stays home with the kids. This combination allows us to be a one car family.

Before DH quit to stay home, just before #2 was born, we had two cars. I drove #1 to daycare in the morning, drove back home, then walked to the metro. Reversed this on the way home. I couldn't find any licensed daycares walking distance from my house.

I refused to drive for the entire commute as I hate the stress and the traffic.