Anonymous
01/22/2020 09:46
Subject: Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
I suspect that after the express lanes are extended further west along I-66, you'll see a slugging culture emerge not unlike what's emerged successfully along I-395 and I-95.
Anonymous
01/22/2020 09:40
Subject: Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:That's insane.
It's only insane if you thought they wanted you drive on that road. When you accept that the whole point is to keep you from driving on that road it makes perfect sense.
The point is to make money for Transurban, which they are doing. Biggly.
Anonymous
01/22/2020 09:35
Subject: Re:Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:
This is not new. It's been like this ever since they started the tolls.
Ride metro or encourage slugging.
holy crap.. that's even worse. So, it's not like the tolls gradually went up but it was this expensive when it was opened? When did it open?
THE TOLL IS RARELY $46.50! Riders paid an average toll of $12.59 this year.
https://wtop.com/dc-transit/2019/01/average-i-66-price-speeds-from-first-year-of-tolls-and-extended-hov-hours/
I've seen it this at least half a dozen times in the past 12 months. To me that's not rare.
$47 in April 2019
$36 in July 2019
$46 in May 2019
https://twitter.com/TransitforMD/status/1126456863669796866
$43 in November 2019
https://twitter.com/TheWuWu/status/1195041979115155456
$46 twice in December 2019
https://twitter.com/Cameron_Gray/status/1207033463473393669
https://twitter.com/VigoCarpathian1/status/1204785794461908992
Anonymous
01/22/2020 09:30
Subject: Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Ok, so say you were soon to be relocating to NoVA and had been seriously considering Falls Church/McLean/Pimmit/Merrifield areas because you were not informed about the HOV/toll situation and didn't pay enough attention to Google Maps' directions when you checked commute times....where would you go instead if you had a daily commute to Crystal City area but not comfortably walkable to metro station. Family with multiple young kids FYI.
GW Parkway. We live in Pimmit and my husband worked in Crystal City for many years. He carpooled with his coworker for many years, but then switched to GW Parkway when that arrangement was no longer available. Or you could take RT 50.
The GW Parkway can work for McLean and Pimmit Hills, but it's impractical from Falls Church City or Merrifield.
50 and Glebe Road can be slow and dreadful during the height of rush hour.
Yes, GW for McLean/Pimmit and RT 50 for FCC/Merrifield. Those are your I-66 alternatives. You can also do 495 to GW from Merrifield, but that would rarely be better. Your other option is to park at a metro station (Dunn Loring, WFC, or EFC depending on where you land) and take the Orange/(Silver) and change at Rosslyn.
Anonymous
01/22/2020 09:28
Subject: Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Anonymous wrote:Ok, so say you were soon to be relocating to NoVA and had been seriously considering Falls Church/McLean/Pimmit/Merrifield areas because you were not informed about the HOV/toll situation and didn't pay enough attention to Google Maps' directions when you checked commute times....where would you go instead if you had a daily commute to Crystal City area but not comfortably walkable to metro station. Family with multiple young kids FYI.
My husband works near Crystal City and we live in Lyon Park. Commute takes about ten minutes and there is rarely traffic and we almost never take 66. Neighborhood is expensive though (we got a rare small home that wasn't scooped up by a developer for a year down.)
Anonymous
01/22/2020 09:22
Subject: Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Ok, so say you were soon to be relocating to NoVA and had been seriously considering Falls Church/McLean/Pimmit/Merrifield areas because you were not informed about the HOV/toll situation and didn't pay enough attention to Google Maps' directions when you checked commute times....where would you go instead if you had a daily commute to Crystal City area but not comfortably walkable to metro station. Family with multiple young kids FYI.
GW Parkway. We live in Pimmit and my husband worked in Crystal City for many years. He carpooled with his coworker for many years, but then switched to GW Parkway when that arrangement was no longer available. Or you could take RT 50.
The GW Parkway can work for McLean and Pimmit Hills, but it's impractical from Falls Church City or Merrifield.
50 and Glebe Road can be slow and dreadful during the height of rush hour.
Anonymous
01/22/2020 09:13
Subject: Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Anonymous wrote:I commute on a motorcycle. It’s easy and free.
You mean donorcycle?
Anonymous
01/22/2020 09:08
Subject: Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Anonymous wrote:Ok, so say you were soon to be relocating to NoVA and had been seriously considering Falls Church/McLean/Pimmit/Merrifield areas because you were not informed about the HOV/toll situation and didn't pay enough attention to Google Maps' directions when you checked commute times....where would you go instead if you had a daily commute to Crystal City area but not comfortably walkable to metro station. Family with multiple young kids FYI.
GW Parkway. We live in Pimmit and my husband worked in Crystal City for many years. He carpooled with his coworker for many years, but then switched to GW Parkway when that arrangement was no longer available. Or you could take RT 50.
Anonymous
01/22/2020 09:03
Subject: Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Anonymous wrote:Ok, so say you were soon to be relocating to NoVA and had been seriously considering Falls Church/McLean/Pimmit/Merrifield areas because you were not informed about the HOV/toll situation and didn't pay enough attention to Google Maps' directions when you checked commute times....where would you go instead if you had a daily commute to Crystal City area but not comfortably walkable to metro station. Family with multiple young kids FYI.
You can still make that area work. You can drive to a Metro station along the Orange Line, or take a local bus to the nearest station.
Anonymous
01/22/2020 08:54
Subject: Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Ok, so say you were soon to be relocating to NoVA and had been seriously considering Falls Church/McLean/Pimmit/Merrifield areas because you were not informed about the HOV/toll situation and didn't pay enough attention to Google Maps' directions when you checked commute times....where would you go instead if you had a daily commute to Crystal City area but not comfortably walkable to metro station. Family with multiple young kids FYI.
Anonymous
01/22/2020 08:52
Subject: Re:Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:
This is not new. It's been like this ever since they started the tolls.
Ride metro or encourage slugging.
holy crap.. that's even worse. So, it's not like the tolls gradually went up but it was this expensive when it was opened? When did it open?
I hope the rock you live under has indoor plumbing. This is not exactly a new revelation.
Anonymous
01/22/2020 08:49
Subject: Re:Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:
This is not new. It's been like this ever since they started the tolls.
Ride metro or encourage slugging.
holy crap.. that's even worse. So, it's not like the tolls gradually went up but it was this expensive when it was opened? When did it open?
THE TOLL IS RARELY $46.50! Riders paid an average toll of $12.59 this year.
https://wtop.com/dc-transit/2019/01/average-i-66-price-speeds-from-first-year-of-tolls-and-extended-hov-hours/
Anonymous
01/22/2020 08:43
Subject: Re:Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Anonymous wrote:There is a metro line that runs right along 66, isn’t there? I do not understand the insistence of people to sit in little metal boxes staring at tail lights when the train goes to the same place
I can’t take Metro due to motion sickness. Luckily I don't live on 66 and rarely have to go into DC on 395.
Anonymous
01/22/2020 08:40
Subject: Re:Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:
This is not new. It's been like this ever since they started the tolls.
Ride metro or encourage slugging.
holy crap.. that's even worse. So, it's not like the tolls gradually went up but it was this expensive when it was opened? When did it open?
Anonymous
01/22/2020 08:37
Subject: Re:Never buy with a commute dependent on I-66
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, 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.
Yes, it looks like they removed the Dulles-bound exemption, which was probably pretty hard to enforce before unless you followed people claiming they were using it all the way to the airport. That would mostly impact ride shares/cabs though, and since they'd generally have a passenger in their vehicle, would be able to take the road for free.