Actually most of the city during the day. It’s only around the arteries into and out of the city that it is clogged. In my neighborhood, Petworth, MD drivers cut through our street to get from NH ave to North Cap, and they seem oblivious that the city is comprised of a bunch of neighgorhoods with people in it. They installed a speed hump on our street and MD drivers speed up the street, slam on the brakes for the hump and then floor it again.
Its the same thing in my neighborhood. We get people trying to avoid traffic on New York Avenue and Benning H Street. I’m always a little hesitant when they fix the streets because that keeps people from speeding.
Parking can be pretty tight around Dupont Circle and the mall during the week. I haven’t had many issues on the weekends but we tend to visit the museums in the winter to avoid tourist season.
My tip for parking around the Mall on the weekends: there is usually street parking to the south of the Mall due south from the American Indian Museum, there’s a government building (maybe Dept. of Energy?) that has metered parking around that doesn’t fill up even when the Mall is jammed and is just a block or two walk to the museums.
Sorry for the doubl post, but it is the Dept. of Education. You can usually find parking on Maryland Avenue, or on one of the streets south of the Dept. of Ed (4th and Cish SW).
Yeah? Well, fuck you, buddy! (Just trying to get in some practice.) My old theater-arts professor back in Texas had done some work in New York. He said when you first get there, you’re trying to edge through the crowds and going, “'Scuse me. Excuse me. Pardon me.” Then after a week, you’re all, “Get the fuck out of my way! I’m walkin’ here! I’m walkin’ here!”
Those are some good articles. Thanks.
One more question, and I promise it will (probably) be my last. We’re looking at the Metro system and see there is a one-week pass for $47 for unlimited Metro travel. And there’s a SmarTrip Card for $30 (starts off with $25 worth of fares) that seems to be just a stored-value card for rail bus and even parking; is that correct? Someone recommended to us the SmartTrip Card, but if it’s just stored value, I’m not sure I see why that’s better than the pass.
I haven’t read through the entire thread, so someone may have mentioned this already, but the Newseum is worth a visit. It’s not free, but it’s pretty interesting especially if you have an interest in media. Also, the Holocaust museum is an excellent, if sobering, visit.
The standard Metro card just stores whatever cash you put in, so you’ll have to do some figuring as to whether an unlimited card is going to be worth it given how often you think you and the family will ride it.
The fares vary by distance, and there is a premium for traveling during morning or afternoon rush hours. Here is the Metrorail general fare info page. On this page you can look up any station, and once you click on it, you can find the fare to any other station, with or without the rush hour premium.
One thing that will not work is to use the same card for multiple people. You can’t pass thought the turnstyle and hand back the card for the next person to use.
Here’s their blurb on the SmarTrip card, which didn’t exist when I lived there. It doesn’t say anything about whether you can use it for parking, so I couldn’t say whether that’s true. Reading it, it seems to me there are only two reasons it’s worthwhile – it can hold a lot more money than a standard card, and it can be used on multiple transit systems in the metro area. I’m not seeing any particular advantage for a family that’s visiting for a week.
The SmartTrip card not only can be used for parking at Metro stations, it’s pretty much the only way to pay. Some exits at some stations take credit cards, but not all exits, and some stations only take SmartTrip for parking. Metro parking is free on Saturdays and Sundays. And not all Metro stations have parking. Check WMATA’s web site for details.
Re: parking. On the same web page where you can look up individual Metro stations you can also find information about parking or the lack of it for Metro passengers at each individual station.
Concur - but unless you expect to be parking your car at the Metro, this is probably not something you’ll worry about - you’re staying in town somewhere. The Smart Trip card is not likely to be the right option for you.
I agree. For those of us who live locally, it’s useful - we’ve used ours on the local bus system. But since you have to pay the 5.00 to purchase it, that’s money thrown away, for convenience that Siam Sam won’t really need.
Thanks. It’s true that parking at the Metro won’t be a consideration for us. We’ll still have the car for one day to use outside the city, then turn it in. I expect the vast majority of our time (a week after turning in the car) will be centered around the Mall.