Washington D.C. Woes

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

[QUOTE=CandidGamera]
I am concerned about your parenthetical. What do you mean, it took two days?
[/QUOTE]

I arrived slightly before my scheduled time, did everything I was supposed to do and after being there for several hours they said sorry, it won’t be ready until tomorrow, come back then, NEXT!

If you do drive to the office, park in an all day garage, you will never get in and out in the 2 hours parking max downtown and probably won’t get out before the parking lanes on most streets downtown turn into traffic lanes.

They are really clogged up because people now need passports to go to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. I met people who had been sitting there from 9-4 for a couple of days trying to get things sorted out.

Also, tell your friend to not leave the window until s/he has checked that the information was correct. A lot of people were there to get errors fixed on passports issued the day before.

22

A friend lives in Frederick and buses in to Shady Grove Metro. She reports that in the last year, the bus time on 270 is taking double what it was when she first started commuting this way. Plus all the commuting traffic in the whole area is a nightmare. Papa Tiger goes in at 0 dark 30 and has to do a chunk on the Beltway, and one day that chunk will take ten minutes, another two hours.

Gaithersburg is a long way from the Beltway, at least 30 minutes driving even without traffic. But Metroing in from that area is the best way to go as long as you can find parking. Don’t count on any being available at Shady Grove, either; it fills completely and early with commuters.

I’d recommend following up on Emilio Lizardo’s offer as the best way to avoid aggravation.

23

[QUOTE=Mr. Moto]
Reston is pretty well served by Fairfax Connector buses that will bring you to the Metro Station.

I’m just trying to save you cab fare.
[/QUOTE]

I’ll keep it in mind for option #2. Thanks!

24

[QUOTE=madmonk28]
I arrived slightly before my scheduled time, did everything I was supposed to do and after being there for several hours they said sorry, it won’t be ready until tomorrow, come back then, NEXT!

If you do drive to the office, park in an all day garage, you will never get in and out in the 2 hours parking max downtown and probably won’t get out before the parking lanes on most streets downtown turn into traffic lanes.

They are really clogged up because people now need passports to go to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. I met people who had been sitting there from 9-4 for a couple of days trying to get things sorted out.

Also, tell your friend to not leave the window until s/he has checked that the information was correct. A lot of people were there to get errors fixed on passports issued the day before.
[/QUOTE]

Yow. Thanks for the heads-up. I’m hoping she’ll have an easier time of it, since her information should already have been in their hands for a while.

Actually, I am MOST hoping that she hears it’s been mailed, by Thursday.

Still, we’re going there on Friday - they can’t tell us to come back the next day.

25

[QUOTE=Mama Tiger]
A friend lives in Frederick and buses in to Shady Grove Metro. She reports that in the last year, the bus time on 270 is taking double what it was when she first started commuting this way. Plus all the commuting traffic in the whole area is a nightmare. Papa Tiger goes in at 0 dark 30 and has to do a chunk on the Beltway, and one day that chunk will take ten minutes, another two hours.

Gaithersburg is a long way from the Beltway, at least 30 minutes driving even without traffic. But Metroing in from that area is the best way to go as long as you can find parking. Don’t count on any being available at Shady Grove, either; it fills completely and early with commuters.

I’d recommend following up on Emilio Lizardo’s offer as the best way to avoid aggravation.
[/QUOTE]

How’s the traffic around Gaithersburg, then? :wink:

26

WoWoWo… Your doing this on friday right? I would give the train from WV to Union station another look. There will be a ton of traffic on Friday (all day) allong 270, 495 and in the city. You might be best using public transportation.

27

I went through this recently in Connecticut. My advice:

  1. Does the State Dept. website show that they have the application? If she applied at a post office, the application was forwarded to the Federal Reserve so the check could be processed. I was told the problem isn’t with the State Dept. but with the Federal Reserve employees who let the applications sit on their desks for days on end before processing the check and forwarding the application to the appropriate passport office.

  2. I assume she’s actually made an appointment for Friday? If not, make one.

  3. Have a brand new application ready to file although that shouldn’t be necessary–i.e., she’ll need a certified copy of her birth certificate.

  4. When she gets to the window, tell them she already submitted an application and is there because she leaves on June 1 and is concerned she won’t have it in time and this was her only opportunity to go in person. They can then check their records and see if they have her application on site. If so, they’ll process that one.

  5. I had to wait about 3 hours to get the actual passport and they wouldn’t let us wait in the agency so plan on doing a bit of sightseeing.

  6. By “local Senator” I assume you mean Byrd or Rockefeller? I would check with her contact at that office before driving in on Friday. I think most Congressmen have been dealing with these issues–I know my rep. has a person who spends most of her days tracking down passports.

Good luck.

28

[QUOTE=KSO]
I went through this recently in Connecticut. My advice:

  1. Does the State Dept. website show that they have the application? If she applied at a post office, the application was forwarded to the Federal Reserve so the check could be processed. I was told the problem isn’t with the State Dept. but with the Federal Reserve employees who let the applications sit on their desks for days on end before processing the check and forwarding the application to the appropriate passport office.

  2. I assume she’s actually made an appointment for Friday? If not, make one.

  3. Have a brand new application ready to file although that shouldn’t be necessary–i.e., she’ll need a certified copy of her birth certificate.

  4. When she gets to the window, tell them she already submitted an application and is there because she leaves on June 1 and is concerned she won’t have it in time and this was her only opportunity to go in person. They can then check their records and see if they have her application on site. If so, they’ll process that one.

  5. I had to wait about 3 hours to get the actual passport and they wouldn’t let us wait in the agency so plan on doing a bit of sightseeing.

  6. By “local Senator” I assume you mean Byrd or Rockefeller? I would check with her contact at that office before driving in on Friday. I think most Congressmen have been dealing with these issues–I know my rep. has a person who spends most of her days tracking down passports.

Good luck.
[/QUOTE]

1.) The status page she can check shows that it is being “processed.”

2.) She was advised by the person at the Passport Office Info line to, if she hadn’t heard anything by Wednesday, make the appointment for Friday.

3.) The birth cert will be handy, though I don’t know if she’s got another app ready. I’ll mention that.

4.) May 29th, actually. I’ll remind her of that - but the person on the info line told her that she (the operator) could make sure the DC branch had her information there. (I doublechecked that, because the website says WV folks are supposed to go to Philly.)

5.) Yikes. Good to know.

6.) She wrote Senator Byrd, and received a letter in response that the staff was working with the passport office on the matter. How helpful IS that, by the way? I’ll remind her to call them.

29

Mr. Lizardo, if you’d be so kind as to email me, either at my SDMB address, or jrfarley at gmail dot com, I would be grateful.

30

[QUOTE=Mama Tiger]

Gaithersburg is a long way from the Beltway, at least 30 minutes driving even without traffic. But Metroing in from that area is the best way to go as long as you can find parking. Don’t count on any being available at Shady Grove, either; it fills completely and early with commuters.
[/QUOTE]

Are you sure you’re not thinking some other place? Gaithersburg starts at exit 11 on 270 so it’s only 11 miles to the beltway. I can be at work in Silver Spring in under 30 minutes no problem with little traffic.

As for Shady Grove I didn’t know they moved to the credit card lanes. I don’t take the Metro I take the MARC to work.

As for traffic, it seems that from Frederick down to where it becomes three lanes is getting worse, I used to be able to leave from Frederick at 6 or so and be in Silver Spring in under an hour, it was 42 miles. Now at 5 am it’s backed up. It’s usually ok until exit 11, where I live, then after that it gets worse, then better then worse, I’ve never figured out why. If you have two people there then use the HOV lane which should be faster.

You could come down to Frederick and catch a MARC as well, but there are only three trains a day both ways. Brunswick is a bit further, but there are lots more trains and should be plenty of places to park.

If you want the hotel I think it’s a Hotel 6, I’ve stayed there once and it was ok, but the train tracks are right there. But you can then just walk out of your room and to the parking lot that’s down the street, a couple of hundred yards, and catch the bus to the Metro.

I would think about taking some sort of public transit this Friday because of the holiday. I’m not even going to think about driving to work because it will take forever to get home and it’s only 22 miles. Holidays and rain make the trip really bad.

Hypno-Toad, Roy’s is still there, though I haven’t been in years.

31

You do realize that if you travel this Friday, it will be the Friday of a long weekend (Memorial Day).

Do you really expect to get help from the Passport Office on the Friday of a holiday weekend? Most people in the PO will be gone this Friday, enjoying a four day weekend.

32

[QUOTE=Duckster]
You do realize that if you travel this Friday, it will be the Friday of a long weekend (Memorial Day).

Do you really expect to get help from the Passport Office on the Friday of a holiday weekend? Most people in the PO will be gone this Friday, enjoying a four day weekend.
[/QUOTE]

That’s unavoidable, frankly. My friend has no other transportation than what I can provide - and I only volunteered for Friday because I’m on a four-day, ten-hour schedule right now.

The lazy bastards only work 8 to 3, anyways. :wink:

I read some Metro trips, that suggest mass transit use is lower on Mondays and Fridays - I’m hoping that Shady Grove will, as a consequence, have parking.

I’m also in contact with Mr. Lizardo as a backup plan, but he’s a bit further around the beltway (and inside) so that’s less do-able.

My digging shows Gaithersburg is about three miles from Shady Grove - surely it’s serviced by the Shady Grove Metro station? Or was there a park-and-ride in Gaithersburg or something?

33

[QUOTE=CandidGamera]

My digging shows Gaithersburg is about three miles from Shady Grove - surely it’s serviced by the Shady Grove Metro station? Or was there a park-and-ride in Gaithersburg or something?
[/QUOTE]

Sorry about that, yes, Shady Grove metro has a park and ride in Gaithersburg right next to the highway at Quice Orchard Rd, MD124. The park and ride is free to park at, instead of the $4 or whatever it is and I think the bus is free. I really don’t know what the parking is like at the Shady Grove station since I haven’t done it in years.

Here’s a map of the area. I hope it comes out, but the little road between the highway and rail road is the parking lot, the hotel is on the other side of the tracks. I don’t know how often the buses run, but I’m sure they do pretty regualarly since they want people to park there.

34

[QUOTE=Edward The Head]
Sorry about that, yes, Shady Grove metro has a park and ride in Gaithersburg right next to the highway at Quice Orchard Rd, MD124. The park and ride is free to park at, instead of the $4 or whatever it is and I think the bus is free. I really don’t know what the parking is like at the Shady Grove station since I haven’t done it in years.

Here’s a map of the area. I hope it comes out, but the little road between the highway and rail road is the parking lot, the hotel is on the other side of the tracks. I don’t know how often the buses run, but I’m sure they do pretty regualarly since they want people to park there.
[/QUOTE]

Oh, cool. Thanks.

And thank you all, for the information so far. There’s no better information resource than this board.

My friend just let me know that the Passport Office Info-line rep confirmed receipt of the extra information she overnighted yesterday, and said they would be overnighting her passport this week, so I am cautiously optimistic that I won’t have to pull this off.

35

[QUOTE=CandidGamera]

My digging shows Gaithersburg is about three miles from Shady Grove - surely it’s serviced by the Shady Grove Metro station? Or was there a park-and-ride in Gaithersburg or something?
[/QUOTE]

Sorry about that, yes, Shady Grove metro has a park and ride in Gaithersburg right next to the highway at Quice Orchard Rd, MD124. The park and ride is free to park at, instead of the $4 or whatever it is and I think the bus is free. I really don’t know what the parking is like at the Shady Grove station since I haven’t done it in years.

Here’s a map of the area. I hope it comes out, but the little road between the highway and rail road is the parking lot, the hotel is on the other side of the tracks. I don’t know how often the buses run, but I’m sure they do pretty regualarly since they want people to park there.

36

Another local person chiming in: yes parking at a Metro station and taking the Metro in is definitely your best bet. In addition to Shady Grove (which I guess would be convenient since you’ll presumably be coming down 270, right?), East Falls Church is also a good choice, and is just off the Beltway and I-66. It’s only a 10-15 minute ride to downtown.

Good luck!!

37

The plan, should I have to make use of it, is now : Drive to Shady Grove; if parking is full up, drive down to Rockville. Metro in to Farragut North, do the thing, get the hell out.

38

[QUOTE=CandidGamera]
The plan, should I have to make use of it, is now : Drive to Shady Grove; if parking is full up, drive down to Rockville. Metro in to Farragut North, do the thing, get the hell out.
[/QUOTE]

I think that the Rockville metro has even less parking then Shady Grove as the MARC people use the same lot. There are other lots in the area if you don’t mind walking, but if the Shady Grove lot is full I would go back to the overflow lot in Gaithersburg as it will take a good extra 20-30 minutes to get to Rockville and into town during rush hour.

39

Early is the rule if you want parking…by early I mean 6:30-7:00 AM in the west side orange line lots; I’ve never parked at Shady Grove.

I live in Reston, and take the Fairfax Connector 550-series buses from the Wiehle Avenue Park & Ride, express to the West Falls Church Orange Line Station. It works great. $1.00 inbound, $0.35 outbound if you get a transfer at the Metro station you in which board the train… i.e., not West Falls Church itself.

Metro trains will be significantly less crowded before the 3-day weekend, but I don’t know how that affects parking.

Can your friend call or contact the passport nerds today and inquire about progress?

Sailboat

40

[QUOTE=Sailboat]
Early is the rule if you want parking…by early I mean 6:30-7:00 AM in the west side orange line lots; I’ve never parked at Shady Grove.

I live in Reston, and take the Fairfax Connector 550-series buses from the Wiehle Avenue Park & Ride, express to the West Falls Church Orange Line Station. It works great. $1.00 inbound, $0.35 outbound if you get a transfer at the Metro station you in which board the train… i.e., not West Falls Church itself.

Metro trains will be significantly less crowded before the 3-day weekend, but I don’t know how that affects parking.

Can your friend call or contact the passport nerds today and inquire about progress?

Sailboat
[/QUOTE]

She’ll be calling three times a day until she hears that it’s been mailed. :wink: