I had to learn the public transit system right away here because for obvious reasons I decided not to drive my car from Arizona. On my second day here I had to take the train for an orientation meeting with the rest of the interns in the program. However, a few days before I arrived back in August, I preplanned my trip on the D.C. transit website called the
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. It seemed fairly straight forward and luckily I found out that I only had to take one train to and from work everyday. Everyone is encouraged to buy a metro card called SmartTrip which you add value to and you get you a small discount if you use it.
The metro system works unlike the bus system or other train systems I've been on before. When you use the metro rail system here you are charged by how far you travel. Rates vary depending certain hours of the day but they charge the highest during peak hours from 6-9am and 4-7pm. The average cost to get from my house to work costs me about $6.50 each way. That includes the $1.50 bus fee to get to the train since I don't live waking distance to the station. I calculated that I was paying around $80+ a week for transportation to include my weekend travels!
I knew there had to be another way, so I discovered an option called a short trip pass. The way the short trip works is you have a weekly pass that only allows you to travel distances that cost less than $3.05. So what I've begun to do is get off the train at distances that only cost less than $3.00 and get back on the next train. This has worked fine because during peak hours the trains come within minutes of each other so as soon as I pass the turnstile and back to the dock, another train is already arriving. I only have to do this twice on my way to work but it's been worth the hassle. The short trip pass costs $32.50 a week and it's unlimited travel on the weekends. The only downside is that you have to pay attention to how far you are traveling. I've already gone too far with my short trip pass once, but the transit worker was nice and let me though anyway.
Here in Phoenix, the light rail has actually had more riders than anticipated. Unfortunately for a very long time, they didn't enforce purchasing tickets, and the majority of those new riders didn't pay a dime. Sounds like this metro really understood how to best generate profits though!
ReplyDeleteThat's unbelievable about your transportation costs. What an interesting system! I was born and raised in Maryland and use to use mass transit when in the DC area, but it has really changed since I have been there last! That's great that you found a way to cut down on your expenses. What would you say is the best part of DC and your intership so far?
ReplyDeleteGood for you for figuring out a way to cut costs, since $80 per week is a lot! I wonder if you have compared it to what you paid to own a car, register and insure it, maintain it, and pay for gas while you lived in Arizona. There's also the added peace of mind that you're contributing much less to pollution by taking public transportation than you were in AZ. I wonder which you prefer?
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