DC Metro

[RailFanLNK]

Will be traversing on the DC metro in a few weeks. We will arrive into WUS and then need to take the redline and transfer to the Orange line to get us to the Rosslyn station near where our hotel is located. Since I have never ridden Metro before, is there transfer fees? Does buying all day passes cover this? I'm finding the Metro fare cards confusing. Thanks!

 

[AlanB]

Al,

There are no transfer fees when going from subway to subway at certain stations. If you walk out the turnstile that's a horse of a different color. But in your case, the Red line to Orange line transfer occurs within the paid area of the Metro Center station. Just exit the Red line train and follow the signs to reach the Orange line.

By the way, you want to catch a Red line train headed to Shady Grove and an Orange line train headed for Vienna-Fairfax.

But you don't need a day pass for that free transfer. A day pass can be quite useful if you plan to ride the Metro from one place to another while visiting the various tourist attractions, but for example you won't need a day pass on the 4th when heading back to WUS for the departure of the Capitol Limited.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

While there may be no fee for the transfer itself, my recollection is that on the DC Metro, the fare varies by the distance traveled, and a typical trip involving a transfer may tend to be a longer distance and thus more expensive than a typical trip without a transfer.

(Whereas on the MBTA Subway system in Boston, you can board at any Red Line / Green Line / Orange Line / Blue Line station for a flat $1.70/$2.00, and travel to any other station on any of those lines without having to interact any further with fare gates, more or less. Transfering from one branch of the Green Line to another may require going further inbound than would otherwise seem necessary if you don't have a monthly / weekly pass, because getting from the inbound platform to the outbound platform at Copley requires exiting to the street, and I think the T actually recommends going one more stop inbound from there if making that type of transfer.)

 

[WhoozOn1st]

D.C. Metro Guide

Al, I rode the D.C Metro extensively in March, on a weekly pass which paid off handsomely.

Joel (his name's not John) is correct: Fares are based on distance, much like the San Francisco Bay Area's BART.

Check out the site for the fine print, and possible cost-saving measures.

Oh yeah, and if you say ROSS-lyn, you'll be quickly corrected. The locals call it ROZ-lyn, like Jimmy Carter's wife.

And be prepared to see uniformed military personnel aboard. They're not guarding the trains, just commuting to and from their work, usually at the Pentagon. In 2004 I found myself standing next to a Navy Captain in full dress whites, and involuntarily saluted. Didn't have to; just reflex from working for the Navy decades ago. We struck up a conversation, and he was a very pleasant guy.

And in March I saw the same Army sergeant - smartly attired in battle fatigues, and carrying a briefcase - almost every day. Just happened to be doing the commute at the same time.

And Al, don't be surprised to see crowds of people carrying signs in stations. D.C. is a government town, after all, and that's a magnet for protesters.

In '04 I was surrounded by a pack of anti-choice demonstrators led by a guy ordering them around with a bullhorn. Just take it in stride; part of the deal.

 

[George Harris]

. . . and an Orange line train headed for Vienna-Fairfax.

Or a Blue Line train headed for Franconia-Springfield. Blue and Orange run on the same track and make the same stops as far as Rosslyn.

Rosslyn has a very L-O-N-G escalator from station to surface. almost 100 feet vertical if I recall correctly. Thanks to the Orange/Blue junction just beyond the station, Rosslyn is a split level station with each of the two tracks on a different level.

At Metro Center, just follow the signs to go from platform to platform. The station is shaped like a large plus sign with the Red line above the Orange/Blue line. At about mid platform on the red level go straight away from the track and you will find escalators that will take you to the lower level.

Fare card has to be fed through the gate twice, once going in and once going out. The fare is subtracted going out. About 10 years ago when I was last there and it was briefly, there was a significant difference between the rush hour and non rush hour fares, and their definition of rush hour was fairly large.

Go to their web site and spend a while with it.

 

[AlanB]

. . . and an Orange line train headed for Vienna-Fairfax.

Or a Blue Line train headed for Franconia-Springfield. Blue and Orange run on the same track and make the same stops as far as Rosslyn.

Just to be clear Al unless you've changed hotels since last we talked, you need the Court House station, not the Rosslyn station. Therefore you cannot catch a Blue line train, you must catch an Orange line train. Otherwise the rest of what George said is spot on.

 

[jackal]

If you do get a day pass, you'll of course want to railfan the Metro system.

I haven't completed my exploration of the system, but highlights from my trips have been:

-the Yellow Line south towards Arlington (direction Huntington). Coming up out of the tunnels and then crossing the Potomac, with the Jefferson Memorial immediately on the right side of the train and the Washington Monument in the distance, is a cool experience. Continue at least as far as Alexandria (King Street), as the train runs mostly on an elevated ROW between the buildings of Pentagon City, Crystal City, Reagan Washington National airport, and the historic buildings of Alexandria;

-the Red Line stations of Wheaton and Forest Glen, the former having the longest escalator in the Western Hemisphere and the latter being the deepest station on the system--too deep for escalators, so there is a high-speed elevator that covers the 20-story depth in 10 seconds

And stolen from a post here:

The whole Metro system is a masterpiece but there are specific segments that I recommend:
Orange Line from East Falls Church to Vienna/Fairfax-at this point the Orange line runs in the middle of the Interstate 66. It does about 50 or 60 and it breezes by the traffic on the highway.

Red Line from Medical Center to Shady Grove-after Medical Center the Red Line goes over a viaduct and makes a sharp S curve over the Beltway. It goes in and out of tunnels before emerging and speeding in the back of several garages and car dealerships. It is much faster than the traffic on the adjacent Rockville Pike

Blue Line to Largo Center. The Blue Line isn't my favorite line but Largo Town Center is my favorite station. It is a futuristic and sleek looking station with nice artwork. It is next to this shopping center.

Yellow Line from L'Enfant Plaza to Pentagon. The Yellow Line goes over the Potomac River. It's a nice view.

This is just a short list of the possible railfan trips on the nation's preeminent transit system. You will have fun riding the Metro.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

Rosslyn has a very L-O-N-G escalator from station to surface. almost 100 feet vertical if I recall correctly.

Not as big as Porter Square in Cambridge, MA, which Wikipedia claims is 143 feet. (I went up all three sets of escalators at Porter earlier this evening, as I do many times each week.)

And regarding some of the others' posts about railfanning, part of my reaction is that the stations in the DC Metro system are very similar looking, as I recall, which was quite surprising coming from Boston where, except for the southern part of the Orange Line, few stations that I can think of closely resemble other stations. On the Red Line, I usually do not have to find the signs when I'm looking out the window at a station to figure out exactly where I am, if I have only been sort of paying attention and know to within a few stops where I am.

 

[nr272]

Rosslyn has a very L-O-N-G escalator from station to surface. almost 100 feet vertical if I recall correctly.

Not as big as Porter Square in Cambridge, MA, which Wikipedia claims is 143 feet. (I went up all three sets of escalators at Porter earlier this evening, as I do many times each week.)

And regarding some of the others' posts about railfanning, part of my reaction is that the stations in the DC Metro system are very similar looking, as I recall, which was quite surprising coming from Boston where, except for the southern part of the Orange Line, few stations that I can think of closely resemble other stations. On the Red Line, I usually do not have to find the signs when I'm looking out the window at a station to figure out exactly where I am, if I have only been sort of paying attention and know to within a few stops where I am.

I remember feeling a little dizzy the first time going up the escalator at Porter Square. Now I usually just sit down and put my head in my lap.

As for the stations in DC looking similar, they were all built in the 70's. Enough said.

At least the ceilings are nice and high though.

 

[jackal]

143 feet? Pshaw. I took the escalator at the Wheaton (Red Line) station last August for the heck of it--230 feet long. Wikipedia has a picture here. A little disorienting but quite fun!

I took a video of the ascent with my cell phone. You can watch it here.

 

[George Harris]

And regarding some of the others' posts about railfanning, part of my reaction is that the stations in the DC Metro system are very similar looking, as I recall, which was quite surprising coming from Boston where, except for the southern part of the Orange Line, few stations that I can think of closely resemble other stations.

The similarity was deliberate.

To give credit where credit is due, the thanks for the uniformity belongs to Harry Weese and Associates who was the General Architectual Consultant on the project, and Harry Weese, himself. I say to give credit where credit is due because he had a reputation of being a rather obnoxious individual who hated engineers and seemed to be unwilling to pass any opportunity to disparage the engineering side of the project in public. Some of his ideas were dingbat, but the concept of the open space vaulted arch was his. The lighting level is a lot higher than his original concept and the signage is much improved from the understated levels he wanted, otherwise what you see is what he wanted. His objective was to produce something that was appropriate to a capital city that was loaded with monuments and monumental structures. Part of that objective was to have stations with large open spaces and attempting to avoid the cramped underground feeling. Part of the open space idea was also safety by eliminating hiding places for criminal types. Although, I think the lower level of the three cross stations, Metro Center, Gallery Place and L'Enfant Plaza, still need help in both areas.

All the powers that be in the early days of the project were very emphatic that the WMATA system was NOT a subway. They wanted to avoid all possible association with the perceived dirty, noisy, cramped, old and obsolete systems of New York and Philadelphia, etc. As part of that they very specifically did not want the low ceilinged forest of columns stations that these places had and have.

 

[lrdc9_metroplitan_sub]

It should be noted you said Porter Squere was 3 segments so it could be at most like what 80ft each. 100 ft. beats the any day! I use one of the deeper ones at Med. Center. It can get disorienting if you walk down.