On Monday I drove my daughter downtown so that she could catch the MegaBus to New York where she goes to school. I was going to work so it was nice to have some quiet time with my girl and the co-trip made sense. The MegaBus is one of the really inexpensive ways to get from Washington to the Big Apple without stopping at every cattle crossing between here and there. The buses are clean and well-maintained (apparently) and they even have wifi and they show movies on built-in monitors.
For some time the buses from these two companies have been queuing up in front of the old Woodward and Lothrop Building on 11th Street near G Street. It was convenient to Metro Center as well as to driving if necessary. But that has changed. My daughter received an email or a text or a Facebook message or a Twitter message over the weekend telling her that the pickup and drop off site was being changed to 10th and H Streets on Monday (the day we were headed there). The problem was, and we discovered this after circling the block and the area several times with an increasing panic that we were going to miss the bus, that the buses were not stopping on the street as they had in the past but rather on the parking pad that was created by the tearing down of the old convention center. My daughter spotted the two blue MegaBuses well before I did and so I did a four-wheel drift U-turn in front of several cab drivers, slammed on the flashers and waited while she confirmed that those were indeed the buses she was looking for. The answer came back in the affirmative and we were all on our way.
The problem for someone of my generation is that we tend to not accept these kinds of changes very well. We like regimen and notice and a phone number with which to confirm things. My daughter tends to take a more practical approach that "It's still the cheapest thing going. You said yourself Dad that these buses are cheaper than paying the tolls to get to New York" and she's right. It just seems to me that if the city keeps messing around with the location these buses can use that it will destroy a great couple of businesses.
The District line on why the location, the one abeam Metro Center and the one that was incredibly convenient, was changed is that "That spot proved to be too disruptive to people who lived on that street." It seems to me that the vast majority of the people in that area simply work there during the day and then leave when the sun is going down but I guess I could be wrong.
One wouldn't want to have buses (other than the multitude of Metro buses that motor through) clogging up an otherwise bucolic vista. I guess we should be grateful that the city, through the efforts of a councilmember and the mayor (really, Mr. Fenty takes time to plot the relocation of intercity buses?), arranged for a place for these buses to do their business. Thank you one and all just let us know where you're going to be next time.
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Yes, I did see the piece written by Arlington County's own Chris Hamilton and owner of perhaps the world's longest job title: Chief for Arlington County in the Transportation Division of the Department of Environmental Services, manager of CommuterPageBlog. Chris wrote that Metro had quickly retracted the issue of cutting late evening/night service as part of its budget-cutting exercise. The point of my piece was that it always seems like Metro (and other government entities as well) always go for the high-profile cuts that will directly impact their audience. It's sort of the equivalent to the federal government announcing that it is going to cut all Medicare and Social Security programs as a way to balance the budget. This tends to get the attention of a good many people that rely on it and gets them very interested in finding and accepting other things that can be cut. My suggestion is that we hold General Manager John Catoe's feet to the fire and insist that the budget at Metro be balanced only after the staff and benefits there have been trimmed to their bare essentials before turning to the fare-paying public.
In response to the one thing I have heard from some of you: Yes, I have been to Des Moines and no, there is not a whole lot to do there after the sidewalks are rolled up around 9 p.m. Other than that, it's a perfectly lovely city and home to one of the great old AM radio stations.
Steve Eldridge is a long-time reporter, observer and commentator on the Washington region's transportation issues. You can contact him directly by writing to: Steve@SprawlandCrawl.com. Unless otherwise requested, letters or portions of letters can be used within future columns. Letter writers will be identified by their first name and city/neighborhood.
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