My Introduction to Public Transit

I recently relocated to the Washington, DC metro from Des Moines, IA. Coming from a mostly car-centric environment, I was excited to explore the various public transit options available in the area.  I'm temporarily staying with a friend near Baltimore, so have made frequent use of Metro and the MARC system. On the whole, my experience has been incredibly positive, with no problems getting to where I need to be. However, on Tuesday, August 24th, I was lucky enough to enjoy an hour and a half delay on the MARC train heading toward Union Station.

Washington DC Metrorail photo courtesy of Google Images

What should normally be a 1.5 hour trip to the office ended up at just over 3 hours thanks to a loss of voltage along the entire Eastern-Corridor of Amtrak, making me an hour late for my 2nd day at Arlington Transportation Partners. As we sat idle on the tracks for an hour and a half, my first thought was to fondly recall the quick 10-minute commute I'd had in Des Moines. How could I have given that up? Over the course of the next hour, however, my attitude shifted - and I became thankful that I was on a train instead of stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic in a car. On the train I could read, catch up on email, work on a crossword puzzle, etc. I was able to take advantage of the extra time.

MARC train photo courtesy of Google Images

Also, and interesting sense of camraderie develops when 100 strangers are trapped in a metal box for a period of time. New friends were made, light networking was accomplished, and overall, most people managed to keep a sense of humor about things (multiple jokes about the abundance of free water and lack of bathrooms). For all the benefits of public transit, it has taken me only a few days to learn that the system isn't perfect. There will be hiccups, trains will break down, be delayed, etc. But, I can already sense that I'd much rather deal with the occasional stalled train than a flat tire, or a dead battery in the middle of winter.

Brett Jones is a Business Development Manager at Arlington Transportation Partners.

Comments

[freecar]

Any form of transport has its problems, but in these days of clogged up roads the train has got to be the answer whilst we continue to commute. Whatever happened to the work at home revolution that the internet was going to bring about.