You asked why people don't take the Metro or MARC/VRE. I explained that it doesn't go to where people want. Having to use two modes, driving then rail, is a huge deal breaker. From where I used to live, I'd have to fight through route 7 traffic for 20 min to take a 35 minute train ride, or I could just keep driving for another 45 min. When you factor in parking the time saving is nothing. Yet in the NYC metro, I live as far away as I did in DC, and can easily walk to the train. As a result, something like 10x as many people use commuter rail in the NYC metro per capita. And Westchester isn't exactly super densely populated. It's just smartly designed, unlike the horribly sprawling DC suburbs. You have walkable little towns of 5,000 people served by a rail station instead of the cluster fuck that is Fairfax County.
Traffic is god's punishment to northern Virginia for letting subdivision developers basically do all the urban planning for the last 50 years.
I don't get why anyone would live in the DC region and not live near a rail station. I don't see the allure of NoVa outside of Arlington and Alexandria.
NoVa is getting a bit better with some town center developments in Fairfax, but it's quality of life is far behind other jurisdictions.
I live in Montgomery County right by a red line station. I have the good suburban schools, relatively low crime, plenty of stuff to walk to and an easy commute into DC via the metro (or buses). I just don't get the people in the DC region who spend hours upon hours commuting in cars. Yes, we Marc and VRE aren't the same level of what some other cities have, but we do have rail service and metro is one of the top public transportation systems in the country (second most used behind a much larger city).
Comments
You asked why people don't take the Metro or MARC/VRE. I explained that it doesn't go to where people want. Having to use two modes, driving then rail, is a huge deal breaker. From where I used to live, I'd have to fight through route 7 traffic for 20 min to take a 35 minute train ride, or I could just keep driving for another 45 min. When you factor in parking the time saving is nothing. Yet in the NYC metro, I live as far away as I did in DC, and can easily walk to the train. As a result, something like 10x as many people use commuter rail in the NYC metro per capita. And Westchester isn't exactly super densely populated. It's just smartly designed, unlike the horribly sprawling DC suburbs. You have walkable little towns of 5,000 people served by a rail station instead of the cluster fuck that is Fairfax County.
Traffic is god's punishment to northern Virginia for letting subdivision developers basically do all the urban planning for the last 50 years.
I don't get why anyone would live in the DC region and not live near a rail station. I don't see the allure of NoVa outside of Arlington and Alexandria.
NoVa is getting a bit better with some town center developments in Fairfax, but it's quality of life is far behind other jurisdictions.
I live in Montgomery County right by a red line station. I have the good suburban schools, relatively low crime, plenty of stuff to walk to and an easy commute into DC via the metro (or buses). I just don't get the people in the DC region who spend hours upon hours commuting in cars. Yes, we Marc and VRE aren't the same level of what some other cities have, but we do have rail service and metro is one of the top public transportation systems in the country (second most used behind a much larger city).