The Joys of Public Transportation, or Why Pre-Planning is So Important

DC Metro Orange Line

Public transportation is great. Particularly when parking is going to be difficult to find or will be expensive, or if traffic is supposed to be a bear, it’s nice to let someone else do the navigating. I much prefer gazing out of a window at the world going by than feeling the tension of sitting in traffic going nowhere. I appreciate saving fuel and wear and tear on the car. And I love the lower carbon footprint.

The bus is a great option if our one car isn’t available. Our city’s buses are clean, comfortable, and go most places we need to go. And since Covid, rides have been free. That somewhat eases the pain of trips around town that take as much as 2 or 3 times as long as it would to drive the car the same distance. Much of the time it’s a trade off I’m willing to make.

When we visit Washington DC we drive to our closest Metro stop, and hop aboard. Getting around DC is a piece of cake on the Metro and incredibly inexpensive. We’ve enjoyed quite a few museums, restaurants, and tours over the years we’ve lived close enough to take advantage.

Oddly enough, the few times we’ve gone to an Orioles baseball game, we’ve done something different. We’ve flown. We’ve driven all the way to Baltimore, which I really don’t want to repeat. A couple of times we took public transportation.

It wasn’t until we were sitting on the first leg of our Metro journey that I realized we hadn’t mapped out our route to the stadium. Like not since last year. I don’t know about you, but I can barely remember last month, much less which color train I used once a year ago. Plus, since the trip involves traveling in DC and Maryland, it requires two apps to figure out the best/fastest/cheapest route to the field. It quickly became clear that despite leaving our home at 8am, we would not be on time for the 1pm starting pitch.

What we finally pieced together:

Three different DC Metro trains to get to Maryland’s Amtrak-run commuter train which would take us to Maryland’s LightRail bus, which then would drop us a block from the local circuit bus, which would leave us a few blocks from Camden Yards. I knew there was an easier way, but for the life of me I couldn’t figure it out.

Y’all. It wasn’t pretty. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. We were already tired/overstimulated/starving by the time we walked into the stadium. By the time we made our way to our seats, it was well into the 3rd inning.

And don’t get me started on the Orioles’ players’ performances. We don’t have that kind of time.

Anyway, the return LightRail wouldn’t pick us up until hours after the game, which was going to make it a very late night getting home. We were pretty tired and hangry, and trying not to take our frustration out on one another with mixed success. We decided to kill time by finding food. It helped.

Even though we still had a long wait ahead of us, we started the hike back to where we would catch the bus to the train to the Metro to the Metro to the Metro to the car. On the way, we passed a stop and decided to go ahead and pay our fare. It turned out to be a LightRail stop. They had a schedule posted. While we were looking at it, a LightRail bus pulled up. It was going to the train station. So we hopped on and arrived a solid hour or more earlier than we expected.

The rest of our trip south went far more smoothly than the trip north had been, even though it was essentially the same, only in reverse. By the time we were walking to the car, it was growing dark, I was tired, I hurt, and I was not looking forward to driving home on the interstate.

This particular interstate I passionately abhor. I mean, I drive untold extra miles and am willing to waste any amount of time to avoid this interstate. If I never had to drive on it again in my life, I would be a much happier human. I have driven over many of the country’s interstates. This one is under perpetual construction for no discernible cause except to close lanes. Traffic snarls are the norm. It truly is the anus of all interstates.

But I digress.

I happily admit, I get anxiety when I need to navigate a place I’m not familiar with. But I find it especially stressful when the light is fading, and it’s rush hour on, say, a Thursday. At times like this I depend on maps, but my cell was dead and the map on Terri’s phone does weird things and often sends me in the wrong direction before correcting herself. So.

I ended up in the EZ Pass Toll HOV3+ lanes, and there was no exiting onto the regular interstate for miles. And miles. And miles. This gave me no end of stress. There were two of us, for one thing. All along the way there were these really large signs using all capitals detailing fines and tolls and I don’t even know what all. When I finally saw an exit onto the interstate, we had mercifully gone beyond a lot of the obscene gridlock that is northern Virginia any time day or night. Which I totally get is why people are willing to pay those exorbitant tolls in the first place.

And once we were on the regular interstate, we got stuck behind no less than two separate wrecks which closed lanes, AND two separate but equally disrupting instances of road construction, also with lane closures.

Have I mentioned I hate this interstate?

Anyway. We got home safely.

And I will not soon forget the value of advance planning. In fact, next time we’re considering taking the Amtrak train directly to a LightRail station in Maryland, and avoiding the dreaded interstate all together.

Like I said, I love public transportation.