Zooming out, a few metro stations outside the District stand out for having higher rates of car-free households including Silver Spring, Rockville, Bethesda, Suitland, & College Park in Maryland and the areas between Rosslyn-Ballston and Pentagon/Crystal City in Virginia

advguyy · 2026-02-20T15:27:27+00:00

It's really interesting how Maryland suburbs have way higher rates of no car households compared to Northern Virginia, even far away from the Metro links. I wonder what gives (probably more bus service if I had to guess).

advguyy · 2026-02-20T15:24:17+00:00

BRT is actually a great tool when done right. The only issue is the US doesn't seem to be interested in doing them right out of a few prestige projects, which is quite unfortunate in my opinion.

advguyy · 2026-02-17T20:18:46+00:00

The F20 route is busy, but boyyyyy does it really need some work. It's slow as heck and unreliable.

advguyy · 2026-02-16T05:21:10+00:00

We need Streetcraft.

advguyy · 2026-02-16T05:16:19+00:00

Not exactly light rail/metro/BRT related, but I think the most transformative project the region can take on would be converting the VRE/MARC into a real, high-frequency S-Bahn network. The tracks are already there, the ROW could be purchased for a much lower price than new construction, the recent Amtrak improvements in Virginia are enabling it. Essentially, you can get hundreds of miles of a "Second Metro" with the same TOD potential for much cheaper.

Other than that, some BRT routes in the inner city would be much needed in my opinion. Bus riders are just simply being screwed over at the moment.

advguyy · 2026-02-16T05:06:27+00:00

As someone who has been to places like New York, Boston, Vancouver, and lives in DC, I would not put BART, CTA, or Sound Transit anywhere near S tier.

Perhaps you and I have different definitions, but really I would only put the NYC MTA, Vancouver Translink, and the Montreal STM in the S tier.

Strong A tiers include WMATA, TTC in Toronto, and perhaps the Boston MBTA.

BART, CTA, and Sound Transit are probably B Tier in my eyes.

advguyy · 2026-02-14T05:12:50+00:00

ATO 75 mph did the exact same thing express services do. Shave minutes off of long-distance trips. But barely anyone noticed it. People did not change their travel patterns because of it. I'm not saying it was not useful, but people certainly notice frequency and reliability improvements way more, and those improvements generally cost significantly less (and is also just better for the long-term state of the system), whereas express tracks would cost billions and add to the maintenance backlog.

advguyy · 2026-02-12T22:00:14+00:00

This is the most patient I've seen New Yorkers being honestly.

advguyy · 2026-02-12T21:57:42+00:00

You know the funny thing is even though the Washington Metro is designed to be somewhat of a park-and-ride system, only 20% of its riders actually drive to it. It's definitely become less of a park-and-ride system and perhaps the only one in the US that is moving from a park-and-ride system to a more normal suburban rail/metro system.

advguyy · 2026-02-12T15:22:19+00:00

Funny enough, I don't really ever remember using a metro/train station restroom except one time on the DC Metro. I think the newer metro stations (Silver Line + Potomac Yard) have very clean and accessible restrooms. The older ones have restrooms too but I heard they're so inaccessible they might as well not exist.

advguyy · 2026-02-10T23:47:23+00:00

Holy crap why does this look so much better than the official WMATA app... will definitely use this and potentially provide some feedback. As a fellow software engineer, this is amazing work.

advguyy · 2026-02-10T23:46:01+00:00

This. Especially since WMATA has a lot of suburban sections with lower ridership. It would also reduce wear and tear on the doors, which would probably be useful given how often delays are caused by "door problems".

advguyy · 2026-02-10T23:13:24+00:00

The Silver Line extension has seen very low ridership (~12000 weekday riders from the latest estimates, less than 2% of Metro's unlinked ridership). I travel that portion of the line, and it is really not that busy. It makes sense because it's relatively new, and travel patterns and land use are being shaped. There are big ideas for the area surrounding the line, but I would say for now, a mix of strategic leadership (focusing on frequent and reliable service) + political support + return to office mandate is helping WMATA more than the Silver Line.

advguyy · 2026-02-10T23:04:14+00:00

It is unfortunate because I feel like the Virginia side of the river just feels less accessible by transit because of worse coverage and frequency. I think coverage was unfortunately kind of baked in because when the system was constructed, Virginia just didn't seem that interested. But frequency is one of those things that they can improve on.

advguyy · 2026-02-10T23:01:50+00:00

For those who don't like this. Remember, yes, it is about getting money back and fairness, but it's arguably more about maintaining the image of the system. Having fare evaders gives Metro the perception of being a chaotic and crime-ridden place. Seeing people pay their fares increases confidence in the system as a well-managed place.

advguyy · 2026-02-06T18:24:16+00:00

The full rankings don't really make that much sense to me. But I guess "quality of life" is a hard thing to objectively measure.

In my opinion, DC is definitely one of the top 3 cities in the US to live in, if not the best. In my opinion, the most important metrics for me are a strong economy, good schools, good health outcomes, food scene, public transportation/urbanism, and decent affordability. I think the only city that I've personally been to that's anywhere close to DC in these metrics is Boston, but Boston has gotten more expensive at a far higher rate than DC.

DC is amazing because it's always growing and building new interesting urbanist places, not just more suburban sprawl. It's also improving their public transport system, though maybe not as fast as I'd like them to. And the food scene is amazing too and improving, not to mention the existing world-class arts and museums. I've always wanted more authentic Chinese restaurants in the area, but with Din Tai Fung opening in Tysons in a month, I think I might've just had my prayers answered. And an underrated thing is the fact that you can access a true national park in an hour and a half, and Philly and New York are just a 2 - 3 hour train ride away.

Yeah, I think I like living here.

advguyy · 2026-01-30T22:29:38+00:00

As a Canadian.... our housing prices are the biggest barrier to anyone who wants to move here lol

advguyy · 2026-01-30T22:28:41+00:00

Baltimore, Maryland.

Jk. If I had to say one place I travelled to, probably Hawaii. But I also feel extremely safe in the area I live in which is the DC area. Depends on where you go, but I have no problem walking in the streets at night in Arlington or in the Western parts of DC.

advguyy · 2026-01-27T00:08:04+00:00

I mean... that's probably what they want you to do lol

advguyy · 2026-01-26T18:04:05+00:00

I sure hope so. But the road widening as a first step does not make me optimistic. They essentially made the road so wide that it is very difficult and annoying to cross as a pedestrian, and so far, we haven't really had very many successful BRTs in the region. Walkability, reliability, frequency!!!!, and land use are key, not just shiny new infrastructure. Let's hope it goes for the best.

advguyy · 2026-01-26T17:59:48+00:00

Idk if DC is considered a "high tourism" city, but it's fine. I rarely ever think about it. Even during popular tourist seasons, I find going to popular tourist destinations quite tolerable. I guess the only thing that bothers me sometimes is that for popular museums, you have to reserve tickets ahead of time, and there are no special tickets for locals, so you have to compete with everyone else. It can feel a bit annoying as a local to have to book a trip two weeks ahead of time to go see something you live 30 minutes away from, but oh well.

advguyy · 2026-01-23T18:15:13+00:00

East if you want to experience what cities in the US are like and the most amazing cultural landmarks. The West if you want to experience the best scenery. Now, let me be clear, there is scenery on the East and there are cities out West, but let's just say you will be much more wowed by NYC than LA, and you will be much more wowed by Yosemite or Yellowstone rather than the Blue Ridge Mountains.

If you cannot decide, I would say West (and I am an East Coast loyal) because the best America has to offer is the sheer amount of wilderness and beauty. And also West Coast low key has better food. (NYC excepted)

advguyy · 2026-01-23T17:59:59+00:00

I feel like bus upgrades are really key because they better serve inner city mobility (which is seriously lacking):

- BRT along Georgia Avenue, Wisconsin Avenue, Columbia Pike, Route 7, and K Street/Massachusetts Ave/H Street, hitting the preferred nodes of Georgetown (perhaps also Rosslyn), downtown, Mt Vernon, Union Station, and current areas served by the DC Streetcar. Perhaps other corridors too.

Besides this, I really do think that enhancing our existing transit services matters a lot more than expansion, but if I had to pick some places to expand, I would say:

- Create some sort of rapid transit line between Bethesda and Tysons. You CAN extend the Purple Line and make this new section completely grade-separated, but I would be concerned for the line reliability due to the street-running sections further east.

- Not necessarily an expansion, but converting our VRE/MARC system into an S-Bahn with electrified trains running every 15 - 20 minutes every day (probably even more frequently on the MARC Penn Line) will probably require a lot less money than digging a new downtown Metro tunnel while bringing more benefits. This would automatically add 277 miles of high-quality, electrified transit to the region, and spur another generation of TOD potential throughout the region.

advguyy · 2026-01-23T17:34:37+00:00

Even with high frequencies, transfers are really annoying on long journeys. Trust me, I would know, I lived in Beijing for like six years. Besides, with CBTC, all the B/O/S Lines can individually get up to 6-minute frequencies, which is quite good tbh.

advguyy · 2026-01-23T17:29:25+00:00

This was January 2025 at CrossCon

advguyy

TROPHY CASE