Did I Hate the Workday Commute on DC Metro?
Is the Orange Line during working hours worth the hassle or not? My experience on the DC Metro is not what you would consider veteran - like, but I do have an initial thought or two as to what this would be like in my every day routine.
When I rode the DC Metro Orange Line I was heading from Rosslyn to Ballston. It was only a small portion of my overall trip that day. This, although a short trip in the grand scale of things on the Metro, told me a lot about the trips that I would take in the future. The work day is somewhat of a challenge on the Orange Line, but nothing out of control.
What I experienced in the ride was a packed car, but a quick transit. It's getting on the car that was the challenge. Not that there weren't cars arriving, it's just that with the time between cars was about ten minutes or more and you didn't always get on the first one. Sometimes I looked to my left and right and saw the corridor of the rail way packed all the way down to the wall on both left and right sides. As soon as the next car revealed a glimpse of its fuzzy yellow headlights, the surrounding people looked up from their iPhones and dashed inside to secure a spot on the car.
This is in no way as packed or crazy as it is in Chicago on the L, but there is a chance you could wait for up to twenty minutes to get on the way to your destination, or maybe just the next stop on the way to yet another. All in all, I found it to be cost effective, but a bit frustrating for a person used to traveling in a vehicle.