 | Washington D.C. Driving / Parking Reviews | 1 - 10 of 31 |  |
"Waste of time is the most extravagant and costly of all expenses."
In this city renowned for marble monuments, outstanding museums & celebrated sights, you will want to walk or take the Metrorail (Metro).
[DO NOT DRIVE] because parking is at a premium, & the parking police are unforgiving. DC drivers seldom use turn signals & often ignore the yellow stop light. Rush hour is horrid with entire streets changing directions suddenly & without warning.
The Metrorail is efficient & inexpensive. The Metro uses a ticketing system called Farecard. You purchase it from those vending machines located at each stop. A magnetic strip on the card encodes the value remaining. Now, after you purchase a card, insert it into the slot at the turnstile. At your exit, insert the card into a turnstile again, & the cost of the trip will be deducted from the card.
To make travel more convenient, buy sufficient fare for a roundtrip. But, you will save money if you purchase a $5.00 pass that allows a day of unlimited travel on the Metro.
The cost varies depending on the distance traveled, usually from $1.10-$3.25.
Times:
8:00 am to 2:00 am on Friday/Saturday
8:00-Midnight on Sunday
5:30-Midnight on Monday-Thursday
There are 5 Metrorail Lines, & they are color-coded: Orange, Blue, Red, Yellow, & Green.
You may also combine Metrorail with Metrobus which has almost 16,000 stops scattered throughout DC & surrounding areas. Bus tickets cost $1.10 & usually .25 for transfers. You pay the driver with either a tourist pass or exact change.
We walked while in DC because it's an easy city to navigate once you learn the grid system. Just remember that the US Capitol is the grid's center & the 4 quadrants go from there.
NW is on North Capitol St.
NE is on South Capitol St.
SE is on East Capitol St
SW is the Mall
If you walk, make sure you have a good pair of walking shoes & a good street map in hand. Leave a Comment
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Limousines are a standard mode of transport for Washington's important people and people who think they are. They not only come in basic black stretch jobs like in the included photo (outside the Hart Senate Office Building), they can also be in white, or customised stretch SUVs (sport utility vehicles, for those on the Left Bank) where folks can have all the luxury as well as the ability to move about in snow, ice or more treacherous terrain. Leave a Comment Theme: Other
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I drove hired car I-95 from Richmond, Virginia northwards to Arlington, Virginia where I stayed and there were no traffic jams on the interstate. But they were on the road from Dulles International Airport to Arlington and DC and on the roads leading to the Capital Beltway. Washington DC is encircled by the Capital Beltway, formed by Interstates I-495 and I-95. Interstate 66 heads from DC west to Virginia. Interstate 50 heads east to Annapolis, MD and the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Beaches. Interstate 95 heads north to Baltimore and New York. Interstate 270 heads north to Frederick, MD and beyond.
From Arlington I easily got to DC by metro or metro + metrobus. I drove a car to National Cathedral and to Arlington Cemetery as well. I do not recommend driving in and to downtown Washington because of shortage of free of charge parking space. Metro is a very convenient mean of transportation in DC/Arlington.
But just in case you drive, a few tips for drivers
- there are no traffic jams in downtown DC except in rush hours but there is heavy traffic and traffic jams in roads to/from DC in rush hours (7.00 am - 9.00 am and 4.00 pm - 7.00 pm)
- streets in downtown are broad, multilane and... mostly empty or... closed for traffic (some temporarily due to road works or safety rules)
- there are very few one-way streets
- navigating in downtown is rather easy but it is difficult outside (watch for left lane exits!)
- they drive slowly and carefully, no worries, it's no problem to change a lane.
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I was lucky to park my car close to the Lincoln Memorial, on a street (free!) - Ohio Drive SW. I saw a car trying to park between the two cars in a long row of parked cars and the driver after two attempts gave up, thus I parked there. Well, my parking training from Paris was again useful, that time in DC. There is a sign which says: 3 hours parking there and no parkometers. Hmm... it's likely I parked a bit longer there. Before I checked whether other cars had any paper clock put behind widshield to set for hour and minute of the parking and thus show whether 3 hours already passed or not (popular in Europe) but i didn't notice any. You see what I mean, right?
Parking tips:
- read carefully parking signs put along a street you are going to park,
- parking on a street in downtown is usually limited to 2 hours from Monday to Friday from 9.30 am - 4.00 pm or even 6.30 pm and paid in a parkometer (get change ready)
- in Georgetown parking on a street was limited to 2 hours Monday to Saturday 9.30 am - 4.00 pm and 6.30 pm - 10.00 pm
- I've seen tickets put behind windshield wiper of cars whose drivers didn't pay
- I've never seen cars parked where it was not allowed (they are towed away, I've seen cars ready to tow them), hmm... in European cities it often works quite different :-(
- there are a few covered parking lots in downtown, look at the prices in my picture ($16 per 12 hours, expensive? it's half the Californian price from downtown San Francisco in 2003!)
- Georgetown tends to be a bit more expensive for parking than downtown
- check the opening hours of the parking lot (some are closed at night!)
- check how to pay for the parking (in some automatic parking lots you have to have change ready to pay and be let out)
- the option is to drive to metro parking lots and use metro, the lots are free in weekends and cheap in business days (say $3.50 - 5.00 per day) but you must buy a SmarTrip card to pay for the parking, details here.
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Seriously, parking is a major problem here, especially during cherry blossom season. Driving can be frightening. Remember, you are dealing with A LOT of tourists either gawking or looking for parking spaces OR if they're on foot, darting in front of your car.
D.C. is also divided into NW, SE, SW, et cetera and you can get seriously lost if, say, you are looking for an address of 50 SW and you're actually in 50 SE.
Parking on the streets is limited. Handicapped people cannot rely on their license plates or signs -- but must request a special permit from the city. Parking garages charge horrendous amounts -- a typical parking lot cost to go see a Capitols game is $20. A street may be fine to park on during the day but at rush hour, your car can get towed away.
And here's a good one -- it doesn't happen too often, I don't think -- but it does happen. If the President decides he's going to be somewhere all of a sudden and your car is parked near to where he is at, the Secret Service can up and tow it to another street. The catch is you have to try and find it, because they don't leave clues!
Add to that, the occasional protests that can shut down streets and you see why you should really should try to figure out our Metro system instead of driving Leave a Comment Theme: Subway/Metro
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Although it is an old American city, I wouldn't think of getting around without a car. Especially in winter. Leave a Comment Theme: Other
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I find driving in DC a breeze compared to NYC and the crowded roads around where I live. Parking is very easy on weekends in the downtown area when all the businesses shut and everyone heads to their homes in MD and VA. If driving, try to plan your visit on a weekend so you won't have to worry about paid parking or scrounging for a space. The Washington Metro is a joy. Clean, efficient, and cheap way to get around DC. Leave a Comment Theme: Other
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A 4-hour trip from New York City to Washington, DC seems to be a reasonable for driving your car. But the idea was to get everybody there relaxed, equally. We voted to take the Greyhound/Peter Pan bus from New York’s Port Authority at 42nd St., and 8th Ave. We had also the option of taking the Acela or MetroLiner train, which stationed at 34th St., and 7th Ave., but the fare was too pricey. Yet, trains are faster than buses. Which is why, majority of business travelers prefers the Acela or MetroLiner to get to DC on time. It is not recommended, however, to fly out from NYC to DC. As I understand, the traveling time from the BWI Airport to downtown DC is about 45 minutes and not to mention to LGA Airport in NYC or Newark Airport in New Jersey.
Getting around is always a matter of choices. As for me, to get acquainted with the place I always save my energy for walking. Riding a taxi or metro bus is also an alternative, only if my feet start to complain. Leave a Comment Theme: Other
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If you want to take take the metrobus, check out the Washington, DC Metro planner
This tells you what buses/Metro trains are available. Leave a Comment
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Being from LA, we're used to driving around ourselves. I loved being able to use a Taxi and not having to deal with the stress of traffic. And I love the fact that they have zones, so no matter where you travel there will always be a fixed price and you don't have to worry about the meter running and the cab drive intentionally taking the long way. And don't forget to tip the driver, a dollar or two ought to be enough. Leave a Comment Theme: Car/Motor Home
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