Anyone commutes here from Herndon to Downtown DC?

Interested in both driving and taking bus/metro.

Is fairfax connector a best way to go, to West Falls Church and then via metro to DC?

Thanks

No matter which way you slice it, be sure to dress lightly 'cause you'll be going through hell every day. At least bring a good book - 3 hours commuting every day means you'll be through the NY Times Best seller's list in a month!

mind sharing your hell story ? :)

Yeah that's a bit of a haul, and even taking the closest metro to downtown will take 40 minutes or so. Wait a couple years until the metro is extended out to Herndon.

Unless you are going into work SUPER early or well after 9 am, it is one longass commute by car (the best day you will make it there in 1 hour and home in 90 mins). You could pick up a slug or slug yourself. Mass transit is ALWAYS packed and it isn't cheap. Depending on where you get on the bus, you are looking at a minimum of 30 minutes to a maximum of 1 hr. I know the schedule says differently, but in my experience add 15 mins to the schedule. You then get dumped at the WFC metro and even though it is only the third stop, the train is packed. Depending on where you work in the city, you mak or may not have to transfer, I did. Add another 5 mins for trnasfer and whatever the distance is from Metro Center. I would catch a bus around 7 and get to work around 8:45. Hated it and moved to a MUCH smaller home in Vienna where I walk to the metro and it now takes me a total of 35 mins each way. House is smaller, but I am a helluva lot happier.

i shudder when i think back to commuting to dc from centreville using metro. and now they may jack prices up again. in my case it was usually 1.5 hours each way, so yeah bring books along. and you are always one suitcase left in a metro station away from closures and being held hostage by the "bus bridges" lol. if you are single and can afford the time spent then you should be okay, but if you have to pick up kids or be back in herndon on a set schedule then you really need to drive. my recommendation? don't take a dc-based job unless the pay you are getting is astronomically better than you are getting currently.

get a bike and take the W&OD

Very few jobs would be worth that commute.

anyone else here about the new HOV "hot lanes" that are going into construction. will cost an arm and a leg to ride in if you dont have at least 3 people in the car but are free for large capacity vehicles. Should be ready around 2013 or something

Do a cost-benefit analysis on your income with your current employer in DC vs. the same in McLean, Reston or Fairfax. I'd say that you have to be well into the six-figures (say roughly $150k+) or are awaiting a nut of unvested pension / stock options to make it worth while. -§

Buy a hybrid and use the HOV on 66. You can still use hybrids on 66 (not on 95). I imagine if you buy a hybrid this year, they will grandfather it the way they did older hybrids on 95.

I bought a hybrid about three months ago. There are days my commute is half of what it was before. And you do save a bundle on gas. Hybrids are coming down in price, too, plus you get a good tax write off.

Seriously, I highly recommend it.

a hybrid is worth considering, but Herndon is a tough area of the county to get to DC from. The toll road may be a good option, but to take advantage of I-66 HOV from Herndon you'd have to go either 28 to 66 or 7100 to 66, right? Or take lawyers road into Oakton and snake through to 123 or Nutley. Just getting to 66 daily is a pain from Herndon.

you could walk!

Mofo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yeah that's a bit of a haul, and even taking the
> closest metro to downtown will take 40 minutes or
> so. Wait a couple years until the metro is
> extended out to Herndon.\

When it's completed, do you really want to take the Metro from DC to Herndon? Try taking the Orange line from Vienna to New Carrolton. I did that once to catch an Amtrack train at New Carrolton. I thought I was being tortured with all those stops.
The trip to Herndon will involve transferring at East Falls Church and detouring around all those necessary stops around Tyson's.

I figured another solution:

Drive 2.5 miles to Dulles North, park, and take Loundon County Transit bus right to downtown DC. That should amount to about an hour. $12 a day

If you leave early....befor 5:30 am and stay late...after 7pm......and change to a 3 day a week schedule......it is palatable.....otherwise your life is on the road.

What happed to the Herndon-Monroe Park and Ride lot option?

Still buses run to WFC metro?

My husband does the Park and Ride in Reston to WFC to Farragut West. Takes him about an hour or 1:15 - not bad, considering it took him 45 minutes/an hour just taking the metro to WFC then driving a mile to our apartment in Falls Church.

As mentioned here, the Herndon Monroe park and ride is a pretty good deal, it's $1 to the West Falls Church; unless it's a code orange/red day. The timing for around 1 hr is also about right. During rush hour the buses come pretty regularly, maybe every 5 minutes depending on traffic. Either way, it's probably the easiest/cheapest way to get into DC from Herndon.

After that you're at the mercy of the Metro system, as you may have a long walk from the nearest metro station.

Don't forget it is only 35 cents for the bus on the way home.

I exercise at Worldgate and then drive the mile to the Park and Ride lot, and then bus to WFC Metro.

Tough to do every day.

The toll road has an HOV lane... and it drops you right into 66 east of tysons.... its a heck of a lot faster than commutive from chantilly or even western ffx city where you have 66 traffic all the way in and out of the city. I would not say herndon is a difficult spot to get into the city from considering I know people that live in chantilly that take 7100 north to the toll road near herndon to get into dc rather than take 50 E or 66 E.

I am gonna take the Loundon County bus.
driving to DC? too expensive, too long.

Well, door to door - 1 hour exact.

From Herndon to Downtown DC.

Gotta love the bus service.

maaaaaaan ive tried to take Metro and a trip to DC used to be cheaper than driving and parking. What happened? metro is a total pain in the ass and the wallet now!

Metro's budget is always in the red.

They raise prices, but its still in the negative.

Try Commuter Connections. You can use HOV, make some new friends and Commuter Connections will pay for a taxi if you are forced to work late. I never sought the taxi reimbursement but have never heard of someone being rejected.