Day trip to Baltimore!

I went to Baltimore as a kid, but haven't been back since I moved to DC. I went yesterday and had a lot of fun. Lots of great neighborhoods and places to eat, and I really liked the art museum there.

Only 45 minutes or so via the MARC train.

Designating gates with alpha-numeric designations is best practice at airports worldwide.

The previous gate numbering system (only giving gates a number) was confusing to most travelers as it didn't designate which individual pier of the terminal the gate was located in. Adding a letter to the gate number (that corresponds to the concourse where the gate is located) makes much more sense from a wayfinding perspective.

Other airports in the US recently made similar changes within the last few years...SFO comes to mind.

I was referring to the physical next-stop indicators on board the trains (not the exterior LED displays)…unless they are still showing PG Plaza/Tyson’s Corner instead of the new station times on the interior displays?

I also noticed on the legacy fleet’s interior next-stop LED displays (when they actually work) “DOORS OPEN” is now displayed next to the three <<</>>> displayed upon arrival. Before “<<</>>>” were just displayed without any verbiage.

I'm sure folks will probably disagree with me (especially those in Loudoun County), but for some reason I like the "Route 772" name better.

Unrelated, but I noticed that the 7Ks got a programming upgrade this past weekend. "Largo Town Center" is now simply "Largo" on all displays and on the automated announcement system. I am assuming PG Plaza and Tysons Corner have been changed as well.

Obviously tastes differ, but in all seriousness, none of the above.

If I had to pick one of the three, I would pick NoMa easily. I lived there for almost two years and it was fine. It isn't my favorite neighborhood in DC, but it's passable. Metro access is convenient. I've never had any problems there personally, but I did see a guy get mugged once outside my apartment building one time at night.

Personally, I hate new apartment buildings (they have so many problems and aren't as sturdy/well constructed as older buildings) and I liked that NoMa has a mix of old row houses and newer buildings.

Personally, I think zone-based fare systems suck and are equally as confusing (if not more confusing) than the system we currently have now. There is a huge equity issue with them as well in that it often punishes those who take short trips across zones, but rewards those who take long trips within one zone.

Let's say all of DC was one zone. A rider could take the Red Line from Ft. Totten to Woodley Park, and just pay $2.25. A rider could also take the Green Line from Ft. Totten to West Hyattsville (just one stop), but because the trip would cross a fare zone, the rider would pay $3.25 for that trip.

I would be in favor of simplifying the current system. Perhaps calculating the trip distance solely based on a straight line distance (rather than an average between that and the actual track distance between two stations), along with eliminating the distinction between peak/off peak fares. The peak/off peak fare scheme is likely the most confusing aspect of our current fare system.

Regarding fare increases, no one wants to see them, but they are inevitable at this point with inflation. IMO it's remarkable as it is that WMATA hasn't raised fares in years. I agree that fare evasion is a problem, but fare hikes are going to occur with or without fare evasion. I just hope that by the time they do launch fare hikes, they implement a low-income fare scheme that would offset said hikes. Tying low-income fares to WIC/Medicaid/SNAP is a great idea imo.

I also wonder if it could be CBTC. "Investment" to me = money spent on something new and some sort of new process/system.

I'm not sure if I would classify as going back to the old ATO system as an "investment" given that it would just involve seeking approvals from the WMSC, training/re-training operators on ATO, etc.

In a tweet, Clarke said "Our team is working on getting 🚇 back to operating on ATO as it’s safer. Top transit systems in the 🌏 run some level of ATO. We are also working on CBTC & we will analyze platform screen doors for full modernization."

WMATA already has an office (IIRC) that deals with the transition to CBTC, and the VP of said office (Tiffani Jenkins, Vice President Signaling System Renewal Program (SSRP)) just gave a presentation at a conference that dealt with CBTC last month.

I could see the agency installing CBTC on the Red Line first, before producing to other lines throughout the system.

>It's just one of many options that was presented.

Clearly I am aware of that because I got it from the same slide as all of the other concepts...

One thing that confused me about that slide was a chart (p. 71) about all of the service concepts, with one entitled "Red Line Frequency Investment" that's says it's under additional analysis. It doesn't seem to be related to the turn-backs at Silver Spring/Grovesnor (as those are on the chart as well), so I wonder what that could be. Return to ATO on the Red Line only?

How is it on schedule if the station was supposed to open in Fall 2022 but was just pushed back until 2023.

No offense to OP but idk how the “It’s Happening” applies here.

I'm trying to think where you could get chili crab.

There's a Malaysian restaurant in Centreville that's really good (Malaysian Kopitiam) but I just looked on the menu and they don't have it. The owners are really sweet and I bet if you called and asked where you could get it they would tell you a place.

Taipei Cafe in Rockville has (or had) stinky tofu. I love stinky tofu. I used to live in Hong Kong and would go to the street stalls in Mong Kok (neighborhood with a lot of markets and street food) to eat it regularly. Doesn't taste anything like it smells. I've never had the Taiwanese version of it but I hear it is better than the HK version.

I was under the impression that you had to start as a bus driver or station manager, and then once you received enough seniority within the ATU you could move up to a train operator.

100% could be wrong though.

I hope the station manager thanked OP profusely for bringing them lunch today!

Meh. It's a coffee chain owned by two mid to late 20s rich finance bros.

Avoid and go local.

If you want to do something closer to home, deff check out the Boulder Bridge in Rock Creek Park. Beautiful scenery, and very seldom will you encounter other people.

Do you know if "Oxte-The Silence" Red Blend is gone? I haven't seen it in a minute. Very drinkable imo.

Also, unrelated, are the frozen Organic Pizza Crusts gone? They weren't a TJ brand item...they were some brand from Italy...something like Montelli?

I would imagine it would be hard to set up tents if you had two moving walkways on the bridge?

Reagan National idk her...

In all seriousness, it could be simply overlooked when creating the rendering, but why would you construct such a pedestrian bridge without moving walkways or a rain covering? Odd.

I actually like the cold rain :(

The nature of the DC employment sector and the services that support it essentially negated the growth of a artsy/folksy/crunchy/granola/hippie (whatever you want to call it) community which often fuels the creation of things like a thrifting/vintage clothing culture.

Not really. DC just doesn't have that thrift culture other large cities do.

I've heard the Unique in Merrifield by the Mosaic District is quite nice, although it's a PITA to get to without a car so I've never been and can't personally vouch for it. The Unique in Silver Spring is also apparently good, but again, somewhat hard to get to without a car, although easier than the one in Merrifield...I think there is a bus from both Silver Spring and Ft Totten.

A couple of weeks ago I took the train up to Baltimore and went thrifting there. I was blown away by the selection and the number of shops...especially in the Hampden neighborhood. Worth checking out and makes a good day trip on the weekend.

Definitely not the one in Columbia Heights...my friend who lives down the block refers to it as a step below a prison commissary store.

The two-story location in Foggy Bottom on GW's campus seems relatively upscale.