Washington has an excellent transportation system. It is convenient and simple at the same time. The mainstays of public transportation are the subway and buses. Although it would be correct to include bicycles as well.
The capital’s subway system is long enough, and is second only to the New York City subway in terms of ridership. The bus network is also well developed and serves not only the city routes, but also the district ones. Riding bicycles is very common in Washington, D.C. You can rent them in many parts of the city at specially prepared stations. Bicycles can be rented for varying lengths of time, such as a day, five days, or even a month and a year.
Modern Washington, D.C., has roads of the highest quality. Traffic is heavy at all hours of the day because most residents own private cars and have little need for public transportation. Visitors to Washington, D.C., can rent cars for a certain amount of time at a reasonable price.
Subway
Washington subway has 6 lines. They received their names by the names of the colors – yellow, red, blue, orange, green and silver.
A characteristic feature of the subway is that all of its lines begin in the suburbs of the capital, and intersect in the center. There are a total of nine official transfer stations, although transfers can still be made at some stations. Among the official transfer stations should be noted L’ Enfant Plaza, which is located next to the major museums and where you get the intersection of four lines; Gallery Place – Chinatown – is located near the National Museum of American Art and is the intersection of three subway lines; Metro Center, located next to the White House. The distance between the latter two stations is easily covered on foot in just 5 minutes, and L’ Enfant Plaza is located within 1 kilometer of them.
The interval between trains is about 15 minutes. The timetable, line schemes and other information can be found at the information boards at the entrance to the metro, or at the station duty officer. In the rush hour the intensity of the traffic increases. In addition, two more cars are added to the four. But this does not always help. For example, during evening rush hours in the center of Washington it is a real effort to get on the train. At usual time trains are free. The most noteworthy feature of the Washington Metro is that most subway stations have two lines of trains running simultaneously. Therefore, when a train arrives at the boarding platform, be sure to verify that it is your train by looking at its color, which is applied as a marking on the first and the last car. This allows people to get to other lines without having to make a change in the city center. Additionally, there is visual information about the end station of this train. It can be seen on each carriage.
Of course, the subway is a very fast way to get around Washington. Most rides last no more than 15-20 minutes. It takes one hour to get from one suburban neighborhood to another. However, there is a small “but” – the subway trains do not go to all areas of the capital. This gap, however, is more than made up for by bus lines.
Buses
There are a lot of buses in the city. All of them are very comfortable and therefore travel comfortably in them. In the bus salon there is air conditioning and good seats.
The fare is paid directly to the driver. Passenger service is provided by the company Metrobus, which covers 176 city routes.
The buses do not run as often as the subway, but it is enough to solve the problem of transporting people. The company offers two types of routes – regular and express.
One trip is $2 (with SmartTrip).
The bus fleet is also actively used for intercity transportation. This is a comfortable mode of transport, which in addition to excellent seats, has decent luggage compartments. The fare on commuter buses is the same on weekdays and weekends. But there is an opportunity to save money – for this you should book a ticket in advance and the price of the trip on a weekday will be reduced by about 40%.
Rail transport
This is the least popular mode of transport in the U.S. capital. There are several reasons for this. First, it is uncomfortable. Secondly, it is expensive. But with all this, there are modern trains running through the capital. For example, on suburban routes there are double-decker trains of excellent quality. True, the cost of travel in it is extremely high, and in terms of time it takes longer.
In some cases it will be convenient to use commuter trains. They are mostly suitable for travel to the two states surrounding Washington, Maryland and Virginia. The terminus for both routes is Union Station. There are very few stops within the city limits, and they are all tied to subway stations. The fact is that the main purpose of these trains is to provide a normal and uninterrupted connection of Washington and the surrounding cities to the suburbs.