For Joyfully Employed, Commuting is a Series of Hoops

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By Laura Cirillo

There is possibly nothing more frustrating than dealing with the hassles of a long daily commute.

On one hand, it is your own personal choice whether or not to take a job where you have to commute; on the other, now is not really the time to be picky about jobs, is it?

When I was offered a position in Washington, D.C., I considered the commute from Woodbridge, but jumped on the opportunity anyway. After all, thousands of other people manage to do it every day, so why not? And there are so many options – Virginia Railway Express, Metro, OmniRide, slugging – commuting should be no problem.

And yet, it is.

For those who commute early in the morning (i.e. before 7 a.m.), parking isn’t much of an issue at most Prince William County commuter lots. However, there are plenty of people like me who work more traditional hours (i.e. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.), when the options are so much more limited. Since the High Occupancy Vehicle lane restrictions are lifted after 9 a.m. on weekdays, slugging is only an option until then. This would be fine if parking was still available at that time.

Many of the lots are filled to capacity by 6 or 7 a.m., and by the time eight o’clock rolls around, they are so full that there isn’t even a place to park illegally – if you wanted to risk it. On any given morning, there are hundreds of cars parked outside of designated spaces at most commuter lots – there just isn’t enough parking for everyone.

While I consider the Slugging system to be the easiest, cheapest (free!) and overall most convenient way to commute, it has its flaws, too. For example, I can’t slug directly to L’Enfant Plaza in Washington from every Slug line. And even if I were able to Slug to L’Enfant from, let’s say, the Va. 234 lot in Dumfries in the morning, there is no returning Slug line to Va. 234 in the afternoon. Therefore, my only options are to take the bus from L’Enfant Plaza, which makes for a fairly long ride, or to take the Metro to another location where there is a Slug line to Route 234. Not only is that a bit complicated, but it can be expensive to do that every day. Many commuters have to pay their commuting costs out of pocket, but this year, Congress also reduced the amount of transit benefits paid monthly to federal employees.

If a commuter chooses to utilize other public transit options, such as the PRTC OmniRide commuter bus, the VRE commuter train or the Metro, the cost for those alternatives can really add up. Bus stops are often co-located with the Slug lines at commuter lots, where of course, the lack of parking may be an issue. To park at a Metro station, there is also an additional cost per day, and since the closest Metro station to the Potomac Communities is Springfield, you have to battle traffic just to get there.

Clearly, I have plenty of gripes about living the life of a commuter, but considering the current economic climate, I’ll be honest – I’m glad just to have a job, regardless of any headaches my commute may cause. I am lucky to have what I have.

It may seem like a daily game of planes, trains, and automobiles, but unless you can afford to live where you work (or better, telework), commuting is just part of the job.

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