Washington DC Transportation

[Callie]

My friend and I are in the very early stages of planning a trip to DC. We would be flying in, so relying on public transportation.

Anyone know the cost of unlimited bus passes and subway passes? Or is it a lot cheaper to do by trip?

I figure it we stay in the suburbs it will be needed.

Thanks!

 

[holbie18]

Metro is the public transportation here. http://www.wmata.com/ I'm not sure if they have any unlimited passes, I'm sure you can google and find out. If they don't - make sure you buy a smartcard and not a paper ticket. Smartcards cost a small fee but they are reloadable. But if you don't use a smart card then I think you pay $1.00 per ride surcharge.

You can get into DC from all the area airports using public transportation - BWI/DCA/IAD. If BWI is $20 cheaper than DCA it's not worth it, but if it's significantly cheaper, I say fly into there. I live pretty close to IAD, but we often fly out of BWI because we have a family of four and it can be much cheaper for us to fly from there than IAD.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Definitely use the metro. It runs pretty far out in the suburbs, but Alexandria and Pentagon City are nice places to stay with easy access to the metro. I cannot exactly remember the pricing, but it's based on the number of stops you use and you can reload the card. Never used the buses, but you can get to all the museums, zoo, etc. with the metro.

 

[okeydokey]

Get a Metro card and load some money onto it. You can then check the balance daily and add more money as you need to. You can do this very easily at the Metro station itself in the machines outside the turnstyle. We found this MUCH cheaper than an unlimited pass. We usually needed to buy just one round trip a day. There are calculators online that will tell you the cost of the trip when you input the details of where you are going.

 

[Callie]

Thanks! I was reading the site and was overwhelmed with all the information and different prices. I've only ever used public transpo in Chicago.

 

[JaxDad]

I have a quick question for the locals.

I'm taking my kids to DC the week after Christmas. It's been awhile since I used the Metro, but I used to go to DC for a week at a time on business, and I always bought the one week passes. I see they have a 7-day short trip pass for $36 that covers trips that would normally cost $3.60 or less. We plan to stay in Pentagon City and probably won't go beyond Cleveland Park to the north and King Street to the south. Will we be okay with the $3.60 limit, even if we go during peak hours? I can't find station-to-station fares on the website.

EDIT: Never mind! I did not scroll down far enough on the individual station pages, and there is an option to look at fares to other stations. It looks like we will be okay with the short trip pass.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

We spent our vacation in DC this summer. I worked out the possible fares we'd use and compared the total to the weekly pass and it came out cheaper to just load money on the cards. It was really easy. I ordered the cards ahead of time and had them mailed to me so they were ready to go when we arrived.

We flew into BWI because it was a direct flight from our home airport and cheaper by at least $50 each. However, if cost weren't a huge factor, I'd have flown into Reagan. So convenient - we used the Blue Metro line every day (we stayed at a relative's rental house in VA) and the Metro stopped right there. Crystal City and Pentagon City looked like good places to stay.

Check out the TripAdvisor message board about DC if you haven't already. The folks there are super knowledgeable and helpful. That was a big help in planning our trip and we had a great time and saw a lot.

 

[kgwoozle]

I just pay as I go, make sure you also buy the Smart Trip card and not the paper tickets. With the Smart Trip card and pay as you go, you can also use the buses. Which can be helpful when trying to go to out lying areas such as the National Cathedral. Also consider renting a bike for getting around the monuments and museums on the mall. It can speed up the time getting from place to place and save you feet for better things. I have used Bike and Roll and Capital Bike Share, both with good experience. Most museams and monuments have bike racks.

 

[HeidiGW]

I do think there is a ride all day price as someone is mentioning it when we were up there last week. Do not even think of changing your mind and renting a car. The traffic is a freaking nightmare! And, parking is a premium. We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in Georgetown, the rate with tax was $289.++ and $30 a day to park. Parking at the zoo $22, National Cathedral $7...and most places there is no where to park!
Make you call the hotel and find out exactly how far it is to a metro entrance...some will say on, but are really blocks away. Also, the hotel may have free shuttles that you schedule a pick up or drop off...we figured that out too late! Have fun!