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Need to get around Stafford and Fredericksburg and are lacking an automobile, or just want to avoid driving or spending the big bucks on gas… try the Fred. 

The Ride the Fred website will help you plan your entire route, to make sure you get where you need to go in a timely fashion. Plan your trip and check out fares.  There is even a Route Deviation Service if you need them to pick you up off their route. 

As a general matter, where road conditions make it safe to do so, FRED will deviate from its regular routes by up to 3/4 miles and up to two minutes to make special pick ups and drop offs.  You must call us 24 hours in advance to schedule this special service.  At that time, their dispatchers will determine whether they can provide the service and provide information about bus schedules. 

For first-time users of FRED’s route deviation service, you will need to give them about a week to process your request.  This will allow them time to evaluate your request to make certain that it falls within their guidelines  and that the buses can safely provide the service.

Call FRED at 540.372.1222 and touch “0″ at the prompt to schedule this special service.

 

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Possibilites abound in the ways to help commuters with the daunting commute into the city, or even up to Quantico.  One idea finally reaching the “committee” stage is an option to build a toll road alternate for Route 3 that would run from I-95 to Gannon Road.  It is estimated that 65,000 cars a day could utilize an expressway that would bypass the business area of Route 3.  However, studies indicate that if there were a toll associated with the road, about half that many 30,000 - 35,000 cars would actually choose to utilize the expressway.    Currently 76,000 cars pack through Route 3 on a daily basis. 

The question is not only if building the road project is feasible without toll fees, but if tolls are charged, will the road sufficiently ease the congestion on the current Route 3?

 Hearings are scheduled to determine the feasibility and consider the formation of a Toll Road authority.  The first hearing will be held at tomorrow’s Fredericksburg City Council meeting, which begins at 7:30 p.m. in council chambers.

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It almost seems mythical now…. “The 95 HOV lanes will be extended south through Massaponnox”.  Like a folk tale passed along on the breezy tones of a confident story teller, those words resonated with many living south of the merge.  We were braced for the construction trucks, detour signs, further congestion and delay. But where, oh where, is our extension that was first propsed in March 2004 and approved in January 2005?

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Shockingly…. there have been delays. Shockingly, environmental studies seem to be the biggest delay.  Would someone like to check out the environments in those cars crammed onto 95 on Friday night at 7 pm?After some googling….. I have found info that points to construction to begin at the end of this year. Check out this link through VDOT that details the locations, plans, timelines and gives us all a little hope…. Rome wasn’t built in a day? Right…..???????? HOV Extension Information

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My remedial spanish would indicate that the website GoLoco would be a “crazy” place to go if I was looking for reliable transportation to work.  Of course, jumping into a car with three strangers on a slug lot might be considered a little crazy too.   But actually, this web site source isn’t crazy at all.  GoLoco is a site to register your commute to work and be connected to ther commuters that want to share the expense with you. GoLoco, a social network for ride sharing, makes it easier for individuals to help friends, neighbors, and others nearby. Launched on Earth Day in 2007, the site is designed to help people save on gas and cut carbon emissions by helping them find rides. “Many people, particularly students and people in their 20s, find it a means by which they can reduce the cost of travel, which is a very burdensome thing,” says Robin Chase, the site’s CEO and founder.

GoLoco  matches people with others going their way and providing drivers with online tools to collect payment for the costs of providing the ride, such as gas and vehicle wear and tear, with a few mouse clicks. GoLoco collects a 10% transaction fee to fund the site.

 Other Van Pooling organizations have been around the DC area for awhile and have sound and tested systems for plugging you into a van pool in your area.  VPSInc.Com, ABS Vans.com and Vanpools.net are just three of the most popular.  Virginia has even stepped up to the plate to provide support for Van pools they may be struggling while down a member or starting their own vanpool. For more information call the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation. 

Just listening to Lisa Baden on WTOP can set your head to spinning if you don’t have a few references to the local vernacular used to pinpoint specific locations around the DC metro area. For many, this is a second language that they have heard for decades.  For others, its like being dropped in the middle of the Shanxi province of China and asking for directions to Tawain.  Once you have this local commuter slang mastered, the 2 minutes of traffic garble will sing like your native tongue:

 Here’s just a sampling:

 The Mixing Bowl - the towering, multitiered, interwoven intersection where 495, 395, and 95 converge and seperate.

495 - The Washington Beltway

Inner Loop  - 495 travelling counterclockwise

Outer Loop  - 495 travelling clockwise

295 - bisects the beltway skirting downton, also known as the BW Parkway north of DC

The Merge - where the HOV lanes join the main vein of 95 South just passed mile marker 152

The Greenway - The privately owned (yes I said privately owned) toll road that runs 12 miles from Dulles to Leesburg

14th Street Bridge - actually 5 bridges , 3 for traffic two for rails.  All Cross the Potomac from Arlington VA into DC as part of 395

American Legion Bridge - Crosses the Potomac north of DC as part of 495

Woodrow Wilson Bridges - the massive expanisve recently completed bridges that cross the Potomac south of DC as part of 495

What have I missed????

I’m not trendy.  I’m not really PC. But most of us would not mind reducing our carbon footprint by a tiny bit.  And.. if it means that you can avoid some bumper to bumper traffic congestion, or stuck in a never ending roundabout in DC, why not? 

Washington DC is one of the most pedstrian friendly cities in the US.  The subways are clean, safe and well planned out.  The VRE, Amtrack and MARC systems bring commuters and travellers in from further afield.  The Washington Metro Subway and Bus System moves everyone around smoothly within the city limits. 

Our family has used the metro, train, bus, light rail systems to tour DC, commute for work, travel to New York, go into Baltimore for a baseball game and just shop everywhere! One of our best uses ever for the metro was going into DC for the fireworks and taking the metrorail back over to the Pentagon city mall to avoid all of the cars leaving the mall area. 

Great news for business and pleasure commuters…the VRE, Marc and Amtrack systems have cross honor agreements that allow for smooth transition between the different systems.  Check it out here… Cross Honor Agreement.

 More great news if you want to get around DC and see as much as possible in a day… Metro’s One Day Pass!  Awesome deal!  With so many subway stops along the National Mall, Arlington, Georgetown, Adams Morgan, City Center and more… you can play a great day.

Do you have any inside tips for using the DC metro service? Chime in!

Last weekend I drove my daughter for a college recruiting visit at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.  What a beautiful drive! Spectacular scenery that can only be describedd as trees like a “bowl full of trix”.  At every turn I expected to see a regiment straight out of Glory come charging out of the woods.  The Blue Ridge Mountains and lower Shenandoah valley are some of the most historic and beautiful parts of Virginia to visit during this season. 

However, on the way home……. we diverted from our cultural and historical journey and detoured through Charolottesville to hit the mall.  NO Blue and Grey there. We decided to try this short cut that a friend had told us about and headed diligently up Route 29, to an obscure country road, all the while ignoring our GPS “recalculating”.. or “recalcalatinn” if you’re south of Richmond.  Our trusty GPS girl Gi Gi worked herself up almost into hysteria as we diverged again and again from the path she had laid. In her most frenzied computer generated voice she repeated……”‘Make legal UTurn as soon as possible”… with a Big Red Uturn flashing on the screen.  Alas, we did not head her advice and found ourselves heading further and further west toward West Virginia and places unknown.  Some short cut.  I was just beginning to consider the fact that we had diverted almost 50 miles in the wrong direction when GiGi screeched… “You are not on a road”.  Well, yes we were. There was the road underneath the car.  “You are not on a road”, she repeated.  We were lost but we were definitely on a road. 

All of this to avoid traffic on 95, 64 and 66!  If only we had checked Trafficland.com and realized that it was a clear and undelayed path to home.  After getting old fashion directions from a map, we made our way home.  Trafficland.com is a fantastic web site to see the congestion, accidents and construction in realtime that might impede your trip. The Washington DC system has hundreds of cameras along the most popular routes that you can click on through your computer or phone.  Don’t leave home without it.  

Have we possibly reached the beginning of the end of the glut of reality shows that have overidden any other type of programming in the last decade? The lengths that the Heene family went to last week to try and secure a fat reality show paycheck smacks in the face of the rubble that most of these shows leave behind. 

Does anyone think Khloe Karsdashian should be arrested for creating a hoax media event  after her new 13th hour mariage to an NBA star?  When Paris Hilton’s dog Tinkerbell was allegedly lost…. were viewers shocked that she would fake an event to lure the press back to her door?  And let’s not forget nipple-gate at the Super Bowl… did anyone really buy “wardrobe malfunction”?

 Of course, the Heenes were supposed to be a “normal” middle class family.. not a plastic papaarizzied, pampered Hollywood clan.  Of course, they did thrust their children into the spotlight… hmmmmmmmm a la Jon & Kate?  Yes, the guy has some weird science experiments in his garage, but I am growing a biology experiment in the left over Chinese containers in my fridge.  Are the Heene’s the new reality? Is this the new normal?

So where does one turn to get reality in the bustling metropolis.  Practically the only answer for commuters is WTOP!  Most commuters could identify Lisa Baden’s dulcide tones giving the traffic reports before their own mother’s.For any new comer to DC… WTOP at 103.5 FM, 103.9 FM and 107.7 FM is the one source for traffic, news, weather, sports.  Formatted to circulate every ten minutes with updated programming you can count on traffic and weather ” on the 8’s”. In two short minutes, Lisa Baden or Bob Marbourg detail the traffic situation for the crazy complex of the DC commute… sometimes even Baltimore!  Headline news thought they had a great 30 minute formula… the gang at WTOP will have your traffic plan, weather wardrobe, sports scores and news updates secured for the day in just ten minutes.  What a great source whether you’re going to the mall or headed to the Pentagon… don’t leave home without it. 

I theorize that Jon Gosselin lost his integrity and  his moral barometer somewhere along his commute to reality stardom.  Although Kate bossed him around and gnawed on him like the free plastic chew toys you pick up at the counter at Pet Smart, he sealed his “fait accompli” by messing around with the 22 year old daughter of a friend…. oh yes and flaunted it for the tabloids. 

Now that his reality TV salary has given him his new surigcally transplanted hairline, a wardrobe full of Ed Hardy shirts, and “Jon Gosselin’s Crazy Eight Shake” (Millions of Milkshakes latest addition), he seems to have lost his sense of judgment.  Where would this pierced, smoking, philandering, bloated man look to find the parent, IT technician, church attending, mall clothes wearing man he once was?

If he had lost himself while slugging… he could go to this fantastic resource. Lost and Found on the Slug Line!

If he had lost himself while taking the train… he could check this site Lost and Found on the VRE!

If he lost himself while taking the subway…. he could look on the Metro Lost and Found!

There are great web resources out there for commuting in the area… what sites do you use?

With two wins under his belt, the Redskins coach, Jim Zorn may have just moved up from being left curbside to possibly getting the backseat in someone’s 1978 AMC Pacer…. and possibly only if he was offering a pair of seats for an upcoming Ravens game!  Losing to the Lions last week and almost blowing this weeks “gimme game” against the Bucs would assuredly have lost him his spot in the van pool.  Only the fact that the Tampa Bay punter seemed to have had too much of the DC nightlife on Saturday saved the Skin’s skin. 

So if Jim was slugging, where would he start? Knowing the basic ins and outs of slugging begins with just finding the places to be picked up and where to stand on those lots to get where you are going.  Morning Slug lines usually have specific hours that are targeted for that location, as well as a set handful of destinations.  Afternoon Slug Spots operate in reverse.  Although destinations may be limited in the slug car to larger locations, there are always cars going to metro stations or terminals.  Some commuters slug to a metro lot and then take a bus to their ultimate destination. 

 Gimme shelter… love the lots with some type of covering. Gimme coffee… be aware some drivers do not allow beverages.  Gimme …. drivers. The drivers are targeting the times that the HOV is turning on and heading north or south.  Gimme info…. ask your coworkers, neighbors… and checkout a Morning Slug Lots and Afternoon Slug Spots.

Next week the Redskins have yet another soft target…the Carolina Panthers.  But really, is any target too soft?  Predictions???