The folks over at DCist write that, according to an article in the Examiner, 71% of the DC area drives alone to work. They say this is good because we were at 74% three years ago, and the nation is at 77% and rising.
That’s kind of depressing. I’ve been taking Metro to work since March, and I love it. I don’t worry about traffic. I’ve done more reading since then than in the previous three years combined. My biggest worries are four car trains at Pentagon City and loud tourists.
I know many people don’t have the opportunity to take public transportation, and carpooling can be hard. But only doing 6% better than the national average in a city like DC is kind of sad. I wonder what the percentage is in London, for example, where they have huge congestion taxes. Now that I’m an excessively smug city resident and Metro rider, I say $20 to drive your car into the city! $30 if you’ve come from more than ten miles away! We’ll give two monthly exemptions for people who just have to come to the city every once in a while, like they way I have to drive out to Manassas once or twice a month for work.
We can use some of that money to pay for whatever it is we’re paying for with all the parking tickets DC gives out. I think more and more that DC gives out those tickets maliciously. I think I’m going to start contesting them regardless of guilt, just to spite the city.