D6

My hate of the D6 bus line is very well documented; in that I complain about it all the time to everyone I meet. I have two ways to get home from work, take the train then walk ten minutes, or traverse the Capitol (complete with tram ride to Senate Office Buildings (yeah, I know you’re jealous (because it’s so awesome))) take the bus and get let off right in front of my house. I take the train to work because the D6 bus either gets me to work 20 minutes early or 10 minutes late. Coming home, though, I don't have to worry about punching in on time and can take a slower route if I so choose. Since the bus costs $.10 less than the train I take the bus home everyday. (Interestingly, taking the bus home recently led to me running into an old classmate from American University.)

The weather was pretty nice yesterday—about 68 degrees when I left work at 6:05 pm. When I reached the point in front of Union Station where a co-worker and I normally split ways I decided that I would walk home. The stroll was nice and my iPod kept me company. The best part of the walk, though, is that I tied the bus. It literally took the same amount of time to walk home from work as it would have if I had stood on the bloody corner and waited for the bus to pick me up. Last week after coming home from Silver Springs I also decided to walk home, not because it was breezy and I wanted to clear my head but rather because I waited twenty minutes for a bus and none came. Oh, and during the entire walk home no buses showed up, and I walked the bus route back. Several days ago I went to visit a pal in Georgetown. I had to wait at least twenty minutes for a bus each way. Between the waiting time for the bus and the time spent sitting on the bus, I could have biked to her house faster, probably even have jogged there faster.

If only I lived on the D8 line, I'd be made in the shade. Normally three D8 buses run past the Union Station bus stop before a single D6 shows up. The bottom line is this America, the D6 bus line needs to get its act together. Start running more buses during peak hours of transportation. There is no reason that there should be a forty minute wait between buses at 6:00 pm.

Stay tuned for more tales of woe from the city whose license plates read “No Taxation Without Representation.”