Riding the entire system?

[Aa3rt]

Have any of you readers ever tried to ride the entire MetroRail system in a day, just for the heck of it, to say that you've ridden the entire system?

If so, do you have any advice? Is there a pass one can purchase, particularly on a weekend, that allows one to do this?

How about highlights or areas to be avoided?

Thanks in advance for any input, Art.

[Guest]

From my experience, though I haven't tried to ride the entire system in one day, it could be a little difficult, though, I suppose it IS possible. you probably don't want to get off anywhere in the Shaw area ( Green Line), though "bad things" can happen almost anywhere these days.

[walt]

From my experience, though I haven't tried to ride the entire system in one day, it could be a little difficult, though, I suppose it IS possible. you probably don't want to get off anywhere in the Shaw area ( Green Line), though "bad things" can happen almost anywhere these days.

Just to let you all know, this is my post. I think I have this new system figured out now!

[jt]

It should take about 8 hours, I think. The day pass is $6 good past 9:30 weekdays and all day weekends/holidays- get it from a blue farecard machine.

To ride the system efficiently, take advantage of some of the outlying transfer stations- Ft. Totten, King Street, Rosyln and treat the outer segments as small excursion trips from the junction points before going into the central section of the subway system. The long bit is heading to Shady Grove & back- count on about 2 hrs to roundtrip that segment.

BTW, I regularly get on & off (and even walk to and around) the Shaw station (and practically every other green line station), and it's completely fine.

[walt]

BTW, I regularly get on & off (and even walk to and around) the Shaw station (and practically every other green line station), and it's completely fine.

I'm glad to hear that-- the Shaw area didn't always have that great a reputation---- there are those who say that this is one reason why it was one of the last areas to get Metrorail service.

[CTAA-Rail]

just a clarification...if you don't plan to exit any stations (go past the faregates), you can do as much riding as you want for a one-way trip ($1.20 if you're returning to the same station you started from).

As for a strategy, lets assume you're starting at Greenbelt (guessing by your Columbia location). The following routing may be the most efficient:
-Green Line (Greenbelt to Branch Ave, then back north to L'Enfant Plaza)
-Orange Line (L'Enfant to Vienna, then back east to Roslyn)
-Blue Line (Roslyn to Franconia-Springfield, then back east to King St)
-Yellow Line (King St to Huntington, then back north to L'Enfant)
-Orange Line (L'Enfant to New Carolton, then back west to Stadium-Armory)
-Blue Line (Stadium-Armory to Addison Rd, then back west to Metro Center)
-Red Line (Metro Center to Shady Grove, then back south and through downtown to Glenmont, then back south to Ft. Totten)
-Green Line (Ft. Totten to Greenbelt)

that approach covers the entire system and it should be the quickest by eliminating as much duplication as possible (don't get me wrong, there's still a lot of time doubling-back, but it could be much worse). If you had a different starting/ending point(s) in mind, I (and I'm sure others) would love to try and think it out a bit.

As far as areas to avoid, if you stay in the system (not leaving faregates), you should be 100% safe. There hasn't been one area i've felt uncomfortable in while on Metro. If you plan to exit, though, I'd strongly avoid most of the "southeast" areas (meaning the green, orange & blue lines in south/eastern DC and Prince George's County MD). The first thing someone told me when I first came to DC was "you want to go north and west."

Good luck!

[walt]

The first thing someone told me when I first came to DC was "you want to go north and west."

Good luck!

I got the same advice when I first moved to DC ( I moved to Columbia FROM DC)--only it was phrased "stay west of the park". Because I taught in schools all over DC, I wasn't able to follow that advice, though. I did have the good fortune to take a walking tour of the Red Line between Judiciary Square and Metro Center back in 1974, about three months before the first segment opened.

[jwhite07]

just a clarification...if you don't plan to exit any stations (go past the faregates), you can do as much riding as you want for a one-way trip ($1.20 if you're returning to the same station you started from).

Be aware that the fare collection system is aware of the time and station at which you enter/exit the system. If you linger within the system too long and then attempt to exit at the same station you entered, the faregate will not open! You will then have to go to the station attendant for assistance.

This happened to me on my first trip to DC in 1990 when I rode around the system for a while on a weekday and then lingered for about two hours photographing Northeast Corridor traffic from the platform at Landover, before returning to the downtown station I had started at just as the rush hour began. The faregate would not let me out. I knew I had enough on the card to cover the fare, so I sought out an attendant (who was at the exit on the opposite side of the station, naturally) and ask what was up. The attendant began accusing me of attempting fare evasion by using more than one farecard until I explained that I was a dumb first-time tourist, and (worse) a railfan. After much hemming and hawing, I was allowed to exit the station, but not before the attendant ran my farecard through a gate three or four times, deducting a fare each time!

[RMadisonWI]

just a clarification...if you don't plan to exit any stations (go past the faregates), you can do as much riding as you want for a one-way trip ($1.20 if you're returning to the same station you started from).

Be aware that the fare collection system is aware of the time and station at which you enter/exit the system. If you linger within the system too long and then attempt to exit at the same station you entered, the faregate will not open! You will then have to go to the station attendant for assistance.

This happened to me on my first trip to DC in 1990 when I rode around the system for a while on a weekday and then lingered for about two hours photographing Northeast Corridor traffic from the platform at Landover, before returning to the downtown station I had started at just as the rush hour began. The faregate would not let me out. I knew I had enough on the card to cover the fare, so I sought out an attendant (who was at the exit on the opposite side of the station, naturally) and ask what was up. The attendant began accusing me of attempting fare evasion by using more than one farecard until I explained that I was a dumb first-time tourist, and (worse) a railfan. After much hemming and hawing, I was allowed to exit the station, but not before the attendant ran my farecard through a gate three or four times, deducting a fare each time!

Something similar happened to me a couple of years ago. I had a day pass, and was riding a few Metro lines I hadn't ridden before. Then I saw a (then) brand new 5000-series car, and had to ride that. When I tried getting out downtown, the gate told me to see the agent. He just ran it through his computer, and then it let me out.

[wmata6000]

I think I will try the suggested route as I have wanted to try riding the entire system.

[Robert Paniagua]

Yeah, another outer station to start riding the entire system is my most favourite/beloved station in the WMATA Metrorail system, Shady Grove. I lived in Germantown 10 miles north of the WMATA station from the Summer of 1986 till June 1987 (although I have since visited WMATA), and its a good terminus station to start with. First of all, you get good views of the Shady Grove railyard, and the side CSXT trackage with really long freight trains doing 59 mph, and its even fun when the Metro train races some of those freights or during the morning and afternoon rush hour trains when MARC operates along the same ROW till just south of Twinbrook.

[Silverliner II]

I did a ride on the entire system after the last section of the Green Line opened. I caught a train out of Philly, arrived in D.C. around 9am, and I used Union Station as my base. I used one of those all-day farecards, and at some endpoint stations just exited and re-entered just to look around outside.

I can't find the routing I actually used, but I did have to do some doubling back here and there. I did double back to Union Station for lunch (I did the Shady Grove side of the Red Line first, and the Glenmont side last), and I finished that last ride with JUST enough time to do a high-speed run through the Union Station concourse to catch Amtrak home around 7pm.

It was a fun day, but except for lunch, it was all non-stop action from line to line.

Joe