L'Enfant - VRE's Busiest Station??

[Tommy Meehan]

I think the biggest surprise for me, when I first rode VRE, was discovering L'Enfant Plaza station (platform would be more accurate! ) is undoubtedly VRE's busiest destination station. I would guess Crystal City is second and Van Dorn Street third. With poor old Washington Union Station a distant fourth.

I don't know that much about downtown Washington. Why do so many riders prefer L'Enfant over Union??? MARC sure packs 'em in at WUS!!

[M&Eman]

That is because MARC has no stops between WUS and New Carollton. WUS is their only station in DC. By the way, L'enfant is in the heart of downtown while WUS is several Metro stops away.

[Tommy Meehan]

Hey m&e is this your best guess as to why L'Enfant is the busiest VRE destination station? That it's in the heart of downtown Washington? If true there wouldn't be much mystery as to why it was so popular. Only L'Enfant is not in the heart of downtown DC. In fact I would say it's not even in downtown. It's way down on Virginia Avenue, south of the Lincoln Monument and that huge grassy area from downtown. I walked from L'Enfant to Metro Center - if there's a 'heart of downtown' location I'm guessing Metro Center is it - one mild evening and it was a hike. I believe L'Enfant is more located in what DCers call 'southeast'

Actually, someone once explained why L'Enfant was so popular and I think it had to do with the type Federal offices located around it. But I don't really remember and I was hoping someone would enlighten me.

[octr202]

Its popular because there are number of massive Federal agency office buildings south of the Mall. Also, at L'Enfant you can transfer to the Orange, Blue, Yellow, and Green Metro lines sooner to go to locations in downtown proper (north of the Mall), whereas to do so at Union Station is possible, but involves backtracking.

[Tommy Meehan]

Thanks octr202 that makes sense. The subway connections are pretty good too. Last time I was in DC, I was coming in on the Red Line (after riding MARC to Rockville) and wanted to ride a VRE train. I realized I could probably get to L'Enfant quicker than WUS. Only reason I didn't do it was, it was strictly to railfan, and I knew I'd get a window seat if I boarded at Union Station. Wasn't so sure about L'Enfant.