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I may be staying in Woodley Park, Washington DC, next May and wondered what was the best way to get there from Union Station. I have never visited DC and have therefore had to go by Tripadvisor comments so hope that WP is a safe area for a single traveller!! Any advice re travel within the city would be welcome. Thanks.
Posts: 211 | From: Norfolk England | Registered: Sep 2007
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Aside from common sense that any traveler should heed anywhere in the world, I don't think Woodley Park can be considered "Indian Country'. You will even have Vice President Biden as a neighbor.
The jitney taxicabs, while annoying if you are seeking direct and private transport, in Wash DC are comparatively inexpensive, and eventually after a stop or two along the way will get you up there. If you want private door to door transportation, you must 'spring" for a livery Car Service - and "spring" you will.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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woodley Park is one of the nicer areas of town. I wouldn't go wandering around late at night in most places in most towns thse days. If you go to city-data.com you will find all sorts of useful info.
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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Woodley Park indeed is an upscale area of Washington, and by day you will be quite safe. It's reachable from Washington Union Station via the Metro Red Line to the Woodley Park–Zoo/Adams Morgan station.
By night you might encounter the occasional footpad, cutpurse or Blackwater thug, as in any urban center, but taking taxis from place to place ought to thwart all but the most malevolent.
Several companies operate fleets of taxis -- Yellow Cab most prominent among them -- and you can call one at Union Station. Washington taxi fares used to be zoned, a complicated and confusing arrangement, but this year they were metered like the rest of civilization.
posted
Thanks for the tips. I don't plan on being out late - I'm usually tucked up with a good book by 9 - so I trust I will avoid any banditry!
I'm only in Washington 2 nights. I am arriving early on Day 1 on the Crescent from Charlottesville VA (pictures of which look lovely). I will want to make the most of that day and the next to see the sights. I would love to visit the Smithsonian to see Lindbergh's plane etc but wonder how long I would need to do some justice to the museum.
The term "jitney" was not one I was familiar with but I believe it's something like the vehicles they have in the East (Orient, that is). I will probably stick to taxis or the Metro.
Posts: 211 | From: Norfolk England | Registered: Sep 2007
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In most American localities, Heatherite, a jitney (or gypsy) cab means an unlicensed one, further meaning that if you're in an accident while riding one you may be uninsured. I'd never ride in one. At least when sober.
Washington does have pedicabs, but these are used mainly by tourists downtown. Since they are human-powered they take forever to get anywhere.
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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My use of the term "jitney" was made on the strength that a Wash taxicab would, at the driver's discretion, be shared by unrelated parties. This often resulted in making pick ups and drop offs. That the fares were set by zones meant that a party was not paying for the often less than direct route traveled.
That taxicabs were ever unlicensed or uninsured was not an issue - they of course are.
But as Mr. Kisor notes, apparently the point is moot as Wash taxicabs are now metered. Presumably this means they handle one party at a time.
BTW, that is quite a gadget the Post cooked up. It appears normal fare from Union Sta to Naval Observatory is $9.25 (about L5.50 for benefit of Ms. Heatherite).
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Heatherite, It's a fine neighborhood but a little far from anything you'll be seeing (other than the Zoo, and I wouldn't see that if I had just 2 days in Washington; zoos are nice but they are not what one goes to DC to see, if you know what I mean) and perhaps not all that convenient. My advice is that you ask the hotel or people you are staying with for the best advice on getting to your location. Woodley Park is on the Red Line of the MEtro, same as Union Station, but I believe it has a really really high escalator (the DC Metro is quite deep) that could be hard to navigate with luggage. Stations also have elevators but they don't always work--but the people or hotel you are going to visit would know. Also, when you get off at Woodley Station, if you are heading in the direction away from downtown, it's fairly steeply uphill, and again could be difficult with luggage; people going to the zoo (which is sort of in between stops) often go 1 stop higher and walk back down, I believe.
Of course you can take a taxi from Union Station but that would be expensive esp if there is a lot of traffic. Still, that is the thing to do at night especially. I am talking about regular taxis; I don't know anything about any jitneys.
One thing to keep in mind with taxis: They are not always cruising about up there (depends where you are), so if you are not staying in a hotel, and if you phone for a taxi to go back down (say to Union Station), don't be surprised if it doesn't come in reasonable time, in spite of telling you it will! I mean, they can be very unreliable that way way up there, esp on Sundays; I almost missed a train once when I stayed with a friend up there in the NW on a Sunday. . . After that, I always stayed in more conveniently located hotels when in DC.
Also, the subway (Metro) on Sundays doesn't stop at some stops, though I think it's fine up there. . . .
So anyway, for all these reasons, I'd definitely check with wherever you are staying for the info you are looking for. They will know best & have the most up to date info.
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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GBN, I acknowledge that you and I had different definitions of "jitney." Washington used to have licensed oversized taxis (vans and minivans) that ran set routes and picked up and dropped off passengers along these routes. Many people called these vans jitneys.
I believe the bus company sought to run them out of business by pushing for the meter fare ordinance.
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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Speaking as a former cab driver of 10 years, the gypsies in some places I drove, were licensed but w/o dispatching service or a home base. Individuals with a license - medallion is what I think it is called in NYC - who just roamed around and picked up whomever they could, or took calls on their cell phones from regulars or people who had their business card.
I wasn't a gypsy driver, could take more than one fare at a time, but there were rules posted in the vehicle for that process. Sometimes out of a busy downtown on a Friday I would double load, or out of the airport during high demand and low numbers, or inclement weather when flights were late or canceled.
I don't know the rules for the DC cabs.
And speaking of Gypsies - off track I know, but some of you are readers - I recommend a book entitled "Bury Me Standing", by Isabel Fonseca. About gypsies. I enjoyed the writing and learned a great deal. Came out surely 12-15 years ago.
Ira
Posts: 300 | From: Denver, CO USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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I almost saw the vice-president's residence once! I was being trained as a student driver for the University of Maryland shuttle system and I tooled through that neighborhood driving a bus.
I say 'almost' because my trainer was pointing out the various landmarks he was directing me past while insisting I pay attention to the road.
This was late in the training after I had already demonstrated that I wouldn't panic with a big vehicle in downtown DC!
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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......and I still have a valid CDL just in case! I wouldn't be the first Maryland graduate to survive a layoff by driving a bus.
It helps that some veterans of the UM-Shuttle have become industry professionals managing transit systems in various places.
(We won't even go into my stories of summer bus driving on Drum Corps tours......other than to say I never plan to take a bus into downtown San Francisco in the 4th of July again......once was enough!)
Oh......what the heck.....one bus story. At that time we had a route that circulated from the center of campus out to the New Carrollton Metro Station and back. I would bid on that route regularly (and generally got it three days a week) because by catching the lights just right I would get to spend 5-8 minutes on each circuit waiting for the scheduled departure from New Carrollton. It was a paid opportunity to hang out and watch Amtrak trains while working my way through graduate school.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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Thanks for these. I have to say, Sojourner, that your comments didn't exactly cheer me especially as I have a thing about heights!
The only reason for staying in WP is that there looks to be a good, and reasonable, B&B there. If, however, I could find one nearer to the hub of things I would. I can't really afford more than $120 a night so city centre hotels look out of the question. It's always a problem when you haven't visited a place before (or, in my case, a country before!).
Posts: 211 | From: Norfolk England | Registered: Sep 2007
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Unlike WP where there seem to be just bare walls, in London we have theatre adverts, billboards etc to read whilst ascending/descending. They may not be much but they take your mind off the drop!!
Posts: 211 | From: Norfolk England | Registered: Sep 2007
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There should also be an elevator at the station somewhere, primarily for wheelchair users, but I do not know where. If long escalators are a problem, ask and ye shall find. I am sure that you are only one of many that find the long escalators somewhat unnerving. By the way, regardless of appearance, all escalators are at the same angle of slope, 30 degrees, regardless of how high they are. ALL Washington Metro stations are wheelchair accessible, by law. In fact, all public transport systems built since that time are required to be so accessible, so there are elevators to found in all stations with large vertical changes. (Ramps may be used for smaller differences in levels.)
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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If you're going to the B&B I think you are, it's on Woodley Road. The elevator from the Woodley Park station surfaces at the corner of Woodley Road and Connecticut Ave., right by the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel (and more than a block north of the escalator). That point is only a block and a half from the B&B, uphill to be sure, but not steeply.
The neighborhood is also properly known as Cleveland Park (after President Grover Cleveland). It developed starting in the late 1880s, and is full of nice old houses (now very expensive).
Up on Wisconsin Avenue, on the highest point in DC, stands the National Cathedral, which is worth a visit (corner of Wisconsin and Massachusetts, not accessible by Metro).
Posts: 614 | From: Merchantville, NJ. USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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If you are handy to Metro you are relatively handy to anything in the DC area. I beleive there are tourist day passes. Hunt up the Washington Metro web site and see what you find. If you pay it trip by trip it can add up in a hurry.
Have not tried it for US locations, but for points in east Asia, I have found the Lonly Planet guidebooks to be very useful. I am sure you can find one for Washington DC. Sometimes the political perspective of the writers can get in the way, but if you ignore them and go for the factual stuff, they can be very useful.
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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quote:Originally posted by heatherite: Unlike WP where there seem to be just bare walls, in London we have theatre adverts, billboards etc to read whilst ascending/descending.
Well Mr W, you have got to be the first person I've even known of in this life who wants to have billboards and car cards around.
Apparently the Wash mass transit agency, WMATA, has remained solvent enough not to have to resort to desecrating their rail stations with such.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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quote:Originally posted by heatherite: Unlike WP where there seem to be just bare walls, in London we have theatre adverts, billboards etc to read whilst ascending/descending.
Well Ms. Heatherite, you have got to be the first person I've even known of in this life who wants to have billboards and car cards around.
Apparently the Wash mass transit agency, WMATA, has remained solvent enough not to have to resort to desecrating their rail stations with such.
Well it would appear that there are those like you who "like to watch paint dry" (ie examine bare concrete in detail) and there are those that like to have a distraction from the boredom of riding an escalator. Each to their own.
To expand on Heatherite's explanation, some of the advertisements are cleverly arranged so you *want* to know what the next board says - even if you can't remember what it said by the time you reach the end of the escalator, such is advertising. Also, some have computer monitors in lieue of paper adverts which make for somewhat more "attractive" advertising.
One has to experience both to give an informed opinion. Fortunately I have, and, even if I say so myself, I would say I'm unbiased in that I avoid London wherever possible.
Geoff M.
-------------------- Geoff M. Posts: 2426 | From: Apple Valley, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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I assumed Heatherite was female, named Heather, am I wrong?
The DC Metro stations all have elevators, far as I know. Problem is, sometimes they are broken. I encountered this more than once, but that was some years ago, so maybe I'm wrong!!!
Some people here some time back posted about a tourist hotel near the White House (more convenient location) called the Harrington I think? Might that be better? Would it be safe? Not sure about the clean! but anyway, it's a thought. . . .
But yes, it's true, if you are near the Metro, nothing is really very far, Heatherite. And you definitely do want to stay in a nicer neighborhood, esp if you are female, I'd say!
Washington is great, though, lots to do and see. You'll have a great time!
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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Heatherite's profile lists "MLB" as an enthusiasm. What does that mean, Heatherite? In the Hew Hess Hay (as they still say in West Virginia) it means "Major League Baseball," but wouldn't a resident of Norfolk, England, be more interested in a cricket pitch?
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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If I remember correctly, the discussion of Mr. Heatherite's persuasion has come up before. But then again at my age I could be misremembering.
Posts: 229 | From: Long Beach CA | Registered: Jan 2007
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To avoid any further confusion I am a full blooded male called Stephen! The only reason I use heatherite is that I live on a road called Heather - nothing more controversial than that. I suppose I should change it to negate further comment. Actually, Henry, although I have Scottish antecedents I was born in Lancashire.
I am sorry I seem to have got up Mr Norman's nose - I was not deliberately saying, in effect, that something over here was better than on his side of "the pond". I was merely trying to point out a difference between our own London Tube and what I could see of the metro escalator at Woodley Park. Apologies for any unintentional offence caused.
Although a devotee of cricket and many other sports, I have come to really love MLB through seeing it on the "North American Sports Network" we get over here on satellite TV. However, I cannot get into NFL or NBA. Perhaps if I saw a live game I might.
The address of the B&B incidentally, rresor, is on Cathedral Avenue so I don't think it's the one to which you are referring. It still looks pretty handy for the metro station.
Posts: 211 | From: Norfolk England | Registered: Sep 2007
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quote:Originally posted by heatherite: I seem to have got up Mr Norman's nose
After quite a few year of working with various people of various forms of the British persuasion, I thought I had heard most of their wacky expressions, but this is a new one on me.
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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Well, we always like to keep our favourite cousins guessing.
It's not a rude expression, at least it isn't in Britain; in fact it is very mild and certainly not regarded as wacky! I'm sure you know the phrase "to put someone's nose out of joint"? Mine is similar if, perhaps, a little cruder.
Posts: 211 | From: Norfolk England | Registered: Sep 2007
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Sorry I thought you were a female, Heatherite. I think your being male will mean hills & the Metro with luggage might be easier to navigate.
I adore your new-to-me expression, Heatherite. I am picturing that movie where the doctors etc are miniaturized and go into a human body to perform a repair, now what was that called . . . .
Anyway, just remember, you can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose! (as we used to say)
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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Stephen - I just spent 11 days in Charlottesville and loved it. I walked and walked a lot. Be sure to take the free trolley (you can see a picture of one here: http://www.charlottesville.org/Index.aspx?page=668
The trolley makes a big loop through town, past the Amtrak station and through the University of Virginia campus. Lots to see along the way. I took it at least half a dozen times.
If you have an afternoon, you can take bus 1B to the Tourist Information Center near the local junior college, walk across a four lane highway to a parking lot at a trail head. The beautifully constructed and maintained trail winds several miles gently through the hills up to Monticello; in autumn it was absolutely glorious.
Posts: 326 | From: San Antonio Texas USA | Registered: Dec 2003
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sojourner, that movie you're thinking of is "Fantastic Voyage" (1966). I suppose that title might also be useful to some of us here on the forum to describe some trips we've taken on Amtrak.
posted
City of Miami thanks. I take it that Charlottesville is a pretty safe place to walk around by oneself (obviously taking the usual precautions). The Red Roof Inn looks reasonable in price and seems quite handy for downtown. Did you stay at an hotel? If so, what was it like?
Posts: 211 | From: Norfolk England | Registered: Sep 2007
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Stephen - Check your private messages on this board. I didn't think everyone needed to be subjected to my effusions about C'ville.
Posts: 326 | From: San Antonio Texas USA | Registered: Dec 2003
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Our youngest son went to the University and my best friend lived there so we spent a lot of time in Cville. Being a history buff I did a fair amt of wandering at Monticello and our garden has some of TJs purple beans. I don't know if the Michie Tavern still exists but the food there was very good along with the ambiance and not very expensive. We always found it a great place to browse. Am eager to hear your impressions
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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