Rt.234 DUMFRIES- Organized Pick-up Lines- 14JUN10

Well I see our Self-Appointed Junior VDOT Engineer Wannabe continues living the dream. Evenings in the basement with your inkjet printer, stapler, plastic wrap and bamboo sticks; mornings spent rushing around littering the commuter lot with your rubbish signs; and no doubt afternoons smugly reveling in delusions of grandeur.

So where did it all start? Bad potty training experiences? Self-esteem problems in grade school? Did mommy used to rub your little tummy and tell you how much more clever you were than the other children? And then what? Six years to graduate from some third rate college, followed by years of being passed over at promotion time? Bill O'Reilly got you all riled up?

There's a reason VDOT keeps throwing your third-grade artwork project in the trash. Can we put on our thinking caps and maybe glean a clue as to why that might be? Do you think maybe it's not a great idea to scatter pedestrians throughout a parking lot full of overly-stimulated, under-skilled, frustrated, NASCAR-driver wannabe's. Can we try real hard and imagine why that might be a bad idea? How about when it's icy and pitch black at 6:00 AM in the middle of winter? Hmmm??

Please, do yourself a favor and do all of us a favor and get some help. What with advanced techniques in counseling and modern pharmaceuticals there is a good chance they can stabilize your brain chemistry and help you work through your childhood trauma's and have you living a normal life without the need to thrust your megalomaniacal delusions of order on the rest of us.

Because quite frankly, one of these days someone's going to get hurt. And it's going to be your fault, no matter how much you wish to rationalize it in that tiny little brain of yours.

Please, just give it a rest!

There is a Horner Road and 610, but no afternoon line in Rosslyn back to 234. You have to go back to the Pentagon and catch a ride there.

This is a great idea to separate the lines however I feel as though the Pentagon line and the Washington, DC (14th St, L'Enfant, etc.) line should remain where it is. Many people have multiple locations they can go to and whatever the next car is that pulls up, they usually take it. For example, in order for me to get to my job, I can either go to the Pentagon metro, the L'Enfant metro or 14th & D Streets. Usually if I'm next in line, whatever car comes up, I jump in. To have the lines split makes people lose options and in turn you may have to wait in line longer.

I never go to Crystal City or Rossyln so I can not comment on whether or not their lines should be combined or separated. But I will say having the slug line at the entrance of the lot could back up others trying to get into the lot. People should stand at the other end of the row. That way, people can just hop in and the cars can drive out like normal.

Thanks for listening. [:)]

I've been slugging out of the 234 lot since 2003 and I agree that the 234 lot slugging process is not broken, however there are ways that it could be improved in execution, especially now that it’s larger and has a bigger viability window (lot used to be pretty dead 10-15 minutes after all the parking spots were filled).

Forming two separate lines (one for Pentagon/Rosslyn/Crystal City and one for DC/14th St/L'Enfant Plaza), could alleviate some of the line problems that tend to occur from time to time. The challenge would be trying to get everyone to accept and agree to those changes, instead of trying to push some new organization via signs and poorly relayed word-of-mouth.

Most of the problems with the 234 lot actually stem from poor communication from both drivers and slugs. The most common things that tend to stall the process is:
1) Drivers who do not call out their location until they are at the front of the line. They just sit there staring blankly forward until they get to the front of the line. It speeds up the process immensely if slugs can load 2-3 cars at a time. Any more than that seems to cause confusion as to who is walking to which car, whose turn it is etc.
2) Backup of destination cars. This happens with both 14th St and Pentagon cars. For example the first 3 cars will be going to 14th St but everyone in the line is going to other destinations. Everyone just stands there, while additional cars (likely going to their destination) begin to pile up behind them. The solution to that would be for slugs further down the line to ascertain the destination of the deeper cars (if the line is long enough) and call them up. Or for pairs to break off and walk the line to the deeper cars to get the line moving again. Although this does happen from time to time I've seen this approach cause confusion as well. When there are a plethora of Pentagon cars, 14th St riders often peel off and form a “second line” further back in the lot to catch the cars coming around the corner. I've seen confusion and actually witnessed just today a lady yelling at another because they we not lined up at the usual spot for pickups (i.e. by the bus shelter). In this case having a separate line would alleviate that problem. The lot is small enough that you can see the next row over so if you’re a 14th St rider than will settle for a Pentagon ride, you could see from either queuing spot if there were any cars available in the other line.

While there are Rosslyn and Crystal City riders I'm not sure there are in large enough numbers (compared to Pentagon/14th St) that it would help to have separate lines just for those locations. But I would not be adverse to it. I slug to Rosslyn and it takes 30+ minutes off my commute to go straight to Rosslyn vice the Pentagon. If there's a Rosslyn car I jump in, but I won't stand around 10-15 minutes waiting for one, I’ll just take a Pentagon one.

ROFLMMFAO2POHAIPM! [:p]