New Commuter Lot at First Baptist Church!

I saw the Update to First Baptist Church Parking on the Home Page -

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There has been a lot of progress towards improving slugging at the new FBC Commuter Lot. PRTC/OmniRide will begin a "shuttle bus" service from Horner Road Lot to FBC beginning May 2nd. As a result, slugs will have a way to get to FBC is slug rides are not available. More to follow as this develops.

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With the option to take a shuttle from Horner to FBC, are other slugs interested in starting slugs lines headed for DC (L'Enfant, 14th, 18th etc) effective May 2? How can we get this started?

Hi everyone,

I am writing to just vent out my frustrations. I like this new lot and really want to use it but in order for it to be an effective lot- more people need to actually use this lot. Here is an email I sent out to PWC District Supervisors.

The problem of the underutilized lot still exists. I think it is in everyone's best interest (especially Prince William County's) since about 200K was invested in this lot for there to be a maximized amount of utilization.. It's a great lot and I would love to start slugging from here (I've expressed my interest on the slug-lines.com message boards) but there needs to be more traffic for it to be an effective lot. There are a lot of people saying they want this lot to go to DC. I suggest we start DC lines and a Pentagon line to drive some traffic to this lot. Have PM slug lines coming back to this lot as well so sluggers can efficiently go from work and get back using this lot.

Here are a few suggestions

-make a map of the Church lot and all the destinations it will go to on slug-lines.com
-pass out flyers in the AM at other lots
-pass out flyers in the PM at slugs spots going to other lots

I am willing to help out with this effort but I don't want to be the only person passing out flyers- there needs to be a group of people doing this and it needs to happen for about a week or so, every morning and every afternoon. We need to spread the word. Just like how the announcement of the reduction of spots in Potomac Mills was done.


There needs to be more effort in getting more people to use this lot. Otherwise it will become just another empty, underutilized lot and a complete waste of money.

Thanks for hearing me out!

I used to slug to work from Potomac Mills and would love to start slugging from this Church.

I would like to see this lot used exactly like how Potomac Mills was used. It only makes sense to do it this way since the same people from Potomac Mills will now probably start coming to this lot since we all need "new homes".

I go to different sites throughout the week which is why I loved Potomac Mills. Some days I would slug to the Pentagon, sometimes to Rosslyn and sometimes to L'enfant Plaza. So I would like this new commuter lot to also have those same locations available.

My husband also used to go to Potomac mills and we would ride in one car, go to one commuter lot and take our different slug lines to work and meet back at the lot at the end of the work day and go home.

For all the reasons stated above, I would like to have this lot go to all destinations (Rosslyn/Crystal, Pentagon and DC).

Once the traffic in this lot picks up my husband and I will def start utilizing this lot.

Thanks!

Here's an idea for you. Can someone please take this idea, "massage it" (adjust as you see fit), and take this to the Town Hall meeting? I think if someone works with it, we could have a workable solution here...

How about taking the Dale City/Washington and Dale City/Crystal City-Pentagon routes, taking out the stop at Telegraph/Biddeford, and re-routing them from the Pier 1 to the church. From the church, they both go to the Horner Rd lot and then to the Pentagon. Would add about 10-15 min to the route from there, but would give another alternative. AND it would put the Omniride bus stop on the same side of the road as the church.

Not sure how many use the stop at Biddeford, though. That would have to be looked at.

Without more non-slug options to return to the Church lot, it's not going to work. With only 4 afternoon buses, you cannot leave early, nor get to the Pentagon (last pickup point @ 6:10ish) late. And aside from working late, we all know how reliable Metro rail service is, especially during rush hour.

I think the most reasonable solution is run a shuttle - bus, van, whatever - between the major commuter hubs of Horner, Potomac and the Church lot (and the hopefully additional 1 location to compensate for the other lost 350 spaces). The probable response: no money. Fine. I'll pay a buck to ride. I have to do that anyhow to spend 20-45 minutes of my life now, busing from Horner to the Dale City lot from/to which I can't get a direct ride from WNY. For the morning I'm running 50/50 for a ride to L'Enfant vs Pentagon, 50% of those rides are a carful of LE destined. So there are quite a few LE folks at DC lot.

You don't want to pay, don't use it. Surely at the 1.20/1.25 per person they collect now for in-town trips would cover operations, with minimal help from Govt.

The state & county can't have it both ways - push for residents to be green & use mass transit, yet do little to nothing to make it reasonable & convenient for people to use, without having to worry how the heck they'll make it home for a Dr appt, sick kid, or being a team player by staying late for work/office function.

I know several former slugs that have chosen to start driving in solo rather than fool with the current situation. I myself am considering changes jobs to an employer who pays something towards parking/transit or working westward where it's cheaper to drive in w/ security of getting home than current I-95 mass transit.