Parking at Horner Rd. is Awful!!!

First, there is a way to catch an Omniride bus home from Rosslyn, but it involves taking Metro to the Pentagon first :) It's not a bad way to go and that's what I do in extremely bad weather because I don't like getting in stranger's cars in the middle of a blizzard.

I slug from PM to Rosslyn and back every day (except in snowstorms) and I've never had much of a problem in either the morning or the afternoon. Yes, most afternoon drivers in Rosslyn seem to want to go to Horner road, but once you get back to the 7th or 8th car, it's pretty easy to convince a Horner driver to go the extra 5 minutes to PM rather than sit and wait another 10 minutes in Rosslyn.

I slug pretty early in the morning from PM and at 6:20 to 6:40 there will either be a line of 20 people and no cars, or about 10 cars and no slugs. There's just no telling how it will be but even when there is a huge line of people I've never waited more than about 7 or 8 minutes for a driver. On one rare occasion when I had to drive to work later, and got to the lot around 7, I only had to wait about 10 minutes for riders. I tried Horner Road a couple times - what a mess!

One time slugging from Horner was during Christmas week last year when the Potomac Mills lot was empty - no slugs, no drivers so I drove to Horner and parked. All the cars at Horner were going to the Pentagon (this was before the line was split) and were not willing to switch to Rosslyn even though the line was at least 20 cars. Finally one reluctant drive in about the 22nd position relented and took me and another slug to Rosslyn. I just don't understand why someone would rather sit in a parking lot for 1/2 hour when they could be on the road.

Bottom line, Potomac Mills beats Horner Road

Karen

adjguy - check out www.prtctransit.org for the bus schedules under "Omniride". There is a difference between OmniRide and OmniLink on the website so make sure you click the correct one. The last bus back to Horner from the Pentagon is the DL-2 that leaves at 6:50, then the next three "DL" busses will take you to the Rt. 123 lot and you transfer to one that will take you to Horner. Or... you have to go to Springfield where the bus runs once an hour from 7:25 until 10:30.

Karen

Thank you all for your help and advice! Sigh of relief. Will now try Potomac Mills Lot.[:D][:D][:D][:D]
[:D]
JB

I agree, this morning at PM was one of those once in a while flukes. I typically arrive around 7 AM and most of the time there's not even a line, slugs just march right up to the cars. Today both the DC and CC lines were waiting for a while, but after using PM for two months now this is only the third time I've had to wait that long for a ride.

I used to park at Horner around 8 and can still get a legal spot. From hearing everyone's experiences it sounds like even at 7 it's slim pickings. I'm throwing away my "Horner Rd" sign, I haven't used it in months and don't plan on ever using it again!

Forget Horner Rd, use Potomac Mills!