As a DC area native thanks for reviewing our city, it’s far from perfect but our metro system has shown great post pandemic success (around 60-70% recovery) under the new GM Randy Clarke. I’d also argue that the DC Metro has the least amount of “susness” compared to most other US cities. Lots of new housing is being constructed keeping housing prices from going to NYC or SF levels. DC isn’t very big, so bikability is slowly getting better with paths and lanes. Outside of downtown where all the government is DC is a like any other city with food, retail housing etc. I hope to be able to afford to live here as costs keep rising. Arlington and Alexandria are also really solid urban suburbs.
Yeah in my couple of years of riding DC Metro I've rarely ever experienced anything sus, even late nights or early mornings. The only one I remember was a time when a homeless man clearly was waiting for me to go through the turnstile so he can sneak right behind me. But that's it.
I’ve been been on both BART and DC Metro recently, I’d say they are probably the best when it comes to safeness and cleanliness on trains and stations. This is what happens when you actually give proper funding to your public transit.
Agreed. I think the local population also understands you need to organize locally and fight politically to make livable cities. Probably because they work in the government!
Oh, that explains it. I literally just got back from DC and used the Metro tons. Had no idea what they meant with the delay since I hadn't experienced it. Good to hear they finally fixed it.
To be precise autodoors are back on all lines not just the Red line. ATO should eventually return but WMATA does go rather slowly due to the safety incidents mentioned here and the resulting tight oversight.
I'm Australian but I've always felt like DC was incredibly underrated after visiting. I adored the Metro and was impressed by all the bike lanes, parks and tree lined streets. the buildings were grand but with limited height it still felt grounded and people friendly. Very easy to get around as well.
I would say the most underrated city is Boston but now because of the internet too many people are starting to realize Boston exists now it’s a properly rated city, so now that title of the most underrated city goes to DC by default
I visited Washington DC in 2021. It was quite urbanist With a good metro system, lots of walkability and lively neighborhoods, it’s basically the sort of city that competes with the other major urbanist cities in the US
Yet another excellent analysis from two eloquent and well-informed urbanists. What emerges from several of their videos is that most American and Canadian cities are in the process of improving themselves along urbanist principles. Each is making different levels and paces of progress, and each is solving its own problems by particularizing those principles. Urban planning and related professions are attracting many young people, and most of them have cut their teeth on the best urbanist YT channels. Progress is in the air.
I've lived in the area for 17 years and it's amazing to see the changes (almost all for the better) in DC and the surrounding area. The two biggest problems are that housing remains WAY too expensive & cars are still considered the default means of transportation for policy makers. The needle is moving, but it's a struggle every danged step of the way. And a lot of leadership *cough* Bowser *cough* do everything they can to undercut progress.
It is a great city where you can get around without a car for the most part. It is getting so many inmprovements it shows. Of course like other places that see so much change it is getting more expensive but it has been at least for the past 3 decades. You don't have own two or 3 cars to get around either.
Moving to alexandria va in a month. I'll be less than a 5 minute walk from the metro and I'm excited for my first experience living in an urban area. Finally out of the burbs.
We used to live in Alexandria, I still miss it every day. If you’re into food, I recommend Chop Shop for tacos, Chewish Deli for bagels, and Andy’s Pizza for a NY-style slice. For sit-down dining, there’s an incredible hidden gem called Le Refuge in Old Town that serves excellent French food, and for coffee/cafés we always loved going to Misha’s, Café du Soleil, and Swing’s. If you’re into bikes, there’s a cool indie shop down by the Old Town waterfront called Big Wheel Bikes with the chillest most helpful dudes and there’s a cool bike cooperative in Del Ray called Vélocity that has great community outreach programs. There’s a local-ish chain called Conte’s that handles all of the more cutting edge stuff and organizes many group rides. There’s also Trek stores, Sun&Ski shops, and REI throughout the region if you need other options.
@@Kodeb8it’s technically an independent city. And the regions urban core consist of DC, Arlington, and Alexandria Alx and Arl are more urban than many parts of DC proper, especially west of rock creek park
Welcome! We have a thriving urbanist advocacy scene here, hope to see you out there! Check out BPAC for bike/ped advocacy, YIMBYs of nova for housing, and Grassroots Alexandria for transit (though they all work together too)
Also in that neighborhood most of the time when a SFH is sold, it is sold to a developer who demolishis, it down cuts down all of the tree canpy and bulds a 4000+ SF 6 bed Modren farmhouse Mcmachion that covers almost all of the lot and cost 2+ millon. But apererilay that doesn't destroy the neighborhood chatterer.
I’m an Alexandria resident and the nimby sentiment is so annoying, considering our city would be illegal to build with the zoning laws the NIMBYs were defending! Nothing more hypocritical than seeing a duplex with a sign defending laws that make building new duplexes illegal lol
I grew up near Philadelphia, but lived in DC for 14yrs (from 2006-2020). I was there for the Metro collision, for the decades of single-tracking for 'trackwork', for the fires, for the nonsense! But living now in Denver, I think I didn't appreciate Metro enough when I was there. I don't know that I appreciated DC enough, in general. It's an expensive city, and I found that difficult since I worked in service 13 of my 14 years there. But it is a beautiful city. I lived mostly in Eckington (north of NoMa) in a group house. But I also lived in Adams Morgan for a time (I worked in Adams Morgan, as well, for 3 years). And in hindsight there is a lot about DC that is so great. It is deeply urban, walkable, transit-oriented, cultural, vibrant. I miss it.
“We actually didn't know that schools had formal racial segregation as far north as DC and even Maryland.” Shoot! Schools in Boston didn’t desegregate until 1974 and it wasn’t a pretty scene when they did. Also, Montreal’s city hall was opened 10 years before the Eisenhower Office Building.
Ah, you're right on the dates of the two buildings (the Eisenhower building did start construction a year earlier, but probably not enough to be the actual inspiration). It seems my reading of the source ("Montreal in evolution", 1975, Jean-Claude Marsan, p. 319) was a little wrong. It compares the styles but doesn't directly claim that City Hall came from the Eisenhower building: “Whether this style [Second Empire], which rained universal popularity, reached Montreal directly from France or indirectly through England and the States is open to question, but the latter route is more likely for, in Montreal, the style has lost a great deal of its strength. From a standpoint of style, Montreal’s City Hall is closer to the State War and Navy Building in Washington [now the Eisenhower Executive Office Building]”
@@OhTheUrbanityYeah, Philadelphia City Hall is also Second Empire, so of course also shares similar designs characteristics and language. Still the tallest masonry building, and was once the tallest in the world
@@carstarsarstenstesenn, no. There was de facto segregation where it was technically not illegal for children to be enrolled together, but housing patterns and private school choices caused high degree of separation. That is still an issue, as in NYC, one of the most segregated systems in the country. Then there was de jure (by law) segregation. Laws requiring separation by race were in force in every state that had legal slavery as of 1860, including states like Kentucky and Maryland and Delaware that did not secede. It was also law in some states like Oklahoma and Kansas that were not slave states.
I've lived in DC on and off my whole life and Metro is my happy place. Like you mentioned, the door delayed hasn't always been the case and it has frustrated me lately. I'm happy to hear it explained and happy to know that might be changing soon. Good to see DC getting noticed for being a great city, lately!
@@MichaelChelen 20 min delays were common when they were doing a lot of much needed maintenance, but I haven't experienced them in the past few months. Usually don't have to wait more than 7 minutes recently
A lot of people talk about how DC needs another metro line through downtown, presumably on the north side between Georgetown and Union Station and then down to national Harbor.
There is still talk of making it happen. Separating the Blue line and giving it it's own East-West route from Georgetown to Union Station. It's been talked about so much it will probably happen eventually.
they want to build a line as you say to georgetown and then go under the river to rosslyn. it's extremely expensive, sadly. mostly due to tunneling. at one point they considered a completely bonkers gondola over the key bridge just to avoid it
The bloop is supposed to run roughly along those lines including a connection from National Harbor to Alexandria. However, the bigger problems are the extension of the metro out into VA and MD where overhead electrified light rail would be suited much better. Running a trunk of those through downtown and using metro to fill in the gaps would work so much better.
I moved to DC specifically to be in a walkable, transit oriented bigger city in the northeast corridor and it was a great decision. It's changing all the time and an interesting place to be as an urbanist.
DC is pretty nice to live in. There are three things I’d love to see: a more deliberate approach to densification with complementary infrastructure investments. The use of S-Bahn style rapid commuter trains (overhead wiring for speed and large trains for efficiency) to get people people from/to burbs more quickly, especially since VA and MD are good with high density development on suburban metro stops. A better system and modern rolling stock to increase frequency during rush hour. The blue loop (bloop) will hopefully fix some issues with thin connectivity and the bottleneck of the Roslyn tunnel. It’s also supposed to connect MD with VA across the Potomac, which would be great. Georgetown is excellent because we need a place to keep our tourists and having them somewhere no sane person needs to go is a genius idea. What’s even better is that some other parts of the city are starting to develop a YMBY attitude with Chevy Chase push back against an initiative to convert it to a historic district. All in all, I’m happy to call the place my home.
"Georgetown is excellent because we need a place to keep our tourists and having them somewhere no sane person needs to go is a genius idea" This makes perfect sense now. I always ghost any friends or family who ask: "Hey want to hang out in Georgetown this weekend?" wondering why any local person would ever want to go there. How about we hang out in a place I can metro to? Thanks.
Segregation existed way further north than just DC. The school district in my hometown in NY has its headquarters in what was previously the whites-only building of a segregated school which wasn't desegregated until 1943. Its desegregation was fought in court by none other than Thurgood Marshall, a prolific civil-rights lawyer, NAACP chief council, was eventually a Supreme Court Justice, and most notably was the lawyer on 'Brown v Board of Education', the Supreme Court case which outlawed segregation nation-wide. In general, following the Reconstruction era after the Civil War and the abolition of segregation in Brown v Board of Ed. the south actually ended up significantly more integrated than the north, which is still heavily segregated in many areas to this day; although segregated mostly by historical trends (e.g. white flight) and systemic classism and racism (e.g. redlining), and less so by laws.
Yeah, historically the desegregating of _Boston_ was viewed somewhat controversially. Things were _better_ for black people in the northern states, they were far less likely to face casual violence or be denied services, but things weren't exactly _ideal_ either.
I decided to tag on here and note that yes, segregation, both de facto and de jure are a huge reason US cities don't advance on urbanist principles! And yes, shameless plug for my channel, newsletter, and podcast @TheBlackUrbanist where I'm working to add more context. I'm so glad you enjoyed visiting, but yes, we are nowhere near as far as we need to be, because racism is still baked into so much of our urbanism.
Happy to see you visit Alexandria and the Del Ray area! The zoning fight in Alexandria (and Arlington) still isn't over, unfortunately. Both cities did manage to pass their respective reforms and also recently nominated mostly YIMBY candidates in the local Democrat primaries, but NIMBY residents in both cities have sued and are currently battling in court (even though I think they will lose). What's hilarious to me is that some of the worst opposition to the zoning reforms is coming from the wealthy residents in areas like Old Town. Ironically, many of them live in historic denser rowhomes which wouldn't be allowed to be built under single family zoning.
They're probably afraid that the old historic buildings will be torn down for modern buildings. Sounds more like a fight for historic preservation more than a fight against housing to me.
The problem with the DC Metro ridership stalling is that the types of people that would benefit the most from it haven't gotten an extension on the Maryland side in decades. Meanwhile VA seems to always enjoy endless expansion of the Metro further outward. The Maryland suburbs of Bowie, Lanham, Greenbelt, Beltsville, Laurel, National Harbor (Oxon Hill), Fort Washington (and possibly even Waldorf) would benefit so immensely from a Metro line expansion that hundreds of thousands of new daily riders would be added to the system. The last time I remember Maryland getting an extension was when the Blue line was extended from Addison Road to Largo Town Center. That was 20 yrs ago when I was 14 yrs old. Metro needs to start expanding East again.
Yeah it's definitely the lack of service to those communities, but it's also that the number of commuters has just flat out dropped. The suburbs have a lot more jobs than they used too, so all those people living in Montgomery County aren't commuting into the city anymore cause they found jobs closer to home. Then you have the increase in remote and hybrid jobs since the pandemic, which I'm sure has eaten a huge chunk out of ridership.
The Virginia expansion was driven by and partially funded by Dulles Airport. That said, the Silver line through Tysons, Reston, and Ashburn is great, and spurs continued development of an urban core thru Fairfax and Loudoun.
You guys are getting a whole purple line! Also I feel like the Maryland lines go to places where people actually live and work vs in Virginia they built them to places that will generate money for the state. Nobody lived in Tyson’s or anywhere on the silver line. Now that it’s open, they’ve been able to get some residents in luxury apartments near the stations. And it’s basically the same story for orange and blue. But the actual working class that public transport is and should be made for doesn’t have access. They’ve blocked a line down Columbia pike so many times simply because not enough money is there even though the population and density is. That doesn’t get talked about but should be.
20th year here and it’s always changing. Fantastic for multi modal transit. Riding a bike to work in 2007 was an adventure! Now it’s a top 3 US large metro for bikes. Great food as well but that’s probably another channel.
I ride the DC Metro often. I never knew that we had a door delay. It never even occurred to me. As for the changes, yikes, there were so many changes going on that I had to look up what was going on, and I found urbanism.
I’m so happy someone finally covered the Metropolitan Branch Trail (MBT) - I live alongside it and it’s my favorite part of the neighborhood - I hope to see further investment along the trail. It’s an example of what transportation infrastructure and communities in the US can look like when you remove cars - you were so close to seeing Alethia Tanner Park in your video!
I lived in DC proper for a few years before moving to SF shortly after Covid (and lived in the DMV for a few before that, so I was in/around dc and the metro a lot). I went back and visited DC last year to see a friend a catch up, and was absolutely amazed at the amount of new bike infrastructure and housing there was (esp housing!!! After living in SF for a bit now…). I also can’t stop hearing from friends how much better WMATA is now; that Randy guy is apparently transit Jesus. DC will always have a soft spot in my heart!
Really enjoyed the walks through gthe Capital Hill residential neighborhood, and Georgetown, with all those beautiful homes. Very underrated channel, one of the best urban planning sites on You Tube..
The flex pole layouts are often placeholders for building out the proper pedestrian sidewalk space! Check out the Intersections of E, 12th, and Maryland Ave NE for an example where they removed a segment of E in a few steps
As a DC native, thanks for covering the city. Our metro still has a long way to go, but hopefully the ongoing purple line construction in the north will help partially fix the coverage issues
3-5 sec is still pretty bad though. It should be less than 1. It doesn't sound like much but over the course of a line it can mean that you need another train, adding millions of dollars of expense
The cranes you show at 10:22 are for the Federal Reserve’s refurbishment project, where they are gutting and renovating several buildings, as well as integrating them as one interconnected campus.
Love the video; nice to see an urbanism channel review my city. Back when you guys did a video on why people don't use bike lanes, my comment was that I will *never* use a contra-flow bike lane after nearly getting flattened by a construction vehicle stopped at a right turn, when I had a green light. Well at 8:38 in this video, that's the contraflow lane I was talking about. A block or two (or three) to the north are a lot of new apartment buildings that were all built around the same time, and that is the very contra-flow lane that nearly took my life. After that day, I took a normal street instead. It might have annoyed the drivers, but I don't care - contra-flow nearly killed me.
This is a lovely viewpoint of the city. I love the energy of DC. I wish you could have provided some additional images from the Reagan airport. It is such fantastic architecture and has a cool historic vibe. I worked designing WiFi for both airports, and that allowed me to wander around all the concourses and terminals; it forced me to look up at the architecture more closely to determine mounting points for the wireless network infrastructure. It was also cool to see Alexandria showcased in your vlog. I love Alexandria. I've used it for family vacations and business trips. I enjoyed the walkable parks and downtown. I used the water taxi to cross over to the National Harbor tourist attraction with my kids. I enjoyed visiting the Gaylord Hotel there as well. DC has lots of memories for me. I've had business trips that took me to the Smithsonian museums as well--for designing the WiFi. I've also loved visiting the museums as a tourist. I'm so glad you captured so much about the city! Your vlog hits nearly all the experiences I remember. I wish you could have showcased some of the markets, like Union Market or Eastern Market, as attractive community sites to bring shopping and gathering space for residents. Related to bikes is the C&O Canal path winding westward to Cumberland, MD, and connecting to the GAP trail linking Pittsburgh, PA. I've also visited Georgetown University and the surrounding community.
My favorite bike trails are the Washington and Old Dominion trail from Shirlington all the way out to Purceville (44.7 miles) and the Mt. Vernon trail from DC down to Mt. Vernon.
@@xXUnoriginalNameXx33Meygaera I would love to see the Mt Vernon trail more. I noticed a nice trail along the waterfront of Alexandria, and it appears to connect to additional miles northward and southward. On foot, I didn't have time to continue exploring southward, but I found a nice park to use as a turnaround point. I visited Mt Vernon by car, but I would love to visit by bike. I saw bits of the greenway trail from the road.
DC definitely does not get the credit it deserves. Wide sidewalks, miles of paths and for running and paths, and parks all over the city. Only obviously NYC is above it. Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco I put above it and the latter two barely. Glad you all discussed the door delay problem. It’s definitely annoying and in the back of our mind, we thought they could skip that station lol.
Pretty accurate description of the core of DC. Loved your comment on how bike parking in Georgetown is not historic. There’s a hint of understanding about developing better road design, so as to include bikes and walking, but there’s a big need for improvement. For example, I try to avoid biking through Georgetown as there is a 90% chance of getting doored there. Beautiful but deadly.
its a little irritating to me that they only mentioned georgetown as being under a historic reservation district. DC has 30 historic neighborhoods, including dupont circle, shaw, mount pleasent, capital hill, and even some across the anacostia. its definitely not a georgetown thing. everywhere with a lot of rowhouses is essentially a historic district in dc
@@cbaylor7382 Yes, I think it has name recognition because of Georgetown University, so they headed there. There are many places not as rich but more interesting.
I live in DC never even noticed the door delay or even thought about it. But now I will!! Dang it I want my blissful obliviousness back. On a serious note though glad you guys visited our lovely city.
DC is quite well designed! What’s nice is that the urbanism can also be found a decent distance outside of downtown, even making its way into lower-density parts of the city. Brookland, for example, is a low-density neighborhood, for the most part, but has some really good TOD by its Metro station (this density is definitely helped by Catholic University being right there). The single-family houses, however, are spaced close together and are in a section of the neighborhood that’s very pleasant to walk through!
@@onurbschrednei4569 A lot of it looks fairly new. While it’s not at all the same as downtown, they have created a nice urban space right around the Metro station!
@@29downtheline I really like that they reused the architectural style of the Catholic university for those new apartment buildings. It has so much more atmosphere than the soulless cubes in Navy Yard.
@@onurbschrednei4569 CUA definitely has some good architecture! I also prefer nice stone- and brickwork to soulless cubes. I’m definitely more of a fan of more traditional architecture! Funny enough, I’ll even go as far as saying I dislike brutalism (with the one exception being the Metro).
@@29downthelineThey don't make brick like that anymore and the skills are gone and it'd be too expensive anyway. So all the brick buildings now look fake and soulless. Give me a building that uses modern materials tastefully. I like a lot of brutalism. Concrete has texture and many of those 60's buildings looks much better and organic than those tacky 80's buildings with unfriendly reflective glass everywhere.
I'm glad you got out to bits of VA and covered a few distinct areas in the city. I would have visited Rock Creek Park, particularly the part above the Zoo. It is often overlooked unlike say Central Park in NYC. Here citizens managed to convince the NPS to close Beach Ave to cars forever after it was closed for construction and during the pandemic. Probably some people (not myself) might have been curious about nightlife and sports, those sorts of things. Although people might say the door delay (no longer there with autodoors returning) is no big deal people here complain about their commute in tones of ways. WMATA's ridership is on pace to recover to 2019 levels in about 2 more years. This is about when the MTA's light rail in the MD inner suburbs will start service. The DC streetcar system has lost favor since Grey proposed it, but I can see it coming back with a Sydney overhead wire free version that placates critics. Much of NW is pretty locked up development wise. There are battles over homeless shelter sites and bike lanes being allowed by the ultra-wealthy who have plenty of single family homes in NW or come down Conn. Ave to the city center. The areas being rebuilt the most are down near Navy Yard and near Union Station to the east of it. Union station itself is slated to be redeveloped and has been given fully to Amtrak recently. I could go on but this is a long reply already.
Forget about Sydney -- we already have the technology right HERE. Modern streetcars in Dallas and OKC use batteries to go off-wire for significant parts of their runs.
@@colormedubious4747 Batteries are not as good a solution as just having it in the ground. They cost more and you cannot run the light rail on batteries all day. Alstom's solution is much better than batteries. It doesn't cost more than overhead either.
@@drwho9437 The examples I cited are NOT Light Rail. They are streetcars that weigh FAR less than LRVs and they do NOT "run all day" on batteries. They run on batteries only along relatively short segments that lack overhead catenary and they recharge when dwelling at wired stops. It works VERY well. Pro tip: the "light" in "light rail" does NOT refer to weight. It refers to CAPACITY. Light rail vehicles are more massive than heavy rail vehicles because they have to emerge victorious in collisions with cars.
I really like living in DC, but I think the main issue with the city is it feels manufactured... because it was. I really felt this while visiting Philly, where there were many blue collar neighbourhoods with affordable restaurants and shops all around, aimed at the average person. DC doesn't really have that. It's all very "federal" and "uniform", at best you'll get sandwich shops selling overpriced mid sandwiches. DC Chinatown is a joke. All the vibrant and ethnic stuff is locked away in the suburbs. DC is clean, but sometimes it can feel sterile. And those are two very different feelings.
DC's chinatown is interesting because it used to be incredibly vibrant before Capital One Arena priced out all of the Chinese Residents. Thankfully, Rockville, Annandale, Eden Center, and Centreville are great for organic and vibrant East Asian businesses and neighborhoods.
@@madhavmaniraj442 Interesting! I wonder if that'd change with the Caps moving to Crystal City now... probably not. Rockville has good food, but being in the surbubs the vibes just aren't the same, not to mention that as a nova resident it takes bricks for me to get there lol
@@louiszhang3050 The Virginia legislature slammed the door shut on that; Caps are staying downtown. I'm also a NoVA resident, and while its a long haul indeed to get downtown, we really are spoiled when it comes to some of our neighborhoods. Centreville and Annandale for getting Korean food at all hours of the night. I've heard it often said as well that D.C. has the best Peruvian chicken to be found anywhere outside of that country itself. We're really spoiled for flavors around here being such a cosmopolitan city, matched only by a few.
Moved to DC three years ago and LOVE it! I lived in Asia for 6 years and Europe for 6 years and now that I'm in DC I couldn't be happier! Every city has pros and cons, and DC's pros far outnumber the contras of shady areas of violence, shady areas of trash, and a bit overpriced. Free museums, amazingly awesome cultural activities, great festivals, world-class concerts, NBA/NHL/NFL/MLB, great restaurants, top-notch universities, walkability, national monuments, true diversity, etc. I adore this city. New York, London, Berlin, Los Angeles, Zurich, Brussels, Rome, Chicago, Toronto---all fantastic, but after visiting them all, I prefer DC for living. It is SO underrated.
I lived in DC for five years so I was already psyched when I saw this video pop up but then you went on to say that you explored Columbia Heights and Adams Morgan - the two neighborhoods that I lived in during my time there - and I nearly lost it! I recognized pretty much every street that you showed. Regarding Georgetown, part of the reason that the neighborhood is infested with cars (beyond it being an extremely wealthy area where residents can afford them) is that there is no Metro station in the neighborhood. There are several bus lines that serve Georgetown (DC has an excellent bus system) but you certainly wouldn't find a "typical" Georgetown resident taking the bus. They'll drive. The city's political status (or should I say, lack thereof) has severe implications for DC's ability to enact change and protect itself from targeted agendas. This was probably most evident on Jan 6 2021, during the Capitol insurrection. Because it's not a state, DC does not have it's own National Guard. So, Mayor Bowser (DC only has a mayor, no governor) had to call the director of the MARYLAND National Guard and wait for them to determine if a deployment of troops was warranted. Unfortunately, given the current political climate, the fight for DC statehood (which has been ongoing for many decades) is really unlikely without widespread national support. DC is a Democratic stronghold; out of 700k residents, only about 15k-20k regularly vote Republican. Anyway, so glad to hear that you two enjoyed your time in DC! It's an amazing city that's undergone a lot of radical transformations in multiple ways in the past few decades. DC is definitely still built for cars, but it's been making a lot of positive strides toward making the city a great place for residents, not just job commuters.
It really baffles me that the DC metro doesn't have higher ridership, especially given how horrible DC traffic is. It's far and away the nicest metro system that I have ever been on. The DC metro is actually a pleasant place to be, unlike every other metro that I have used, with the high vaulted ceilings and artificial cooling on both trains and in stations. But then, I suffer from claustrophobia, such that I nearly had an anxiety attack on the Mexico City metro last week because of the very severe crowding, low ceilings, and stuffy hot air in the stations and on trains. Maybe it's not true for many people who aren't claustrophobic that the spaciousness of the DC metro is more pleasant than the smaller spaces of other underground metros. And certainly lowering the prices would be helpful to encourage ridership. Heck, just simplifying the prices to increments of $0.25 would be helpful because the prices would be more comprehensible.
I live in DC. For people who live in the core of the city, the Metro is often the best choice. However, driving is often still faster, cheaper, and more convenient for many commuters, as well as for people in outlying residential neighborhoods (think Deanwood, Hillcrest, Manor Park, Brightwood Park). Personally, I have to drive to my nearest metro station (or take a 25 minute walk). Our 7000 series trains are very nice, but it's still louder and less comfortable taking your own vehicle.
Yes, it is not used enough, but this is because it doesn’t serve the entire D.C. area, which has the majority of potential trips. Metro doesn’t connect these outer, suburban areas together. I live in Bethesda, but to get to College Park, 14 miles away, requires a car. If you take Metro, you go into the heart of D.C. and back out again: Train time: one hour, 54 minutes; Car Time: 25 minutes. Metro was created in the 1970’s for commutes into the city. Its design structure is outdated. Whenever, I go downtown, I take Bus/Metro, but it’s difficult to impossible to travel sideways.
@@Faceplant_Horticulturist It partly addresses the rim connecting the spokes, but it doesn’t connect from Bethesda to Tyson’s Corner-which geographically are quite close. Also, Purple Line, which I’m waiting for, is not totally dedicated. That’s ridiculous.
The other answers are right, but there's another factor at play. Some people who live in the suburbs and work downtown, will nonetheless drive because many Americans have internalized the message that public transportation is bad, and they would rather spend more money to sit for hours in a car by themselves than in a bus or subway car with other people.
I was hoping you all would touch on Wards 7 and 8 to point out the stark difference in infrastructure compared to more well cared for parts of the city
DC has the best bikeshare system in the country! Usage rates are skyrocketing, prices are so much lower than other cities (because the District government owns it,) and it's maybe the most beloved transportation feature in the district behind WMATA.
What are the odds on this? I literally just got back from DC half an hour ago. Seriously, though, as someone who lives in a massive transit desert, DC was amazing. The Metro was SO good. I got a multi-day pass, used it plenty. Literally got to Union Station, got my pass, saw the line I needed leave right before my eyes, only to realize another one was coming in less than 5 minutes. The frequency meant I didn't have to plan around a bus schedule or time things with an Uber. And the City is honestly just beautiful. Also, in my town, people running red lights, stop signs, refusing to yield to pedestrians, etc are all commonplace. In DC I actually felt safe walking places, and I'm sure it'd be similar biking. My only complaint is affordability. Most places are a toss-up price wise between hole in the wall and price gouging "upscale", most things are somewhat expensive, and I figure it's the same with housing. I'd move to DC if I could afford it.
I am always surprised by how patient and polite DC drivers are to cyclists and pedestrians. At least compared to, say, Virginia. You are right about affordability. You can't live in DC on less than $100K.
11:11 that footage looks straight out of Montreal! Of course, with an American twist. Still, the neighbourhoods you've shown look very fun to explore. Adding DC to my list.
7:58 things like paint or plastic bollards serve well to create pilot projects to help build buy in and provide a trial period before spending money on more expensive and more permanent asphalt and concrete.
I think historic districts are very important for preserving the neighborhood's history and character. Those old neighborhoods are the last surviving remnants of bygone eras passed down to the younger generation. That's not only important to preserve, but it also gives the city a sense of pride knowing that their generation is continuing a rich legacy. These historic districts are integral part of DC's identity as one of America's most historic and important cities. DC wouldn't be DC without them.
It's a delicate balance. There is a real and legitimate purpose behind it, but also can be used specifically to exclude development and density. In a DC neighborhood (Chevy Chase) the neighbors made an argument that a parking lot was subject to historical preservation and can't be built upon.
Thank you for the wonderful DC content🙂 We are so glad you enjoyed the cool, tree-lined, wide sidewalks and protected cycle lanes of Capitol Hill and Columbia Heights!!! What should we advocate for next with our bicycle network?
Haha, I understand your annoyance with the door delay. I still miss the older Karlsruhe trams that would open the doors just a moment before coming to a complete stop.
Interesting take on DC and its urban qualities. Hope you got to check out Eastern Market. Culturally, people forget that the city (along with Maryland and Virginia) is/was culturally southern, hence your Adams Morgan anecdote. It is a very cosmopolitan city today. . . . I personally don't mind certain exclusive historic districts like Old Town Alexandria or Georgetown. They tend to be quite beautiful, and non-residents can enjoy spending time in such neighborhoods, even if they don't live there.
DC has really turned its transit situation around over the last 10 years. Randy Clarke is part of that, but so it lots of new people and money moving into the city
I remember once doing a Society and Spaces module in my History Degree. Apparently part of the reason behind extremely strict historical preservation laws is due to a time before hand when urban planners and corporations took a very different approach and would pave over historic neighbourhoods with highways and other infrastructure designed to "facilitate modern transit" and "make American cities centres of business for the modern world" with Robert Moses's "Meat ax" approach being perhaps the most famous as part of the Suburban Revolution. And making the historical preservation laws so absolute was in order to prevent developers from completely erasing the traditional character of a given location. That said it is far more nuanced a discussion than that.
I was amazed when I took the DC Metro. The frequency, outlying TOD, core city coverage, and cleanliness blew BART out of the water. Then again that's not saying much...
DC is really an eclectic mix for the US. The unstated driver of all this urbanism is that the District and most of the surrounding counties are loaded. They, have money to design, unique, urbanist settings, either in existing neighborhoods in the city or the inner core, or brand new developments I would in the far reaches of the sprawl. There are some great designed developments that people really like to live in such as Columbia, Maryland or Reston, Virginia. Metro was a complete dumpster fire on wheels about 8 yrs ago. It has gotten much better since then, though Part of that is because fewer people ride it now
Reston Town Center has evolved into an urban delight, especially since the new Metro station opened. Columbia, on the other hand, is truly an urbanist dumpster fire. It was designed to be car-centric and remains so to this day. It is full of nasty stroads, including those that circle a typical suburban "box-full-o-stores" floating in an endless sea of asphalt that some scammer originally named "Columbia Town Center." Columbia has NO true town center. It is dangerously unwalkable and unbikeable. It is NOT a good example. It is a horrible warning.
@@colormedubious4747 I agree with that about Columbia, MD - all the principles it was designed on fell flat on its face in reality. Reston, VA development is much newer and is a much better example of urbanist development
@@xXUnoriginalNameXx33Meygaera Actually, both were founded at roughly the same time. Reston is slightly OLDER, having been founded in 1964. Columbia was founded in 1967. While it WAS included in the original plan along with the mixed-use zoning proposals to enable its future build-out, construction of Reston Town Center began 24 years after Reston's founding, and the Metro station opened 58 years after Reston's founding. I have fond memories of visiting the site of Lake Anne's excavation with my father to help him "liberate" a huge rock from what would become the bottom of the lake that he wanted to place in a garden bed in our front yard 21 miles away. Getting that thing home in the back of a rag-top Mustang was quite the adventure!
I have visited Washington DC (and Alexandria) over the years, and find there is always something to see and explore. Now I would like to visit Arlington, after seeing this video. I find, though, that the blocks in the center are massive and I miss the prevalence of stores outside the commercial corridors (compared to Philadelphia, where I live).
Thanks for including Arlington! I have admit I would have been curious to see your takes on Tysons Corner. The Silver line is leading to a lot of change on an area that was previously so car dependent
One positive to the delay: you don’t need to be standing at the doors when the train stops! You a wait for the train to stop and then stand up, which is good for those who are less steady on their feet. I lived in Paris for a while and got in the habit of being right in front of the doors when we arrived at my station so I could be sure I could get out (and faster transit is awesome!) but there is something nice about that buffer time.
I agree, especially when the train is more full and you have to navigate crowds. I know overall the faster opening is better but I have gotten used to not having to rush.
I don't think that Georgetown's historic preservation is an issue. It's better to have those limits to preserve American history, than have a bunch of crappy modernist structures overtaking the area's charm.
Exactly! Georgetown is also one of the most urban and densely built neighborhoods in the DC area already. Start urbanizing the suburbs before tearing down historic buildings.
Georgetown is a very historic area. Also where a well known Exorcism happened (corner of Prospect and 36th ave) . Down the escarpment is also the Cheseapeake and Ohio canal that used to bring coal to Washington. And there is the bike path along the Potomac, the shopping mall/park and just to south the Watergate complex and John F Kennedy Center for fine arts. It is where senior people in government want to live because it is quiet and historic, and that is why it is so expensive. Those homes aren't cheap. Asking for affordable housing would be akin to you asking for homes in upper Westmount be demolished to make way for affordable housing. Georgetown commute to high end government workplaces is easy/short.
there are also over 30 historic residential districts in dc. Including neighborhoods included in the georgetown comparison like capital hill, dupont, u street, logan circle. There are affordable historic districts across the river in anacostia. Either they didnt look up what neighborhoods are historic districts or they did and didnt bother to mark them in that bar chart they showed. Pretty poorly done either way.
Not just any well known Exorcism, but the one that served as the inspiration for the movie the Exorcist! The movie had several shots from Georgetown and there's a lot of spots like the Georgetown Exorcist steps that became famous from the movie!
There are always going to be enclaves of wealth and privilege in every metro area. Although not a utopian ideal, I have no problem with those with the money and resources to live in and preserve certain historic enclaves.. even if they become a concentration of wealth. That being said, the size and scope of such areas should be contained and guaranteeing access to those areas for everyone should be a priority. I have no significant issues with Georgetown as it exists today.. except, it would be nice (although expensive) to extend the metro to have a stop in that neighborhood.
Only been there through Fallout 3, so thanks for the reference! Always appreciate the positive outlook you have. Highlight the good, and encourage more of it!
I live in nova, which obviously is the burbs and has those problems, but the bike infrastructure is so good with so many multi use trails on the side of so many roads, even roads with bike gutters, which lets you bike anywhere you want, including to dc or the metro which is around a 15 min drive
I live in Montreal, and I absolutely deteste needing multiple OPUS cards. It used to just be one card! I can't waint for just tap to p[ay with my credit card like in Toronto.
You can upload ypur OPUS card on your phone in Montreal . The cost of monthly fares are half the cost of Toronto . Toronto subway is old, noisy , slow and falling apart . Toronto just got cell phone network on the subway in 2023-2024. People get stabbed and beaten everyday including rats, dark non aesthetic stations.. Toronto has only 2 lines.
Thanks for coming to DC! It's my favorite city that I've lived in, in the US. I think the historic rowhouse neighborhoods you talk about are not as problematic as you think. Many are being converted to multi-unit houses once they get abandoned. Plus, it's not the main problem for US housing costs. While I love DC, I would be happy to live in any American city that has great walkability and public transit. Unfortunately, there's like 4 here in the USA that fit that criteria. DC housing is expensive because nearly every other city in America is trash.
This is kind of unrelated but god the visual at 4:03 makes me want to visit New York. I can't believe the scale of that subway system. It's also kinda fun thinking about the ridership numbers in terms of the proportion to their city's population.
Most people only see Washington -- the politicians, bland architecture, and tourists. But if you look, it isn't hard to see that DC vibrant and soulful. DC is diverse, both economically and racially, it's filled with distinct neighborhoods that each have their own feel, and it's filled with art, music, nightlife, and great food. Our size is kind of perfect in that the city geographically isn't all that big and it sort of has a small town feel, but also the transit is good enough where you can explore a lot of what Maryland and Virginia have to offer. San Francisco is a good comparison where it's not all that big, but it's closely connected to the rest of the Bay area. The drawbacks of DC are the same as all the other "liberal" cities -- the cost of living is out of control, housing in particular is too expensive, tons of racial inequality, too many police, too much segregation, etc. But you'll find those problems anywhere else in America, too. I wouldn't quite say that DC is "cool," but I'm really grateful to live here.
I'm surprised you mentioned Georgetown without talking about how disconnected it is from the Metro. It was an intentional choice from residents at the time to keep out 'others'. This is a large reason why walking, biking, and driving in the area is more unpleasant than it should be.
The surrounding area is also getting way better! With the purple line being done maybe later next year. And additions being done to the w and od trail it's shockingly easy to live car lite. Now if we can just get a something between Bethesda and Tysons, like a train of some sort! The next generation 8000 trains are going to be amazing. With Marc and Amtrak it is pretty easy to get to Baltimore and BWI and East Coast.
I think you guys missed an opportunity to cover DC's downtown, which is one of the bigger downtowns in America....even though its height capped, DC's downtown is HUGE. I used to live there and often said Downtown DC is just a shorter height Vancouver, that has the similar area and density. Llike many channels that cover DC, you too missed this opportunity.
Haven’t taken WMATA however, IMHO, having a few seconds between when the train stops and the doors open would be quite handy for getting yourself and your stuff together before getting off of the train.
I 100% disagree with the comment on historic preservation. We should be focusing our attention on far far far less dense suburban areas than well designed dense urban neighborhoods. The lowest hanging fruit are the giant suburban stroads. Leave Georgetown alone.
@pizzajona They can if they want to. Urbanization provides more options for everybody, and at the moment there aren’t enough options because there’s a lack of housing.
@@pizzajonawhy do you think people wanna live in Georgetown? It’s precisely BECAUSE of the historic character of the neighborhood. It would be insanely stupid do destroy the thing that makes people wanna live there in the first place. If you just want a waterfront area, move to the much cheaper Navy Yard. And there’s still lots of areas in DC that are WAYY less densely built than Georgetown.
@@onurbschrednei4569 I think all neighborhoods should be zoned according to the market. So if what you’re saying is true, then developers won’t build in Georgetown and will instead build in other areas of DC. Do you support this?
@@onurbschrednei4569this is so on point. People often forget how important aesthetics are to life quality. The problem is not that it’s historic, it’s more that there is more demand to live in a place like this. We could try to implement this kind of DC architecture outside of the Georgetown in a more modern way. More high rise that maintain the character of DC instead of being buildings that look like they could be anywhere from Texas to China. If a city looses it’s cultural identity, it will also loose its appeal. Just look at cities like Buffalo. If they had not demolished everything, maybe there would be a bigger incentive to make it important again. The way to go is to make it so that everyone can enjoy “pretty” architecture. Especially in a city like DC or Boston.
On the topic of segregation: segregation was commonplace in every american state until well after brown v board (when segregation was ruled unconstitutional in 1955). Many school districts needed federal oversight to force integration and the process was slow even then. In my city supposedly progressive city, Boston, the bussing crisis in the 1970s signified how much resistance there was. The national guard has to be brought in, there was rioting etc. Oh and NYC public schools are more segregated now than they were in the 1950s. Go figure
I understand your points about issues with historic preservation, but I wish you had made more clear that most o the city is not covered by such rules. Columbia Heights for example, where you stayed, has really developed a lot in the last ~25 years since the Green Line construction finished.
0:46 The San Francisco Bay Area’s 9 counties has a population of 7.76 million. It is really odd that it doesn’t count as one metropolitan area. It is connected by BART as the DC area is connected by the Metro.
@@OhTheUrbanity The Bay Area is kind of its own entity with three major population centers, all of which draw commuters from each other and Central Valley cities from Sacramento to Modesto. The Link21 project reflects that reality. Even the pro sports teams have changed cities within the Bay Area.
You're right about cars being ugly in preserved areas, but also....flex posts are ugly too! It's encouraging to see any bike infrastructure at all in the U.S., but Americans need to not settle for a bit of paint and some flex posts. Sure, use them to test out a new idea, but then the aim should be to replace them with proper infrastructure as soon as the test is proven to be working.
![ILLSLICK - THE KING'S LANDING [Freestyle]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/feIJJnNkTfk/mqdefault.jpg)
As a DC area native thanks for reviewing our city, it’s far from perfect but our metro system has shown great post pandemic success (around 60-70% recovery) under the new GM Randy Clarke. I’d also argue that the DC Metro has the least amount of “susness” compared to most other US cities. Lots of new housing is being constructed keeping housing prices from going to NYC or SF levels. DC isn’t very big, so bikability is slowly getting better with paths and lanes. Outside of downtown where all the government is DC is a like any other city with food, retail housing etc. I hope to be able to afford to live here as costs keep rising. Arlington and Alexandria are also really solid urban suburbs.
Yeah in my couple of years of riding DC Metro I've rarely ever experienced anything sus, even late nights or early mornings. The only one I remember was a time when a homeless man clearly was waiting for me to go through the turnstile so he can sneak right behind me. But that's it.
All my homies love Randy Clarke!
I’ve been been on both BART and DC Metro recently, I’d say they are probably the best when it comes to safeness and cleanliness on trains and stations. This is what happens when you actually give proper funding to your public transit.
Agreed. I think the local population also understands you need to organize locally and fight politically to make livable cities. Probably because they work in the government!
@@louisjohnson3755 cleanliness on Bart??
The 15-second delay is fixed as of July 8!
oh good, no more feeling like i'm being rickrolled everytime i'm there and waiting to alight
Oh, that explains it. I literally just got back from DC and used the Metro tons. Had no idea what they meant with the delay since I hadn't experienced it. Good to hear they finally fixed it.
To be precise autodoors are back on all lines not just the Red line.
ATO should eventually return but WMATA does go rather slowly due to the safety incidents mentioned here and the resulting tight oversight.
5:30 yeah!
oh shit really? Haven't been into the city much this summer.
I'm Australian but I've always felt like DC was incredibly underrated after visiting. I adored the Metro and was impressed by all the bike lanes, parks and tree lined streets. the buildings were grand but with limited height it still felt grounded and people friendly. Very easy to get around as well.
I think Aussies think it will be like Canberra and then are surprised it’s a big vibrant city 😅
But unlike Canberra, its citizens can't vote for Congressional representation.
DC is the prettiest and most underrated city in the country. Hands down
I would say the most underrated city is Boston but now because of the internet too many people are starting to realize Boston exists now it’s a properly rated city, so now that title of the most underrated city goes to DC by default
I visited Washington DC in 2021. It was quite urbanist With a good metro system, lots of walkability and lively neighborhoods, it’s basically the sort of city that competes with the other major urbanist cities in the US
What’s an urbanist city? Doesn’t urban equate with city?
@@krspurrier Urbanist means it has good city design. Urban means its dense
Yet another excellent analysis from two eloquent and well-informed urbanists. What emerges from several of their videos is that most American and Canadian cities are in the process of improving themselves along urbanist principles. Each is making different levels and paces of progress, and each is solving its own problems by particularizing those principles. Urban planning and related professions are attracting many young people, and most of them have cut their teeth on the best urbanist YT channels. Progress is in the air.
That’s a good perspective and it’s important to remember the progress that has been made, particularly in the last 10 years in these cities
I've lived in the area for 17 years and it's amazing to see the changes (almost all for the better) in DC and the surrounding area. The two biggest problems are that housing remains WAY too expensive & cars are still considered the default means of transportation for policy makers. The needle is moving, but it's a struggle every danged step of the way. And a lot of leadership *cough* Bowser *cough* do everything they can to undercut progress.
Agreed, the bike & pedestrian infrastructure has come a long way, though much is still uneven quality (like the unprotected lanes shown).
Nobody likes Bowser yet she is reelected again and again and again😂
@@pavelow235 She's got backers with deep pockets.
DC government are assholes speed cameras everywhere.
It is a great city where you can get around without a car for the most part.
It is getting so many inmprovements it shows.
Of course like other places that see so much change it is getting more expensive but it has been at least for the past 3 decades.
You don't have own two or 3 cars to get around either.
Moving to alexandria va in a month. I'll be less than a 5 minute walk from the metro and I'm excited for my first experience living in an urban area. Finally out of the burbs.
We used to live in Alexandria, I still miss it every day. If you’re into food, I recommend Chop Shop for tacos, Chewish Deli for bagels, and Andy’s Pizza for a NY-style slice. For sit-down dining, there’s an incredible hidden gem called Le Refuge in Old Town that serves excellent French food, and for coffee/cafés we always loved going to Misha’s, Café du Soleil, and Swing’s. If you’re into bikes, there’s a cool indie shop down by the Old Town waterfront called Big Wheel Bikes with the chillest most helpful dudes and there’s a cool bike cooperative in Del Ray called Vélocity that has great community outreach programs. There’s a local-ish chain called Conte’s that handles all of the more cutting edge stuff and organizes many group rides. There’s also Trek stores, Sun&Ski shops, and REI throughout the region if you need other options.
Welcome to the neighborhood!!!!
Technically Alexandria is a suburb of DC, but I get what you mean.
@@Kodeb8it’s technically an independent city. And the regions urban core consist of DC, Arlington, and Alexandria
Alx and Arl are more urban than many parts of DC proper, especially west of rock creek park
Welcome! We have a thriving urbanist advocacy scene here, hope to see you out there! Check out BPAC for bike/ped advocacy, YIMBYs of nova for housing, and Grassroots Alexandria for transit (though they all work together too)
10:21 Alexandria implemented elimination of single family zoning and people are still upset and keeping up their signs for a long time now
Not to mention suing to roll back the reform
Strong nimby vibes
Also in that neighborhood most of the time when a SFH is sold, it is sold to a developer who demolishis, it down cuts down all of the tree canpy and bulds a 4000+ SF 6 bed Modren farmhouse Mcmachion that covers almost all of the lot and cost 2+ millon. But apererilay that doesn't destroy the neighborhood chatterer.
@@ellawhite5167should've been turned into a 69 m tall apartment complex
I’m an Alexandria resident and the nimby sentiment is so annoying, considering our city would be illegal to build with the zoning laws the NIMBYs were defending! Nothing more hypocritical than seeing a duplex with a sign defending laws that make building new duplexes illegal lol
DC was my home for 7 years, I moved to Austin for school and will be moving back when my partner is done with her degree. I miss it very much.
I'm planning on doing that as well. Going to Columbus for school, then 100% going to move back to the DMV. Love it here.
I grew up near Philadelphia, but lived in DC for 14yrs (from 2006-2020). I was there for the Metro collision, for the decades of single-tracking for 'trackwork', for the fires, for the nonsense! But living now in Denver, I think I didn't appreciate Metro enough when I was there.
I don't know that I appreciated DC enough, in general. It's an expensive city, and I found that difficult since I worked in service 13 of my 14 years there. But it is a beautiful city. I lived mostly in Eckington (north of NoMa) in a group house. But I also lived in Adams Morgan for a time (I worked in Adams Morgan, as well, for 3 years). And in hindsight there is a lot about DC that is so great. It is deeply urban, walkable, transit-oriented, cultural, vibrant. I miss it.
“We actually didn't know that schools had formal racial segregation as far north as DC and even Maryland.”
Shoot! Schools in Boston didn’t desegregate until 1974 and it wasn’t a pretty scene when they did.
Also, Montreal’s city hall was opened 10 years before the Eisenhower Office Building.
Ah, you're right on the dates of the two buildings (the Eisenhower building did start construction a year earlier, but probably not enough to be the actual inspiration). It seems my reading of the source ("Montreal in evolution", 1975, Jean-Claude Marsan, p. 319) was a little wrong. It compares the styles but doesn't directly claim that City Hall came from the Eisenhower building:
“Whether this style [Second Empire], which rained universal popularity, reached Montreal directly from France or indirectly through England and the States is open to question, but the latter route is more likely for, in Montreal, the style has lost a great deal of its strength. From a standpoint of style, Montreal’s City Hall is closer to the State War and Navy Building in Washington [now the Eisenhower Executive Office Building]”
I'm pretty sure almost every US city had segregated schools until the mid twentieth century
@@OhTheUrbanityYeah, Philadelphia City Hall is also Second Empire, so of course also shares similar designs characteristics and language. Still the tallest masonry building, and was once the tallest in the world
@@carstarsarstenstesenn, no. There was de facto segregation where it was technically not illegal for children to be enrolled together, but housing patterns and private school choices caused high degree of separation. That is still an issue, as in NYC, one of the most segregated systems in the country. Then there was de jure (by law) segregation. Laws requiring separation by race were in force in every state that had legal slavery as of 1860, including states like Kentucky and Maryland and Delaware that did not secede. It was also law in some states like Oklahoma and Kansas that were not slave states.
Unfortunately schools are still incredibly segregated
I've lived in DC on and off my whole life and Metro is my happy place. Like you mentioned, the door delayed hasn't always been the case and it has frustrated me lately. I'm happy to hear it explained and happy to know that might be changing soon. Good to see DC getting noticed for being a great city, lately!
I've never noticed the door delay... but I definitely notice when there's 20 min delay between trains 😅
@@MichaelChelen 20 min delays were common when they were doing a lot of much needed maintenance, but I haven't experienced them in the past few months. Usually don't have to wait more than 7 minutes recently
@@rowenaeureka2469 That's good to hear! For awhile after pandemic it seemed like fewer trains were running, glad things have picked back up.
A lot of people talk about how DC needs another metro line through downtown, presumably on the north side between Georgetown and Union Station and then down to national Harbor.
NIMBYs in Georgetown will never make it happen...
There is still talk of making it happen. Separating the Blue line and giving it it's own East-West route from Georgetown to Union Station. It's been talked about so much it will probably happen eventually.
they want to build a line as you say to georgetown and then go under the river to rosslyn. it's extremely expensive, sadly. mostly due to tunneling. at one point they considered a completely bonkers gondola over the key bridge just to avoid it
The bloop is supposed to run roughly along those lines including a connection from National Harbor to Alexandria. However, the bigger problems are the extension of the metro out into VA and MD where overhead electrified light rail would be suited much better. Running a trunk of those through downtown and using metro to fill in the gaps would work so much better.
A lot of DC still doesn't have metro service and needs it.
I moved to DC specifically to be in a walkable, transit oriented bigger city in the northeast corridor and it was a great decision. It's changing all the time and an interesting place to be as an urbanist.
DC is pretty nice to live in. There are three things I’d love to see: a more deliberate approach to densification with complementary infrastructure investments. The use of S-Bahn style rapid commuter trains (overhead wiring for speed and large trains for efficiency) to get people people from/to burbs more quickly, especially since VA and MD are good with high density development on suburban metro stops. A better system and modern rolling stock to increase frequency during rush hour.
The blue loop (bloop) will hopefully fix some issues with thin connectivity and the bottleneck of the Roslyn tunnel. It’s also supposed to connect MD with VA across the Potomac, which would be great.
Georgetown is excellent because we need a place to keep our tourists and having them somewhere no sane person needs to go is a genius idea. What’s even better is that some other parts of the city are starting to develop a YMBY attitude with Chevy Chase push back against an initiative to convert it to a historic district.
All in all, I’m happy to call the place my home.
"Georgetown is excellent because we need a place to keep our tourists and having them somewhere no sane person needs to go is a genius idea"
This makes perfect sense now.
I always ghost any friends or family who ask: "Hey want to hang out in Georgetown this weekend?"
wondering why any local person would ever want to go there.
How about we hang out in a place I can metro to? Thanks.
I only ever go to George Town for its AMC location. Most of the shops down there are overpriced
Segregation existed way further north than just DC. The school district in my hometown in NY has its headquarters in what was previously the whites-only building of a segregated school which wasn't desegregated until 1943.
Its desegregation was fought in court by none other than Thurgood Marshall, a prolific civil-rights lawyer, NAACP chief council, was eventually a Supreme Court Justice, and most notably was the lawyer on 'Brown v Board of Education', the Supreme Court case which outlawed segregation nation-wide.
In general, following the Reconstruction era after the Civil War and the abolition of segregation in Brown v Board of Ed. the south actually ended up significantly more integrated than the north, which is still heavily segregated in many areas to this day; although segregated mostly by historical trends (e.g. white flight) and systemic classism and racism (e.g. redlining), and less so by laws.
Yeah, historically the desegregating of _Boston_ was viewed somewhat controversially. Things were _better_ for black people in the northern states, they were far less likely to face casual violence or be denied services, but things weren't exactly _ideal_ either.
I decided to tag on here and note that yes, segregation, both de facto and de jure are a huge reason US cities don't advance on urbanist principles! And yes, shameless plug for my channel, newsletter, and podcast @TheBlackUrbanist where I'm working to add more context. I'm so glad you enjoyed visiting, but yes, we are nowhere near as far as we need to be, because racism is still baked into so much of our urbanism.
Happy to see you visit Alexandria and the Del Ray area!
The zoning fight in Alexandria (and Arlington) still isn't over, unfortunately. Both cities did manage to pass their respective reforms and also recently nominated mostly YIMBY candidates in the local Democrat primaries, but NIMBY residents in both cities have sued and are currently battling in court (even though I think they will lose).
What's hilarious to me is that some of the worst opposition to the zoning reforms is coming from the wealthy residents in areas like Old Town. Ironically, many of them live in historic denser rowhomes which wouldn't be allowed to be built under single family zoning.
Old town residents: urbanism for me, but not for thee!
They're probably afraid that the old historic buildings will be torn down for modern buildings. Sounds more like a fight for historic preservation more than a fight against housing to me.
The problem with the DC Metro ridership stalling is that the types of people that would benefit the most from it haven't gotten an extension on the Maryland side in decades. Meanwhile VA seems to always enjoy endless expansion of the Metro further outward.
The Maryland suburbs of Bowie, Lanham, Greenbelt, Beltsville, Laurel, National Harbor (Oxon Hill), Fort Washington (and possibly even Waldorf) would benefit so immensely from a Metro line expansion that hundreds of thousands of new daily riders would be added to the system. The last time I remember Maryland getting an extension was when the Blue line was extended from Addison Road to Largo Town Center. That was 20 yrs ago when I was 14 yrs old. Metro needs to start expanding East again.
Yeah it's definitely the lack of service to those communities, but it's also that the number of commuters has just flat out dropped. The suburbs have a lot more jobs than they used too, so all those people living in Montgomery County aren't commuting into the city anymore cause they found jobs closer to home. Then you have the increase in remote and hybrid jobs since the pandemic, which I'm sure has eaten a huge chunk out of ridership.
The Virginia expansion was driven by and partially funded by Dulles Airport. That said, the Silver line through Tysons, Reston, and Ashburn is great, and spurs continued development of an urban core thru Fairfax and Loudoun.
You guys are getting a whole purple line! Also I feel like the Maryland lines go to places where people actually live and work vs in Virginia they built them to places that will generate money for the state. Nobody lived in Tyson’s or anywhere on the silver line. Now that it’s open, they’ve been able to get some residents in luxury apartments near the stations. And it’s basically the same story for orange and blue. But the actual working class that public transport is and should be made for doesn’t have access. They’ve blocked a line down Columbia pike so many times simply because not enough money is there even though the population and density is. That doesn’t get talked about but should be.
20th year here and it’s always changing. Fantastic for multi modal transit. Riding a bike to work in 2007 was an adventure! Now it’s a top 3 US large metro for bikes. Great food as well but that’s probably another channel.
I ride the DC Metro often. I never knew that we had a door delay. It never even occurred to me. As for the changes, yikes, there were so many changes going on that I had to look up what was going on, and I found urbanism.
Its fixed already
Definitely try out our bikeshare next time you visit! It’s the best in the US by far.
We actually did, just on the Virginia side rather than DC itself!
DC is such a bike friendly city!
That metro map is a thing of beauty
The system's wayfinding is EPIC.
I’m so happy someone finally covered the Metropolitan Branch Trail (MBT) - I live alongside it and it’s my favorite part of the neighborhood - I hope to see further investment along the trail. It’s an example of what transportation infrastructure and communities in the US can look like when you remove cars - you were so close to seeing Alethia Tanner Park in your video!
The dc area is really a gem. Tons of great spaces.
I lived in DC proper for a few years before moving to SF shortly after Covid (and lived in the DMV for a few before that, so I was in/around dc and the metro a lot). I went back and visited DC last year to see a friend a catch up, and was absolutely amazed at the amount of new bike infrastructure and housing there was (esp housing!!! After living in SF for a bit now…). I also can’t stop hearing from friends how much better WMATA is now; that Randy guy is apparently transit Jesus. DC will always have a soft spot in my heart!
Really enjoyed the walks through gthe Capital Hill residential neighborhood, and Georgetown, with all those beautiful homes. Very underrated channel, one of the best urban planning sites on You Tube..
Speaking as a DC local, most of us don’t like the door opening delay on the Metro and wouldn’t defend it.
The flex pole layouts are often placeholders for building out the proper pedestrian sidewalk space! Check out the Intersections of E, 12th, and Maryland Ave NE for an example where they removed a segment of E in a few steps
i really appreciate the unique angles you explore in your topics!
As a DC native, thanks for covering the city. Our metro still has a long way to go, but hopefully the ongoing purple line construction in the north will help partially fix the coverage issues
Wow, DC's bike infra looking pretty good these days.
They've already brought back the automatic doors on most of the system. Now the doors open in 3-5 seconds on average on most lines.
3-5 sec is still pretty bad though. It should be less than 1. It doesn't sound like much but over the course of a line it can mean that you need another train, adding millions of dollars of expense
@@OntarioTrafficMan Once ATC comes back maybe we'll get that
The cranes you show at 10:22 are for the Federal Reserve’s refurbishment project, where they are gutting and renovating several buildings, as well as integrating them as one interconnected campus.
Love the video; nice to see an urbanism channel review my city. Back when you guys did a video on why people don't use bike lanes, my comment was that I will *never* use a contra-flow bike lane after nearly getting flattened by a construction vehicle stopped at a right turn, when I had a green light. Well at 8:38 in this video, that's the contraflow lane I was talking about. A block or two (or three) to the north are a lot of new apartment buildings that were all built around the same time, and that is the very contra-flow lane that nearly took my life.
After that day, I took a normal street instead. It might have annoyed the drivers, but I don't care - contra-flow nearly killed me.
I wouldnt use words like “powerhouse” but DC has good urbanism by US standards. I visit there often and used to live there as a kid.
This is a lovely viewpoint of the city. I love the energy of DC. I wish you could have provided some additional images from the Reagan airport. It is such fantastic architecture and has a cool historic vibe. I worked designing WiFi for both airports, and that allowed me to wander around all the concourses and terminals; it forced me to look up at the architecture more closely to determine mounting points for the wireless network infrastructure. It was also cool to see Alexandria showcased in your vlog. I love Alexandria. I've used it for family vacations and business trips. I enjoyed the walkable parks and downtown. I used the water taxi to cross over to the National Harbor tourist attraction with my kids. I enjoyed visiting the Gaylord Hotel there as well. DC has lots of memories for me. I've had business trips that took me to the Smithsonian museums as well--for designing the WiFi. I've also loved visiting the museums as a tourist. I'm so glad you captured so much about the city! Your vlog hits nearly all the experiences I remember. I wish you could have showcased some of the markets, like Union Market or Eastern Market, as attractive community sites to bring shopping and gathering space for residents. Related to bikes is the C&O Canal path winding westward to Cumberland, MD, and connecting to the GAP trail linking Pittsburgh, PA. I've also visited Georgetown University and the surrounding community.
My favorite bike trails are the Washington and Old Dominion trail from Shirlington all the way out to Purceville (44.7 miles) and the Mt. Vernon trail from DC down to Mt. Vernon.
@@xXUnoriginalNameXx33Meygaera I would love to see the Mt Vernon trail more. I noticed a nice trail along the waterfront of Alexandria, and it appears to connect to additional miles northward and southward. On foot, I didn't have time to continue exploring southward, but I found a nice park to use as a turnaround point.
I visited Mt Vernon by car, but I would love to visit by bike. I saw bits of the greenway trail from the road.
DC definitely does not get the credit it deserves. Wide sidewalks, miles of paths and for running and paths, and parks all over the city. Only obviously NYC is above it. Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco I put above it and the latter two barely.
Glad you all discussed the door delay problem. It’s definitely annoying and in the back of our mind, we thought they could skip that station lol.
Pretty accurate description of the core of DC. Loved your comment on how bike parking in Georgetown is not historic. There’s a hint of understanding about developing better road design, so as to include bikes and walking, but there’s a big need for improvement. For example, I try to avoid biking through Georgetown as there is a 90% chance of getting doored there. Beautiful but deadly.
its a little irritating to me that they only mentioned georgetown as being under a historic reservation district. DC has 30 historic neighborhoods, including dupont circle, shaw, mount pleasent, capital hill, and even some across the anacostia. its definitely not a georgetown thing. everywhere with a lot of rowhouses is essentially a historic district in dc
@@cbaylor7382 Yes, I think it has name recognition because of Georgetown University, so they headed there. There are many places not as rich but more interesting.
I live in DC never even noticed the door delay or even thought about it. But now I will!! Dang it I want my blissful obliviousness back.
On a serious note though glad you guys visited our lovely city.
DC is quite well designed! What’s nice is that the urbanism can also be found a decent distance outside of downtown, even making its way into lower-density parts of the city. Brookland, for example, is a low-density neighborhood, for the most part, but has some really good TOD by its Metro station (this density is definitely helped by Catholic University being right there). The single-family houses, however, are spaced close together and are in a section of the neighborhood that’s very pleasant to walk through!
Isn’t most of the TOD in Brookland quite new?
@@onurbschrednei4569 A lot of it looks fairly new. While it’s not at all the same as downtown, they have created a nice urban space right around the Metro station!
@@29downtheline I really like that they reused the architectural style of the Catholic university for those new apartment buildings. It has so much more atmosphere than the soulless cubes in Navy Yard.
@@onurbschrednei4569 CUA definitely has some good architecture! I also prefer nice stone- and brickwork to soulless cubes. I’m definitely more of a fan of more traditional architecture! Funny enough, I’ll even go as far as saying I dislike brutalism (with the one exception being the Metro).
@@29downthelineThey don't make brick like that anymore and the skills are gone and it'd be too expensive anyway. So all the brick buildings now look fake and soulless. Give me a building that uses modern materials tastefully.
I like a lot of brutalism. Concrete has texture and many of those 60's buildings looks much better and organic than those tacky 80's buildings with unfriendly reflective glass everywhere.
I'm glad you got out to bits of VA and covered a few distinct areas in the city. I would have visited Rock Creek Park, particularly the part above the Zoo. It is often overlooked unlike say Central Park in NYC. Here citizens managed to convince the NPS to close Beach Ave to cars forever after it was closed for construction and during the pandemic.
Probably some people (not myself) might have been curious about nightlife and sports, those sorts of things. Although people might say the door delay (no longer there with autodoors returning) is no big deal people here complain about their commute in tones of ways. WMATA's ridership is on pace to recover to 2019 levels in about 2 more years. This is about when the MTA's light rail in the MD inner suburbs will start service. The DC streetcar system has lost favor since Grey proposed it, but I can see it coming back with a Sydney overhead wire free version that placates critics.
Much of NW is pretty locked up development wise. There are battles over homeless shelter sites and bike lanes being allowed by the ultra-wealthy who have plenty of single family homes in NW or come down Conn. Ave to the city center. The areas being rebuilt the most are down near Navy Yard and near Union Station to the east of it. Union station itself is slated to be redeveloped and has been given fully to Amtrak recently. I could go on but this is a long reply already.
Forget about Sydney -- we already have the technology right HERE. Modern streetcars in Dallas and OKC use batteries to go off-wire for significant parts of their runs.
@@colormedubious4747 Batteries are not as good a solution as just having it in the ground. They cost more and you cannot run the light rail on batteries all day. Alstom's solution is much better than batteries. It doesn't cost more than overhead either.
@@drwho9437 The examples I cited are NOT Light Rail. They are streetcars that weigh FAR less than LRVs and they do NOT "run all day" on batteries. They run on batteries only along relatively short segments that lack overhead catenary and they recharge when dwelling at wired stops. It works VERY well.
Pro tip: the "light" in "light rail" does NOT refer to weight. It refers to CAPACITY. Light rail vehicles are more massive than heavy rail vehicles because they have to emerge victorious in collisions with cars.
I really like living in DC, but I think the main issue with the city is it feels manufactured... because it was. I really felt this while visiting Philly, where there were many blue collar neighbourhoods with affordable restaurants and shops all around, aimed at the average person. DC doesn't really have that. It's all very "federal" and "uniform", at best you'll get sandwich shops selling overpriced mid sandwiches. DC Chinatown is a joke. All the vibrant and ethnic stuff is locked away in the suburbs. DC is clean, but sometimes it can feel sterile. And those are two very different feelings.
DC's chinatown is interesting because it used to be incredibly vibrant before Capital One Arena priced out all of the Chinese Residents. Thankfully, Rockville, Annandale, Eden Center, and Centreville are great for organic and vibrant East Asian businesses and neighborhoods.
Good take
@@madhavmaniraj442 Interesting! I wonder if that'd change with the Caps moving to Crystal City now... probably not. Rockville has good food, but being in the surbubs the vibes just aren't the same, not to mention that as a nova resident it takes bricks for me to get there lol
@@louiszhang3050 Yeah, theres a few good chinese places in NOVA, but the main East Asian enclaves here are mainly Korean and Vietnamese
@@louiszhang3050 The Virginia legislature slammed the door shut on that; Caps are staying downtown.
I'm also a NoVA resident, and while its a long haul indeed to get downtown, we really are spoiled when it comes to some of our neighborhoods. Centreville and Annandale for getting Korean food at all hours of the night. I've heard it often said as well that D.C. has the best Peruvian chicken to be found anywhere outside of that country itself. We're really spoiled for flavors around here being such a cosmopolitan city, matched only by a few.
Omg the door slowness on the metro has been driving me crazy since I moved here, so nice to hear I’m not the only one and it’s being fixed
Moved to DC three years ago and LOVE it! I lived in Asia for 6 years and Europe for 6 years and now that I'm in DC I couldn't be happier! Every city has pros and cons, and DC's pros far outnumber the contras of shady areas of violence, shady areas of trash, and a bit overpriced. Free museums, amazingly awesome cultural activities, great festivals, world-class concerts, NBA/NHL/NFL/MLB, great restaurants, top-notch universities, walkability, national monuments, true diversity, etc. I adore this city. New York, London, Berlin, Los Angeles, Zurich, Brussels, Rome, Chicago, Toronto---all fantastic, but after visiting them all, I prefer DC for living. It is SO underrated.
I lived in DC for five years so I was already psyched when I saw this video pop up but then you went on to say that you explored Columbia Heights and Adams Morgan - the two neighborhoods that I lived in during my time there - and I nearly lost it! I recognized pretty much every street that you showed.
Regarding Georgetown, part of the reason that the neighborhood is infested with cars (beyond it being an extremely wealthy area where residents can afford them) is that there is no Metro station in the neighborhood. There are several bus lines that serve Georgetown (DC has an excellent bus system) but you certainly wouldn't find a "typical" Georgetown resident taking the bus. They'll drive.
The city's political status (or should I say, lack thereof) has severe implications for DC's ability to enact change and protect itself from targeted agendas. This was probably most evident on Jan 6 2021, during the Capitol insurrection. Because it's not a state, DC does not have it's own National Guard. So, Mayor Bowser (DC only has a mayor, no governor) had to call the director of the MARYLAND National Guard and wait for them to determine if a deployment of troops was warranted. Unfortunately, given the current political climate, the fight for DC statehood (which has been ongoing for many decades) is really unlikely without widespread national support. DC is a Democratic stronghold; out of 700k residents, only about 15k-20k regularly vote Republican.
Anyway, so glad to hear that you two enjoyed your time in DC! It's an amazing city that's undergone a lot of radical transformations in multiple ways in the past few decades. DC is definitely still built for cars, but it's been making a lot of positive strides toward making the city a great place for residents, not just job commuters.
It really baffles me that the DC metro doesn't have higher ridership, especially given how horrible DC traffic is. It's far and away the nicest metro system that I have ever been on. The DC metro is actually a pleasant place to be, unlike every other metro that I have used, with the high vaulted ceilings and artificial cooling on both trains and in stations. But then, I suffer from claustrophobia, such that I nearly had an anxiety attack on the Mexico City metro last week because of the very severe crowding, low ceilings, and stuffy hot air in the stations and on trains. Maybe it's not true for many people who aren't claustrophobic that the spaciousness of the DC metro is more pleasant than the smaller spaces of other underground metros. And certainly lowering the prices would be helpful to encourage ridership. Heck, just simplifying the prices to increments of $0.25 would be helpful because the prices would be more comprehensible.
I live in DC. For people who live in the core of the city, the Metro is often the best choice. However, driving is often still faster, cheaper, and more convenient for many commuters, as well as for people in outlying residential neighborhoods (think Deanwood, Hillcrest, Manor Park, Brightwood Park). Personally, I have to drive to my nearest metro station (or take a 25 minute walk). Our 7000 series trains are very nice, but it's still louder and less comfortable taking your own vehicle.
Yes, it is not used enough, but this is because it doesn’t serve the entire D.C. area, which has the majority of potential trips. Metro doesn’t connect these outer, suburban areas together. I live in Bethesda, but to get to College Park, 14 miles away, requires a car. If you take Metro, you go into the heart of D.C. and back out again: Train time: one hour, 54 minutes; Car Time: 25 minutes. Metro was created in the 1970’s for commutes into the city. Its design structure is outdated. Whenever, I go downtown, I take Bus/Metro, but it’s difficult to impossible to travel sideways.
@@SkipGole The Purple Line addresses that specific trip!
@@Faceplant_Horticulturist It partly addresses the rim connecting the spokes, but it doesn’t connect from Bethesda to Tyson’s Corner-which geographically are quite close. Also, Purple Line, which I’m waiting for, is not totally dedicated. That’s ridiculous.
The other answers are right, but there's another factor at play. Some people who live in the suburbs and work downtown, will nonetheless drive because many Americans have internalized the message that public transportation is bad, and they would rather spend more money to sit for hours in a car by themselves than in a bus or subway car with other people.
I was hoping you all would touch on Wards 7 and 8 to point out the stark difference in infrastructure compared to more well cared for parts of the city
DC has the best bikeshare system in the country! Usage rates are skyrocketing, prices are so much lower than other cities (because the District government owns it,) and it's maybe the most beloved transportation feature in the district behind WMATA.
What are the odds on this? I literally just got back from DC half an hour ago.
Seriously, though, as someone who lives in a massive transit desert, DC was amazing. The Metro was SO good. I got a multi-day pass, used it plenty. Literally got to Union Station, got my pass, saw the line I needed leave right before my eyes, only to realize another one was coming in less than 5 minutes.
The frequency meant I didn't have to plan around a bus schedule or time things with an Uber. And the City is honestly just beautiful. Also, in my town, people running red lights, stop signs, refusing to yield to pedestrians, etc are all commonplace. In DC I actually felt safe walking places, and I'm sure it'd be similar biking.
My only complaint is affordability. Most places are a toss-up price wise between hole in the wall and price gouging "upscale", most things are somewhat expensive, and I figure it's the same with housing. I'd move to DC if I could afford it.
Where are you from if you don’t mind me asking?
I am always surprised by how patient and polite DC drivers are to cyclists and pedestrians. At least compared to, say, Virginia.
You are right about affordability. You can't live in DC on less than $100K.
11:11 that footage looks straight out of Montreal! Of course, with an American twist. Still, the neighbourhoods you've shown look very fun to explore. Adding DC to my list.
7:58 things like paint or plastic bollards serve well to create pilot projects to help build buy in and provide a trial period before spending money on more expensive and more permanent asphalt and concrete.
I think historic districts are very important for preserving the neighborhood's history and character. Those old neighborhoods are the last surviving remnants of bygone eras passed down to the younger generation. That's not only important to preserve, but it also gives the city a sense of pride knowing that their generation is continuing a rich legacy. These historic districts are integral part of DC's identity as one of America's most historic and important cities. DC wouldn't be DC without them.
It's a delicate balance. There is a real and legitimate purpose behind it, but also can be used specifically to exclude development and density. In a DC neighborhood (Chevy Chase) the neighbors made an argument that a parking lot was subject to historical preservation and can't be built upon.
Thank you for the wonderful DC content🙂 We are so glad you enjoyed the cool, tree-lined, wide sidewalks and protected cycle lanes of Capitol Hill and Columbia Heights!!! What should we advocate for next with our bicycle network?
Fun fact, there are several signs along Virginia Avenue that are misspelt and say "Virgina Avenue"
Haha, I understand your annoyance with the door delay. I still miss the older Karlsruhe trams that would open the doors just a moment before coming to a complete stop.
Interesting take on DC and its urban qualities. Hope you got to check out Eastern Market. Culturally, people forget that the city (along with Maryland and Virginia) is/was culturally southern, hence your Adams Morgan anecdote. It is a very cosmopolitan city today. . . . I personally don't mind certain exclusive historic districts like Old Town Alexandria or Georgetown. They tend to be quite beautiful, and non-residents can enjoy spending time in such neighborhoods, even if they don't live there.
DC has really turned its transit situation around over the last 10 years. Randy Clarke is part of that, but so it lots of new people and money moving into the city
I’ve lived here for 30 years. Love it.
Born and raised in DC. Also live in Columbia Heights. Thanks for visiting. 🙏🏼
"One of the highlights of our trip with the DC Metro" made me laugh out loud.
I like DC... But trying to get in and out of that city is a nightmare
Haha You gotta have a Fallout 3 reference when talking about anything DC related! Love it!
I remember once doing a Society and Spaces module in my History Degree.
Apparently part of the reason behind extremely strict historical preservation laws is due to a time before hand when urban planners and corporations took a very different approach and would pave over historic neighbourhoods with highways and other infrastructure designed to "facilitate modern transit" and "make American cities centres of business for the modern world" with Robert Moses's "Meat ax" approach being perhaps the most famous as part of the Suburban Revolution.
And making the historical preservation laws so absolute was in order to prevent developers from completely erasing the traditional character of a given location.
That said it is far more nuanced a discussion than that.
I was amazed when I took the DC Metro. The frequency, outlying TOD, core city coverage, and cleanliness blew BART out of the water. Then again that's not saying much...
DC is really an eclectic mix for the US. The unstated driver of all this urbanism is that the District and most of the surrounding counties are loaded. They, have money to design, unique, urbanist settings, either in existing neighborhoods in the city or the inner core, or brand new developments I would in the far reaches of the sprawl. There are some great designed developments that people really like to live in such as Columbia, Maryland or Reston, Virginia.
Metro was a complete dumpster fire on wheels about 8 yrs ago. It has gotten much better since then, though Part of that is because fewer people ride it now
Reston Town Center has evolved into an urban delight, especially since the new Metro station opened. Columbia, on the other hand, is truly an urbanist dumpster fire. It was designed to be car-centric and remains so to this day. It is full of nasty stroads, including those that circle a typical suburban "box-full-o-stores" floating in an endless sea of asphalt that some scammer originally named "Columbia Town Center." Columbia has NO true town center. It is dangerously unwalkable and unbikeable. It is NOT a good example. It is a horrible warning.
@@colormedubious4747 I agree with that about Columbia, MD - all the principles it was designed on fell flat on its face in reality.
Reston, VA development is much newer and is a much better example of urbanist development
@@xXUnoriginalNameXx33Meygaera Actually, both were founded at roughly the same time. Reston is slightly OLDER, having been founded in 1964. Columbia was founded in 1967. While it WAS included in the original plan along with the mixed-use zoning proposals to enable its future build-out, construction of Reston Town Center began 24 years after Reston's founding, and the Metro station opened 58 years after Reston's founding. I have fond memories of visiting the site of Lake Anne's excavation with my father to help him "liberate" a huge rock from what would become the bottom of the lake that he wanted to place in a garden bed in our front yard 21 miles away. Getting that thing home in the back of a rag-top Mustang was quite the adventure!
Yes, I saw that Lincoln Memorial and immediately thought: "Fallout 3!" - That's (not only) why I support this channel 🙌
The opening disclosure shouldn't just be for non-Americans, many US Citizens have no idea how Washington DC governance works.
Love this type of video! Gives me hope for urbanism in America's future, while still considering things we could do better ❤
I have visited Washington DC (and Alexandria) over the years, and find there is always something to see and explore. Now I would like to visit Arlington, after seeing this video. I find, though, that the blocks in the center are massive and I miss the prevalence of stores outside the commercial corridors (compared to Philadelphia, where I live).
Thanks for including Arlington! I have admit I would have been curious to see your takes on Tysons Corner. The Silver line is leading to a lot of change on an area that was previously so car dependent
One positive to the delay: you don’t need to be standing at the doors when the train stops! You a wait for the train to stop and then stand up, which is good for those who are less steady on their feet.
I lived in Paris for a while and got in the habit of being right in front of the doors when we arrived at my station so I could be sure I could get out (and faster transit is awesome!) but there is something nice about that buffer time.
I agree, especially when the train is more full and you have to navigate crowds. I know overall the faster opening is better but I have gotten used to not having to rush.
the suburbs are underrated too ngl
I don't think that Georgetown's historic preservation is an issue. It's better to have those limits to preserve American history, than have a bunch of crappy modernist structures overtaking the area's charm.
Exactly! Georgetown is also one of the most urban and densely built neighborhoods in the DC area already. Start urbanizing the suburbs before tearing down historic buildings.
Georgetown is a very historic area. Also where a well known Exorcism happened (corner of Prospect and 36th ave) . Down the escarpment is also the Cheseapeake and Ohio canal that used to bring coal to Washington. And there is the bike path along the Potomac, the shopping mall/park and just to south the Watergate complex and John F Kennedy Center for fine arts. It is where senior people in government want to live because it is quiet and historic, and that is why it is so expensive. Those homes aren't cheap. Asking for affordable housing would be akin to you asking for homes in upper Westmount be demolished to make way for affordable housing. Georgetown commute to high end government workplaces is easy/short.
there are also over 30 historic residential districts in dc. Including neighborhoods included in the georgetown comparison like capital hill, dupont, u street, logan circle. There are affordable historic districts across the river in anacostia.
Either they didnt look up what neighborhoods are historic districts or they did and didnt bother to mark them in that bar chart they showed. Pretty poorly done either way.
Not just any well known Exorcism, but the one that served as the inspiration for the movie the Exorcist! The movie had several shots from Georgetown and there's a lot of spots like the Georgetown Exorcist steps that became famous from the movie!
There are always going to be enclaves of wealth and privilege in every metro area. Although not a utopian ideal, I have no problem with those with the money and resources to live in and preserve certain historic enclaves.. even if they become a concentration of wealth. That being said, the size and scope of such areas should be contained and guaranteeing access to those areas for everyone should be a priority. I have no significant issues with Georgetown as it exists today.. except, it would be nice (although expensive) to extend the metro to have a stop in that neighborhood.
Next time you have to come to the maryland side!
Only been there through Fallout 3, so thanks for the reference!
Always appreciate the positive outlook you have. Highlight the good, and encourage more of it!
I live in nova, which obviously is the burbs and has those problems, but the bike infrastructure is so good with so many multi use trails on the side of so many roads, even roads with bike gutters, which lets you bike anywhere you want, including to dc or the metro which is around a 15 min drive
There area lot of interconnecting trails that take you out of the city and extend as far out as Purcellvlle, VA
I live in Montreal, and I absolutely deteste needing multiple OPUS cards. It used to just be one card! I can't waint for just tap to p[ay with my credit card like in Toronto.
You can upload ypur OPUS card on your phone in Montreal . The cost of monthly fares are half the cost of Toronto . Toronto subway is old, noisy , slow and falling apart . Toronto just got cell phone network on the subway in 2023-2024. People get stabbed and beaten everyday including rats, dark non aesthetic stations.. Toronto has only 2 lines.
Thanks for coming to DC! It's my favorite city that I've lived in, in the US. I think the historic rowhouse neighborhoods you talk about are not as problematic as you think. Many are being converted to multi-unit houses once they get abandoned. Plus, it's not the main problem for US housing costs. While I love DC, I would be happy to live in any American city that has great walkability and public transit. Unfortunately, there's like 4 here in the USA that fit that criteria. DC housing is expensive because nearly every other city in America is trash.
This is kind of unrelated but god the visual at 4:03 makes me want to visit New York. I can't believe the scale of that subway system. It's also kinda fun thinking about the ridership numbers in terms of the proportion to their city's population.
You missed the W&OD, Capital Crescent, Mountain Vernon and Anacostia River trails (among others)
There were indeed lots of places we didn't visit in this large region of 6 million people
Thanks! I will be going to DC in November for a week and appreciate the good information about places to see.
Thank you!
Most people only see Washington -- the politicians, bland architecture, and tourists. But if you look, it isn't hard to see that DC vibrant and soulful. DC is diverse, both economically and racially, it's filled with distinct neighborhoods that each have their own feel, and it's filled with art, music, nightlife, and great food. Our size is kind of perfect in that the city geographically isn't all that big and it sort of has a small town feel, but also the transit is good enough where you can explore a lot of what Maryland and Virginia have to offer. San Francisco is a good comparison where it's not all that big, but it's closely connected to the rest of the Bay area. The drawbacks of DC are the same as all the other "liberal" cities -- the cost of living is out of control, housing in particular is too expensive, tons of racial inequality, too many police, too much segregation, etc. But you'll find those problems anywhere else in America, too. I wouldn't quite say that DC is "cool," but I'm really grateful to live here.
I'm surprised you mentioned Georgetown without talking about how disconnected it is from the Metro. It was an intentional choice from residents at the time to keep out 'others'. This is a large reason why walking, biking, and driving in the area is more unpleasant than it should be.
So awesome video I had to watch twice in a row!!
The surrounding area is also getting way better! With the purple line being done maybe later next year. And additions being done to the w and od trail it's shockingly easy to live car lite. Now if we can just get a something between Bethesda and Tysons, like a train of some sort! The next generation 8000 trains are going to be amazing. With Marc and Amtrak it is pretty easy to get to Baltimore and BWI and East Coast.
city moving days are actually fairly common in many US cities; especially college towns
I think you guys missed an opportunity to cover DC's downtown, which is one of the bigger downtowns in America....even though its height capped, DC's downtown is HUGE. I used to live there and often said Downtown DC is just a shorter height Vancouver, that has the similar area and density. Llike many channels that cover DC, you too missed this opportunity.
Haven’t taken WMATA however, IMHO, having a few seconds between when the train stops and the doors open would be quite handy for getting yourself and your stuff together before getting off of the train.
I 100% disagree with the comment on historic preservation. We should be focusing our attention on far far far less dense suburban areas than well designed dense urban neighborhoods. The lowest hanging fruit are the giant suburban stroads. Leave Georgetown alone.
But what if people want to live in Georgetown more than they want to live in the suburbs?
@pizzajona They can if they want to. Urbanization provides more options for everybody, and at the moment there aren’t enough options because there’s a lack of housing.
@@pizzajonawhy do you think people wanna live in Georgetown?
It’s precisely BECAUSE of the historic character of the neighborhood.
It would be insanely stupid do destroy the thing that makes people wanna live there in the first place.
If you just want a waterfront area, move to the much cheaper Navy Yard.
And there’s still lots of areas in DC that are WAYY less densely built than Georgetown.
@@onurbschrednei4569 I think all neighborhoods should be zoned according to the market. So if what you’re saying is true, then developers won’t build in Georgetown and will instead build in other areas of DC. Do you support this?
@@onurbschrednei4569this is so on point. People often forget how important aesthetics are to life quality. The problem is not that it’s historic, it’s more that there is more demand to live in a place like this. We could try to implement this kind of DC architecture outside of the Georgetown in a more modern way. More high rise that maintain the character of DC instead of being buildings that look like they could be anywhere from Texas to China. If a city looses it’s cultural identity, it will also loose its appeal. Just look at cities like Buffalo. If they had not demolished everything, maybe there would be a bigger incentive to make it important again. The way to go is to make it so that everyone can enjoy “pretty” architecture. Especially in a city like DC or Boston.
On the topic of segregation: segregation was commonplace in every american state until well after brown v board (when segregation was ruled unconstitutional in 1955). Many school districts needed federal oversight to force integration and the process was slow even then. In my city supposedly progressive city, Boston, the bussing crisis in the 1970s signified how much resistance there was. The national guard has to be brought in, there was rioting etc. Oh and NYC public schools are more segregated now than they were in the 1950s. Go figure
I understand your points about issues with historic preservation, but I wish you had made more clear that most o the city is not covered by such rules. Columbia Heights for example, where you stayed, has really developed a lot in the last ~25 years since the Green Line construction finished.
I literally didn’t realize the doors take that long to open
Our Auckland trains unfortunately have a huge wait at each station, about 1 min.
0:46 The San Francisco Bay Area’s 9 counties has a population of 7.76 million. It is really odd that it doesn’t count as one metropolitan area. It is connected by BART as the DC area is connected by the Metro.
The census bureau defines it based on things like commuting patterns
@@OhTheUrbanity The Bay Area is kind of its own entity with three major population centers, all of which draw commuters from each other and Central Valley cities from Sacramento to Modesto. The Link21 project reflects that reality.
Even the pro sports teams have changed cities within the Bay Area.
Same with DC and Baltimore. Connected by MARC. Also he stated DC has 2 airports but we have 3. BWI is shared with Baltimore.
@@JhonnyBoi Perhaps Baltimore and DC are more like the Bay Area and Sacramento. One has MARC and the other has Capital Corridor.
Short answer: YES!
You're right about cars being ugly in preserved areas, but also....flex posts are ugly too! It's encouraging to see any bike infrastructure at all in the U.S., but Americans need to not settle for a bit of paint and some flex posts. Sure, use them to test out a new idea, but then the aim should be to replace them with proper infrastructure as soon as the test is proven to be working.