Trying to Use Mass Transit
BUS ISSUES
As a community activist and urban planner, I have long advocated the value and benefits of mass transit. Until recently, I was only aware of the buses I saw on the road. I am now dependent on mass transit and attempting to use the Connector bus and RIBS to access places within the community. A frequent destination is Lake Anne Village Center. Other destinations include Kaiser Permanente, the YMCA, and the Reston Town Center.
Lake Anne Village Center
There is a bus stop at Lake Anne which is served by RIBS 1 on an irregular basis. According to the printed schedule, it does not serve Lake Anne in the afternoons. Referring to the Fairfax Connector map, effective February 16, 2004, there is a note: “Not served by all PM peak trips. See Schedule.” There is no stop at the Lake Anne Village Center on the schedule. When seeking information from the Fairfax Connector bus information line, the operators ask where the intersections or addresses are that you wish to be informed about. Since this bus stop is in the middle of a parking lot, there is no address. The closest street intersection is Village Road and North Shore Drive. The telephone operator can provide information about stops at this intersection, but not the bus shelter in the Village Center.
If a passenger realizes this, he or she must navigate through the parking lot at Lake Anne and cross North Shore Drive at a place where auto traffic has poor visibility. The sign for the bus adjoins an area of bare ground which in wet weather turns into mud.
I was aware of many of these conditions. They became points of concern last week when my youngest daughter, who has some developmental disabilities herself, was attempting to assist me to take the bus home after a lunch on the Plaza since it was a cold, rainy day. We learned that a bus would stop on North Shore Drive in front of the gas station at the entrance to Lake Anne Plaza. To get to the bus stop, we had to navigate up the slope of the parking lot, dodging the cars that were seeking parking spots. Crossing North Shore was a challenge because at that point the cars have just completed a curve and are coming down the grade.
Since my vision is impaired, I depended on my daughter to give me the all clear. I do walk with a cane. Midway in our crossing, my daughter urged me to hurry up. I did the best I could, given my disabilities. We arrived at the north side of North Shore and found a metal post indicating the bus stop. Unfortunately, there was not room on the small concrete pad for the both of us. The alternative was bare soil which the rain had turned into mud. The bus came and got us home.
Because there is no printed schedule to identify the time the buses are coming, the half hour wait in the cold, chilling rain was uncomfortable. This was magnified by the fact that the covered bus stop with benches was clearly visible in the parking lot we had just left.
On a previous day, I was recovering from a hospital stay to overcome anemia. I also decided to take the bus, even knowing that there were some erratic bus schedule issues at the Lake Anne Plaza bus shelter. Fortunately, Mr. Ingebritsen was walking past and advised me that I was in luck; a bus would be coming soon to take me home. I saw a bus coming from 606 and assumed that was my bus. Instead, it turned left onto North Shore and continued on. After waiting a considerable time, I saw many other buses on North Shore. I could not figure out a safe way to get to the North Shore bus stop alone.
When a bus finally came by, I asked if it went to Lake Anne. The driver said it did. The route the bus then took proceeded to Cedar Ridge, from there to Toll Oaks Shopping Center. At this point, I asked the driver if he was going to Lake Anne Plaza next. He told me that he wasn’t, and that I should go to the next stop and walk. Instead I left the bus at the Toll Oaks Center hoping that I might find someone I knew shopping at Giant. Before that happened, another bus arrived. I asked this driver if he would go to Lake Anne and he answered, yes. His route took me to Cedar Ridge and then to the Fellowship House. Eventually, an hour after I started, we came to my stop at Wainwright Drive and North Shore Drive.
YMCA
There is a bus stop on Sunset Hills Road in front of the YMCA but this also is not a scheduled stop. The Connector information office advised me to take a bus that stopped at Target. From there, I could attempt to navigate the Target parking lot and cross Sunset Hills Road at the compound intersection of the YMCA/restaurant parking lot entrances.
Kaiser Permanente
I have seen a bus pull into the front drop-off area at Kaiser Permanente. Unfortunately, the information desk at Kaiser did not know when this bus was scheduled to arrive or where it went. A call to the Connector information office could not help unless I gave them an intersection or an address. The Kaiser address is Sunset Hills Road, and that information led to the information office person to conclude that the closest bus stop would be on Wiehle Avenue in front of the SCS Building/McDonald’s. Fortunately, I found a friend in the prescription line who offered an alternative to Metro as is often the case in this community in which I have lived for so many years.
I have brought these issues to the attention of LINK and Supervisor Hudgins’ office. Her office did advise me that there were plans being developed that would improve the parking lot at Lake Anne, which would facilitate a walk from the covered bus stop to the place on the side of North Shore Drive where the buses stop now. As a close follower of the revitalization plans for Lake Anne, I don’t think I’ve heard of any specific plans to improve the Lake Anne parking lot yet, unfortunately. If we are to revitalize Lake Anne, attention must be paid to assisting people find the covered bus stop and its scheduled service. Often when I have tried to use the bus, a familiar voice will offer me an alternative in their car. The existence of a fine international bus system such as the Connector and RIBS offer me a possibility of significant freedom of access within my community.
When Metro finally arrives at the Wiehle Avenue station, assuming connections between the Lake Anne Village Center and the projected end of the line of this stage of the Metro expansion in the Dulles Corridor will become more important to many residents, not just those with disabilities.
Distribution of the connection points to the Wiehle Avenue Metro will be essential to avoid undue impaction of the already-congested Wiehle/Sunset Hills/Toll Road intersection. The impact of this intersection is a subject of an essay called “The Wiehle Avenue Train Wreck,” which addresses the need for action to mitigate the congestion that will occur under the current plans to handle all of the 2300 parking spaces required by Metro at the Reston East Park and Ride. If interested, contact me at reston1@comcast.net
©Patrick F. Kane
March 31, 2005
As a community activist and urban planner, I have long advocated the value and benefits of mass transit. Until recently, I was only aware of the buses I saw on the road. I am now dependent on mass transit and attempting to use the Connector bus and RIBS to access places within the community. A frequent destination is Lake Anne Village Center. Other destinations include Kaiser Permanente, the YMCA, and the Reston Town Center.
Lake Anne Village Center
There is a bus stop at Lake Anne which is served by RIBS 1 on an irregular basis. According to the printed schedule, it does not serve Lake Anne in the afternoons. Referring to the Fairfax Connector map, effective February 16, 2004, there is a note: “Not served by all PM peak trips. See Schedule.” There is no stop at the Lake Anne Village Center on the schedule. When seeking information from the Fairfax Connector bus information line, the operators ask where the intersections or addresses are that you wish to be informed about. Since this bus stop is in the middle of a parking lot, there is no address. The closest street intersection is Village Road and North Shore Drive. The telephone operator can provide information about stops at this intersection, but not the bus shelter in the Village Center.
If a passenger realizes this, he or she must navigate through the parking lot at Lake Anne and cross North Shore Drive at a place where auto traffic has poor visibility. The sign for the bus adjoins an area of bare ground which in wet weather turns into mud.
I was aware of many of these conditions. They became points of concern last week when my youngest daughter, who has some developmental disabilities herself, was attempting to assist me to take the bus home after a lunch on the Plaza since it was a cold, rainy day. We learned that a bus would stop on North Shore Drive in front of the gas station at the entrance to Lake Anne Plaza. To get to the bus stop, we had to navigate up the slope of the parking lot, dodging the cars that were seeking parking spots. Crossing North Shore was a challenge because at that point the cars have just completed a curve and are coming down the grade.
Since my vision is impaired, I depended on my daughter to give me the all clear. I do walk with a cane. Midway in our crossing, my daughter urged me to hurry up. I did the best I could, given my disabilities. We arrived at the north side of North Shore and found a metal post indicating the bus stop. Unfortunately, there was not room on the small concrete pad for the both of us. The alternative was bare soil which the rain had turned into mud. The bus came and got us home.
Because there is no printed schedule to identify the time the buses are coming, the half hour wait in the cold, chilling rain was uncomfortable. This was magnified by the fact that the covered bus stop with benches was clearly visible in the parking lot we had just left.
On a previous day, I was recovering from a hospital stay to overcome anemia. I also decided to take the bus, even knowing that there were some erratic bus schedule issues at the Lake Anne Plaza bus shelter. Fortunately, Mr. Ingebritsen was walking past and advised me that I was in luck; a bus would be coming soon to take me home. I saw a bus coming from 606 and assumed that was my bus. Instead, it turned left onto North Shore and continued on. After waiting a considerable time, I saw many other buses on North Shore. I could not figure out a safe way to get to the North Shore bus stop alone.
When a bus finally came by, I asked if it went to Lake Anne. The driver said it did. The route the bus then took proceeded to Cedar Ridge, from there to Toll Oaks Shopping Center. At this point, I asked the driver if he was going to Lake Anne Plaza next. He told me that he wasn’t, and that I should go to the next stop and walk. Instead I left the bus at the Toll Oaks Center hoping that I might find someone I knew shopping at Giant. Before that happened, another bus arrived. I asked this driver if he would go to Lake Anne and he answered, yes. His route took me to Cedar Ridge and then to the Fellowship House. Eventually, an hour after I started, we came to my stop at Wainwright Drive and North Shore Drive.
YMCA
There is a bus stop on Sunset Hills Road in front of the YMCA but this also is not a scheduled stop. The Connector information office advised me to take a bus that stopped at Target. From there, I could attempt to navigate the Target parking lot and cross Sunset Hills Road at the compound intersection of the YMCA/restaurant parking lot entrances.
Kaiser Permanente
I have seen a bus pull into the front drop-off area at Kaiser Permanente. Unfortunately, the information desk at Kaiser did not know when this bus was scheduled to arrive or where it went. A call to the Connector information office could not help unless I gave them an intersection or an address. The Kaiser address is Sunset Hills Road, and that information led to the information office person to conclude that the closest bus stop would be on Wiehle Avenue in front of the SCS Building/McDonald’s. Fortunately, I found a friend in the prescription line who offered an alternative to Metro as is often the case in this community in which I have lived for so many years.
I have brought these issues to the attention of LINK and Supervisor Hudgins’ office. Her office did advise me that there were plans being developed that would improve the parking lot at Lake Anne, which would facilitate a walk from the covered bus stop to the place on the side of North Shore Drive where the buses stop now. As a close follower of the revitalization plans for Lake Anne, I don’t think I’ve heard of any specific plans to improve the Lake Anne parking lot yet, unfortunately. If we are to revitalize Lake Anne, attention must be paid to assisting people find the covered bus stop and its scheduled service. Often when I have tried to use the bus, a familiar voice will offer me an alternative in their car. The existence of a fine international bus system such as the Connector and RIBS offer me a possibility of significant freedom of access within my community.
When Metro finally arrives at the Wiehle Avenue station, assuming connections between the Lake Anne Village Center and the projected end of the line of this stage of the Metro expansion in the Dulles Corridor will become more important to many residents, not just those with disabilities.
Distribution of the connection points to the Wiehle Avenue Metro will be essential to avoid undue impaction of the already-congested Wiehle/Sunset Hills/Toll Road intersection. The impact of this intersection is a subject of an essay called “The Wiehle Avenue Train Wreck,” which addresses the need for action to mitigate the congestion that will occur under the current plans to handle all of the 2300 parking spaces required by Metro at the Reston East Park and Ride. If interested, contact me at reston1@comcast.net
©Patrick F. Kane
March 31, 2005
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