Locally, ridership on subway, buses and commuter rail grew by 13.2 percent, according to the association. Washingtonians habitually have looked for ways to lessen their stress. They want an extra hour to sit, relax, read, sleep. And they don't want to sit in traffic. Kienitz said the popularity of Washington's buses and trains signals a shift in focus.
Congestion is just bad here, and people are sick of it. . . .
If you walk around downtown D.C., you see all the construction cranes. Vacancy rates for commercial property are going down. What's happening in Washington is an exaggeration of what's going on nationally. October's extension of Metrochek, a federal transit subsidy, to all federal workers in the region made riding the rails and buses less expensive, and apparently more attractive. I wouldn't trade it.