A Simple Guide to the DC Metro

If you're visiting DC, the metro is one of the best ways to get in and out of the city

Every weekday, 475,000 people ride the metro. In the city center, lines run underground and then

rise up to extend in every direction, covering DC, Maryland, and Virginia. The DC metro is probably

most famous for its striking architecture, originally designed by architect Harry Wees

Strong and minimal lines work together with exposed concrete, uniform materials, and dramatic indirect lighting to create an experience unmatched by any other system in the

US. Along with the architecture, the wayfinding signage was designed by Massimo Vignelli

who is famous for designing New York's subway signage and map. Construction for the metro began

in 1969. Seven years later, in 1976, the first public service ran. This makes the DC metro about

70 years younger than the New York subway, and that age gap can be felt in the generally cleaner

smoother ride as you zip around the city. The DC Metro works similar to most major systems

around the world, but if you're new to the wonders of the public rail or you just need a primer

then you are in the right place. So let's take a look at the map. This map right here

I got at Metro Station. I just went up to the information booth and I asked

You could do that if you like physical maps. I do. Personally, the Metro consists of six

color-coded lines, red, blue, orange, yellow, green, and silver. So I have a couple of friends

here to help us guide us through the DC Metro. I have a little ducky, I have a fly, and there was

a cat, but the cat's gone now. In some places, lines will share the same track at different times

For instance, the yellow line runs parallel to the green line and the blue line at different

intersections. These white dots represent stations. Dots with a double stroke represent transfer

stations. You can transfer between lines that share a track at any station, and at a transfer

station you can switch between lines that intersect. The red line is the busiest line in the system

Running in a U-shape from Shady Grove Glenmont, passing through downtown DC, it serves major

stations such as Metro Center, Union Station and Gallery Place Chinatown. If you're coming in from

New York two great ways to get into the city are via bus or train. Both will drop you off at Union

Station which is located right here. You can see here a little picture of the Capitol and it says

National Mall. The National Mall covers this whole area. Union Station is just north of the Capitol

It's about a 15 minute walk to the Capitol from Union Station and to the rest of the National Mall

If you came in from Ronald Reagan National Airport, which mostly we call DCA in DC

you would take the yellow line to the center of the city. But if you're coming from Washington Dulles, then you would take the silver line

To get to the heart of the National Mall, Smithsonian Station will put you within walking distance of the big museums and the Lincoln Memorial

If you want to cover the mall on foot the DC Circulator bus starts at Union Station and circles the entire mall including the Tidal Basin This bus is a part of the DC metro system so keep this in mind

before looking for sightseeing buses that take you around the same area

Farragut West and McPherson Square will get you as close as possible

to the northern end of the White House. And located just outside of DC, you could take the blue line to visit the Arlington Cemetery

There's a beautiful view of D.C. from there. D.C. is the political capital of the United States and perhaps even the world, depending who you ask

And living here, I find myself often in conversations about policy, politics, news

And there's one website that has transformed those conversations from mostly frustrating to actually transparent and constructive

I'm talking about Ground News. Ground News is a website and app that was developed by a former NASA engineer

on a mission to give readers a data-driven, non-biased way of getting the news

Every story comes with a quick visual breakdown of the political bias

factuality, and ownership of the source's reporting, all backed by ratings from three independent news monitoring organizations

The cat's gone now. So here I am on Ground News. I'm going to type in Washington, D.C

I like that it has the weather here. Let's take this story as an example. Do apes have humor

On the left side, you could see the articles listed down. You could organize them by left, center, or right coverage

And you could see here on the right side, the coverage details. It gives you the bias distribution with the sources themselves

Also gives you the factuality and the ownership. One of my favorite features is this right here called Blind Spot, which features stories

that are underreported either by the left or the right. Basically, it helps you escape echo chambers by showing you stories that you wouldn't normally see

You can trust the internet, again, with Ground News. They aren't funded by media conglomerates or big tech, and their only agenda is to make news more transparent

And this is a mission that here at Bright Trip, we fully support

And if you subscribe now, you'll get 30% off their Vantage plan, which gives you unlimited access to all their features

This offer is only available through our link, so go to ground.news.com

Bright Trip, try out Ground News today for just $5 a month, and help support an independent

platform that is trying to make the news more transparent and trustworthy

Let's get back to it. Keep in mind that with most metros, this map is condensed and it's warped to give you

an overview of the system. If you want to get a sense of how far it is to walk from Union Station to the Smithsonian

for example, I recommend using an app like Google Maps or City Mapper

I also recommend using an app in general for riding the metro. All the trains, along with any delays or complications, are updated in real time

So all you need to do is enter your start and end destination, and your phone will recommend

different routes based on time, distance, price, and number of transfers. Once you select your route all you need to do is follow the instructions easy peasy But if it not looking so easy peasy don stress that why we here going to do a demo trip It gonna be a lot of fun Even though these apps can seem wonderful they not all knowing yet

So make sure to pay attention to the announcements on the screens in case of delays

To use the Metro, you need one of these. This is a smart card

It kind of works like a debit card. And because we live in the future, this card is also available digitally

which you can access by downloading the SmartTrip app on your phone

A lot of people use this app, but I have heard negative reviews about the setup process

but once you have everything set up, it works fine. Plastic cards can be purchased at vending machines

You simply press the select to buy a card, and then you can select how much money you want

to load onto the card. The DC Metro charges based on distance

At the time of shooting this video, the cheapest fare is $2 and can go up to $6 if you ride it as far as possible

On weekends and weekdays after 9.30pm, the ride costs a flat fee of $2

I would say between $10 and $20 is a good start if you're going to be in town for a couple of days

You can use cash or contactless cards to pay. There are also unlimited passes available

Again, if you're only in town for a couple of days, then you should be good with loading money straight on

Note that the card itself costs $2, so if you use a digital card, you don't have to pay that fee

A quick take it or leave it tip is to check on top of the vending machines

Sometimes people leave them there because they're leaving town, they don't need the cards anymore and they just leave them there for other people to use

To get a digital card on your phone, download the SmartTrip app

Your device does need to have NFC which is the contactless payment technology

Once you have either a plastic or digital card, you can use it to tap in and out of the

fare gates when you want to get on or off the metro

Once you tap out, the system will deduct your fare out of your card, depending on how far

you've traveled. And another great thing about the SmartTrip card is that you could use it to tap in and

out of buses. It works the same way as the metro stations

Okay, so let's put this knowledge to the test. This is my friend Alex

Let's make sure we see her pretty face. And we're going to get her to the airport

Okay, so let's see what Google Maps is telling us. It's giving us some options

We're going to go with the red to the yellow. We are at Cleveland Park right now

We're going to take the red line down to Gallery Place, Chinatown, and then we're going to transfer

to the yellow and green line and take that to Ronald Reagan National Airport

This is our red line train to Tacoma. I think this is it, right

Right now we're on the red line headed towards Tacoma. We going to get off at Gallery Place and transfer to the yellow and green lines Good job Okay we just got off at Gallery Place Chinatown This is our transfer station So we gonna look at the signs pointing towards the yellow and green line

At each station, you have tracks going in opposite directions. So look at the signs on the side that you're on

and that'll tell you which way the train is going. If you happen to be on the wrong side

you could always take the escalator up and over to get to the right track

So we're at the yellow and green platform, and we are looking for the side

that has taken us to Huntington, and it tells you the color of the line

and the last stop of the line of the direction that you're going in

So we're looking for Huntington, which happens to be right there. So these signs tell you the color of the line

the direction, and how long, and now our train has arrived, so let's get on this train and go to the airport

The DC Metro has these cool digital screens that tell you your stops

You can see we are right now at Archives. We are taking this line all the way to Ronald Reagan National Airport, aka DCA

Other thing is that besides these digital screens, you also have these stops over here

Also, you have these signs in the middle of the car that tell you the next train stop

This is one of the newer DC Metro trains. Some of the older ones have carpet and fabric seats

which is pretty cool. This definitely feels cleaner, but those feel home-ier somehow

So we're about two stops now from the airport. How do you feel about your flight

I'm pretty excited. What are you gonna do in Seattle? Drink lots of coffee, maybe go on the Frasier tour

That's the airport right back there. Look how simple that was, look how easy that was

to get to the airport using the Metro. Mission complete

We got Alex to the airport and this is sadly where we say goodbye

I hope you have a good flight, Alex. It's been so much fun telling you about the DC Metro

and before I say goodbye, I wanna leave you with a couple of guidelines

that transplants and locals alike appreciate. A few rules of the rail, if you will

First and foremost, while riding the escalator, please stand on the right and pass on the left

I'm gonna run that back. Stand on the right and pass on the left

When you're tapping in or out of a station, make sure you have your card ready as you're approaching the fare gate

so that way you don't become the bottleneck of the congestion. Those lines could get pretty bad

and you don't wanna be that person that's holding everybody up. And that's my spiel about the DC Metro

I hope it's helpful. And if you're curious about more DC content

you should check out this video. And before I buzz off, I just wanna say that I love you

I love you