I'm going to explain how to read the DC Metro map to help you out when you come visit.
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Welcome to Trip Hacks DC, my name is Rob.
I'm a tour guide here in the Nation's Capital.
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In this video I'm going to tell you how to read the DC Metro map and give you some tips
to help you interpret it.
If you live in or have been to DC before and have any of your own Metro hacks, leave a
comment on this video and let everyone know about them.
Or if you want some of my Metro videos, check out the description where I will leave a link
to my Metro video series playlist.
With that said, let's get started...
If you're visiting Washington, DC and planning on using our Metro the Metro map is going
to be your best friend.
I highly recommend going and downloading a jpeg of the map to your phone.
That way you'll have access to it even if you have a low signal or are offline.
Make sure to check out the video description for a download link.
Metro consists of six color coded lines.
Some stations are served by multiple lines while others are served by just one.
For example, if you want to travel to the McPherson Square station, you can get there
on any of three lines: the orange, blue or silver.
But if you want to go to the Arlington Cemetery station, you only have one choice: the blue
line.
And depending on exactly where you're trying to go you might need to ride two lines and
transfer between them.
Transfer stations on the Metro map are marked by a little bulls eye.
There are officially 8 transfer stations.
For example, if you wanted to get from Eastern Market, over near the Capitol to the Zoo you
would need to ride the orange, blue or silver line to Metro Center, then transfer to the
red line and continue to take that up to the zoo.
One thing that a lot of people, including locals, don't know about the Metro map, is
that the line that is actually on top, on the map, is the one that's physically on top
in the station.
What I mean by this is, take a look at the L'Enfant Plaza station.
The green and yellow lines are on top of the orange, blue and silver lines.
That means if you want to transfer from green to blue you get off the green line upstairs,
and go down the escalator to get to the blue line.
On the flip side, at the Gallery Place station, the green and yellow lines are downstairs
and the red line is upstairs.
In addition to the six lines the Metro map also has a lot of reference points, to things
like big roads and rivers.
Here is where you find the Potomac River, and the Anacostia River.
You can see the reference point for the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and the
Capitol building.
This line here is actually the boundary of the District of Columbia and then this roundish
one over here is the Beltway, a big freeway that runs in a loop around the suburbs.
One of the other very important things to know about the Metro map is that it is not
drawn to scale.
This makes it nice, and clean and easy to read, but can also lead to situations where
things are closer together than you realize or farther apart than you realize.
Let me give you an example: on the silver line it looks like all of the stations from
McLean to the very end are the exact same distance apart.
If we go on the Metro website and look at the stops on an actual map, you'll see that
this isn't the case at all.
Four of those stations are clumped up near the Tyson's Corner development, but then the
last stop on the line is six miles away, way over to the west.
Of course most visitors are probably not going to be on that part of the silver line, so
let me give you a better example downtown.
On the Metro map it looks like the distance between Metro Center and Gallery Place is
about twice as far as the distance between Dupont Circle and Woodley Park; but on the
actual map you can see that Metro Center and Gallery Place are actually super close.
Whereas Dupont Circle and Woodley Park are much farther apart, about a 25 minute walk
if you were going to do it.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not telling you not to use the Metro map.
It is still an excellent resource when you're riding on the Metro.
What I suggest doing is also using an app like Citymapper.
With Citymapper you plug in your origin and destination and it will give you all of the
options for your trip.
Citymapper would tell you, for example, that if you wanted to go from Gallery Place to
Metro Center, walking is going to be the best option.
And to get from Dupont Circle to Woodley Park, Metro is the best option.
That way, using the app, you don't have to feel like you need to figure any of this out
on your own.
And that's it!
Than you for watching this video.
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Enjoy your trip!