I'm sure there's a reason why she doesn't have a car involved.....did it ever occur to you to that some people have disabilities and can't even have a license? Or maybe she ******* needs to work to buy a car....some people are such inconsiderate assholes.....wow..... anyways, my heart goes to you OP...I know the feeling of consecutive bad luck....fyl

I don't live in DC, but for me to drive to work like a "normal" person (according to you, 83), it would cost me over $100/month to park 1 mile away from work, and because I don't have any seniority, that's the closest I can get. It only costs me about $25/month for a bus pass, and I get dropped off across the road from where I work. So I can pay $100 plus gas, and drive through stressful rush hour traffic, only to have to wait for a shuttle or walk almost a mile...or I can pay $25, attempt to relax and read or get something done while the bus driver worries about traffic, and walk like 100 feet to get to work. In some places, "normal" is relying on public transportation, because otherwise there would have to be so many parking spots that parking garages would take up half the city.

^ This definitely applies to DC as well. Plus, the beltway traffic often renders cars even less reliable than the Metro.

It's pretty obvious that you don't live, or have ever lived, in a big city 83. OP probably works right in town. YOU try driving in downtown DC during the morning and evening rush. Not to mention the parking (or lack thereof.) You'd be an idiot NOT taking some form of public transit to get there.

Wow, it must suck to live in DC then, if that's the case. The Dallas/Fort Worth area has way more people than DC, and yet the vast majority of us manage to own cars and drive to work regularly.

well here in the suburbs of course there's no public transportations, but they're even building the dart trains downtown now, even if they don't have many stops right now. there are also plenty of buses as well. of course, there are also tons of parking lots and garages, many more than you see in places like dc or chicago, where there are more public transportation systems.

also, there are only more people because there are two large cities in sight of each other, as well as lower taxes in Texas, which is probably why people can afford their own cars and the gov doesn't spend as much money on public transportation.

@ Spartan86 : So a normal person uses a car ? Who decided it ? Look around you ! Most people in Paris (and New York too, and loooots of other cities around the world) uses public transportation. Should I say it pollutes way less, is safer, and you can do something else while going to work ? (well, when you can find a seat... nothing's perfect... ) But if you're stupid enough to think the "normal" way to go to work in a city is a car, give a car to everybody and see what happens.