Our daughter is currently doing an internship in Alexandria. She has been carpooling with another girl but the girl is not real dependable. It is so expensive to drive in alone and then pay for parking! She could metro in from Branch Avenue but that is expensive and she has to change trains several times.

Is there some other way to get there from St. Mary's County? She is being paid $10 an hour so it would take her whole paycheck and more to split the rent with other interns to live up up there.

Thanks, in advance, for any suggestions. I feel for the folks that commute up there every day.

The only thing I can think of is the commuter buses that will drive you into DC (like to L'Enfant Plaza metro). Down side is you have to pay for the bus, then pay for the metro, unless the bus goes to Alexandria.

Even as good as this internship may be, sometimes you have to ask yourself...Is it really worth it ???
If you think it is then just suck it up and consider it a cost of education.

It is not that easy to get to Alexandria - but definitely doable and I am all for a solid internship - so I agree with previous post regarding just suck it up as part of education cost.

When I lived in Alexandria I signed up for commuter connections. Here is the link. (https://tdm.commuterconnections.org/mwcog/logincontrol.access) They may have some people that are from here that go there - a more reliable carpool. The 905 out of Charlotte Hall is reasonable but you will need to do metro. The 905 does have passes that are cheaper than daily fare.
Good luck - and living up there might be expensive but a nice experience!

Oh, I remembered someone else was looking for how to commute to Alexandria...it was an old post but maybe PM them?

http://forums.somd.com/life-southern-maryland/205752-commuter-bus-dc.html

The only thing I can think of is the commuter buses that will drive you into DC (like to L'Enfant Plaza metro). Down side is you have to pay for the bus, then pay for the metro, unless the bus goes to Alexandria.

Nope, they all terminate in Suitland or DC and none goes through VA because they are contracted by the State of Maryland. Her best bet is to drive or share a ride to Metro or work or share an apartment in NoVA.

I have done the drive from Lusby to Alexandria Huntington Station area for 13 years 5 days a week and it really is not that bad, of course I do it very early in the am and get off early in the afternoon (2:00). Lucky for me I only do it on Thurs. and Fri. now. Other than driving it there is really no easy way.

Our daughter is currently doing an internship in Alexandria. She has been carpooling with another girl but the girl is not real dependable. It is so expensive to drive in alone and then pay for parking! She could metro in from Branch Avenue but that is expensive and she has to change trains several times.

Is there some other way to get there from St. Mary's County? She is being paid $10 an hour so it would take her whole paycheck and more to split the rent with other interns to live up up there.

Thanks, in advance, for any suggestions. I feel for the folks that commute up there every day.

That is a really long commute, I used to have to do it to DC and it's even longer to Alexandria. It depends on where you live in St. Mary's, but the cheapest may be to take the 905 commuter bus from Charlotte Hall and get off at the L'Enfant Plaza stop. Hop on the yellow line and metro over to Alexandria. The bus will be about $5 each way plus the metro fare.

There is a 909 bus that stops in California (a little more than $5), but does not run as much as the 905 and is an extremely long ride from DC in the evening depending on the traffic.

Or you could just drive to Branch Ave or Suitland Green line and switch at L'Enfant Plaza to the yellow line...it's only one train change and actually not that bad. Still have a long drive to Greenbelt though....