DC Metro Stations, Ranked
Washington Post detailing the paucity of dining options in DC east of the Anacostia River (I’ve written about this subject before). The article includes this damning map. The problem here is an old one: businesses tend to avoid the parts of DC east of the river, which are overwhelmingly black. They also systemically prefer the suburbs of Northern Virginia and Montgomery County to majority-black Prince George’s County. This got me thinking about the DC Metro, which I posted about last week. Which stations attract the most business and overall amenities? And could that possibly be ranked?
Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be one of those totally subjective online lists where I rank the DC area’s 86 metro stations (a quarter of which I’ve never been to) based on my own personal preferences. This is scientific, I swear! I used the simplest possible methodology: I plugged each of the station names into WalkScore, a wonderful website that uses a complicated algorithm to determine a particular location’s “walkability” on a 100-point scale. The algorithm is, of course, imperfect, and so is the resulting list. But at least it’s consistent, and it doesn’t take into account prejudicial factors like the demographics of the surrounding area.
The full list is after the jump, but here are some highlights:
Highest ranked station: Metro Center (100), in DC
Lowest ranked station: tie between Branch Ave and Morgan Blvd (18), in Prince George’s
Highest ranked suburban station: Bethesda (97), in Montgomery
Lowest ranked DC station: Fort Totten (43)
Highest ranked Virginia station: Clarendon (94)
Lowest ranked Virginia station: Arlington Cemetery (25), but you can’t really hold that against them
Highest ranked Prince George’s station: Prince George’s Plaza (88)
Lowest ranked Montgomery station: Grosvenor (34)
Most overrated station: of many possible nominees, I’m going with Judiciary Square (95)
Most underrated station: Woodley Park (78); I’m convinced it got screwed by Rock Creek Park, which most people would consider a major amenity! Also, the stations I spend the most time around, Columbia Heights and Georgia Ave (both 86), are definitely underrated.
Happiest surprise: Wheaton (89), which I’ve always liked but which rarely gets any respect
Most shameful: College Park (48), because University of Maryland students deserve better
Average score for DC: 79
Average score for Montgomery: 71
Average score for Virginia: 69
Average score for Prince George’s: 43
Complete List:
Metro Center: 100
Farragut North: 98
Farragut West: 98
Foggy Bottom: 98
Bethesda: 97
Federal Triangle: 97
McPherson Square: 97
Tenleytown: 97
Gallery Place: 95
Judiciary Square: 95
Mt Vernon Square: 95
U Street: 95
Clarendon: 94
Archives: 92
Court House: 92
Dupont Circle: 92
Silver Spring: 92
Cleveland Park: 91
Crystal City: 91
Eastern Market: 91
Takoma: 91
Virginia Square: 91
Shaw: 89
Union Station: 89
Wheaton: 89
Ballston: 88
Brookland: 88
Prince George’s Plaza: 88
Capitol South: 86
Columbia Heights: 86
Georgia Ave: 86
King Street: 86
Rosslyn: 86
Rockville: 85
Friendship Heights: 83
Van Ness: 83
Waterfront: 83
Navy Yard: 82
Rhode Island Ave: 80
White Flint: 80
Braddock Rd: 78
New York Ave: 78
Pentagon City: 78
Woodley Park: 78
Smithsonian: 77
L’Enfant Plaza: 75
Potomac Ave: 75
Federal Center: 74
Twinbrook: 74
Van Dorn St: 74
Reagan National Airport: 72
Medical Center: 66
East Falls Church: 63
Minnesota Ave: 63
Anacostia: 62
Congress Heights: 60
Largo Town Center: 60
Southern Ave: 60
West Falls Church: 60
Benning Rd: 57
Dunn Loring: 57
Huntington: 57
Glenmont: 55
West Hyattsville: 55
Pentagon: 54
Deanwood: 52
Stadium Armory: 52
Forest Glen: 49
Shady Grove: 49
College Park: 48
Eisenhower Ave: 48
Vienna: 48
New Carrollton: 46
Capitol Heights: 45
Fort Totten: 43
Franconia: 43
Greenbelt: 38
Landover: 38
Suitland: 35
Addison Rd: 34
Grosvenor: 34
Naylor Rd: 34
Cheverly: 32
Arlington Cemetery: 25
Branch Ave: 18
Morgan Blvd: 18
ANC 7D01 
Though I can’t say I am a fan of Mr. Klion’s blog, it looks like this part of his blog piece, with the link to a WaPo article, didn’t get pasted:
“This post was originally inspired by an article in today’s Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/in-dc-a-push-for-better-restaurants-east-of-the-anacostia-river/2012/02/16/gIQAXaE9NR_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines ) detailing the paucity of dining options in DC east of the Anacostia River”
The trolley is an obvious one, but moving the carbarn to the Northern RFK lots, and integrating it with a Metro Station where the tracks cross over Benning Road would make our neighborhood a ton more accessible, and therefore walkable.
Combine that with a plan to spur retail development along Benning Road so more shops and restaurants are within walking distance, and Kingman Park’s walking score would be off the charts.