Where are the drivers to P. Mills?

Although I don't slug from 14th and New York, and no longer slug from Pr. Wm. County, from talking with people, there are quite a few drivers who pick up in the morning at Potomac Mills, but prefer Horner Rd. in the evening. One of the reasons is that from Horner they can get immediately onto I95, and Potomac Mills is more of a hassle. Because, at least a while ago, the Potomac Mills lines ran later than Horner's, drivers at later times (after 7:00a.m.) could get riders easily from Potomac, but not from Horner. Unfortunately, they are not thinking how this impacts the slugging system from that location when there are so many drivers picking up at one place in the a.m. and dropping off at another place in the p.m.

If you want to take riders to Dumfries or Stafford, Pentagon is a good place to pick up slugs. However, if you exit at Dumfries or near Quantico (where the HOV lanes end), expect to sit in horrendous traffic on a Friday in the summer.

I would suggest staying in the HOV lanes. It is extremely rare that you can make better time by getting off at any point, even if the regular lanes at a certain area are going faster. The vast majority of the time, the HOV lanes are not clogged and those points where the regular lanes are going faster is quite brief. The loss of time comes at the back up at the merge into the regular lanes where the HOV lanes end just south of Dumfries. I've even tried getting off there and taking Route 1 - bad choice - that takes far longer if you are continuing south. But, anyway, my experience has been that you will kick yourself if you get off of the HOV lanes.

The Rt. 17 and 610 lines almost always have folks still waiting for rides at 6:00pm. Folks are about then deciding whether to head over towards the bus lines because single drivers can get on the HOV at 6pm and fewer drivers come by. I generally pull up about 5:45-5:50pm and I can almost always count on plenty of people still in line. There have been a few unexplicable days where there weren't many people in line, even earlier than 6pm (never figured that out because it wasn't a holiday) but within minutes someone would come up.

So, as a driver, it has been only every once in a blue moon that I would have to wait for riders, but it was always been worth it (alternative of being in the regular lanes is the pits)even if you don't get on the HOV lanes until a few minutes 'til 6pm, you still do better than trying the regular lanes. It will be slower than if you get on HOV earlier, but it still beats the regular lanes. Singles drivers can enter into the HOV lanes at several different points at 6pm, and that slows down the HOV lanes. Also, on Fridays it seems like a lot of people like to drive in, so on many Fridays, the lines of riders are not as long. So, I would say 6pm is the latest, ALTHOUGH, I have seen a few folks still in line close to 6:30pm - only one or two though.