I've been to DC once for a couple of days. For tourist destinations the metro was fine, even though Georgetown seemed to be unaccessible due to its residents refusing a metro connection there (fear of gentrification?). Also the similarity of the stations made orientation from inside the train different for newcomers.
I've also used the the SmartBike DC, which wasn't nice, since there are few bike lanes.
About car sharing:
My experience is that car sharing is cheaper than rental if you're using the car for less than 6-12 hours a day. But your right, those numbers work differently from town to town. As soon as I added expectable car price decline to the monthly costs of owning, car sharing became incredibly cheap. I'm also happy to not have to deal with maintanance and tax/insurance issues. If I'd had to travel by car daily, owning/leasing a car would still be the cheapest option.
Georgetown does not have a metro stop primarily because it would delay people getting to the heart of the city, where most jobs are. Georgetown is a primarily commercial / residential neighborhood, not a job center, and the ridership calculations at the time did not justify a stop there.
About DC:
I've been to DC once for a couple of days. For tourist destinations the metro was fine, even though Georgetown seemed to be unaccessible due to its residents refusing a metro connection there (fear of gentrification?). Also the similarity of the stations made orientation from inside the train different for newcomers.
I've also used the the SmartBike DC, which wasn't nice, since there are few bike lanes.
About car sharing:
My experience is that car sharing is cheaper than rental if you're using the car for less than 6-12 hours a day. But your right, those numbers work differently from town to town. As soon as I added expectable car price decline to the monthly costs of owning, car sharing became incredibly cheap. I'm also happy to not have to deal with maintanance and tax/insurance issues. If I'd had to travel by car daily, owning/leasing a car would still be the cheapest option.