Public transport questions for DC/NoVA locals - what to put on a fare card

You'll have to do a manual calculation of each trip segment on the WMATA Trip Planner (see below link) and then add them up to see if total cost is < cost of unlimited day card. You'll be surprised how expensive the fares are (especially during peak hours) so it's worth checking. Here's the link to the Trip Planner: https://www.wmata.com/schedules/trip-planner/

Yes, you can use your Smart Trip card on the Circulator. The fare should be no more than $1, although it says a Metro-to-Circulator transfer fare is $0.50.
http://www.dccirculator.com/bus-basics/fares-payments/

I would go to the Wmata.com website and use their trip planner to see how much your rides will cost and then buy a smartcard for the total amount amount. There are rush hour and non rush hour fares so it might be wise to travel after 9am.
You can use your Smartcard on the D.C. Circular and regular buses as well.

Thank you for the links.

It looks like we'll need the metro rail for 2 rides: Crystal City to DC and then DC to Crystal City later that night. For the day in between, it looks like we can take the Circulator between the Mall, the Monuments/Memorials and Dupont Circle. We'll just need to change buses. According to the fare link, an unlimited on the Circulator is just $3 each.

Am I correct with that assumption? My thinking is the only negative is traffic to Dupont Circle. Is that a good plan?

Also, which free app do you recommend for iPhone to get the DC Circulator schedule, travel planner and map?

Take a look at the Circulator route map. You'll see there is no direct northbound route from the monuments to Dupont Circle. The monuments route goes east to Union Station where you can catch the Metro red line to Dupont Circle. The blue route that goes to Dupont is the Rosslyn-Georgetown-Dupont route, which is different. The Circulator has no schedule (because it's supposed to be frequent service every 10 min or so)...I would just use the route map off the website. The stops are well-marked. The only app I know of is called Next Bus and it's supposedly pretty unreliable (or has been in the past).

http://www.dccirculator.com/ride/rider-tools/

Thanks Agnes. Where do we buy the Circulator $3 daily unlimited? Can we add the unlimited Circulator to the SmarTrip card sold at metro stations?

On a different note, if we want to grab something to eat after the museums/before we go to the monuments, are there food trucks on the mall? There weren't 20+ years ago but now it seems food trucks are ubiquitous.

Although the Circulator website says you can buy any kind of pass through CommuterDirect.com, a one-day unlimited pass doesn't exist in their purchase offerings (so maybe it has gone away but it is still incorrectly listed on the website). I would assume that there is no such pass and prepare to pay $1 on your Smart Trip card per ride.

As far as food trucks, the best ones seem to be around the L'Enfant Plaza Metro, with the broadest variety on a weekday around lunchtime (I think they come every day of the week but I'm not positive). There are also some by the Archives Metro, although there are a lot of places to eat around there as well. The regular stands you'll see everywhere are the awful Polish sausage and junk food and t-shirt stands that permeated the Mall before the food trucks finally broke through. If you want a good meal, the National Museum of the American Indian is excellent (although pricy) and the National Gallery of Art is second best.

Although the Circulator website says you can buy any kind of pass
through CommuterDirect.com, a one-day unlimited pass doesn't exist in
their purchase offerings (so maybe it has gone away but it is still
incorrectly listed on the website).

Unreal! The website says it's available but in fact, it's not. Thanks for the heads up.

The website also says one can transfer from Circulator bus to Circulator bus for free if done in under 2 hours. Does that mean if we get off the bus at the Lincoln Memorial, we can get back on another bus to continue that route for free if we do so in under 2 hours? Should I also assume that the 2 hour time frame begins when we first board the bus?

Yes, each time stamp occurs when you press your card on the reader each time you board. So I assume that the reduced fare applies within 2 hours of the prior time stamp.

Thanks. I want to clarify something. The transfer within 2 hours to the same Circulator bus is FREE.

Transfers

The following discounted fares for transfers are applied only to
riders using a SmarTrip®Card.

*Transferring to Circulator

from Circulator (within 2 hours) – free

http://www.dccirculator.com/bus-basics/fares-payments/

Is the website correct?

The L'Enfant Plaza Food truck location on Maryland Ave is convenient for people visiting the Air & Space Museum or the Hirshhorn. You can get an app that will help you track DC's food trucks (which do move from location to location by day of the week, and the space assignments are changed every month). Go to foodtruckfiesta.com.

7th St NW just north of Pennsylvania Avenue has a lot of attractive options.

We bought lunch from one of the food trucks at L'Enfant Plaza and enjoyed outside on a bench in the shade. Lots of trucks with Mexican food.

We confirmed there is no unlimited Circulator day pass. Still it's a good deal in that if you use the SmarTrip card, you can hop on and off any of those buses even on the same route for as many times as you like within 2 hours of first boarding a bus.

We had a nice weekend.