My introduction to the Silver Line extension to IAD had to wait until Saturday morning. Notes from my experience:

• Although IAD needs to update its "Ground Transportation" signs to add a Metro icon, once you get to baggage claim you can't miss the large blue signs pointing people towards doors 2 and 6 for each entrance to the tunnel under the hourly parking lot that leads to the Metro station and Daily Garage 1.

• The down escalator by Door 2 was closed, so I had to take a slow-ish elevator instead.

• Before you reach the first of three moving sidewalks going from the terminal to the station, you'll see this metal model of IAD's main terminal, the Metro track, that garage and a few other buildings. (The only time I've seen that few cars in the hourly lot was at the start of the pandemic.) Once again, the walk didn't take more than four or so minutes.



• The station itself looks great, but it was chilly on the exposed platform. You can always hang out downstairs until the next-train display in front of the faregates says your train is approaching. OTOH, if planes are landing on 19L you should have a great view of them from the platform.

• For the sake of completeness, I rode the Silver Line out to Ashburn first. You should get a good view of 19C landings and cargo operations from the train as the line threads its way through parking lots and past various airport buildings to reach the Dulles Greenway.

• Consistent with the 59 mph speed limit Metro imposed in 2016, I didn't see my train go any faster than 56 mph from IAD to Tysons. The line was built to support faster speeds--on the opening day of Silver Line phase one in 2014, I clocked my train hitting 70 mph--and I hope the new management at WMATA revisits that.

• Door to door time from IAD to Clarendon was 41 minutes, matching Metro's trip-planner estimate. Trains are supposed to come every 15 minutes and did so Saturday morning; if Metro can continue putting more 7000-series trains back in service, that should improve.

• At the $2 weekend flat fare--also available after 9:30 p.m.--this is one of the best airport-transit deals in the U.S. Peak fare is $6, which is not so great but still way cheaper than BART to SFO, RTD to DEN and NJ Transit to EWR.

• But because IAD is so far out on the Silver Line, Metro's hours won't work for late arrivals from Sunday through Thursday (when the last train to D.C. is at 10:53 p.m.) and early departures on weekends (when the first train from D.C. doesn't arrive until 8:06 a.m.).

Any other questions I can answer?