I’m stuck on the train bridge halfway across the Potomac because of a disabled VRE train ahead of us a few miles. We’re going to have to stop and pick up those stranded passengers.

It’s going to be a long commute home — but at least I have a seat on an air-conditioned train. And hassles like this have been far rarer on VRE in my limited experience this year than in D.C.-area traffic over my previous 19 years of commuting by car and Metro.