While reading through the reviews, I came to the conclusion that most people just had too high of a standard for what a shared van is. Plus I’ve had several pretty good experiences using the Dulles Super Shuttle, although not in some time. Super Shuttle from Dulles comes in at around $30 plus driver tip for a shared-ride van, making it easily the most affordable option. Uber isn’t much cheaper (and comes with the added disadvantage of using your money to support the company’s exploitative labor practices). But a trip to downtown DC costs at least $80. Public transportation in Washington, DC shuts down at 11:30 pm on weeknights and doesn’t reopen until 5 am. The only problem? If you have a late-night or early-morning arrival or departure from Dulles, which is quite common, you have few other options to get between the airport and the city. Reports of drivers never showing up, vans being in disrepair, and even reckless driving abound. The reviews on Yelp and TripAdvisor are enough to scare anyone away. It doesn’t take much research to realize that taking Super Shuttle from Dulles is likely to be a terrible option. The lack of Dulles transportation after hours means you’re stuck with either expensive or awful choices. So I’m writing this post as a warning for other budget travelers who may be looking for affordable Dulles Airport shuttle options. But I can honestly say that my experience with Super Shuttle was the worst transportation experience I’ve ever had. I’ve been crammed into speeding minivans in Ethiopia, hitchhiked my way around remote northern Romania, left on the side of the road by a broken-down bus in Honduras, and ridden hundreds of kilometers in the back of a pickup truck in Laos. Now, I have pretty high tolerance for horrible transportation. During that time, I was misdirected by its check-in system, lied to by the customer service staff and came close to being stranded at the airport. My nightmare trip with Super Shuttle from Dulles took three and a half hours. Unfortunately, my hopes were quickly dashed as I tried to organize my (pre-booked) ride home. But I still had some hope of getting a reasonable amount of sleep. I was exhausted and dreading the idea of going to work in the morning. By the time I landed at Dulles Airport in Washington, DC at midnight, I’d been traveling for nearly 16 hours.
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