In this post I will
be talking about Metrobus, the bus system of the DC region. Metrobus
is operated by the much maligned Washington Metropolitan Area Transit
Authority, or WMATA. It is the result of the 1967 consolidation of
many private bus companies operating in and around DC, mainly DC
Transit. It consists of over 1500 buses and 300 routes, which
altogether serve almost 1500 square miles and nearly half a million
people a day.
A typical Metrobus in WMATA's new paint scheme
Route frequencies
vary drastically. Many services in DC run all night at an interval of
between 10 and 15 minutes. However, many services in suburban
Maryland and Virginia can operate every 30 minutes or even every hour
with no late night or weekend service. Other services operate only
during peak commuting hours, and can have as few as three round trips
per day.
Metrobus has three
different route notations for its three service areas. These are
number only (90), number followed by letter (1A), and letter followed
by a number (X2). Number and letter-number designations came first,
as DC Transit needed a way to differentiate its streetcar and bus
operations. Routes that began service with buses were given
letter-number designations, and routes that were converted from
streetcars to buses retained their numbers, these two designations
were then extended into Maryland with the expansion of the bus
system. Number-letter designations are reserved for Virginia Metrobus
routes.
An articulated NABI bus on WMATA's X2 crosstown line.
A bus on the 5A Dulles Airport line.
A New Flyer bus on the 34 route before being repainted.
In both cases, the
first character designates the line, and the second character
designates the service. On numbered lines, odd numbers are typically
peak services and generally follow the route of the proceeding local,
even numbered, service. For example, the 43 bus is the rush hour
supplement to the 42 bus. It was DC Transit practice to give express
routes odd numbers, but currently, none of the numbered routes have
express service. This may however be changing, as WMATA plans to
implement a route 59 express service along 14th Street.
In addition to local
and extra services, Metrobus operates 19 express routes, all in
Virginia. These routes typically only run during morning and evening
rush hours, and cost $4.00, compared to the base rate of $1.75 for a
local or extra bus. Fares are payable with either cash, or WMATA's electronic SmarTrip cards.
Two of the express
routes, the 5A and the B30 are airport shuttles. They operate from
Downtown DC to Dulles airport and from Greenbelt Metro to BWI,
respectively. These cost $7.00 one way and make less than a handful
of intermediate stops.
Metrobus utilizes a
diverse fleet of buses from three different manufacturers: Orion,
NABI, and New Flyer. Most of these buses are painted in the current
red and silver scheme, but a handful of Orion buses are painted in
the former white and blue scheme. These old Orion buses are becoming
less common as the months go by. They feature faux wood grain
interiors and hard blue plastic seats.
Routes with higher ridership also utilize articulated buses.
An Orion bus in the old paint scheme
Rebuilt buses
feature distinctive automated announcements in a female voice. These
include the route number, the destination, and the fare. An example
from a route I’m well acquainted with:
“Route 90.
Destination: Anacostia Station. The base fare is one dollar and
seventy-five cents for this bus”
The interiors of
these buses feature black resilient flooring and blue plush seats,
which are probably the most comfortable transit seats I’ve
experienced in recent memory. Unfortunately, the inside of these
buses are not cleaned between runs. Newspapers, garbage, spilled
drinks, and occasionally vomit have all been seen by me on the floor
of buses.
A typical Metrobus interior
As part of Metro’s
desire to “right size” its operations due to reliability issues
and decreasing ridership, systemwide adjustments will be made in late
June. These adjustments will result in the increase of the base fare
to $2.00 and will also result in the elimination of several routes in
Virginia and Maryland. One of these, the 2T, I was once a frequent
user of.
In my opinion,
riding Metrobus is probably about half the fun of living in DC. You
never know what you’ll encounter on the bus, and each route is
different. Whether it be someone standing at the front of the bus
enthusiastically proselytizing about the film Thor, a man telling a
woman to call the police on someone “making terroristic threats”,
the propensity for some bus drivers to blow their horns every chance
they get, or the desire of some bus drivers to “block the box”.
Metrobus isn’t perfect, but it has character.
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