The D.C.–Dulles Line, designated Route 5A, was a bus route operated by the

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA ), commonly referred to as Metro, is a tri-jurisdictional government agency that operates transit service in the Washington metropolitan area. WMATA was created by the United States Con ...

(WMATA) between

Washington Dulles International Airport Washington Dulles International Airport , typically referred to as Dulles International Airport, Dulles Airport, Washington Dulles, or simply Dulles ( ), is an international airport in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Eastern United States, loc ...

and

L'Enfant Plaza station L'Enfant Plaza is an intermodal transit station complex located at L'Enfant Plaza in the Southwest Federal Center neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It consists of an underground Washington Metro rapid transit station and an elevated Virginia Ra ...

of the

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...

Yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the R ...

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

and

Silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

lines of the

Washington Metro The Washington Metro (or simply Metro), formally the Metrorail,Google Books search/preview

. The line operated every 30–40 minutes on weekdays and 60 minutes on weekends along the

Dulles Toll Road State Route 267 (SR 267) is a primary state highway in the US state of Virginia. It consists of two end-to-end toll roads – the Dulles Toll Road and Dulles Greenway – as well as the non-tolled Dulles Access Road, which lies in the ...

Interstate 66 Interstate 66 (I-66) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the eastern United States. It runs from an interchange with I-81 near Middletown, Virginia, on its western end to an interchange with U.S. Route 29 (US 29) in Washingt ...

, Richmond Highway and Interstate 395 between these two locations with no intermediate stops, with the exception of the Herndon–Monroe Park & Ride and

Rosslyn station Rosslyn is the westernmost station on the shared segment of the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines of the Washington Metro. It is located in the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia, United States. Rosslyn is the first station in Virginia ...

. The trip was approximately 50 minutes long.

Service

Service operated every 30 to 35 minutes between

and

on weekdays, and 60 minutes on weekends. WMATA used 2006 Orion VII CNG (07.501) suburbans numbered 2701–2730 based out of Four Mile Run Division to operate the route. However, other buses can be used on the route if the Orion VII CNGs are running on other routes or going under maintenance. Each bus has suburban seating with overhead luggage racks.

Stops

Background

The 5A originally operated under the “North Reston Express Line” in the 1970s before being discontinued in the 1990s being replaced by a combination of

Fairfax Connector Fairfax Connector is a public bus service provided by Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, and is managed by the county government. The bus system provides service within Fairfax County, and connects to Metrobus, Metrorail stations, Virgini ...

routes. Service began on December 4, 2000 to connect service to Dulles International Airport from Downtown Washington, D.C. The line is unique for being the only WMATA bus line that runs to

Loudoun County Loudoun County () is in the northern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. In 2020, the census returned a population of 420,959, making it Virginia's third-most populous county. Loudoun County's seat is Leesburg. Loudoun C ...

, has a connection with any Virginia non-commuter services, and is responsible for providing a regular link between the two services. The original $1.10 one-way fare was seen as a bargain compared with other transportation modes in the area, including

Shenandoah Valley Commuter Bus The Valley Connector Regional Shuttle and Commuter Bus was a public transportation service provided by S & W Tours, LLC and Valley Connector, Inc. that provided weekday commuter bus service in the United States from northern Shenandoah Valley to No ...

. In 2014, it was reported that the 5A line was partly responsible for Dulles Airport monthly ridership record. WMATA also provides higher levels of service on the line in special times of need, especially on certain holidays. On September 10, 2020 as part of its FY2022 proposed budget, WMATA proposed to reduce time frequency on route 5A service in order to reduce costs and low federal funds. Although, WMATA planned to eliminate route 5A and replace it with the Silver Line service on its previous proposals.

Silver Line

In 2010, WMATA started a public planning forum, to create the Silver Line route to run to Dulles Airport. The Silver Line would bring riders access via train to serve in Maryland, Washington D.C. and the northeastern portion of Virginia. This project is under Phase 2 of the Silver Line, as Phase 1 runs up to

Wiehle–Reston East station Wiehle–Reston East (; preliminary names Wiehle Avenue, Reston–Wiehle Avenue) is a Washington Metro station in Fairfax County, Virginia on the Silver Line. Located in Reston, the station is situated alongside Reston Station, a mixed-use ur ...

. Construction of Phase 2 started in 2014; it was scheduled to open in 2020. Metro officials then announced that the second phase may not be ready for service until about September 2020. Metro later re-evaluated the timetable for the second phase's launch and anticipates it would be ready for service on April 1, 2021, after the agency determines a budget for the 2020–2021 fiscal year (and having taken the impact of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

). Opening of Phase 2 was further delayed for July 2021 and later November 2022.

Dulles Airport station

Since November 15, 2022, Washington Dulles International Airport has on its own Metro station, as the station was built as part of Phase 2 of the Silver Line project. The station was originally planned to be underground, but the plans call for an above-ground station, which will be located next to daily parking garage 1 of the airport. The station is connected to the terminal building using the then-existing pedestrian tunnel which connects the hourly and daily parking lots and parking garage 1 to the baggage claim level of the airport terminal; it is equipped with moving sidewalks. The Dulles International Airport Metro station opened on November 15, 2022 and replaced the 5A on November 16.

References

External links

Metrobus
{{DEFAULTSORT:D.C.-Dulles Line 5A Transportation in Virginia Dulles International Airport Loudoun County, Virginia Fairfax County, Virginia