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Metrobus is a bus service 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). Its fleet consists of 1,595 buses covering an area of in Washington, D.C.,
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean ...
and
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...
. There are 269 bus routes serving 11,129 stops, including 2,554 bus shelters. In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of .


History

Metrobus was founded on February 4, 1973, after acquiring DC Transit, Washington, Virginia and Maryland Coach Company (WV&M), Alexandria, Barcroft and Washington Transit Company (AB&W) and the Washington Marlboro and Annapolis Motor Lines (WM&A) to combine into Metrobus. During its founding, WMATA dropped transfer charges, extended senior citizen discounts region-wide and began fare reductions on routes formerly served by the different carriers at different rates. WMATA also unified a new bus livery with red, white and blue paint scheme and purchased 620 buses from AM General with the last buses being delivered in 1974. Today, Metrobus serves the nation's capital 24/7, with over 1,500 buses.


Fares

, the Metrobus fare structure is as follows for cash and
SmarTrip SmarTrip is a contactless stored-value smart card payment system managed by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) uses a compatible payment system called CharmCard. A reciprocity ...
: * Local bus routes within the District of Columbia, Central Maryland and Northern Virginia: $2.00 * Express bus routes (17B, 17G, 17K, 17L, 17M, 18G, and 18P): $4.25 * Express Airport bus routes (5A and B30): $7.50 Discounts are available for senior citizens, people with disabilities and D.C. students. Up to two children, per paying adult, under 5 years of age ride for free. Children at least 5 years of age pay adult fare. All Metrobuses have
SmarTrip SmarTrip is a contactless stored-value smart card payment system managed by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) uses a compatible payment system called CharmCard. A reciprocity ...
card readers which automatically deduct the correct fare from a rider's SmarTrip card (including transfer credit). Metrobus issued paper transfers until January 4, 2009. Transfers are now currently attainable only through SmarTrip cards. On June 27, 2010, the transfer window was reduced from 3 hours to 2 hours. All fares were free from mid-March 2020 to January 3, 2021, due to 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 identified ...
. On December 6, 2022, the
Council of the District of Columbia The Council of the District of Columbia is the legislative branch of the local government of the District of Columbia, the capital of the United States. As permitted in the United States Constitution, the district is not part of any U.S. state ...
voted to abolish fares within city limits from July 1, 2023.


Fleet

On July 4, 2018, WMATA awarded a 5-year contract to New Flyer for up to 694 buses, order consist of forty-foot CNG, forty-foot clean diesel, sixty-foot CNG, and sixty-foot diesel heavy-duty transit buses. These new buses will replace Metro's older New Flyer Low Floor buses, which were delivered between 2005 and 2007. ''Red/Silver'' painted buses will be used on local routes and ''Blue/Silver'' buses will be used on limited stop routes. These buses will have either ''Local'' or ''MetroExtra'' on the top of each side of the bus for easy identification. WMATA is adding a total of 533 hybrid buses to replace its diesel bus fleet. Each new "
New Flyer Xcelsior The New Flyer Xcelsior is a line of transit buses available in 35' rigid, 40' rigid, and 60' articulated nominal lengths manufactured by New Flyer Industries since 2008. In addition to the different available lengths, the buses are sold with a ...
XDE40" bus costs $571,737 and is expected to break down less frequently as well as offer greater fuel economy. With the latest purchase of 152 hybrid buses for $89.3 million from New Flyer of America, WMATA's Metrobus fleet will consist of 297 diesel buses, 800 hybrid buses and 458 natural gas fueled buses. Additionally, WMATA placed an order for 110 new buses from New Flyer on September 18, 2019. According to a
Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...
report, in 2020 WMATA received $4.1 million in funding from the
Federal Transit Administration The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transportation systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administratio ...
for the purchase of
electric bus An electric bus is a bus that is propelled using electric motors as opposed to an internal combustion engine. Electric buses can store the needed electricity on-board, or be fed continuously from an external source. The majority of buses ...
es and charging infrastructure. The report estimated that 50% electrification would reduce the WMATA fleet's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by more than 58,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year.


Divisions

There are 9 divisions (a.k.a. depots) in the Metrobus system.


Closed depots


Routes


Numbering

Most Metrobus routes follow the rules below: * Metrobus routes in Washington, D.C. have either a two digit number (31, 42, 64, etc.) or a letter followed by a number (A2, S2, X8, etc.) * Metrobus routes in Montgomery County, MD have a letter followed by a number (C4, Q4, Z6, etc.) * Metrobus routes in Prince George's County, MD have a letter followed by two numbers (F12, J12, P12, etc.) * Metrobus routes in
Northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several County (United States), counties and independent city (United States), independent cities in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. I ...
have one or two numbers followed by a letter (1A, 16C, 29N, etc.) Odd-numbered routes are typically part-time variants of even-numbered routes.


Richmond Highway Express

Richmond Highway Express, a.k.a. "REX", is a Limited-Stop bus line that operates between King Street–Old Town station and
Fort Belvoir Fort Belvoir is a United States Army installation and a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. It was developed on the site of the former Belvoir plantation, seat of the prominent Fairfax family for whom Fai ...
along the Richmond Highway corridor in Fairfax County, Virginia. All REX runs take place on board on any local bus from Cinder Bed Division. REX began service on September 26, 2004, replacing parts of the now-former route 9A (which operated between and stations until it was eliminated on June 26, 2016). The original REX bus fleet consisted of 12 now-retired 2000 Orion 06.501 (VI) buses wrapped (but not painted) in the blue-and-gold color scheme (2073–2084) before the aforementioned Orion 07.501 CNG buses arrived in 2006. The second REX fleet consisted of 12 now-retired 2006 Orion 07.501 (VII)
CNG Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in cyl ...
buses (2674–2685) painted in the blue-and-gold color scheme until they were all repainted between June and August 2014. The third REX fleet were consisted of 12 2010
New Flyer New Flyer is a Canadian multinational bus manufacturer, specializing in the production of transit buses. New Flyer is owned by the NFI Group, a holding company for several bus manufacturers. New Flyer has several manufacturing facilities in Ca ...
DE40LFA diesel-electric hybrid buses (6550–6561) painted in the blue-and-gold color scheme before being repainted from June 2018 back into the Red Local Scheme due to the units being rehabilitated. The fourth and most recent REX fleet consisted of 12 2008 New Flyer DE40LFA buses painted in the blue-and-gold color scheme. The entire REX fleet has been retired as of December 26, 2021; from that date onward, the REX route has been operated entirely with regular Metrobuses.


MetroExtra

MetroExtra is a limited-stop Metrobus service, which operates on Metrobus lines that need extra service with faster trips. MetroExtra started service on March 19, 2007, with the 79 that operates between the and stations on the 7th Street/Georgia Avenue corridor.


Metroway

Metroway is a bus rapid transit (BRT) service that began on August 24, 2014. The first phase is the Crystal City/
Potomac Yard Potomac Yard is a neighborhood in Northern Virginia that straddles southeastern Arlington County and northeastern Alexandria, Virginia, located principally in the area between U.S. Route 1 and the Washington Metro Blue Line / Yellow Line track ...
Transitway, which operates on
Route 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbered S ...
in Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia. It is a corridor with 33 platforms and 20 stations located between and . The first 0.8 mile segment in Alexandria runs on a transit lane only. The Arlington County segment began construction in the summer of 2014 and opened April 17, 2016. Metroway originally operated between the Braddock Road and stations and was expanded to Pentagon City in April 2016. Thirteen 2016 New Flyer Xcelsior XN40 CNG buses (2981–2993) operate with the blue-and-white Metroway livery. The original Metroway fleet consisted of thirteen 2014 NABI 42 BRT diesel-electric hybrid buses (8002–8014) until they were all repainted in December 2016. The Metroway service, which is operated by Metrobus' Four Mile Run bus division, features dedicated bus lanes, transit signal priority, real-time information, custom designed shelters and stations, as well as near-level boarding at station platforms. A Metroway fare costs the same as Metrobus, which is $2.00 (using cash & SmarTrip).


See also

*
List of Metrobus routes (Washington, D.C.) This is a list of bus routes operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), branded as Metrobus. Many are the descendants of streetcar lines operated by the Capital Transit Company or its predecessors. Current ...
* Metrobus fleet (Washington, D.C.) *
Metro Transit Police Department The Metro Transit Police Department (MTPD) is the transit police agency of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), created by the WMATA Compact on June 4, 1976. The MTPD is unique in U.S. law enforcement as it is the only ...


References

{{Transit In DC 1967 establishments in Washington, D.C. Bus transportation in Washington, D.C. Bus transportation in Maryland Bus transportation in Virginia