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 public transit agency that operates transit services in the Washington metropolitan area. WMATA provides rapid transit servic ...

(WMATA), serving

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

and parts of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

in the

Washington metropolitan area The Washington metropolitan area, also referred to as the National Capital Region, Greater Washington, or locally as the DMV (short for Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia), is the metropolitan area comprising Washing ...

. Metrobus operates local, limited-stop, and bus rapid transit services within its service area, complementing the

Washington Metro The Washington Metro, often abbreviated as the Metro and formally the Metrorail, is a rapid transit system serving the Washington metropolitan area of the United States. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority ...

and multiple independent bus operators. Its fleet consists of 1,595 buses, covering an area of . Metrobus began operation in 1973, as the successor to four failing privately-owned bus companies. In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of .

History

Predecessors

The first bus services in the Washington, D.C. were introduced in the early 20th century, when in 1909, the Metropolitan Coach Company began operation with

gasoline Gasoline ( North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When for ...

-powered coaches. The company ceased operations in 1915. The next bus company in the nation's capital, the

Washington Rapid Transit Company The Washington Rapid Transit Company was a bus company that operated in Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United S ...

, was incorporated in 1921. By 1932, the Washington Rapid Transit Company was carrying 4.5% of transit customers in the District. In the early and mid-20th century, the public transit operators in the District consolidated themselves into the privately owned Capital Transit Company, owned by the North American Company, a utilities conglomerate.

Antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

laws required the North American Company to divest its transit operations, and in 1949, financier

Louis Wolfson Louis Elwood Wolfson (January 28, 1912 – December 30, 2007) was an American financier, a convicted felon, and one of the first modern corporate raiders, labeled by ''Time'' as such in a 1956 article.Wolfson took advantage of Capital Transit's strong financial reserves, a business strategy that eventually led to his reputation as "the original

corporate raider In business, a corporate raid is the process of buying a large stake in a corporation and then using shareholder voting rights to require the company to undertake novel measures designed to increase the share value, generally in opposition to th ...

." Wolfson paid himself substantial

dividends A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders, after which the stock exchange decreases the price of the stock by the dividend to remove volatility. The market has no control over the stock price on open on the ex ...

from the reserves, a practice that was legal but unsustainable and unpopular. Capital Transit's staff began a weeks-long strike over pay and working conditions on July 1, 1955, and Congress eventually resolved the dispute by revoking Wolfson's franchise to operate the system. Congress imposed conditions on Capital Transit's successor D.C. Transit, managed by airline entrepreneur O. Roy Chalk, which required all streetcar lines to be converted to buses by 1963.

Founding

BLOCKED_INTERSECTION_BECOMES_INSTANT_TRAFFIC_JAM_-_NARA_-_546668

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority was created in 1967 by an

interstate compact In the United States, an interstate compact is a pact or agreement between two or more states, or between states and any foreign sub-national government. Description Most early interstate compacts resolved boundary disputes, but since the earl ...

between

, and the

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. Initially, WMATA was created solely to plan and construct a rapid rail system. The compact was amended in late 1971 to allow WMATA to operate bus services. WMATA sought to buy out Chalk and take over bus services in the region, and the expiration of D.C. Transit's union contract in October 1972 created a sense of urgency. Regional leaders feared a repeat of the 1955 strike, and Chalk made major concessions to the

Amalgamated Transit Union The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) is a labor organization in the United States and Canada that represents employees in the public transit industry. Established in 1892 as the Amalgamated Association of Street Railway Employees of America, the u ...

to keep services running, including regular cost-of-living increases for bus operators. Negotiations between Chalk and WMATA were unsuccessful, but WMATA had an alternative, as permitted by the text of the compact. At 2 a.m.

Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five hours behi ...

on January 14, 1973, WMATA condemned and forcibly purchaseed D.C. Transit and its suburban subsidiary the Washington, Virginia and Maryland Coach Company (WV&M), seizing their bus fleets and properties and paying $38.2 million in compensation. ''The Washington Post'' described the purchase as "the residents of metropolitan Washington eginningto gain control of a multimillion dollar

lemon The lemon (''Citrus'' × ''limon'') is a species of small evergreen tree in the ''Citrus'' genus of the flowering plant family Rutaceae. A true lemon is a hybrid of the citron and the bitter orange. Its origins are uncertain, but some ...

." Three weeks after seizing D.C. Transit, WMATA reached agreements to purchase two other suburban bus companies, the WMA Transit Company and the Alexandria, Barcroft and Washington Transit Company (AB&W).

Early services

With the acquisition of D.C. Transit and the three suburban carriers, WMATA became the third-largest bus operator in the country. The Metrobus brand was introduced immediately, with Metrobus logos applied to some ex-D.C. Transit buses in time for the morning commute on January 14, mere hours after the early-morning takeover of the system. Metrobus started with a fleet of over 1,100 buses from its predecessors. The start of Metrobus service rapidly changed WMATA, which grew from a staff of 300 to over 4000 on little notice. With the rapid expansion of the agency, conflicts arose between the planning and funding for the under-construction

Metrorail METRORail is the light rail system in Houston, Texas (United States). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . METRORail ranks as the second most-traveled light rail system in the Southern United States and the List ...

system and the existing Metrobus system. In addition to its funding problems, Metrobus suffered from communications problems. D.C. Transit had not published a full route map in four years, and WMATA took until early 1974 to develop its own map. The map was released as an abridged one-sheet version, accompanied by a 72-page

atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

. The atlas consisted solely of maps with no timetables, which were printed separately. The system was unusually complex compared to its peers in other large American cities, with over 1,100 route variations. In April 1974, Metrobus operated a fleet of over 2,000 buses, employing 3,200 drivers. When it took control of the region's bus system, WMATA began instituting a uniform fare structure, including a discounted fare for senior citizens. With backlash continuing from passengers angry about a trend of D.C. Transit fare hikes, the WMATA board agreed to freeze bus fares at the 1970 level. This caused Metrobus to drop to 50% farebox recovery by late 1974. WMATA had planned to subsidize Metrobus service for an introductory period, but it was rapidly confronted by the need to continue subsidizing operations. WMATA received subsidies from the federal government and the local governments in its service area to continue operations, but the finances of the system remained in question until a 1980 act of Congress provided for partially dedicated funding from Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. The issues of funding were not fully resolved, and continue into the 21st century.

Late 1970s: Metrorail opening and labor conflicts

Construction on Metrorail proceeded at great expense, with the first segment of the Red Line from Rhode Island Avenue to Farragut North opening in March 1976. The events of the

United States Bicentennial The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to historical events leading up to the creation of the United States as an independent republic. It was a central event in the memo ...

were a key point for Metrobus, which operated special services for the bicentennial fireworks show on the

National Mall The National Mall is a Landscape architecture, landscaped park near the Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institu ...

on Sunday, July 4th, 1976. Metrorail was not yet operating on weekends, and Metrobus routes operated on a regular Sunday schedule, with some special shuttle services to suburban parking lots. Ridership was far higher than expected, and severe traffic congestion delayed the buses. After the fireworks, crowds of thousands of people were left waiting for hours, even as traffic congestion subsided. Political controversy followed, exposing the still-fragile nature of the Metrobus system. Metrobus drivers struck multiple times in the 1970s, including two wildcat strikes in 1978, seeking better working conditions and pay that continued to keep up with rapid inflation. In May 1978, drivers struck for one day after a driver was denied sick leave, after being dragged off her bus and assaulted in Fort Dupont Park. The May strike resulted in WMATA expediting the installation of a silent alarm system on buses and increasing police patrols. In July, drivers struck for 7 days over pay and benefits, protesting a delayed cost-of-living increase from years earlier.

1980s and 1990s: Accessibility

Metrobus purchased its first

wheelchair lift A wheelchair lift, also known as a platform lift, or vertical platform lift, is a fully powered device designed to raise a wheelchair and its occupant in order to overcome a step or similar vertical barrier. Wheelchair lifts can be installed in ...

-equipped buses in 1978, with lifts installed in 151 Flxible New Look buses. The Metrorail system was built to be fully accessible to people with disabilities, with elevators installed at all stations. Accessible buses were in an early stage of development, and the wheelchair lifts installed in WMATA's intiial fleet of buses proved troublesome. The initial pilot of wheelchair-accessible buses ran from 1979 to 1981, with the lift-equipped buses operating hourly on trunk routes across the system. The lifts required frequent maintenance due to faulty sensors and operator error, and the buses themselves experienced serious transmission problems. Controversy over lift-equipped buses continued for years, as WMATA continued purchasing a portion of its new bus fleet with wheelchair lifts. Following the initial pilot, WMATA instituted an "On-Call" program for accessible buses in 1982. The On-Call program provided accessible service by assigning lift-equipped buses to specific trips by request, with requests taken one day in advance. In 1985, approximately 14% of the Metrobus fleet was equipped with wheelchair lifts.

MetroAccess MetroAccess is a shared-ride public transportation service for individuals in the Washington DC Metropolitan Area who are unable to use fixed-route public transit due to disability. It is managed by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authori ...

paratransit service began in 1994, offering additional options for Metrobus and Metrorail customers with disabilities.

1990s: Regional network and fragmentation

The regional bus network in Maryland and Virginia became more complex in the 1980s, with the introduction of locally-operated bus systems sponsored by cities and counties. The first major operator was Ride-On in

Montgomery County, Maryland Montgomery County is the most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, the county's population was 1,062,061, increasing by 9.3% from 2010. The county seat is Rockville, Maryland ...

, which began operation in 1975. By 1981, the county-operated Ride-On system was serving 20,000 passengers per day. Montgomery County achieved significant cost savings with its in-house operation, which employed non-union drivers and used buses without wheelchair lifts. In the mid-1980s, two major Virginia jurisdictions followed suit with the introduction 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 (Washington D.C.), Metrobus, ...

( Fairfax County) and

DASH The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

(

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

). A major change in Metrobus funding was proposed in 1997, in response to the growth of independent bus operators. The Regional Mobility Panel, a group of local government, business, and labor leaders organized by WMATA, recommended designating Metrobus lines as either "regional" or "non-regional" for the purposes of allocating funding. Regional lines would be operated by WMATA with funding from across the region, while non-regional lines would be funded by local governments, and could be operated by WMATA, the local governments themselves, or private operators.

2000s: Express service and alternative fuels

In the early 2000s, WMATA introduced multiple brands of limited-stop and express bus services. Express service to Dulles and BWI airports on routes 5A and B30 began in 2000 and 2001 respectively. Richmond Highway Express limited-stop service began in 2004, serving the major employment center at

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), Belvoir plantation, seat of the prominent Lord ...

. The MetroExtra limited-stop service brand was introduced in 2007, beginning with route 79 on Georgia Avenue. WMATA 6004

Beginning in the early 2000s, multiple Metrobus garages were equipped with

compressed natural gas 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 ...

fueling equipment. The first CNG-powered buses were placed into service in February 2002, operating from the Bladensburg Road bus division in Northeast Washington D.C. The Four Mile Run division in

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...

was converted to CNG in 2005, and the Metrobus fleet included over 400 CNG-powered buses by 2006. WMATA also made improvements to its diesel-powered fleet, retrofitting older diesel buses with diesel particulate filters and switching to ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel. The first hybrid-electric buses were introduced in the early 2000s, providing significant fuel savings over older models. The

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 ...

electronic payment system was introduced on Metrorail in the late 1990s, and piloted on Northern Virginia Metrobus routes in 2002. All Metrobus buses were equipped with SmarTrip readers by 2004, and WMATA introduced a discounted bus fare for SmarTrip users in 2008. Following the introduction of the SmarTrip card, paper bus transfers were discontinued in 2009.

2010s: First electric buses and bus division relocation

Metrobus introduced a single battery-electric bus in 2017, a New Flyer Xcelsior CHARGE model. Also in 2017, WMATA released a 10-year fleet management plan, which planned for Metrobus to continue purchasing exclusively CNG and diesel-powered buses until 2025. The

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...

criticized the plan in a 2021 paper, which argued that WMATA should purchase exclusively electric buses going forward. The Sierra Club's analysis of data from WMATA and the

Argonne National Laboratory Argonne National Laboratory is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in Lemont, Illinois, Lemont, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1946, the laboratory is owned by the United Sta ...

showed that electric buses would represent a significant cost savings. The paper argued that each electric bus purchased would represent a lifetime cost savings of 13% over an equivalent CNG-powered bus, with additional external benefits from reduced emissions. WMATA's Cinder Bed Road division in

Lorton, Virginia Lorton is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population was 20,072 as of the 2020 census. History Lorton is named for a village in the Lake District National Park, Cumbria, in England. Joseph Plaske ...

opened in 2018, replacing an undersized and outdated property in

. For the first time in the agency's history, WMATA contracted out the operations at the garage, outsourcing to

Transdev Transdev, formerly Veolia Transdev, is a France-based international private-sector company which operates public transport. It has operations in 17 countries and territories as of November 2020. Transdev was formed on 3 April 2011 via the merg ...

. Drivers at the Cinder Bed Road division received lower pay and worse benefits than drivers employed directly by WMATA at other garages. The drivers, organized by

Local 689, struck in October 2019, marking the first Metrobus strike since 1978. Union members at the nearby Transdev-operated

system struck for 3 days in early December during their contract negotiations, adding to pressure on WMATA and Transdev to improve conditions for drivers. The strike ended in January 2020, with gains for drivers, and an agreement from WMATA to not renew the contract with Transdev. WMATA took over operations at the Cinder Bed Road division in December 2021.

2020s: COVID-19 pandemic and route network redesign

The COVID-19 pandemic had a major effect on public transport worldwide, including Metrobus and Metrorail. Metrobus mandated masks and required passengers to board through the back door of buses, keeping passengers separated from bus operators. Fare collection resumed in January 2021, after the installation of barriers separating drivers from the passenger compartment. Metrobus carried approximately 180,000 passengers per day in early 2021, down from 300,000 per day before the COVID-19 pandemic. Metrobus services carried approximately twice as many passengers as the Metrorail system in that period, demonstrating the continued value of Metrobus as a regional service. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Metrobus and Metrorail ridership exhibited a dramatic shift away from traditional peak commute hours, with weekend and evening ridership remaining relatively high. By April 2021, WMATA had increased service on some Metrobus routes to above pre-pandemic levels to reduce crowding and promote

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dise ...

. WMATA proposed a comprehensive redesign of the Metrobus network in 2023, following 5 years of planning. The Better Bus Network initiative is the first full redesign of the agency's bus network in its history. As part of the Better Bus Network project, WMATA planners proposed a new system of route numbers, which would designate routes by the region that they operate in. The Better Bus Network was formally approved by the WMATA board of directors in November 2024, with new services to begin in June 2025.

Fares

, the Metrobus fare structure is as follows for cash and

: * Standard services, including Local, MetroExtra, and Metroway: $2.25 * Express bus routes (17B, 17G, 17K, 17L, 17M, 18G, and 18P): $4.80 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

card readers which automatically deduct the correct fare from a rider's SmarTrip card (including transfer credit). 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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On December 6, 2022, the

Council of the District of Columbia The Council of the District of Columbia (or simply D.C. Council) is the legislative branch of the government of the District of Columbia. As permitted in the United States Constitution, the district is not part of any U.S. state and is overseen ...

voted to abolish fares within city limits from July 1, 2023. The District has continued to delayed its fare-free service due to its inability to fund the program and opposition from D.C. Mayor

Muriel Bowser Muriel Elizabeth Bowser (born August 2, 1972) is an American politician who has served as the current mayor of the District of Columbia since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she previously represented th ...

, Maryland, and Virginia.

Fleet

On February 6, 2025, New Flyer announced a significant contract with WMATA for up to 500 buses, order consist of a mix between diesel-electric hybrid and zero-emission (ZEBs) battery electric transit buses. These new buses will replace Metro's older New Flyer Low Floor buses, which were delivered between 2006 and 2010. ''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. 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 administration ...

for the purchase of

electric bus An electric bus is a bus that is propelled using electric motors, as opposed to a conventional internal combustion engine. Electric buses can store the needed electrical energy on board, or be fed mains electricity continuously from an external ...

es and charging infrastructure. A

report indicated that a pilot study with 14 electric buses was planned, and estimated that 50% electrification would reduce the WMATA fleet's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by more than 58,000 tons of

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

() per year.

Divisions

WMATA refers to its bus garages as "divisions." , Metrobus buses are stored and maintained at 8 active divisions, located across the metropolitan area.

Active divisions

Under construction

Closed divisions

Routes

1973–present route numbering

The following system of route numbering has been in use since the founding of Metrobus in 1973. Some route numbers are descendants of lines that began operating in the early 20th century. * Routes in

have either a two digit number (31, 42, 64) or a letter followed by a number (A2, S2, X8) * Routes in Montgomery County, MD have a letter followed by a number (C4, Q4, Z6) * Routes in Prince George's County, MD have a letter followed by two numbers (F12, J12, P12) * 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. ...

have one or two numbers followed by a letter (1A, 16C, 29N) * Odd-numbered routes are generally peak-only service, and even-numbered routes are generally all-day service * Routes ending in 9 are MetroExtra limited-stop services (59, 79)

Future route numbering

With the introduction of the Better Bus Network in June 2025, the following system of route numbering will be instituted. Route numbers will consist of a region prefix and a route number. * Routes in Washington, D.C. that serve

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

will have the region prefix "D" * Routes in Washington, D.C. that do not serve Downtown will have the region prefix "C" * Routes in Arlington County and Alexandria, VA will have the region prefix "A" * Routes in Montgomery County, MD will have the region prefix "M" * Routes in Prince George's County, MD will have the region prefix "P" * Limited-stop services will have the suffix "X"

History of route numbers

The current system of Metrobus route numbers traces its history to 1936, when the Capital Transit Company created route numbers for its network of streetcar and bus services. Streetcars were assigned two-number route numbers, and buses were assigned a letter and a number. In both cases, the first digit indicated the trunk line, and the second digit indicated the specific service. All streetcar lines were converted to buses in the 1960s, but the route numbers were retained. When WMATA was formed in 1973, it retained many of its predecessors' route numbers. Route numbers in Washington, D.C. were retained, and numbers in the rest of the metropolitan area were slightly modified to avoid conflicts. Since the system's inception, WMATA planners have inserted new routes into the system, attempting to follow the original numbering scheme where possible. The resulting system was described by ''Greater Greater Washington'' in a 2018 analysis as "a mixed bag, with many apparent rules, most of which are occasionally broken." The existing system of route numbers will be replaced under the Better Bus Network plan, which is expected to be implemented in June 2025. Route numbers in the Better Bus Network plan are made up of a region prefix and a route number, with a suffix for limited-stop services. For example, 16th Street Line local route S2 and limited-stop route S9 will be renumbered D60 and D6X. The single Metroway route will be renumbered A1X, and the East Capitol Street–Cardozo Line route 96 will be replaced by portions of new routes C55, C51, C57, D24, and D92.

Special services

MetroExtra

MetroExtra is WMATA's brand for

limited-stop In public transit, particularly bus, tram, or train transportation, a limited-stop (or sometimes referred to as semi-fast) service is a trip pattern that stops less frequently than a local service. Many limited-stop or semi-fast services are a co ...

services. MetroExtra service began in 2007 with the introduction of route 79, a limited-stop variant of the Georgia Avenue–7th Street Line. Before the introduction of the MetroExtra brand, some limited-stop services were operated under the Metro Express brand, which was merged into the MetroExtra service in 2008. , 6 MetroExtra lines are in operation.

Metroway

Metroway is a bus rapid transit (BRT) service in Arlington and

, serving Potomac Yard. The first phase is the Crystal City/ Potomac Yard Transitway, which operates on Route 1 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.

Richmond Highway Express

The Richmond Highway Express (REX) is a limited-stop service along Richmond Highway in

Fairfax County, Virginia Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. With a population of 1,150,309 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most p ...

. REX service operates between

and , serving multiple destinations within Fort Belvoir, including Alexander T. Augusta Military Medical Center. Service began in 2004, with distinctively branded buses and stops featuring a blue-and-gold color scheme.

Notes

References

External links

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