Everything you know about bus service in the Greater D.C. area is about to change. Starting late next month, the five-mile Metroway will open for service along the busy corridor between Arlington and Alexandria (Braddock Road and Crystal City stations), becoming Washington’s first rapid-transit bus system. There’s no good news quite like good news regarding a shorter commute, and for those that make the haul somewhere between two of the state’s busiest cities, this ranks in the “excellent” category.
The Metroway will consist of bus-only lanes for traffic, equipped with their own bus stops and shelters. All-new buses have been created for service on the Metroway, each emblazoned with a distinctive logo. The buses will run every twelve minute, which jumps to just every six minutes during rush hour (and twenty minutes during weekends). The new service is meant to promote a quicker, more mainstreamed commute option that maximizes conveniences in every way.
For additional convenience, passengers will soon have the chance to pay their fares before they board! Payment terminals won’t be ready in time for the planned August 24th kickoff of service, but they are the highest Stage 2 project priority. By this time next year, the lighted stops and shelters will sport digital signs showing bus arrival times. Basically, if all these conveniences can’t persuade commuters to abandon their own cars for the ease - and traffic-saving carpooling - of mass transit, it’s likely that nothing will!??
The Metroway is just part of the much-anticipated, sizable changes coming to the NoVA community in the way of transportation. There is, of course, the long-awaited Silver Line of the Metro, which stands to potentially put several local communities (Tysons Corner in particular) on the map, as well as to relieve the notoriously-congested Orange Line. To an area as concerned with transportation issues as ours, these developments have the potential to be real game-changers. The ultra-choked Route 1 was designated a high priority in Alexandria's Transportation Master Plan, and local authorities are like proud new parents on the subject of this initial phase having come to full, promising fruition.
Image from Metro Way. Image from WMATA.
