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See every Metro train and bus on one live map

This map shows the real-time location for every WMATA bus and train in the Washington region. It’s a cool way to see how much transit is out there, and where it’s running right this second.


Every WMATA bus and train. Image from TRAVIC.

The map is called TRAVIC and was produced by the University of Freiburg. The Washington map was made using using open data from WMATA.

Although the Washington map shows only WMATA transit, the same website includes maps for dozens of cities all over the world. You can compare what transit is like in diverse places, from Albuquerque to Paris.

Left: Albuquerque. Right: Paris. Images from TRAVIC.

I’ll be staring at this a long time.

 Comment on this at the version cross-posted to Greater Greater Washington.
 
 
 

October 21st, 2015 | Permalink
Tags: bus, maps, metrorail, transportation



Five bus lines everyone in DC should know, love, and use

Metrorail’s six lines are so easy to remember that most Washingtonians have memorized them. Here are five convenient bus lines that everyone in town should know just as well.


Simple map of 5 main DC bus lines. Original base map from Google.

These five lines are among Metro’s most convenient and popular. Buses on them come every few minutes, and follow easy-to-remember routes along major streets.

For the sort of Washingtonian who’s comfortable with Metrorail but hasn’t taken the leap to the bus, these five lines are a great place to start. Unlike some minor buses that only come once every half hour, you can treat these five lines the way you’d treat a rail line, or a DC Circulator: They’re always there, and it’s never a long wait before the next bus.

If you can memorize Metrorail’s Red and Orange Lines, you can memorize these streets:

Wisconsin / Pennsylvania (30 series): If you want a bus on Wisconsin or Pennsylvania, just remember to catch anything with a number in the 30s. Nine bus routes cover this line, each of them with slightly different details, but a similar overall path: The 30N, 30S, 31, 33, 32, 34, 36, and the express 37 and 39. Collectively they’re called the “30 series.”

The other four lines are similar. Each has multiple routes with slightly different details combining to form a family, or series. Within each series some individual routes may come at different times of day, or continue farther beyond the lines this map shows. But the key is to remember the series name.

16th Street (S series): Four routes, each beginning with the letter S: The S1, S2, S4, and the express S9.

14th Street (50 series): Three routes, each in the 50s: The 52, 53, and 54.

Georgia Avenue (70 series): Two routes, in the 70s: The local 70 and the express 79.

H Street (X series): Two routes, starting with X: The local X2 and the express X9. When it eventually opens (knock on wood), the DC Streetcar will beef up this same corridor.

For the Metrobus veterans among you, this is old news. About 80,000 people per day ride these five lines, so they’re hardly secrets. But if you’re not a frequent bus rider, give these a try.

 Comment on this at the version cross-posted to Greater Greater Washington.
 
 
 

October 6th, 2015 | Permalink
Tags: bus, transportation



The Silver Spring Transit Center, now open, in photos

All photos by BeyondDC.

More photos at GGW and via Flickr/BeyondDC and Flickr/TheCourtyard.

September 21st, 2015 | Permalink
Tags: bus, galleries, transportation



The biggest winners and losers in WMATA’s Metrobus overhaul

Last month, WMATA planners proposed changes to almost 100 bus lines. Some riders will love them. Others won’t. Here are the biggest winners and losers.


Photo by BeyondDC on Flickr.

Change is hard, but not necessarily bad

In a perfect world, every major street in the region would have a bus line running every 5 minutes. In the world of constrained budgets, every dollar a transit agency spends on low-ridership or redundant bus routes eats into what it can run on high-demand main lines.

Sometimes it still makes sense to run low-ridership routes. But figuring out where to draw that line, who wins and who loses, is incredibly hard. And since every decision a transit agency makes will create some losers, they can only hope to create more winners overall.

Thus, making changes to bus lines is always a difficult business. Changes that benefit one person will often make another person upset. And since existing bus lines have existing customers, changing them can lead to an outcry.

Let’s see how Metro did.

WINNER: MetroExtra

WMATA’s popular MetroExtra buses perfectly illustrate how making some existing riders unhappy can yield big wins.

By skipping over half the bus stops on a line, MetroExtra buses make some riders unhappy, since they have to walk further to get a stop. But the trade-off is buses move a lot faster, making everyone else on the bus happier, and offering more people a reason to start riding.


MetroExtra bus. Photo by BeyondDC on Flickr.

Since Metro began experimenting with MetroExtra eight or nine years ago, it’s been very successful, and very popular with riders. So it’s no surprise that just about every time WMATA tweaks its bus routes, they add service to more and more MetroExtra lines.

This round, Metro will add a new MetroExtra line on Veirs Mill Road, to be named the Q9. Veirs Mill connects the two branches of the Metrorail Red Line, from Rockville to Wheaton, and is already one of the busiest bus corridors in Maryland.

WMATA will also add more MetroExtra trips to three of the highest-ridership bus corridors in the entire region: The S9 on 16th Street, the 79 on Georgia Avenue, and the 16X on Columbia Pike in Arlington.

One MetroExtra line will see significant cuts: The 28X along Route 7 in Virginia. There, Metro is offering a choice of either cutting service from every 15 minutes to every 30, or ending the line at East Falls Church, eliminating service west to Tysons.

Route 7 is a natural transit corridor, one that planners envision for light rail or BRT. It’s historically suburban, but is rapidly becoming more walkable. Cuts there are a blow.

LOSER: Early morning trips to Dulles Airport

Metro plans to eliminate its 5A bus to Dulles Airport.

That’s an unpopular proposal. The 5A has been the main bus to Dulles for years, and for riders near its stops in L’Enfant Plaza, Rosslyn, and Herndon, it offers an express trip that’s often the fastest option.

But it’s redundant. The Silver Line Express bus from Wiehle station to Dulles is less expensive to operate since it’s a shorter route, and offers much more frequent service. And since many 5A riders have to ride Metro (or another bus) to get to Rosslyn or L’Enfant anyway, the Whiele bus is a better option than some assume.

While it’s nice to have an express bus from downtown to Dulles, a reasonable alternate exists, and so letting WMATA spend its resources somewhere else will probably help more riders, more often.

Except early in the morning.

The 5A makes a couple of early morning runs to Dulles before Metrorail opens. These are crucial runs, since the 5A is the only transit service to Dulles at those times. Even if early morning ridership is low, that’s an important cog in the regional transit network that ought to be there for people when they need it.

WINNER: Greenbelt Sundays

Buses will begin running on Sundays in Greenbelt on the C2, G12, and G14. This is a big win for a part of the region that’s had absolutely woeful weekend transit for a long time.


Yellow lines are bus routes with new Sunday service. Base map from WMATA.

LOSER: Low-ridership routes

WMATA is completely eliminating more than 20 low-ridership bus routes.

In most cases, they’re eliminating spurs and converting those trips to main line trips. For example, the 1Z will go away, but its trips will simply become 1B trips.

That will inconvenience a few riders who used the spur part of the 1Z, but the majority of 1-series riders would rather use the 1B, and they’ll get more buses.

WINNER: Colesville Road

The Z-series, which runs along Route 29 northeast from Silver Spring towards White Oak and Burtonsville, will have buses every 15 minutes on Saturdays, instead of every 30 minutes.

That’s the kind of frequent service that riders can use without worrying about consulting a schedule. Jumping up to that level is a huge win for eastern Montgomery County.

TOO SOON TO TELL: The Georgia Avenue leg of the Veirs Mill line

WMATA’s Q-series on Veirs Mill Road is one of the most important bus lines in Maryland. That’s why it’s getting MetroExtra service.

But one of the biggest cuts in Metro’s proposal will truncate the Q-series buses, ending them at Wheaton where Veirs Mill Road terminates, rather than having them continue south on Georgia Avenue to Silver Spring.


Q-series buses will stop at Wheaton. Base image from WMATA.

On the one hand, this is a major loss. The Wheaton-to-Silver Spring leg of Georgia Avenue is packed with bus riders. Cutting service there hurts one of the most productive parts of the Metrobus network.

But on other hand, there’s a lot of transit service on Georgia Avenue even without the Q-series. The Y-series runs every 10 minutes on Georgia Avenue, and the Metrorail Red Line runs directly below in a subway. Y-series buses are packed, which may be why WMATA is offering a rail fare discount between Silver Spring and Wheaton.

And there are benefits to a shorter Q-series. Buses come more often on a shorter route, and are more likely to stay on schedule. Ending the Q-series at Veirs Mill will likely improve the reliability of buses, and possibly reduce how long riders have to wait at stops.

Losing Q buses on Georgia Avenue is clearly concerning, but if it helps the rest of the line, if the new Q9 is a hit, and if other transit on Georgia can pick up the slack, things may end up better overall. It’s going to be an experiment, and it might fail. But it’s worth a shot.

Public hearing tonight

WMATA is hosting a public hearing on these proposals tonight, at 6:00 pm, at 600 5th Street NW.

If you have an opinion, attend and let them know.

 Comment on this at the version cross-posted to Greater Greater Washington.
 
 

September 17th, 2015 | Permalink
Tags: bus, transportation



Huge Metrobus overhaul will change nearly 100 bus routes

Metrobus planners are proposing to change bus service on almost 100 routes, all over the Washington region. If the changes happen, many routes will see better service, others will face cuts, and some will go away completely, including the popular 5A bus to Dulles Airport.


Every WMATA bus route. Thick blue lines are route families that will change. Thin blue lines are families that will not. Sketch map from the author.

WMATA’s proposal generally aims to increase service on routes with a lot of riders, and decrease it on ones with fewer riders. According to WMATA, the changes will “improve overall on-time performance and customer satisfaction, increase ridership, and improve cost recovery.”

To get feedback on the idea, Metro has an online survey and will run a series of public meetings. If the WMATA board approves the changes this October, they’ll take effect in stages beginning in December 2015 and rolling out through mid 2016.

Greater Greater Washington hopes to analyze these changes and report back in a future post. For now here’s a list of every proposed change. For more details, including route maps and more detailed descriptions of changes, see Metro’s page for the project.

Changes to routes in DC:

  • 5A: Eliminate all service.
  • 34: Eliminate route 34 on evenings and weekends.
  • 54: Shorten route by eliminating segment between McPherson Square and L’Enfant Plaza. Improve frequency between 14th & Colorado and Takoma Station.
  • 63: Add one AM peak trip.
  • 64: Add one AM peak trip and one PM peak trip, and increase scheduled running time.
  • 79: Add four AM peak trips and four PM peak trips.
  • 80: Shorten route by eliminating service between McPherson Square and Kennedy Center. See D4 below for replacement service.
  • 81, 83: Eliminate route 81 and convert its trips to route 83 (contingent upon adding Sunday service on the revised C2 line).
  • 82: Eliminate two AM and three PM trips.
  • 90, 92, 93, 94: Eliminate route 93. Add trips on routes 90, 92 and 94 to compensate.
  • 97: Add one AM peak trip
  • A2, A6, A8, A42, A46, A48, P6: Eliminate routes A42, A46, A48. Replace with additional trips on routes A2, A6, A8, and P6.
  • B8, B9: Eliminate routes.
  • D1: Shorten route by eliminating segment between Franklin Square and Federal Triangle. Reduce service hours.
  • D3: Eliminate entire D3 route.
  • D4: Extend route D4 from Franklin Square to the Kennedy Center to replace cut segment of route 80.
  • E2: Increase scheduled running time.
  • E4: Increase scheduled running time.
  • G8: Shorten some AM peak trips to start at Brookland Station. Add three AM peak trips. Add some PM peak trips between Brookland Station and Avondale. Increase scheduled running time.
  • H6: Reroute in Fort Lincoln via Costco.
  • N3: Eliminate entire N3 route.
  • S9: Add two AM peak trips and one PM peak trip.
  • U8, W4: Extend some peak U8 trips to Congress Heights. Reduce peak trips on the W4 route. Improve combined U8/W4 frequency between East Capitol & Benning and Congress Heights from 10 minutes to 7.5 minutes. Increase scheduled running time for the W4.
  • X1, X3: Shorten X3 route to end at Duke Ellington Bridge. Increase scheduled running time.
  • X8: Add one AM and PM weekday round trip; add one PM Saturday and one PM Sunday round trip.
  • X9: Add two AM peak trips and two PM peak trips. Increase scheduled running time.

Changes to routes in Maryland:

  • 81, 83: Eliminate route 81 and convert its trips to route 83 (contingent upon adding Sunday service on the revised C2 line).
  • B29, B31: Eliminate route B31. Convert existing B31 trips to B29 short trips between New Carrollton Station and Bowie Park and Ride.
  • C2, C4: Restructure service. Turn around half of C4 trips at Wheaton rather than running all trips to Twinbrook. Operate C2 at reduced frequency between Greenbelt station and Takoma Langley. Add additional C4 trips. Add Sunday service on route C2 between Greenbelt and Takoma Langley.
  • F4: Improve Saturday schedule reliability.
  • G12, G13, G14, G16: Eliminate routes G13 and G16, and convert their trips to G14. Shorten G14 to eliminate service on Aerospace Road. Add Sunday service to G12 and G14.
  • K11, K12: Eliminate route K11, and convert its trips to run as K12.
  • J12, J13: Eliminate route J13, and convert its trips to run as J12.
  • Q1, Q2, Q4: Discontinue route segment between Wheaton and Silver Spring stations during Metrorail operating hours. Add special rail fare discount between Wheaton, Forest Glen and Silver Spring Stations to reduce the number of bus trips needed on this segment.
  • Q9: Add new route: Limited‐stop Metro Extra on Veirs Mill Road between Rockville and Wheaton stations. Service would operate on weekdays only, every 15 minutes between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.
  • R3: Eliminate entire line.
  • V14, V15: Eliminate route V15 and convert its trips to run as V14. Improve Sunday service by running the full V14 route and expanding service hours to match Saturday service.
  • W19: Transfer route operations to MTA Commuter bus. Eliminate service south of Bryans Road. Reduce service frequency to every 30 minutes. Reduce hours to being later in the morning and/or end earlier in the evening.
  • Z6, Z8: Add Z6 Saturday service between Silver Spring Station and Castle Blvd. Reduce Z8 Saturday frequency to coordinate with new Saturday Z6.
  • Z9, Z11, Z13, Z29: Restructure service to combine routes.

Changes to routes in Virginia:

    1A, 1B, 1E, 1Z: Eliminate 1E and replace with ART service in Dominion Hills. Eliminate route 1Z and convert its trips to 1B. Restructure route 1B to bypass Seven Corners Shopping Center and eliminate 1B service on certain holidays.
  • 1C: Improve schedule reliability.
  • 2B: Add hourly Sunday service.
  • 3T: Shorten route by eliminating service between West Falls Church Station and East Falls Church Station. Eliminate
    supplemental trips on certain holidays.
  • 4A, 4B: Eliminate all Saturday service on route 4A. Eliminate supplemental trips operated on route 4B on certain holidays.
  • 5A: Eliminate all service.
  • 7A: Eliminate all trips after 1 AM on Friday and Saturday nights
  • 7H, 7X: Eliminate route 7H. Shorten route 7X by eliminating service between Lincolnia Road and Arbor Park.
  • 7Y: Terminate alternating trips in the District, bypassing the Pentagon. Terminate remaining trips at the Pentagon without service into the District. For trips entering the District, re‐route using 14th Street Bridge to access the District, and eliminate service between 18th and I Streets NW and the Convention Center.
  • 9A: Eliminate entire line. See 10A restructure to replace missing coverage.
  • 9A, 10A, 10R, 10S: Eliminate 9A, 10R, and 10S completely. Convert some trips to 10A to compensate. Restructure 10A service to provide coverage to Powhatan Street and Huntington Station lost by eliminating the 9A line. Would eliminate service connecting Alexandria and Crystal City to Rosslyn.
  • 10B: Improve weekday peak frequency from every 30 minutes to every 15 minutes, and Sunday frequency from every 60 minutes to every 30 minutes.
  • 15K, 15L: Improve weekday schedule reliability.
  • 15M: Eliminate entire line.
  • 16H: Shorten 16H route by eliminating segment between Crystal City and Pentagon City.
  • 16X: Extend 1 AM and 3 PM weekday peak‐period trips to Culmore.
  • 18E, 18F, 21A, 21D: Eliminate entire 18E and 18F line. Restructure 21A and 21D to cover Bren Mar Park, and transfer route operation to Alexandria DASH.
  • 23A, 23B, 23T: Split off‐peak and weekend service to match weekday peak‐period route pattern, to improve frequency between Shirlington and Ballston.
  • 26A: Improve weekday peak frequency from every 60 minutes to every 30 minutes.
  • 28X: Reduce frequency from 15 minutes to 30 minutes, OR reroute to terminate at East Falls Church, thereby not serving West Falls Church or Tysons.
  • 29N: Improve weekend service frequency from every 60 minutes to every 30 minutes.
  • 38B: Eliminate supplemental trips on certain holidays.

 Comment on this at the version cross-posted to Greater Greater Washington.
 
 
 

August 18th, 2015 | Permalink
Tags: bus, transportation



Meet Ride-On Plus, the every-10-minute bus that may run on Route 355

Montgomery County is hoping a federal grant will jump-start its proposed BRT network with a new bus line on the county’s biggest main street, Route 355. If the grant comes through, the new “Ride-On Plus” won’t be full BRT, but will rather be a limited-stop route akin to WMATA’s MetroExtra.


Ride-On Plus route map. Image from Montgomery County.

Last month, Montgomery County submitted a grant request to the federal government for approximately $20 million to add a new bus line along busy Route 355. The line would run from Lakeforest Mall in Gaithersburg south to downtown Bethesda, making stops at key locations along the way in Gaithersburg, Rockville, and North Bethesda.

Buses would come every 10 minutes at peak times, and would only make a total of 9 stops over the course of the 11-mile route. By stopping so infrequently, buses would travel the route significantly faster than existing Ride-On buses.

Although Ride-On Plus will not qualify as bus rapid transit—it won’t have dedicated lanes—it will include some BRT-like upgrades: Traffic signals will stay green a few seconds longer if a bus is about to pass, and bus stops will have premium features like real-time arrival screens.

The grant is a long shot

Unfortunately, Ride-On Plus may never happen. County officials hope a federal TIGER grant will cover $18.5 million out of the project’s total $23 million price tag. But TIGER grants are extremely hard to come by; the federal TIGER budget is $500 million nationwide, and there are usually tens of billions of dollars in requests. Most grant requests never get money.

But if this grant comes through, Ride-On Plus could provide a nice first-step towards an eventual bona fide BRT line, helping to build ridership and make the case that there’s a market for better transit in Montgomery County.

 Cross-posted at Greater Greater Washington.
 
 
 

June 19th, 2015 | Permalink
Tags: bus, transportation



Four blocks of Georgia Avenue will get red-painted bus lanes

By Spring 2016, a four block stretch of Georgia Avenue near Howard University will feature DC’s first red-painted bus lanes.


Location of bus lanes. Image from DDOT.

At a community meeting last night, officials from DDOT announced they will reconfigure Georgia Avenue between Barry Place and Florida Avenue, converting two car lanes to curbside bus lanes, adding a center left turn lane, and improving the sidewalks, bus stops, street lighting, and traffic signals. Construction will begin in mid July of this year, and should wrap up by next Spring.


Detailed plans for part of the bus lanes. Image from DDOT.

The plan finally implements a concept DDOT planners originally conceived in 2010, as part of a federal grant for a series of bus improvements around the region 2007, as part of the Great Streets Initiative. Until recently, the last anyone had heard of this project was a public meeting back in 2012. But with the federal money due to expire in 2016, it’s now do or die for DDOT.

Ride the red carpet

Although it’s a short four blocks, this will become DC’s most significant bus lane yet. It will feature a bright red surface, providing the same kind of high-visibility as DC’s now common green bike lanes.


San Francisco red carpet. Photo from Matt’ Johnson.

According to DDOT officials, the red carpet will be the last thing construction crews install. They’ll let the bus lane operate for a month or so without it, to form a baseline that planners can look back against later, helping inform the agency about the effectiveness of the red paint.

Bikes and taxis will be allowed to use the bus lanes, and cars will be permitted to enter for up to 40 feet at a time, strictly to make right turns.

Buses already carry about half of all trips on Georgia Avenue. With bus lanes in place, that number could grow even higher.

If only the project were longer than four blocks.

 Cross-posted at Greater Greater Washington.
 
 
 

June 18th, 2015 | Permalink
Tags: bus, transportation



The Takoma Langley transit center is rising from the ground

Construction is progressing rapidly at Maryland’s Takoma Langley transit center. Take a look:


Construction progress as of Saturday, April 18, 2015.

The transit center will feature bus bays and rider amenities, covered under a great curving roof that’s sure to become a local landmark.


Fow now, the bright white frame looks more like something out of a sci-fi movie than a bus station.


Here’s what it will all look like once construction is done:


Rendering of the final station. Image from the State of Maryland.

Langley Park needs this

Langley Park, at the corner of University Boulevard and New Hampshire Avenue, is the busiest bus transfer location in the Washington region that isn’t connected to a Metro station.

Eleven bus routes stop on the side of the street at the busy crossroads, serving 12,000 daily bus riders. That’s nearly as many bus riders per day as there are Metrorail riders at Silver Spring Metro, and it’s about double the number of Metrorail riders at Takoma station.

Corralling all those bus stops into a single transit center will make transfers vastly easier, faster, and safer for bus riders.

Heavy construction began at the transit center last year, and is scheduled to be complete around December 2015.

If the Purple Line light rail is built, Takoma Langley will become one of its stations, boosting ridership even more. The light rail transitway and station would have to be added later, and would fit snuggly in the median of University Boulevard.


How a Purple Line station would fit. Rendering from the State of Maryland.

 Cross-posted at Greater Greater Washington.
 
 
 

April 22nd, 2015 | Permalink
Tags: bus, development, lightrail, transportation



Check out DC’s charming but incomprehensible 1975 bus map

Washingtonians hoping to catch a bus in 1975 consulted this friendly-looking hand-drawn map. Charming as it may be, the map has no lines. Rather, designers wrote the name of each bus route over and over along its path through the city.


Image from DDOT.

Transit riders and cartography experts can’t fault the map designers too much. It was more challenging to illustrate detailed networks before the days of computers, and even in recent years some WMATA maps have been just as hard to follow.

Legibility aside, the map actually includes some very progressive elements considering its vintage. According to the legend, it only shows “all-day routes with frequent service,” an incredibly useful idea that’s picked up a lot of steam in the past five years.

Other progressive elements shown on the map include bike paths, although the Mount Vernon and Rock Creek trails appear to be the only ones, and much of its text is translated into Spanish.

The map also includes a fun vignette of the Metrorail system, which had yet to open but was less than a year away.


Image from DDOT.

On the other hand, some things never change. The legend for the Metrorail vignette notes Metro’s first phase was scheduled to open later in 1975. In actuality it didn’t open until 1976.

Finally, there are several other vignettes on the reverse side:


Image from DDOT.

Architecture firm John Wiebenson & Associates produced the map for the Bicentennial Commission of the District of Columbia.

 Cross-posted at Greater Greater Washington.
 
 
 

March 13th, 2015 | Permalink
Tags: bus, fun, history, maps, transportation



ART keeps graduating to bigger and bigger buses

After years of using exclusively smaller buses, Arlington Transit is now operating its first full-length 40-foot vehicles.


40-foot ART bus.

When Arlington launched its first ART bus routes in 1999, it used tiny jitneys that looked more like vans than real buses. Since then, as ART has gotten more and more popular, the agency has graduated to larger and larger vehicles.

In 2007, ART added its first “heavy duty” vehicles – buses that look like buses, not vans. Those were rare at first, but are now a common sight throughout Arlington.

These new 40-footers are the next natural step up.

Three of these big new buses now ply Route 41, and you may see them on other routes too.

 Cross-posted at Greater Greater Washington.
 
 
 

November 25th, 2014 | Permalink
Tags: bus, transportation



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