A MetroExtra bus. Photo courtesy DDOT.

At last night’s meeting of the Action Committee For Transit WMATA’s Senior Planning Manager Jim Hamre presented the Bus Priority Corridor Plan. The plan is WMATA’s strategy to expand the BRT-like MetroExtra service to additional corridors. MetroExtra is intended to mimic Metro Rapid, which has been very successful for Los Angeles MTA, America’s second largest bus agency (yes that’s right, successful transit in LA).

The plan identifies 24 corridors that are suited for expanded service. Collectively these corridors already carry about half the ridership in the Metrobus system, so many of them are prime candidates for full BRT or streetcars later on. Including the 30s line, which was recently overhauled, the first six corridors are already implemented, with 18 more to go at the pace of three or four per year through 2013.

What sort of expanded service are we talking about? Fewer stops, at the very least. Long distance bus routes are slow if the bus stops every block, so placing stops every third of a mile will increase speed drastically and simulate rail service. Another big problem is that buses, unlike trains, have to stop in traffic, both for congestion and red lights. As part of this program WMATA will be spending $67 million on signal prioritization technology that will hold a green light a few seconds longer if a bus is approaching, and though dedicated bus lanes aren’t part of the MetroExtra package, DDOT is looking at installing more of them around town. Additionally, WMATA is hoping to roll out NextBus in another year or so, which will make the process of catching a bus a lot easier. Then of course there’s the special MetroExtra branding, but that will have to wait until WMATA purchases new buses.

While not as substantial as new rail service, these improvements are prime examples of how to do buses right, and are exactly the sort of things we should be doing to make our bus system more efficient. The plan is fantastic. BeyondDC can’t wait for it to become reality.

The 24 corridors programmed for MetroExtra are: