You all certainly know about Georgetown's Blue buses. Now add another color to the mix: the Red buses. Officially known as the Downtown Circulator buses, we might as well get the unofficial ball rolling and start calling them the Red buses, since inevitably, people in D.C. and tourists alike prefer their transportation options color-coded. Pity the colorblind in our civic ranks. (And should we assume that the July introduction of the Red buses is supposed to be a ploy to get more transit dollars from Red State lawmakers still hammering out the final details on the transportation reauthorization bill on Capitol Hill as they're staring down a potential veto threat from President Bush? We kid, of course.)

We spotted this Red bus in front of Union Station yesterday; we saw another running on Massachusetts Avenue last week, on a training run, we assume.

There will be two routes. The east-west route will connect Georgetown to Union Station via K Street, Mount Vernon Square and Massachusetts Avenue; the north-south route will run between Mount Vernon Square and the Southwest waterfront via Seventh and Ninth streets. It'll cost a buck, and you can pay with cash, a farecard from strategically deployed machines along the route or SmarTrip.

Transit advocates can only hope that this will succeed, as getting across town via K or H street on various metrobus lines, e.g. D6, 80, X2 buses, can be a confusing and frustrating. But the north-south route essentially serves the same route as the 70,71 buses. But different is good, we guess, especially those who like colors instead of numbers or letters.

>> Live from the Third Rail on the Downtown Circulator.