April 29, 2008
Free Bus Rides in Northern Virginia Tomorrow
It hasn't exactly been hot for the last few days, but the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission wants to remind you that the dog days of summer will soon be upon us, and with them, a number of Code Red air quality days that will prompt the agency to provide free rides on Northern Virginia bus routes. So on Wednesday, April 30, all bus routes in Northern Virginia, including Metrobus, Arlington Transit, Fairfax Connector, Loudoun County Transit, the DASH bus, Virginia Regional Transit, the Falls Church GEORGE, and PRTC will offer free rides all day to get the area reacquainted with the need to take advantage of bus routes when it's most important.
The Code Red free bus days are designed to encourage suburban commuters to ditch their cars when ozone levels are high and air quality is especially bad. Both Northern Virginia and suburban Maryland bus systems will provide free rides on Code Red days.
A few special events will also take place from 6 to 10 a.m. on Wednesday at specified commuter locations that are listed here. You can find out more information about the free bus air quality program at the Clean Air Partners web site.
Photo by AlbinoFlea
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I would use buses in Northern Virginia (where I live) a lot more often if it weren't for the fact that the schedules and routes suck. You can just never count on a bus coming along like you can (more or less) with the Metro. There are large swaths of the day with no service.
What I would love to see is a route along route 7 from Alexandria through Bailey's Crossroads, Seven Corners, Falls Church, and up to the end of the Tyson's commercial strip. Regular service at least four times an hour morning to midnight. Do NOT have buses detour to the Metro stations - this slows them down way too much. I think this kind of service would get a lot of use and would truly be practical for many people.
For all the talk about the the Dulles extention, etc., we could do a heck of a lot better with simple bus service if we made it frequent and reliable.
A lot of the problem with bus service delays is that they're trapped in traffic with everyone else. Dedicated bus lanes are coming to Route 1 between Rosslyn and Braddock Road. We'll see if not having to stop at lights/getting trapped with commuters solves the scheduling problems.
Monkey, which route 1? US route 1 does not go through Rosslyn....