This morning’s Post reports that the Journal Newspapers, a chain of free suburban tabloids based in Alexandria, will begin distributing a free daily newspaper in D.C. on Feb. 1. This widens the front for the battle between the Washington Post’s Express newspaper and the Journal Newspapers that has been raging since the introduction of the Post’s free commuter daily.

Express was introduced in August 2003, with a circulation of 125,000. By the paper’s first anniversary, circulation had already increased to 175,000. (DCist took a look at the circulation trends earlier this year.) A Newspaper Association of America (NAA) article on the success of Express noted that a recent research study showed that the average weekday readership of the Express is 229,000 adults, and that in an average week, some 457,000 Washington-area adults read the newspaper. Express circulation director Charles Love attributes much of the success to the yellow-vested hawkers that distribute the papers outside metrorail stations, saying that he hires hawkers that are “approachable and friendly.” (The above photo of an abandoned Express sidewalk box is from Ambivalent Images.)