Beginning Monday, Dec. 15, customers seeking to travel from Alexandria to downtown Washington, D.C., can ride the new A29 Metrobus route. Changes to 50 additional Metrobus routes will also begin on Sunday, December 14.
Per WMATA: Route A29 offers transfer-free weekday, rush hour service between Van Dorn St station, Beauregard St, Mark Center, Southern Towers, Shirlington, and Metro Center via the I-395 Express Lanes. Buses will run every 24 minutes from Northern Virginia to Washington, D.C., only in the morning, and every 24 minutes from Washington, D.C. to Northern Virginia only in the afternoon. The new route is funded through the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission’s I-395/95 Commuter Choice grant program.
Changes to 50 additional Metrobus routes will begin Sunday, Dec. 14, as Metro continues to improve reliability, reduce crowding, strengthen connections, and respond to customer and operator feedback since the June network launch.
Highlights include:
- In the D.C., improving connectivity to Washington Hospital Center and the VA Hospital campus bus circle from neighborhoods to the west and the Green Line by extending Route C63 to Georgia Av-Petworth, and adding service along Martin Luther King, Jr. Av SE on Route C11 in response to customer feedback; and
- In Maryland, shifting routes M42 and M44 to Plum Orchard Dr to better serve Adventist White Oak Medical Center and shopping destinations, and improve connections with other bus routes.
Metro will make schedule and other changes to improve service for customers on the following routes:
- DC: C11, C15, C17, C25, C26, C27, C35, C37, C53, C63, C77, C83, C87, D1X, D32, D34, D40, D4X, D60, D70, D74, D90, D94, D96
- Maryland: M22, M42, M44, M52, M60, M70, M82, P1X, P15, P16, P35, P62, P66, P72, P93
- Virginia: A11, A12, A1X, A25, A40, A66, A71, F20, F28, F60, F61
Metro will implement headway management – a different strategy to managing bus service compared to operating on a schedule. We expect this to improve bus reliability on the C53 route in the District. In addition, we will use other tools, including cameras and new computer systems, which will help ensure buses arrive more consistently and reduce gaps and bunching to improve customer experience.
Once we assess the effectiveness of headway management, this approach to managing bus service will be coming to additional Metrobus routes in 2026.
