One of the many frustrations facing Alexandria commuters during the Metro shutdown has been buses stuck in traffic next to dedicated bus lanes, but WMATA says adding shuttles would overload the existing transitway.
Among the many frustrations, which included long lines for shuttles, commuters were left wondering why their buses traveling up Route 1 were stuck in mixed traffic next to the mostly empty bus lanes.
The City of Alexandria is eyeing three basic concepts for a Duke Street transitway to help boost bus service along the arterial road.
The three options presented at a meeting of the Duke Street Transitway Advisory Group last month ranged from the buses in the center of the street to mixed in with traffic. The options are:
Like waiting for a Yellow Line train to Huntington, Alexandria’s Metrorail riders are bracing for a ride to disappointment.
Early next month, the first of two Metro shutdowns affecting Alexandria is scheduled to hit the city. All told, the city will have some level of suspended service until next spring.
The City of Alexandria could be rolling out a new kind of bus stop with some substantial improvements over the current one.
It’s no hoity-toity $1 million Arlington bus stop, but the new shelters have modifications designed to make them more durable.
A 27-year-old Washington, D.C. man is being held without bond after allegedly crashing his car into a Metro Bus in the Braddock area and ditching a “ghost gun.”
The incident occurred at around 4:45 p.m. on July 29 (Friday) in the area of N. Patrick and Montgomery Streets — just a few blocks from the Braddock Road Metro station. No one was injured in the crash.
A 43-year-old Alexandria man was put on supervised probation after stealing a juvenile girl’s phone at a bus stop in the West End.
The incident occurred on June 7 (Tuesday) at around 7:45 a.m. at a bus stop located at 5600 Rayburn Avenue — near the intersection with N. Beauregard Street.
With bus activity likely to see a significant uptick with the opening of the Potomac Yard Metro station, the city is looking at converting a turn lane on Glebe Road into a bus lane (item 5, page 8).
The plan has the dual purpose of benefitting buses and reducing the number of general-purpose lanes pedestrians have to cross.
While DASH won’t be able to cover the service gap from the upcoming Metro closures, WMATA announced some new measures yesterday that will attempt to replace Alexandria’s upcoming loss of Metro service.
There are two Metro shutdowns coming to Alexandria that will, together, eliminate or reduce Metro service in Alexandria from September to next May. The first is a shutdown of all stations south of the new Potomac Yard Metro station. The Potomac Yard closure is expected to last from Sept. 10 to Oct. 22. The Potomac Yard closure overlaps with the start of work on the Yellow Line Bridge from Sept. 10 to May. During the much longer Yellow Line Bridge closure, riders will have to take the Blue Line to Rosslyn to cross over into D.C.
Starting today (Monday), Alexandria’s DASH bus network is going through some changes to how riders board buses and how strollers can be used.
While passengers before could only enter buses through the front doors, DASH is changing its policy for riders to be able to use either door.
DASH has been on a roll recently with a variety of factors conspiring to push the bus service up to 300,000 total boardings in March, a 73% increase over ridership last fall.
Some of that’s thanks to changes within the DASH bus system: like eliminating fares and shifting toward a system that prioritizes frequent service in high-density corridors.
The Alexandria bus system has seen a significant uptick in ridership over the last few months, thanks in part to the new fare-free policy, changes to the DASH network and declining Covid numbers.
DASH said ridership hit nearly 300,000 total boardings in March, a 73% increase over ridership in August before the change to the new network. Ridership dipped significantly in January during the Omicron variant.
