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History

Predecessors

Main article: Streetcars in Washington, D.C.

Capital Transit buses, 1935

The first bus services in the Washington, D.C. were introduced in the early 20th century, when in 1909, the Metropolitan Coach Company introduced gasoline-powered coaches. The company ceased operations in 1915. The next bus company in the nation's capital, the Washington Rapid Transit Company, was incorporated in 1921. By 1932, it was carrying 4.5% of transit customers in the District. In the early and mid-20th century, the public transit operators in the District consolidated themselves into the privately owned Capital Transit Company, owned by the North American Company, a utilities conglomerate. Antitrust laws required the North American Company to divest its transit operations, and in 1949, financier Louis Wolfson and his associates bought a controlling stake in Capital Transit.

Wolfson took advantage of Capital Transit's strong financial reserves, a business strategy that eventually led to his reputation as "the original corporate raider." Wolfson paid himself substantial dividends from the reserves, a practice that was legal but unsustainable and unpopular. Capital Transit's staff began a weeks-long strike over pay and working conditions on July 1, 1955, and Congress eventually resolved the dispute by revoking Wolfson's franchise to operate the system. Congress imposed conditions on Capital Transit's successor D.C. Transit, managed by airline entrepeneur O. Roy Chalk, which required all streetcar lines to be converted to buses by 1963.

Founding

Metrobus buses in May 1973, photographed by Yoichi Okamoto

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority was created in 1967 by an interstate compact between Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Initially, WMATA was created solely to plan and construct a rapid rail system. The compact was amended in late 1971 to allow WMATA to operate bus services, WMATA sought to buy out Chalk and take over bus services in the region, and the expiration of D.C. Transit's union contract in October 1972 created a sense of urgency. Regional leaders feared a repeat of the 1955 strike, and Chalk made major concessions to the Amalgamated Transit Union to keep services running, including regular cost-of-living increases for bus operators. Negotiations between Chalk and WMATA were unsuccessful, but WMATA had an alternative, as permitted by the text of the compact.

At 2 a.m. Eastern Time on January 14, 1973, WMATA condemned and forcibly purchaseed D.C. Transit and its suburban subsidiary the Washington, Virginia and Maryland Coach Company (WV&M), seizing their bus fleets and properties and paying $38.2 million in compensation. The Washington Post described the purchase as "the residents of metropolitan Washington [beginning] to gain control of a multimillion dollar lemon." Three weeks after seizing the properties of D.C. Transit, WMATA reached agreements to purchase two other suburban bus companies, the WMA Transit Company and the Alexandria, Barcroft and Washington Transit Company (AB&W).

Early services

Bladensburg division, 1973

With the acquisition of D.C. Transit and the three suburban carriers, WMATA became the third-largest bus operator in the country. The Metrobus brand was introduced immediately, with Metrobus logos applied to some buses in time for the morning commute on January 14, mere hours after the early-morning takeover of the system. Metrobus started with a fleet of over 1,100 buses from its predecessors. The start of Metrobus service rapidly changed WMATA, which grew from a staff of 300 to over 4000 on little notice. With the rapid expansion of the agency, conflicts arose between the planning and funding for the under-construction Metrorail system and the existing Metrobus system.

In addition to its funding problems, Metrobus suffered from communications problems. D.C. Transit had not published a full route map in four years, and WMATA took until early 1974 to develop its own map. The map was released as an abridged one-sheet version, accompanied by a 72-page atlas. The atlas consisted solely of maps with no timetables, which were printed separately. The system was unusually complex compared to its peers in other large American cities, with over 1,100 route variations. In April 1974, Metrobus operated a fleet of over 2,000 buses, employing 3,200 drivers.

When it took control of the region's bus system, WMATA began instituting a uniform fare structure, including a discounted fare for senior citizens. With backlash continuing from passengers angry about a trend of D.C. Transit fare hikes, the WMATA board agreed to freeze bus fares at the 1970 level. This caused Metrobus to drop to 50% farebox recovery by late 1974. WMATA had planned to subsidize Metrobus service for an introductory period, but it was rapidly confronted by the need to continue subsidizing operations. WMATA received subsidies from the federal government and the local governments in its service area to continue operations, but the finances of the system remained in question until a 1980 act of Congress provided for partially dedicated funding from Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. The issues of funding were not fully resolved, and continue into the 21st century.

Late 1970s: Metrorail opening and labor conflicts

Construction on Metrorail proceeded at great expense, with the first segment of the Red Line from Rhode Island Avenue to Farragut North opening in March 1976. The events of the United States Bicentennial were a key point for Metrobus, which operated special services for the bicentennial fireworks show on the National Mall on Sunday, July 4th, 1976. Metrorail was not yet operating on weekends, and Metrobus routes operated on a regular Sunday schedule, with some special shuttle services to suburban parking lots. Ridership was far higher than expected, and severe traffic congestion delayed the buses. After the fireworks, crowds of thousands of people were left waiting for hours, even as traffic congestion subsided. Political controversy followed, exposing the still-fragile nature of the Metrobus system.

Metrobus drivers struck multiple times in the 1970s, seeking better working conditions and pay that continued to keep up with rapid inflation. Multiple wildcat strikes occurred in 1978: in May, drivers struck for one day after a driver was dragged off her bus and assaulted in Fort Dupont Park, and denied sick leave. The May strike resulted in WMATA expediting the installation of a silent alarm system on buses and increasing police patrols. In July, drivers struck for 6 days over pay and benefits, protesting a delayed cost-of-living increase from years earlier.

1980s and 1990s: Accessibility

Metrobus purchased its first wheelchair lift-equipped buses in 1978, with lifts installed in 151 Flxible New Look buses. The Metrorail system was built to be fully accessible to people with disabilities with elevators at all stations, but accessible buses were still in their infancy at the time. The initial pilot of wheelchair-accessible buses ran from 1979 to 1981, with the lift-equipped buses operating hourly on trunk routes across the system. The lifts required frequent maintenance due to faulty sensors and operator error, and the buses themselves experienced serious transmission problems.

Controversy over lift-equipped buses continued for years, as WMATA continued purchasing a portion of its new bus fleet with wheelchair lifts. Following the initial pilot, WMATA instituted an "On-Call" program for accessible buses in 1982. The On-Call program provided accessible service by assigning lift-equipped buses to specific trips by request, with requests taken one day in advance. In 1985, approximately 14% of the Metrobus fleet was equipped with wheelchair lifts. MetroAccess paratransit service began in 1994, offering additional options for Metrobus and Metrorail customers with disabilities.

1990s: Regional network and fragmentation

Flxible New Look buses at the Montgomery division, 1990

The regional bus network in Maryland and Virginia became more complex in the 1980s, with the introduction of locally-operated bus systems sponsored by cities and counties. The first major operator was Ride-On in Montgomery County, Maryland, which began operation in 1975. By 1981, the county-operated Ride-On system was serving 20,000 passengers per day. Montgomery County achieved significant cost savings with its in-house operation, which employed non-union drivers and used buses without wheelchair lifts. In the mid-1980s, two major Virginia jurisdictions followed suit with the introduction of Fairfax Connector (Fairfax County) and DASH (Alexandria).

A major change in Metrobus funding was proposed in 1997, in response to the growth of independent bus operators. The Regional Mobility Panel, a group of local government, business, and labor leaders organized by WMATA, recommended designating Metrobus lines as either "regional" or "non-regional" for the purposes of allocating funding. Regional lines would be operated by WMATA with funding from across the region, while non-regional lines would be funded by local governments, and could be operated by WMATA, the local governments themselves, or private operators.

2000s: Express service and alternative fuels

Richmond Highway Express bus powered by CNG, 2006

In the early 2000s, WMATA introduced multiple brands of limited-stop and express bus services. Express service to Dulles and BWI airports on routes 5A and B30 began in 2000 and 2001 respectively. Richmond Highway Express limited-stop service began in 2004, serving the major employment center at Fort Belvoir. The MetroExtra limited-stop service brand was introduced in 2007, beginning with route 79 on Georgia Avenue.

Beginning in the early 2000s, multiple Metrobus garages were equipped with compressed natural gas fueling equipment. The first CNG-powered buses were placed into service in February 2002, operating from the Bladensburg Road bus division in Northeast Washington D.C. The Four Mile Run division in Arlington, Virginia was converted to CNG in 2005, and the Metrobus fleet included over 400 CNG-powered buses by 2006. WMATA also made improvements to its diesel-powered fleet, retrofitting older diesel buses with diesel particulate filters and switching to ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel.

The SmarTrip electronic payment system was introduced on Metrorail in the late 1990s, and piloted on Northern Virginia Metrobus routes in 2002. All Metrobus buses were equipped with SmarTrip readers by 2004, and WMATA introduced a discounted bus fare for SmarTrip users in 2008. Following the introduction of the SmarTrip card, paper bus transfers were discontinued in 2009.

2010s: First electric buses and bus division relocation

First electric bus, 2017

Metrobus introduced a single battery-electric bus in 2017, a New Flyer Xcelsior CHARGE model. Also in 2017, WMATA released a 10-year fleet management plan, which planned for Metrobus to continue purchasing exclusively CNG and diesel-powered buses until 2025. The Sierra Club criticized the 2017 plan, arguing in a 2021 paper that WMATA should purchase exclusively electric buses going forward. The paper cited data from WMATA and the Argonne National Laboratory, arguing that electric buses would represent a significant cost savings. The Sierra Club's calculations showed that each electric bus purchased would represent a lifetime cost savings of 13% over an equivalent CNG-powered bus.

WMATA's Cinder Bed Road division in Lorton, Virginia opened in 2018, replacing an undersized and outdated property in Alexandria. For the first time in the agency's history, WMATA contracted out the operations at the garage, outsourcing to Transdev. Drivers at the Cinder Bed Road division received lower pay and worse benefits than drivers employed directly by WMATA at other garages. The drivers, organized by Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, struck in October 2019, marking the first Metrobus strike since 1978. Union members at the nearby Transdev-operated Fairfax Connector system struck for 3 days in early December during their contract negotiations, adding to pressure on WMATA and Transdev to improve conditions for drivers. The strike ended in January 2020, with gains for drivers, and an agreement from WMATA to not renew the contract with Transdev. WMATA took over operations at the Cinder Bed Road division in December 2021.

Rear-door boarding with suspended fare collection, August 2020

Early 2020s: COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic had a major effect on public transport worldwide, including Metrobus and Metrorail. Metrobus mandated masks and required passengers to board through the back door of buses, keeping passengers separated from bus operators. Fare collection resumed in January 2021, after the installation of barriers separating drivers from the passenger compartment.

Metrobus carried approximately 180,000 passengers per day in early 2021, down from 300,000 per day before the COVID-19 pandemic. Metrobus services carried approximately twice as many passengers as the Metrorail system in that period, demonstrating the continued value of Metrobus as a regional service. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Metrobus and Metrorail ridership exhibited a dramatic shift away from traditional peak commute hours, with weekend and evening ridership remaining relatively high. By April 2021, WMATA had increased service on some Metrobus routes to above pre-pandemic levels to reduce crowding and promote social distancing.