Metro News Release
For immediate release: August 25, 2003
Metrobus service route changes along Columbia Pikebegin the week of Sept. 7
Schedule adjustments designed to improve service
Several service changes on Metrobus will be implemented along Columbia Pike in Virginia starting the week of September 7. These improvements are in response to community concerns shared through numerous studies, meetings, surveys, and public hearings during the past five years.
These new "family of services" are known as Pike Ride and will provide new destinations, more service, and more transit choices along Columbia Pike. It includes the streamlining of the Route 16 Columbia Pike Metrobus service that connects to the Pentagon and adds more Metrobus and neighborhood Arlington Transit service that will connect to Metrorail and Pentagon City. Transfers are free between ART and Metrobus, and it is expected that riders will transfer regularly between the services to meet their travel needs.
The specific changes are listed below.
Metrobus Routes 16A, B, D, F, J, L Annandale/Culmore to Pentagon and 16Y to the District of Columbia. Weekday service will operate at all bus stops every half hour all day to Annandale and separately to Culmore. This means there will be a bus on Columbia Pike every 15 minutes in each direction between the Pentagon and the western Arlington County line. Schedules have been adjusted to give the bus more running time to improve reliability. Weekday service will start at the same time in the morning, 4:41 a.m., but Metrobus will add additional trips to Annandale (ending at midnight) and keep later service to Culmore until 1:28 a.m. (4 a.m. on Fridays).
The 16Y route will have two additional morning trips to address crowding and improved afternoon on-time performance. The 16L route will remain unchanged.
During rush periods, additional buses will be added on 16B and 16F routes from Culmore to provide service every five minutes toward the Pentagon in the morning and toward Culmore in the evening. The 16F will be revised to provide limited-stop service at eight major stops in Arlington. All routes will benefit from shorter access to the Pentagon Transit Center by rerouting the inbound buses to continue along Columbia Pike directly to the Pentagon. Outbound buses will still have to use Army- Navy Drive due to the closure of westbound roads in Pentagon South parking for security reasons.
16G, H, K, W Columbia Heights West-Pentagon City. Those bus routes that were formerly rush-only -- 16S, U, W, X -- have been revised to provide all-day service to the Arlington portion of Columbia Pike. This service will operate at all bus stops between Columbia Heights West and a new terminal at Pentagon City. The schedule will be coordinated for transfers with the Metrorail Blue Line and provide a bus (16G) every 12 minutes, all day, in each direction. During rush periods, additional buses (16H and 16W) are added east of Four Mile Run to increase frequency to once every six minutes, again, at the same frequency as the Blue Line.
Together with the 16A, B, D, F, and J there will be 22 buses in the peak hour (less than three minutes between buses) to reduce waiting and crowding. During the mid-day and evening, the combined services will provide a bus every seven minutes in each direction giving riders the opportunity to have lunch, run an errand, and enjoy the convenience of frequent mid-day service. This is a 45 percent increase in weekday Metrobus service.
Route 16W on S. George Mason Drive will be retained with six morning and eight afternoon/evening trips and a coordinated transfer to Metrorail at Pentagon City. New Route16H stops will provide service to Barcroft Apartments.
Arlington Transit (ART 41, 73, 74, 75). Three new ART routes and a revised existing route will begin service to neighborhoods in the Columbia Pike Corridor on September 8. Each of these new routes will run every 30 minutes during extended rush hour periods. They are:
" ART 41 Columbia Pike-Ballston-Court House. This existing route will divert from Columbia Pike to serve the Barcroft neighborhood. " ART 73 Arlington Heights-Penrose-Pentagon City. This new route will provide direct service to the Pentagon City Metrorail station from Alcova Heights, Arlington Heights, Penrose, and Arlington View. " ART 74 Douglas Park-Arlington Village-Pentagon City. This new route will serve the Nauck, Douglas Park, and Arlington Village neighborhoods. Bus service in Arlington Village will be extended to operate on S. 16th Street and Barton Street, rather than Edgewood Street, to improve convenience for many residents, before expressing to Pentagon City. " ART 75 Wakefield High School.-Carlin Springs Road-Ballston. This new route will operate from Wakefield High School to Ballston-MU Metrorail station, serving the neighborhoods of Claremont, Columbia Forest, Columbia Heights West, Glen Carlyn, and Bluemont.
Saturday Service
Metrobus service on Saturday is being increased by 64 percent with longer hours to provide more reliable and convenient service throughout the day. Service on the16B will start at 5:35 a.m. and run until 4 a.m. on Sunday morning. Combined with the 16J, four buses per hour in each direction will be operated to and from the Pentagon for much of the day. Route 16G will be operated every 30 minutes to and from Pentagon City, making for a total of six buses per hour (one every 10 minutes) along Columbia Pike in Arlington.
Sunday Service
Like Saturday, the schedules of 16B, J, and G will be coordinated to provide a bus every 15 minutes along Columbia Pike. This is a 96 percent increase in service.
To assist customers with using all the new and different choices that Pike Ride will offer, a comprehensive plan for customer information is being implemented, including kiosks at all bus stops in Arlington with easy-to-understand maps, schedules, and instructions.
For more information about Pike Ride, stop by the Columbia Pike Commuter Store at 2928 Columbia Pike, call 202-637-7000 or 703-228-RIDE, or visit www.metroopensdoors.com or www.commuterpage.com.
News release issued on August 25, 2003.