Metro to honor Rosa Parks on her birthday with reserved seats across bus and rail system

On Wednesday, Feb. 4, Metro is honoring civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks on her birthday by reserving a seat for her on every bus and train across the system. 

To commemorate the day, Metro is placing signs on trains and buses, reserving a single seat in recognition of Parks’ refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus and subsequent arrest in 1955. Her act of courage helped advance the civil rights movement. 

Metro has previously honored Parks’ legacy by reserving a seat with a special sign on all buses, and for the second time, a reserved seat will be saved on every train as well.

The tribute comes on what would have been her 113th birthday. 

This year also marks the 21st anniversary of Metro’s historic Rosa Parks bus. The commemorative bus is the same model she protested on and was refurbished in 2005 after Parks’ death. It was used in the procession for her memorial service in D.C. The exterior of the bus reads "It All Started on a Bus: Rosa Parks, 1913-2005; The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.”

About Metro

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), known as Metro, is the region’s leading public transportation provider, serving a population of approximately four million people across Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia within a 2,054-square-mile jurisdiction. With a network of six rail lines, 98 stations, 126 bus routes, and a door-to-door paratransit service, Metro is the second busiest transit system in the United States serving more than 268.9 million trips in 2025 with a $5 billion operating and capital budget. Since 2022, Metro has completed multiple transit-oriented development projects that have brought $15 million in tax revenue to the region from housing, office, and retail space in our community. Safety and security are core values at Metro. Over 30,000 cameras monitor the system, and Metro currently has the lowest crime rate in history with fare evasion down on rail and bus. In 2025, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) named Metro the Transit Agency of the Year in recognition of industry-leading ridership growth, record high customer satisfaction, a newly redesigned Bus network, expanded rail service, and improved customer experience.