Progress Has Passed Metrobus By

Today, area communities have pulled ahead of Metrobus in innovation and technology.

Montgomery County, Arlington County, Prince George's County and Fairfax City are either using real-time bus information on their systems or experimenting with it.

Using a $500,000 federal grant, Arlington is building a control center for bus service on Columbia Pike where managers will be able to track Metrobuses and tell Metro dispatchers how to keep them on schedule. The county also plans to create "super stops" where waiting passengers can monitor buses on closed-circuit televisions that will also provide news and reports on weather and traffic.

Arlington and Fairfax counties have launched premium bus service on Columbia Pike and Richmond Highway, paying for frequent service, new maps and innovative devices, including technology that holds a green traffic signal so an approaching bus can get through an intersection. Since the upgrade on the Columbia Pike route in 2003, ridership has increased from 9,000 to 11,500 passengers a day.

In the District, the city launched the D.C. Circulator in July, bus service designed to run so often that schedules aren't needed, using new buses designed for quick boarding and unloading.

And in October, the District signed a contract with Clear Channel Adshel under which the advertising firm will build about 800 state-of-the-art bus shelters and will pay the District more than $150 million over 20 years to place ads there. The shelters will be equipped with bus maps and real-time information signs and will be maintained by the ad agency.

In contrast, Metro stopped building bus shelters in 1987, except for a few at new rail stations.

"It's a management problem," said Debra Atkins, a 44-year-old bus rider who says the Metrobus she takes in Prince George's is chronically late. "I think they push paper and chat and do what they do. They don't go out. There are no checks and balances. . . . I'm sure they're paid six figures, a lot of them. But I don't see them doing their jobs."