New Metrobus Design Is Ready to Roll

The first of Metro's new red-and-silver buses will hit the streets Monday, officials said yesterday.

Fifteen of the ultra-long, accordion-style buses will travel the U8 line, which runs between the Capitol Heights Metro station in Prince George's County and Benning Heights in Southeast Washington. Beginning Nov. 3, two buses will be tested on the popular 5A express route that runs between the L'enfant Plaza Metro station and Dulles International Airport. Next year, Metro plans to move most of the new buses to the X2 line, which runs between Benning Road and H Street in the District, after repairs on H Street are completed, officials said.

The buses, which cost nearly $800,000 each, will replace older ones running those routes. They feature vandal-resistant cushioned seats, handhold straps for standing passengers, security cameras and rearview cameras. The 61-seat buses can carry 103 people.

Metro unveiled 22 of the sleek-looking buses in July and said they would be running on the busiest routes by the end of August. They were supposed to run on the X2, which had an average weekday ridership in September of 13,852. But road construction "forced us to consider other routes," Metrobus chief Milo Victoria said in a statement.

Because the accordion-style buses are long -- 60 feet instead of the typical 40 feet -- and run on compressed natural gas, officials said their choices were limited. Metro has only two such fueling facilities, one in Virginia and one at the Bladensburg bus garage. The Virginia location is full, so routes chosen had to be near Bladensburg.

Average weekday ridership on the U8 is 6,083; ridership on the 5A is 1,147. More than 460,000 people ride Metrobus on an average weekday.

Metro officials are trying to improve bus service to attract more riders. Although rail ridership has been setting records every year, Metrobus ridership has been relatively flat even as trips have increased on other local bus services. Riders say the best way to attract more passengers is to provide more reliable service. The average on-time performance for all 340 Metrobus routes in July was 73 percent; the bus industry average ranges from 65 to 75 percent, according to figures provided to Metro by the American Public Transportation Association.

Most of the current 1,510 buses run on diesel, but over the next year, Metro will be replacing older buses with 203 electric hybrids in the same red-and-silver design.