A Very Brief History of DC Public Transit
The Washington, DC metropolitan area’s Metrobus and Metrorail system came into being in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. It’s a long story, best read on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) site. But here’s the short story. WMATA was created in 1966 with a stroke of a pen by Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson and ratified the following year by the many jurisdictions which would be participating. The Metrobus system was cobbled together in 1973 when WMATA bought several private bus companies that ran in the city. Metrobus now has 338 routes on 171 lines, with over 1,200 buses. The Metrorail subway system, which broke ground in 1969, opened its doors for the first time in 1976, with 4.2 miles of rail in service. Metrorail now has 106.3 miles of track and 83 stations throughout the DC metro area, which includes not only the District of Columbia but also parts of Maryland and Virginia.
The current DC transit system replaced an earlier one that relied heavily on the streetcar. There are still areas of the city that have rails running through the street, even though the last streetcar ran in 1962. (We want those streetcar rails to stay. They give the city character.) According to this article on Wikipedia, “The backbone of WMATA’s existing bus route map remains only marginally changed from the streetcar map it followed. For example, the #30 streetcar route that ran from Barney Circle to Friendship Heights is now the #30 bus line which runs from Anacostia through Barney Circle to Friendship Heights.” Several current bus lines still follow the old streetcar lines. Most other bus lines have been little changed since the beginning of Metrobus in the 1970’s, even though the city and the needs of transit patrons have changed dramatically.
If you’d like to find out how to get around using the Metro system in DC, check out the WMATA site. It’s very helpful.
