Please don't not post no bills.

There are stil many, many bus routes that I haven’t ridden, and I know that I won’t get to all of them.  But before I revert to my 80 bus-only ways (seriously, that is the only route I need these days!), I thought it prudent to crowd source some final routes, because many of you ride bus lines I might not even have considered.

So there you have it: choose my own adventure.  Tell me which bus route I have to ride before I hang up my frequent-rider SmarTrip card and revert to average WMATA commuter status.  If you don’t see anything you like below, please add a suggestion!

Having not prepared to ride this bus, I had no clue what I was in for.  I didn’t know that it would take me on a nearly hour-long trip that would twist and turn along the DC/Maryland border.  I didn’t know that we’d be traveling through rusting industrial parks, historic neighborhoods, and parts of the suburbs that I didn’t even know existed.  I didn’t know just how much I would enjoy this ride.

As I mentioned in the Cheverly post, this part of Prince George’s County is very different than the tonier sections to the north and east.  It’s older and a bit more run down in parts, but it feels a lot more like a community than, say, the area immediately surrounding Largo Town Center.  I’m probably biased, however, because riding through certain neighborhoods made me feel like I was back on the west side of Indianapolis, where I grew up.  I was especially reminded of the area surrounding the Indy 500 Speedway, which was an older part of town still populated by auto repair shops and strip malls from the 60s and 70s when I lived there.  Most of it has since been modernized and commercialized – scrubbed clean of the gritty history of auto racing – and barely resembles its former self.  Kind of like a lot of parts of DC.  Don’t get me wrong: I’m all for progress and development when it makes sense, but it was nice to travel through a place like Mt. Rainier, where the historic downtown still has plenty of locally owned businesses and neighbors out patronizing them, at least from what I could tell.

My favorite part of this trip was early on, right before we reached the bus stop at Prince George’s Hospital Center.  As the bus ascends the Kenilworth Avenue Service Roadway (how exotic!), you realize that you’re able to look out across what might be miles of land, including the entire town of Cheverly.  I snapped the pic you see below – which does no justice to the actual landscape – in an attempt to capture just how striking the view is.  It was at that point that I put my phone away, put the newspaper down, and decided I would spend the rest of this ride just sitting quietly and observing.  And that’s just what I did.

Kinda hard to believe this is just outside DC, right?

Line: F1, F2 Chillum Road Line          Rating (1-10): 7

Ridership: Most riders on this line rode for a very long time, although – not surprisingly – no one stayed on the whole time like me.  Since it was a Sunday morning, riders were dressed casually and mostly boarded in pairs or small groups, presumably to head to brunch or for some shopping.  Just a handful of folks appeared to be coming to or from work, and I don’t believe there were any kids on there the entire time, which is rare for a weekend route.

Pros: The best part about this line is that it takes you to many great little sections of Prince George’s County that are not accessible by Metrorail.  I definitely want to head back to Mt. Rainier, in particular.

Cons: This route is not for the impatient or those in a hurry, and it’s most certainly not the quickest way to get from Cheverly to Takoma.  As I mentioned, the F2 only runs once an hour on weekends, and the F1 only runs as often as every 25 minutes during weekday rush hours.

Nearby and Noteworthy: Since I’m on a Mt. Rainier kick, I’ll give a shout-out to Glut Food Co-Op, which looks deliciously counterculture, and Sweet and Natural, which seemed to be the place to go to lunch.

Metro News: As of Sunday, a number of bus routes in DC, Maryland, and Virginia have undergone service changes.   I always think it’s a little sneaky of Metro to change up bus routes on Sundays (when you might not even notice the changes anyway), but it’s just the way they do it.  Luckily, most of these changes are on late night/early morning service and won’t affect that many riders.

PHOTO CREDIT: ILLUSTRATION BY BENDEPENDENT.COM

One of the totally unexpected yet completely awesome side effects of doing this blog is that other people are actually interested in writing about my writing.  Such is the case with the DC Rider column in today’s Express.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Vicky earlier this month and it was so cool to meet another gal who’s as passionate about public transit as I am.  I hope you enjoy reading this fun recap of Metro-Venture’s last two years, and I promise, there’s still more to come!

Ah, Cheverly!  Where the heck is Cheverly…  Oh, okay, it’s the first Orange Line stop in Maryland and the farthest I’ve been heading east on the Orange Line.  The landscape on the way there was almost foreign to me, as the line runs at ground-level for a stretch before opening out over rolling hills.  Everything looks a little more depressing in January, but I’m sure that when the leaves change color in autumn, this could be a beautiful ride.

I could tell as we pulled up to the station, however, that there wouldn’t be much for me to do around the station.  It’s a highly industrial area and in that way it reminds me a lot of certain parts of Indiana.  A person can still buy things like tile and glass and ink at wholesale.  And don’t get me started on the selection of auto parts!  Seriously, though, in DC – outside of a few parts in northeast – a person just doesn’t see these kind of places anymore.  Not that I spend much time hanging out in industrial parks, but for some reason it’s reassuring that these skilled trades still exist since it’s easy to forget that not everybody in the metro area is a consultant or a lobbyist.

Here’s a suggestion: I think Cheverly deserves to have some art placed there, as part of the MetroArts program.  It would be cool to see something brighten up this station, while keeping within the character of the surrounding area.  Surely one of those printers or glassmakers or even auto body repair shops could create something that says “Cheverly.”  At the very least, it might help to setthis station apart from its Orange Line brethren because its distinguishing details (or lack thereof) are already getting blurry in my mind.

Don't fret, it's freight.

Station: Cheverly      Rating (1-10): 5

Ridership: On Sunday the place is practically deserted.  Just a handful of riders exited when I did, and of those, most were walking, as there were no buses in the bus bay at that time.

Pros: The station has about 500 parking spaces and 34 bike racks, which is a decent number considering its location in the ‘burbs.  And all of the elevators and escalators are in service!  That’s definitely a good things these days.

Cons: Aesthetics are not a strong suit of Cheverly, but that’s not surprising for a station completed in 1978.  I happen to like experiencing the stations where freight rail runs parallel, but I could see how the noise and rusty rail cars could be less that desirable.

Nearby & Noteworthy: I was going to walk around for a bit, but there happened to be a bus pull up that I could catch, and since that bus only runs every hour on Sundays, I hopped on board.  Didn’t see too much in the way of retail along John Hanson Highway, but if you need to rent a drumset – and let’s be honest, who doesn’t occasionally? – Showtime Rentals is right down the road.

Latest Metro News: Another long holiday weekend, another opportunity to stand around waiting for a train.

When you hear the term “Express bus” in regards to WMATA, one of three things usually comes up: Limited-stop routes (the 79, S9, X9, etc.), routes connecting distant airports (5A to Dulles, B30 to BWI), and more traditional rush hour-only routes that connect corners of Fairfax and Prince George’s counties where local bus service is near-nonexistent and if there is a bus-to-Metro commute would be unwieldy.

Then there’s the dynamic duo of the J7/J9, an express route with a bit of an identity crisis. The routes, which run between Bethesda station and Lakeforest Mall in Gaithersburg via Interstate 270, have a bit of an identity crisis. Both routes are the only Metrobus express routes that run solely in one jurisdiction and the J9 is the only reverse-peak express route and both routes make local stops between Bethesda and I-270. Unlike other express routes, they also serve a routing that has an easy “local” alternative as Lakeforest is a major transfer point for Ride On buses and buses to Shady Grove come quite regularly around the clock. The fact that the bus takes less time and costs less than a bus-to-Metro commute – nearly $1.60 less – makes it a successful route to the point of often using articulated buses to handle its most crowded runs.

The easy overlap with a “local” route opens up a second avenue of ridership. As parking at Lakeforest and the Gaithersburg Park & Ride at I-270 is free and plentiful, there are also riders who will use the J9 half of the service to take a “shortcut” to Metro and save some money. This element of ridership is less than it once was given how the J7/9 charged a local fare due to the local stops inside the Beltway until 2009. Even with the fare increase, some people find it cheaper and easier to park-and-ride-and-ride than to deal with a crowded Shady Grove lot.

Oops. Just missed that one.

Line: J7, 9 – I-270 Express          Rating (1-10): 5

Ridership: The J9 end is almost exclusively commuters heading to/from their jobs in Bethesda or at NIH (it diverts to serve Medical Center station) while the J7 acts as a conduit to get those working at assorted places in Gaithersburg and points north. Once in a blue moon there may be some intrepid soul that wants to go up and see Lakeforest Mall but otherwise the typical express bus crowd.

Pros: The speedy run down the HOV lanes on I-270 while commuters are stuck in traffic is one of those experience that gives transit riders an air of superiority. It also gives a good rush-hour path to get to/from Bethesda and Medical Center to BWI via the MTA 201 bus at Gaitherburg Park & Ride.

Cons: Think back to the fare increases of 2010. Then consider the increase mentioned above. Imagine if your bus’s fare went from $1.25 to $3.60 in exactly one year. Riders there were not happy one bit and were more livid on its Ride On rival, Route 70 that goes further up I-270 to Germantown.

Nearby and Noteworthy: Since Lakeforest is an average mall, the one thing I can suggest is one of the few remaining Roy Rogers locations right across the street from the bus shelters. Those who grew up with it will understand. If you time stuff right, you may be able to head back on a J7 on a transfer.

Metro News:  I’m utterly mesmerized by yesterday’s “blue-orange-final2.png.” 

8. Agitate for a flat-fee monthly pass.  I’ve often defended price increases on Metro, on the grounds that if that money can make the system safer and more efficient, then it’s well worth it.  We’re lucky to have as good of a public transit system as we do, which became abundantly clear when I returned home to Indianapolis over the holidays and – despite my best efforts – simply could not find a bus route to ride that was  nearby or traveled with any frequency.  I drove more over two holidays back in Indy than I probably have in the past two years combined in DC.  But it was the visits to my sister in Chicago that made me realize there’s still something seriously missing from our system, and that’s passes.  I know, I know, there are bus passes that can now be loaded onto one’s SmarTrip card, but it’s not the same.  We need something like the Chicago Card (or the MARC TLC card), which reloads automatically and can be used for the 30-Day Pass, which costs just $86 and is valid on all CTA bus and rail lines.  Eighty-six bucks!  I know some riders in DC who spend that amount in just eight work days.  How nice it would be to just load up automatically each month and not have to worry about it.

9. Learn to like my fellow passengers a little bit more.  I’ll be honest, I hold a grudge far too often against fellow commuters.  The slow boarders, the change fumblers, the loud talkers, the weird starers: all make up the colorful fabric of public transit.  The folks I’m talking about are a distinctly different group than those who brazenly break the rules or take up two front seats while a mom struggles with her toddlers and a stroller.  They’re are harmless, if annoying, and I need to learn to be a better seatmate to those who rub me the wrong way for whatever reason, or for no reason at all.  I never want to be someone who commutes along by car every day, so these temporary communities on wheels are mine to be a part of, whether I sometimes like it or not.  Just because I’ve ridden nearly 60 different bus lines doesn’t mean I know it all, plus maybe taking my headphones off an engaging with fellow passengers more would do us both some good.  So here’s to more patience toward other bus and rail riders, and leading by example when I can.  We’re all in this together, right?

And finally…

10. Finish my Metro-Venture.  All good things must come to an end, and this blog is one of them.  Since the beginning my goal has had an end in sight, even if the finish line got moved back by a year (or two).  I hope to have all of the Metrorail stations under my belt by February.  As for the buses, I’ll ride as many more as I can in that time, but after a certain point there’s nothing more to add to the bus riding conversation; sometimes a bus ride is just a bus ride.  It’s been a blast to get to know the Metro system as well as I have, and if you ever need advice on which line to ride where, I’m your gal.  Just a few more weeks to go, at which point it will be time to move on to new adventures.  It’s been a great ride.

Either this bus is really lost, or...

This bus was northbound on 6th Street NW, just about to cross over New York Avenue, which is about five blocks too far to the east for its regular route.  Compounding the confusion is this bus’s destination.  Sullyfield Circle?  Best I can tell that’s located in Chantilly, VA.  Weird, right?  Or maybe not.  Maybe you all know something that I don’t.  So I’ll ask again: what’s the deal with this G8?

We never rode to the end of the line on those visits and I’d still never made it over to Addison Road in the twenty years since, until the other night, when the C21 dropped me and a couple dozen other passengers off there.  And let me tell you: the place was positively buzzing with activity.  Or at least the buses were.

There are only five bus bays at Addison Road, but every one of them had at least one bus dropping off or picking up passengers.  There were easily 20 people waiting to board the C21 headed in the opposite direction, and the majority of riders on my bus headed to other bus shelters or down the sidewalk toward Central Avenue.  More than a few of these riders had trips lasting 30 to 45 minutes or more ahead of them, as these buses terminate at places like Forestville, Penn Mar Shopping Center, or Upper Marlboro in the case of The Bus route 20.

When I reached the train platform, the eastbound train was just rolling in, so I took a seat on a bench on the opposite side.  After observing the commuters heading toward the escalators – and owing to the fact that I was the only person from my bus to enter through the turnstiles – I guessed that at this station there may not be a lot of overlap between train and bus riders.  The difference between the folks on the train – business attire, high heels, briefcases or nice handbags, car keys jangling in their hands – and the folks on the bus – sensible shoes of the kind worn by people on their feet al day, uniform-like attire, more than a few people taking quick naps – was abundantly clear.  Honestly, it’s like this all over the DC Metro area, not just at Addison Road.

Not to read too much into all this (although I tend to do so after so many stations and buses) or use hyperbole for effect (although I’m not at all ashamed of doing that either), but I couldn’t help but think of the parallele societies of Time Machine or Metropolis as I moved from bus bay to train platform.  Above ground are those can afford to ride Metrorail, passing efficiently through the exit gate to a car waiting for them in a reserved spot in a parking garage.  Down below are those who stand waiting for buses to arrive, perhaps to take them from one job to another (I overhear those conversations all the time) or perhaps because they don’t have the ability to pay twice as much to travel the same distance.

Call this a gross generalization if you like, but there’s a lot of truth to it.  And just as there are Metrorail riders who will never deign to step foot on a bus, there are bus riders who would never fathom riding the train.  And while my observation is probably nothing new to seasoned WMATA riders, this dual nature of public transit in DC was so readily apparent at Addison Road that I couldn’t help but comment on it.  But maybe that’s fine.   Maybe it’s okay that we have a system that serves diverse groups in their own way, even if there’s little overlap.  Maybe every rider figures out what’s best for her and there’s no need to try something new or different .  And maybe I’m trying to extrapolate from this experience something that really isn’t there.  But sometimes I do wish I could take a train-only rider onto a bus with me and vice versa, just so they could get a taste of what it’s like on the other side.

Even though I've done this for what seems like thousands of times, it's still fun to hit the platform right as the train rolls in.

Station: Addison Road – Seat Pleasant       Rating (1-10): 6

Ridership: As I mentioned above, riders at rush hour are all business, both in their attire and demeanor.  These riders were pros, efficiently exiting the train using all doors, standing to the right, and walking to the left.  That’s the nice thing about the stations in Maryland: very seldom does one have to deal with clumsy tourists or clueless suburbanites, although I’m sure when there’s a game at FedEx Field it’s a different story.  A few people smiled pleasantly as they walked past me, but most seemed focused on doing just one thing: getting home.

Pros: There are over 1,200 parking spots at this station, and even 16 bike racks, and Central Avenue is right there.  The station is unremarkable architecturally, but the entrance is roomy and it doesn’t seem that the platform would ever be too crowded, since this is one of the less busy stations in the system.

Cons: This is not a terribly pedestrian-friendly station, as anyone who has walked along Central Avenue can attest (that includes me!).  And while the bus stations are hopping during rush hours, service is – at best – every 45 – 60 minutes on weekends.  This is definitely a station designed for DC-bound commuters.

Nearby & Noteworthy: This is a tough one.  I’m the first to admit that I know far less about Prince George’s County than any of the counties immediately surrounding DC, so it’s possible that I’m missing something in Walker Mill, MD (the official address of the station).  In this case I’m going to go with Washington’s Green Grocer which, now that I’ve discovered this place, I will probably sign up for first thing in 2012.  It’s not within walking distance of the station, but who cares?  They deliver!

Latest Metro News: Funny how when you travel 500 miles away from DC, nobody’s talking about Metro, even when there’s a mechanical failure and evacuation.  Just glad everybody’s okay.

There’s a preternatural calm to suburban areas like this: gorgeous apartment and condo complexes line well-groomed roads completely devoid of pedestrians, or even the sounds of people for that matter.  I stood on the corner next to the bus stop sign, cars whizzing by, and even though three other buses stopped before the C21 arrived, no one got on and no one got off.

One cool thing about this stop, though, was that I could see the trains pass by in the distance.  It’s not often in DC that you get to experience an unobstructed view of the trains in action from such a distance.  I felt like I was very far away from everything, although the station – and all of the shopping and restaurants there – was easily within walking distance.

The bus arrived and I hopped on, one of only a handful of passengers, although the bus filled up along the way.  As we passed over 495, I had to smile a tiny smile of self satisfaction.  How do people manage to sit in their cars in traffic like that day in and day out?  I opened my newspaper back up to check out the days headlines as the bus smoothly navigated Central Avenue, and I was happy I would never have to answer that question.

Not a great photo, but if you look in the background, you'll see the lights of the train.

Line: C21, C22, C26, C29 – Central Avenue Line   Rating: (1-10): 7

Ridership: These riders – including me – were quiet and tired.  It appeared that everybody was traveling alone; there were no conversations to be had for the duration of the route.  And most of the people who were on the bus when I boarded were still there by the time we arrived at Addison Road.  The C21 travels very close to, but doesn’t actually stop at, Largo Town Center and Morgan Boulevard, so it makes the most sense to ride until the end of the route.

Pros: At least one of the C buses runs every ten minutes during rush, and on the weekends there’s supplemental service to Bowie State University, even if it’s only once an hour.

Cons: This is not a bus for those in a great hurry, as it takes 18 minutes to reach Addison Road from Largo Town Center.  The ride to Bowie State is even longer, at a whopping 80 minutes long.  Is this the longest bus route in the WMATA system?  Might be.

Nearby and Noteworthy: Six Flags America!  I had no idea we had a theme park so nearby that was accessible by bus.  And since parking there costs $15 (on top of the $57 it costs to get in), public transit is totally the way to go.

Latest Metro News: WMATA takes a spot in the top 10 for the most frequently searched terms on Google in the DC area.  Yay?