Monday, September 22, is celebrated globally as World Car Free Day, which also coincided with the DMVMoves Transit Tour. More than 50 public and private sector leaders from across the region met in Alexandria, Virginia to start the day touring Metro's Integrated Command and Communications Center. During the tour, Metro staff explained the importance of collaboration in an operational environment to communicate and execute daily service delivery. 

Bus Priority Lanes

After the command center tour, officials boarded a Metrobus to discuss bus priority lanes for the region and the investments needed to increase bus service frequency and reliability. The group traveled along the Metroway (now route A1X) corridor in Alexandria and Arlington to see the region's first operational Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) route featuring a separated transitway to bypass traffic.  Heading into the District of Columbia, the itinerary also included existing bus lanes along H and I Street NW, as well as bus lanes in development on Georgia Avenue NW later in the day. Implementing a BRT planning strategy has the potential to immediately serve more communities and reduce traffic congestion throughout the region. Providing more frequent bus and bus priority for the region has been one of the topics raised by the DMVMoves Task Force while considering how to build a visionary network at a fraction of the time and resources required to increase rail capacity. 

Train Control Modernization

Tour participants also stopped at Farragut North for a behind-the-scenes look at one of Metro's many train control rooms, which are integral to safe, frequent, and reliable train operations. Leaders were given a crash course in engineering and the complexity of maintaining an almost 50-year-old system, requiring significant investments and upgrades to address the constant growth the region has seen since Metro's inception. Modernizing Metrorail with a new signaling system and rail automation is one of the key investments being considered by the DMVMoves Task Force.

Purple Line Construction

The last stop on the daylong tour concluded at the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit Center in Silver Spring, which will be one of the stops along Maryland’s Purple Line light rail. Maryland Department of Transportation staff provided a comprehensive update on the Purple Line's progress and the ongoing collaboration that's required to see the highly anticipated line to completion. 

This day of transit and nod to World Car Free Day will inform the DMVMoves Task Force’s final recommendations this fall on moving a visionary transit network for the region forward.