Better Bus proposed Tysons network, showing a future bus connection to Maryland by WMATA.

WMATA’s Better Bus network redesign is the first holistic rethink of the entire Metrobus network in 50 years. In DC and parts of Maryland, it would revolutionize the system, completely changing the route structure from top to bottom. In Virginia, decades of incremental policy changes mean the state has already adopted many Better Bus changes.

First, understand Virginia’s balkanized bus network

Virginia has the most balkanized bus network in the region. While it’s true for everyone that locally-run service is often easier to provide than Metrobus service, Virginia’s particular collection of small jurisdictions hugging the Potomac River means there are more overlapping bus providers there than in DC or Maryland.

Northern Virginia’s current bus service. Only the thick red lines and thin blue ones are run by Metro. by WMATA.

Small jurisdictions are just the beginning. Virginia’s state legislature also limits how much WMATA can spend to operate transit, which pushes more bus routes to the local agencies instead of Metrobus. After all, Fairfax Connector bus routes don’t count towards WMATA’s limit.

So if a Virginia bus route crosses a jurisdictional boundary, it may still be run by WMATA, but if it doesn’t, a local bus agency probably took it over years ago, or it was never WMATA’s to begin with.

Finally, add in the fact that the Potomac River is a wall for the street network, with few bridges, that naturally pushes most transit riders heading to DC onto rail instead of the bus.

The result is Virginia’s existing bus map: A colorful mix of lines operated by many different agencies, with WMATA mostly constrained to a small group of major arterial corridors that cross borders.

While DC considers consolidating Metrobus lines onto major corridors, Virginia’s… already done that. There’s less to change.

Look at Tysons! And the return of the 5A! And more!

So while it’s true that at first glance, Virginia’s proposed network redesign doesn’t look that different from its existing route structure, looking closely does reveal some interesting changes.

Proposed Better Bus network redesign by WMATA.

Most exciting is probably the growth of Tysons as a transit hub, in particular the proposal to add a bus on the Beltway connecting Tysons to Maryland.

WMATA tried that idea once before, in the 1990s. At the time, Tysons was much smaller, and didn’t have its litany of HOT lane express buses or the Silver Line. The bus to Maryland got stuck in the same Beltway traffic as every car, and few people rode it. WMATA discontinued it after only a short time.

Today, with Beltway express lanes, and a more transit-oriented Tysons, hopefully, that idea’s time has truly come.

Meanwhile, check out the proposed night bus map:

Proposed night buses by WMATA.

What is that going to Dulles? Looks a lot like the popular-but-currently-deceased 5A!

When the Silver Line opened to Dulles, the bus providing service to Dulles from DC was eliminated. But in the early morning and late night when thousands of airport workers still need transportation, a bus still makes sense. Here it would most likely run only whenever Metrorail doesn’t.

Beyond those big additions, and the broadly more frequent and longer-running schedules proposed region-wide, there are some of the same corridor-consolidation type proposals in Virginia as in other jurisdictions.

For example, today’s 1A bus runs partly along US-50 and partly along Wilson Boulevard, splitting its time between two seemingly distinct corridors. Better Bus would move parts of that route into a new Wilson Boulevard line, and parts of it into a new US-50 line, each providing straighter and more logical service along its corridor than the current routes.

The fiscal cliff looms

These are nice proposals that, if ever enacted, would make the bus system more rational and user-friendly. (If you’d like to share your thoughts on the proposed map, you can do so here). But they’re all for nothing if the coming transit fiscal cliff hits hard.

Transit ridership is still down from before the pandemic, but covid-era operating assistance is nearing its end. If transit doesn’t get help, a death spiral of declining service and more expensive fares may loom.

Ultimately, that’s got to be resolved, and soon, or none of this matters.

Dan Malouff is a transportation planner for Arlington and an adjunct professor at George Washington University. He has a degree in urban planning from the University of Colorado and lives in Trinidad, DC. He runs BeyondDC and contributes to the Washington Post. Dan blogs to express personal views, and does not take part in GGWash's political endorsement decisions.