First Thoughts On The New Better Bus Network

Mostly good, but there were a couple of kinks. I also have a suggestion for an infill stop on the P1X.

I like riding buses. Actually, I like riding all forms of public transportation. I always have. I’ve used buses, light rail, subway/elevated, passenger rail, ferries (crossing the English Channel from Oostende, Belgium to Dover, England during a storm, was quite an experience) and several airlines, as well as military transport aircraft.

I’ve used the London Underground, Berlin’s U-Bahn, the NYC subway system, DC’s Metro system, the LA bus system, Baltimore’s light rail, the Moscow subway system, the Tokyo subway system, and as a teenager, taking the bus into Hartford, CT with friends, to see a movie. Back then Hartford had real theaters with balconies.

My favorite city in the world is Berlin, Germany and I love their U-Bahn and S-Bahn systems. The S-Bahn runs 24 hours. When their U-Bahn shuts down for the night, buses take over the routes, stopping only at their respective U-Bahn stops, until the system opens back up in the morning. Those shuttle buses also run at the same headways as the rail system. From what I remember, they were 10 minute headways. Berlin has 24/7/365 public transportation service, that is convenient and reliable.

Friends and family members ask me why I like using public transportation, when driving gives you so much more freedom. I just like using public transportation. I’d rather leave the driving to someone else. I have friends that have nice cars, and love driving. They think I’m nuts about not wanting to drive. The car-culture friends keep telling me to get a sports car. Why do I want a car that can go 200 miles per hour, when the speed limit around here is 25? There is some truth to what the infamous “They” say: “The difference between men and boys, are the price of their toys.”

My car-culture friends also live in rural areas, where you need a car in order to survive. They think I’m nuts for continuing to live in a densifying middle-ring suburb of Washington, DC. I have no desire to live “some place nice,” as they tell me, which is in the middle of nowhere.

On Sunday, June 29, 2025, Metro launched its new Better Bus Network. I like it. I like it a lot. I’ve been using it to get in and out of DC regularly. The new P1X express bus, is “just what the doctor ordered.”

The only glitch I had was on the first day of the new service. The D74 bus from 12th and Monroe to the Rhode Island Avenue Metro, was having some issues. I was using the new Metro Pulse app, and two ghost buses stopped at the stop—except there were no buses. They were invisible, except on the app, which said, “arriving.” Fortunately, the next one on the schedule, did show up. I only had to wait about 10 minutes, which I consider reasonable when using public transportation.

When I got to the Rhode Island Metro station to catch the P1X bus, I only had to wait about 3 minutes. The bus was at its bus bay, it was running, and the AC was on. The driver got on the bus, shut the door, and we left right on schedule. It was smooth sailing as they say, up Rhode Island Avenue, to my bus stop at the corner of Route 1 and Erie Street in College Park. The whole trip takes about 4 minutes longer than driving, and I don’t have to drive. I can catch up on my reading, or just enjoy looking at the urban scenery.

There are bus stops on opposite sides of the street at Erie Street, but there is no crosswalk connecting them, and it’s Route 1, with 4 lanes of traffic and a center turn lane, that is also used as a merge lane (illegal), and lots and lots of traffic. The speed limit there is 30, but that’s only a suggestion. There needs to be a crosswalk there, with a beg button Hawk Light.

The nearest crosswalk along Route 1, is at Fox Street/Indian Lane. From there, it’s a shorter walk to the Indian Lane bus stop, than walking back down the other side of the street to the stop at Erie Street. There is a stop at Cherokee Street, which is the same distance in the opposite direction from my house, as the one at Indian Lane. Cherokee does have a traffic signal, and crosswalk, and that sidewalk is right next to the bus stop.

Here’s a request for Metro: there needs to be an infill P1X stop on either side, at Berwyn Road, because the M42, M44, and P32 that do stop there, have 30 minute headways during the week, and only run hourly on weekends.

Weekends are when when most working people do there errands and grocery shopping. There is a Lidl Grocery Store there, a 7-11 across the street, and a large working/middle class community down Berwyn Road. The P1X is a 20 minute headway bus, seven days per week. The closest P1X stop is down the road at Navaho Street/Berwyn House Road. It’s an uphill hike to Lidl dragging a grocery cart. After I’m done shopping, and there is no M44 coming soon, it’s a hike back down to Navaho Street/Berwyn House Road, to catch the P1X. Ok, so maybe the walk will do me some good.

I’ve been using the new bus system daily. I can only base my opinions on what I have currently experienced. I’m not trying to learn the whole system. If I need to learn a new route to get where I want to go, I’ll learn that new route. I did, however, start looking at the bus maps and learning which buses went where I needed to go, before I ventured out to test the new system, on Sunday, June 29th. All in all, I’m finding that using both the Metrobus and Metrorail, to be a very pleasurable way to travel.

The new P1X bus, has changed my driving habits. Currently, I own two cars. With the old bus system, I would usually drive to the College Park Metro Station, pay $4.95 to park on weekdays, free on weekends, and take the Green Line to Fort Totten, and transfer to the Red Line to Brookland. I spend a lot of time in Brookland. I love that part of the city. I wish I could afford to live there.

With the new bus system, I don’t need to drive to the College Park Metro anymore. The buses I now normally take, the P1X and the M44 don’t even go to the College Park Metro. The M44 goes to the Hyattsville Crossing Station on the Green Line. From there, it’s two stops to Fort Totten, a transfer to the Red Line, and one stop to Brookland. The P1X goes right down Route 1 to the Rhode Island Avenue Metro Station, which is right on the Red Line. It’s also one stop to Brookland, in the opposite direction.

I’m about to become a lot less car dependent. If one of my cars dies, I’m not going to replace it. The other one serves as a back up if needed anyway. It can become the back up for the new Metrobus system. Being a 70 year old senior citizen living in the suburbs, I’m always going to be partially car dependent. That dependency is going to become a whole lot less, however.

I no longer do, or wish to do, long distance driving. I average less than 7000 miles a year on my cars combined. With the new bus system, it will be even less. If I’m going out of town, which is now rare, I fly to where I’m going, and then rent a car at the airport.

If you are living in the suburbs, I believe you really do need one car. There is currently too much suburban sprawl, and it’s hard to navigate on public transportation. That’s just the way it is. It’s called reality. There are just times when taking the bus just isn’t reasonable, or practical, like when a fifteen minute drive is a two-plus hour bus ride with transfers. It’s no fun changing buses a couple of times, with two thirty-pack toilet paper packages from Costco. Yes I know, you can have them delivered.

I’m hoping that ridership will increase, as people get to know the new system. It seems to be a lot better than the old bus network, that had been in place for about 50 years. That’s my experience. I’m sure others have their own experiences, both good and bad. However, Metro needs to do a better job advertising the new bus system.

Here’s the part no one wants to talk about: Buses are considered the means of transportation for the underclass poor. As long as it doesn’t affect middle class driving, why should you care about transportation for the poor, right? That’s seems to be the attitude. The poor take the bus, and the middle classes drive themselves or take Uber. Then there is the unwritten cultural policy of a certain demographic, who are going to drive, so they don’t have to take the bus with “those people.” In their own mind, driving puts them one notch up on society’s totem pole.

More to follow…