Free Rides To Feed Into Metrorail for Inauguration

By Kafia A. Hosh

Thursday, January 15, 2009

All rides on Loudoun County commuter buses will be free on Inauguration Day, but they won't take people into the District.

Whether they're on their way to inauguration events or just trying to get to work, all passengers on Loudoun County Transit buses will be dropped off at the West Falls Church Metro station in the morning and picked up from that spot in the afternoon and evening.

The buses, which leave from the county's park-and-ride lots, normally provide weekday service to the District, the Pentagon and several other points in Northern Virginia. But county transportation officials said they decided to ferry everyone to West Falls Church, the Metro station closest to Loudoun, to avoid contributing to congestion. From there, passengers will be able to take the Orange Line into Washington.

The decision not to charge a bus fare is part of a state effort to promote the use of public transportation on a day when Potomac River bridge crossings from Virginia to the District will be closed to personal vehicles, as will interstates 66 and 395 inside the Capital Beltway. Passengers boarding Metrorail will need to pay for train service.

"With the highways closed, people need more choices to get into the District that day, whether they're going to work or to the inauguration," said Jennifer Pickett, spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation.

Pickett said the state set aside a fund to help cover the cost of free bus rides to Metrorail stations from Loudoun and other Northern Virginia localities.

Many of the bus passengers that day will be first-time users who are unfamiliar with the fares, and the free service will make things less confusing, Pickett said.

"We anticipate that there will be many people using transit for the first time," she said. "At least, this way, they know that going to Metrorail it's free, and they can get on the bus and just go."

Nancy Gourley, a division chief for the Loudoun Office of Transportation Services, said her department was "encouraged to be part of the regional effort, and obviously we want to provide service for the people in Loudoun County."

She noted that many of the bus system's regular riders are federal government employees, who will have the day off.

Loudoun buses will make 65 runs Tuesday morning and 66 in the afternoon and will follow this schedule:

• For riders using the Franklin Park commuter lot in Purcellville, buses will leave every 20 minutes from 4:05 to 6:35 a.m. and will pick up at West Falls Church Station every 30 minutes from 3 to 8 p.m.
• For the park-and-ride lot at 110 Catoctin Cir. SE in Leesburg, they will leave every 10 minutes from 4:10 to 7:10 a.m. and pick up at West Falls Church every 15 minutes from 3 to 8 p.m.
• For the Dulles North Transit Center at routes 606 and 634, they will leave every five minutes from 4:15 to 7:05 a.m. and pick up at West Falls Church every 10 minutes from 3 to 8 p.m.
• From the Dulles South Transit Center at Stone Ridge Village Center in Aldie, they will leave every 20 minutes from 4:40 to 6:40 a.m. From 3 to 8 p.m., passengers will need to return to Dulles North and take a shuttle to Dulles South; the shuttles will depart every 20 minutes until 8:30 p.m.
• For the Cascades area, five departures are scheduled from Broad Run Farms, Cascades and Lowes Island from 4:39 to 8:04 a.m., and six scheduled pickups at West Falls Church from 3:10 to 7:55 p.m.

Asked how many bus riders her agency is expecting that day, Gourley said, "We have no idea."

In another move to help people new to the bus system, the county transportation office will keep its phone lines open from 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. to field inquiries.

And at least one staff member will be at each of the two largest park-and-ride lots, the Leesburg lot on Catoctin Circle and the Dulles North Transit Center, to assist passengers in the morning. In the afternoon, staff members will be posted at West Falls Church to help passengers returning to Loudoun find the correct bus.

Robert Dittmer, a commuter who uses the bus service regularly and is scheduled to work Tuesday, said this week that he was weighing his transportation options. He lives in Winchester and normally drives to Purcellville, takes the Loudoun commuter bus to the Rosslyn Metro station and rides Metro to his job with a defense contractor in the Huntington section of Alexandria.

Driving all the way to work usually shaves 25 minutes from Dittmer's commute. But on Inauguration Day, "I don't know how much of a nightmare that's going to be," he said.

On the other hand, Metro stations will be packed with people headed to the inauguration. "Unfortunately, I think I'll have delays" riding the rails, he said.

Gayle Drury, a federal government employee who lives in Charleston, W.Va., and uses the Loudoun commuter bus service, said the free bus service Tuesday doesn't matter to her because she will be off from work and doesn't plan to attend the inauguration. "I don't like crowds," she said.

The Loudoun transportation office is selling a limited supply of commemorative Inauguration Day Metro Farecards, which are one-day passes that cost $7.80 each.

Information about the free Inauguration Day bus service is available from the transportation office at 703-771-5665 or www.loudoun.gov/bus.

Tagged: commuting, Department of Transportation, inauguration, metro, public transit, transportation

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