Rhode Island Ave. Bus Bays
The closest Metro Station to me is Rhode Island Ave. (soon to become Rhode Island Ave. - Brentwood). If you don't know, it was one of the first stations to open in 1976, serving as the eastern terminal. One of the station design features that Metro is really likes is off-street bus bays for an integrated transfer with all the buses that serve the neighborhoods around the station. Rhode Island Ave. was designed much as a suuburban Park & Ride station, and many line-haul routes from the close-in northeast suburbs terminate here. Just across from the station entrance is an old map showing which buses use which bays. I think this a bit interesting- it's the sort of thing that helps make intramodal connections actually work. Currently, I think only Virginia does a good job detailing out their bus bays.
I'm pretty sure this map is from before 1994 (I would assume Laurel service was shifted to Greenbelt the instant that part of the Green line went operational), but aside from that, I have no idea how old this thing is. The D8 service might be somewhat indicative- I wouldn't mind having a one-seat ride to Georgetown! D8 service currently only goes to Union Station. I once took a look at a timetable printout at a stop on the D8 route; it showed all the D8 trips as being short turns (WMATA's system, inherited from DC Transit, utilizes a "/" to indicate short turn); I assume their computers still think the route could possibly terminate at Sibley Hospital.
A couple of notes:
- Hollywood is northern-most College Park (I would think the terminal stop was Edgewood Rd & Rhode Island Ave.)
- 83 was originally a limited stop version of the 82, it has since become the full-length route, with 82 being a p.m. rush local & evening/weekend short-turn service.
- The D2 used to run on what is now the D6 route.
- The D8 would have merged into the current D6 service pattern at Union Station (not completely sure, but it makes sense). and procede via Georgetown to MacArthur Blvd. The D6 would probably have taken the current D1/D2 route to Glover Park from Georgetown
- The B6 was probably the northen part of the current P6. It continues the old 82 trolley service pattern from the location of Rhode Island Ave. into downtown (82 service continued from Metro Center onto the Potomac Park Loop on 19th & 18th St. NW)
Images (click on each for full res)
Index of bus routes:
Top section of bus bay map:
Bottom section of bus bay map:
For comparitive purposes, today's arrangement:
| Bus Bay | Old Routes | Current Routes |
| A | 82 - Hollywood / Mt. Rainier 84 - New Carrollton 86 - College Park |
81 - Cherry Hill (Sunday 83) 82 - Mt. Rainier 83 - Cherry Hill 84 - New Carrollton 85 - New Carrollton (Rush Hour) 86 - Calverton |
| B | B6 - Metro Center | P6 - Anacostia |
| C | D6 - Glover Park D8 - MacArthur Blvd. D6,D8 - (Washington) Hospital Center |
D8 - Union Station D8 - Washingotn Hospital Center |
| D | T18 - New Carrollton | T18 - New Carrollton |
| E | H8 - Mt. Pleasant | H8 - Mt. Pleasant H9 - Archbishop Carroll HS (~3 runs on school days) |
| F | B8 - Fort Lincoln | B8 - Fort Lincoln B9 - Colmar Manor (Mid-day extension) |
| G | 83 - Hollywood 85 - New Carrollton 89 - Laurel |
Layover, passenger dropoff (no scheduled service) |
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