Improvements to Metrobus

One of the things I wish Metro would do is look at minor service enhancements that other transit systems do that would benefit Metro users. Some relatively minor improvements that I would like are:

Pre-paid bus transfers, in the style of Ottawa. At stations along Ottawa's busway, you insert your fare into a box, receive a reciept with an expiration time, and then board your bus. This would be especially useful at BWI and Dulles Airport, where people are not used to paying for bus fare (many don't know how much it is until they board the bus) and the only Metrobus services are express services. By the same token, tokens are much less available then other forms of fare; most of the places that sell them are WMATA-run locations or commuter stores sponsored by local governments. You would think that the farecard machines could vend tokens along with change.

Night services. At a public hearing, I asked about night services and was told that they did exist; however, apparently I have a different concept of the term then Metro. Metro does run bus services outside of the subway's hours, but I have yet to see a schedule that shows 24/7 services. The only way you know which services run when is by checking each bus line's schedule; as far as I know, Metro doesn't note or show on a map which services run extended hours. Metro also does not run buses to act in place of the rail services when they are closed; I know several cities, such as Philadelphia and San Francisco, which do this.

Indicate bus frequency. While Metro offers detailed schedules and lists bus arrival times at many bus stops, it's usually up to the riders to figure out how often a bus comes. This has improved recently with a DC business group installing system maps with bus information at several bus shelters, but Metro can easily do more to advertise the frequent service it provides. I would think some people would actually take the 30 bus into Georgetown if they realized it runs at least every 15 minutes on Sundays (with even more frequent service on Saturdays & weekdays!)