Metro’s summer Red Line construction, which ran from early July through this week, kept riders moving with free shuttle buses and seven and a half lane miles of dedicated bus lanes along Rockville Pike. The construction finished on schedule. The temporary bus infrastructure that made the disruption survivable is being removed along with it.
That’s the pattern worth watching: dedicated bus lanes appear when rail service breaks, and disappear once rail service resumes — even though the same bus riders, generally the system’s least car-owning and most fare-sensitive population, could use reliable bus lanes every day of the year, not just during construction. Metro has separately proposed expanding bus frequency and hours by December. Whether that proposal survives the same budget scrutiny as everything else is the more durable question.