News
Regional transportation news stories compiled by CommuterPage.com. Subscribe to a daily email with the most recent news, recent ACCS blog posts, and upcoming events. Every CommuterPage.com News email includes an "unsubscribe" link.
D.C. is removing bike lane barriers for the first time, calling them ugly
It’s the first time D.C. is removing a set of protected bike lanes, cycling advocates say. They worry it’s a sign that city leaders are joining a backlash against bike infrastructure building nationally.
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Rachel Weiner, June 13, 2025, The Washington Post
Metro to launch automatic train operation on the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines on June 15
The date was decided after rigorous internal training and testing and concurrence from the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission. Since the December 2024 implementation, there have been no safety issues or red signal violations for trains operating in ATO.
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June 13, 2025, WMATA
Why bus service enhancements, not cuts, pave the way forward
The typical public transit user is changing. While bus service has historically been vital for lower-income communities, recent data indicates that a wider range of people are now depending on transit.
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June 13, 2025, Mass Transit Magazine
Maryland DOT awards $1.25 million in grants supporting transit-oriented development
The program, also known as the TOD Fund, is the department’s latest tool to speed up state and local efforts to create communities around transit, grow transit ridership and expand housing opportunities.
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June 12, 2025, Mass Transit Magazine
Study shows switch to electric buses poses challenges
For optimal battery usage, communities with cold weather could work toward providing enough inside space and charging stations to charge their buses immediately after their routes.
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Jessica Cain, June 11, 2025, WRVO Public Media
Bus-only lanes can irritate drivers, but they help city dwellers share limited space
Liberating those buses to flow more smoothly would get more out of that investment that’s already being made. More people would reach their destinations sooner, so they would have more opportunities in their lives.
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Jarrett Walker, June 13, 2025, The Globe and Mail
Proposed bike trail along Haycock Road wins support in Falls Church
While city officials suggested that the shared-use path might someday expand northward to meet up with the W&OD Regional Trail, although Fairfax County has not finalized plans for any future extension.
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Scott McCaffrey, June 12, 2025, ARLNow
Supporting cycling takes more than just bike lanes
Safe, protected bike lanes are a key part of a city’s bike infrastructure — but secure parking, e-bike charging, and other amenities can also influence people’s shift to cycling.
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Diana Ionescu, June 11, 2025, Planetizen
Capital Bikeshare adds two new stations in Alexandria
One new station is located at Virginia Tech/University Drive and Potomac Avenue. The second new station is located at the intersection of Four Mile Road and Milan Drive.
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Ryan Belmore, June 11, 2025, ALXNow
Off Campus: Students are boosting public transit as key to affordability
Best of all for regional transit, the student money will inject much-needed funding into local systems, while the transit systems gain young riders during their four years on campus — and, most likely, beyond.
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Jack Guan, June 12, 2025, Streetsblog USA
Get to know the Better Bus Network
The new system has new service frequencies, with Metro promising many lines will run as quickly as every 12 minutes or less. Next up, medium-service lines will run every 20 minutes or less, and low-frequency will be every half hour or less. Any slower than that will be considered a limited frequency line.
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Sophie Rosenthal, June 11, 2025, WUSA9
Metro service information for Juneteenth, Thursday, June 19
In recognition of Juneteenth on Thursday, June 19, Metrorail will open at 5 a.m. and close at midnight, operating on Saturday service levels. Metrobus will run Saturday Supplemental service, to provide additional buses beyond the typical weekend schedule but less than a normal weekday.
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June 11, 2025, WMATA
Army 250th birthday military parade: How to take Metro to get to the National Mall
Metro has announced that the Smithsonian Metro station National Mall entrance will be closed on June 14 for the Army's 250th Anniversary celebration. Here's how to take the Metro to the military parade this Saturday.
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Miracle Gross, June 11, 2025, Fox 5 News
Metro's early tests of automated trains are positive on Green and Yellow lines
Safety commission engineer Paul Smith said in the first 10 days of automated train operation on the Green and Yellow lines there were 25 station overruns, compared with 40 overruns during the first 10 days the system was put into place on the Red Line, a more than 37% decrease.
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Dan Ronan, June 11, 2025, WTOP
Maryland announces $1.25 million in grants for development around rail stations
The Odenton MARC station in Anne Arundel County is slated for $750,000 that will further preconstruction for a new parking garage, which planners say will free up roughly 12 acres of surface parking for housing and retail development.
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Daniel Zawodny, June 10, 2025, Baltimore Banner
DC, Columbus bike share fleets introduce cargo bikes
Expanding the types of bikes and scooters available is a natural extension of shared mobility’s “growing up:” as Descant puts it, “morphing into the kinds of practical vehicles that can haul home a bag of groceries or other items, establishing these devices as essential pieces of urban mobility.”
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Diana Ionescu, June 10, 2025, Planetizen
Public transit agencies continue to lag in cybersecurity prep
Collectively, U.S. transportation services have cyber preparedness work to do, according to a recent study. Individually, they are hardening their postures; an Illinois state pilot offers locals consulting and training.
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Skip Descant, June 10, 2025, Government Technology
Metro provides station closures, service update for Army military birthday parade
The region's primary transit agency said it will remain on Saturday service numbers throughout the day, meaning trains every 4-6 minutes at most core stations and which will decrease shortly after 9:30 p.m.
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June 10, 2025, ABC7 News
Metro announces service information for the Army 250th Birthday Parade and Festival on June 14
Metrorail is running Saturday service frequencies. Trains run every 4-6 minutes at most core stations during the day. At stations further out, trains arrive anywhere from every 8 minutes to every 12 minutes.
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June 10, 2025, WMATA
Is your bus line changing? Why Metro is cutting some stops
The first major redesign of the D.C. area’s Metrobus system since it started running in 1973 will start soon.
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Adam Tuss, June 9, 2025, NBC4 Washington
New program helps residents navigate Loudoun County public transit
Beginning in June 2025, the free, hands-on program will provide personalized and group instruction on how to plan trips, read schedules, purchase SmarTrip cards, board buses, transfer between routes and practice safe travel habits.
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June 10, 2025, The Burn
Five key transportation funding proposals in Trump's budget
The President’s proposed 2026 budget would keep spending roughly the same for transit and rail and eliminate over $5 billion in funding for EV charging infrastructure.
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Diana Ionescu, June 10, 2025, Planetizen
Alexandria asks VDOT to delay adding express lanes to Woodrow Wilson Bridge
In an April letter to VDOT, Gaskins wrote that the project will bring “Alexandria substantial consequences” to our local neighborhoods, and asked that an alternative not be chosen until a noise, traffic, and air safety analysis is conducted.
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James Cullum, June 9, 2025, ALXNow
N. Va. leaders: More funding is not guaranteed for proposed Metro improvement plan
With Virginia typically splitting its share of Metro’s operating costs between the state government and localities, local leaders and the General Assembly will need to come up with their shares of the extra funding as part of budget deliberations to take place next winter and spring.
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Scott McCaffrey, June 9, 2025, FFXNow
How shared electric cargo bikes are changing cities
According to preliminary results, almost 80 percent of those surveyed bought their cargo bike new, while 18.7 percent bought one used. Only 0.2 percent rented or borrowed one.
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Aina de Lapparent Alvarez, June 5, 2025, Reasons to be Cheerful
Commuters share candid reviews after worker considers e-bike purchase: 'Nice to show up to the office without breaking a sweat'
Commuting can be monotonous and environmentally damaging, but the world's workers must get from point A to point B. For this reason, it is a wonder to have transportation options for that day-to-day travel.
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Claire Huber, June 9, 2025, The Cooldown
Friends raced to check out every Metro station in one day. Would they make it?
Louie Melluish and Will Sheriff built a model that told them the most efficient route. Running a simulation a million times, they were given an average completion time of just under 20 hours and a 72 percent chance of making it. They liked those odds.
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Rachel Weiner, June 9, 2025, The Washington Post
Maryland DOT deploying 'Complete Streets' projects
Complete Streets is all about ensuring everyone has access to safe, convenient transportation, and our experience with quick-build projects shows we can deliver on that promise with innovation and efficiency.
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Melina Druga, June 9, 2025, Transportation Today
Protected bike lanes boost bicycle commuting
The paper, titled "The link between low-stress bicycle facilities and bicycle commuting," reports that protected bike lanes see about 1.8 times the number of bike commuters than standard bike lanes do and 4.3 times as many as blocks without bike lanes.
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Nick Ferenchak, June 8, 2025, Mirage
Five takeaways from Trump's proposed 2026 budget for rail and public transit
The U.S. Department of Transportation could see a $1.5 billion increase in its discretionary budget authority in fiscal year 2026, a 6% increase over the current fiscal year, if President Donald Trump’s budget request is enacted. Funding for public transit, passenger and freight rail would increase.
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Dan Zukowski, June 6, 2025, Smart Cities Dive
Where public transit systems are bouncing back around the world
Subway ridership came booming back in many European and East Asian cities, while much of North and South America remains well below pre-pandemic levels, according to a Bloomberg analysis of 15 major transit systems on four continents.
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Aaron Gordon, Marie Patino, June 5, 2025, Bloomberg
Metro unveils new design, extends service for WorldPride
During the last weekend of WorldPride, Metro will increase its services and extend hours along the Yellow Line to the end of the line at Greenbelt.
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Odyssey Fields, June 6, 2025, DC News Now
Uber's new shuttles look suspiciously familiar to anyone who's taken a bus
Beyond the jokes about Uber inventing bus lines are serious questions about what its shuttle service will mean for struggling transit systems, air quality, and congestion.
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Sophie Hurwitz, June 3, 2025, Grist
Reminder: Metro begins construction on the Blue Line on July 5
Metro’s annual summer and winter construction work keeps the Metrorail system in a state of good repair, preventing problems before they disrupt service. One construction period allows crews to get more work done at a time instead of months of weekend closures.
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June 5, 2025, WMATA
How to get around D.C. during WorldPride this weekend
Metro has Pride-wrapped buses and trains, too, and is increasing rail service between Friday and Sunday. Capital Bikeshare also has Pride-themed bikes across the city and will have bike valets who will take your bike if you can't find a parking spot at docks near this weekend's events.
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Mimi Montgomery, June 4, 2025, Axios
VDOT holding public hearing in Alexandria on plan to add express lanes to Woodrow Wilson Bridge
While widening the bridge is not being proposed, VDOT is considering removing concrete barriers between through and local lanes, both of which limit VDOT’s options for express lanes.
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James Cullum, June 4, 2025, ALXNow
Want more bike commuters? Build protected bike lanes, says new study
The study’s big takeaway is simple and clear: not all bike infrastructure is created equal. The difference in performance between types of facilities is dramatic.
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Ron Johnson, June 2, 2025, Momentum Mag
Blind pedestrians sue D.C. over unsafe crosswalks
The pedestrians, all of whom are blind, are among five people suing the District, alleging that it doesn’t provide enough working signals that make it safe for them to cross the street.
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Jasmine Hilton, June 1, 2025, The Washington Post
Trump budget calls for 25% cut in Amtrak Northeast Corridor funding
According to the detailed DOT budget request, Amtrak national network funding would increase by $291 million, with the overall Amtrak budget down by $763,000.
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David Lassen, June 2, 2025, Trains
The household auto fleet is a money pit
Replacing a car with an e-bike can save a household $120,000 over a decade—enough to wipe out debt, fund a college account, or boost retirement savings.
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Andy Boenau, June 2, 2025, Fast Company
Congressman proposes bill to rename DC Metro "Trump Train"
In a bill brought before the U.S. House of Representatives last week, Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) calls for revoking federal funding to the agency if it refuses to go through with the name change.
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Diana Ionescu, June 2, 2025, Planetizen
New Metro bus network expected to begin June 29, residents supporting the project
Metro is redesigning its entire bus network for the first time in 50 years. Every route will get a new name, some routes will change, and some new connections are coming. Metro GM and CEO Randy Clarke says work has been underway since 2022 to improve the bus system.
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Tim Reid, June 2, 2025, DC News Now
Innovating fare collection: How three transit agencies are rethinking revenue, ridership and the rider experience
From fare freezes to new pricing models and vending machines, the TTC, WMATA and PRT are evolving how they collect and manage fares.
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Brandon Lewis, June 2, 2025, Mass Transit Magazine
VDOT leans toward two toll lanes on I-495 across Woodrow Wilson Bridge
With its I-495 Southside Express Lanes study, VDOT identified 10 options for relieving congestion on the Beltway before pushing two forward as “build” alternatives — one with a single toll lane in each direction and one with two lanes — as well as one “no-build” alternative.
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Vernon Miles, June 2, 2025, FFXNow
Arlington streetcar critics take victory lap over D.C.'s plans to kill similar project
Underscoring the difficult logistics of D.C.’s streetcar service, especially its high price tag, onetime opponents of the Columbia Pike streetcar hold up the latest news as evidence that Arlington’s initiative wouldn’t have worked.
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Scott McCaffrey, June 2, 2025, ARLNow
One structural change could shift everything about how transportation works in America
Advocates are pushing for a simple but potentially seismic change in how America delegates its federal transportation dollars — by giving more funds directly to the regional governments whose taxpayers disproportionately generate them, to meet local transportation priorities that disproportionately get overlooked.
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Kea Wilson, June 2, 2025, Streetsblog USA
Metro's policy to ban violent and sexual offenders begins June 2025
The purpose of the banning policy is to prohibit a person who commits a sex crime or a sex-related crime, anyone who violates Metro’s Passenger Conduct Rule, or a person who commits any assault on a Metro employee, contractor, or customer from entering or using the Metro system, properties, or facilities for more than 24 hours.
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June 1, 2025, WMATA
WMATA customers can now 'Tap. Ride. Go.' with contactless credit, debit cards at Metrorail station faregates
Physical and mobile SmarTrip cards will continue to be an option to pay for fares and parking. WMATA notes the Tap. Ride. Go. will be available for use on Metrobuses and at WMATA parking facilities in the future.
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May 30, 2025, Mass Transit Magazine