Flxible Metro-B 9256

Location: K Street, NW at Connecticut Avenue, Washington, DC
Operator of Vehicle: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Date of Photo: July 16, 2003

On the occasion of my birthday month, I thought it would be fun to feature a photo of my first “home route.”  As the name implies, a home route is the route that goes by where you live and therefore take at the start or end of most trips.  For many people, their first home route isn’t one they can necessarily choose, as infants or toddlers have no agency in deciding where to live.

I believe that because my parents and I lived next to a bus line and subway station and used transit for much of our local travels rather than driving is a primary reason I am interested in transit.  We frequently took the L2 bus, pictured here, or the Red Line to go to a variety of different places.  I remember the original incarnation of the L4 and have vague memories of an L5 existing before the current (albeit suspended) L1 was introduced.  The L4 has since been discontinued, reinstated, and discontinued again, and the L2’s southern terminal in Downtown Washington and alignment south of Woodley Park has changed considerably in recent years.  However, this was and always will be the first bus route I relied on regularly.

What’s your home route?  Any special stories to share about it?  Share your answers in the comments!

For more photos of WMATA Flxible Metro-B buses, please click here.

Flxible Metro-B 9436

Location: F Street, NW at 15th Street, NW, Washington, DC
Operator of Vehicle: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Date of Photo: July 4, 2005

The Rail Photo of the Month post for this month and a conversation I had earlier this week with a fellow transit fan inspired me to pick this photo to be the December 2017 Bus Photo of the Month.  Yesterday’s photo featured a Budd car from Miami that is nearing the end of its service life on account of its replacement having just entered revenue service.  Today’s photo features the first type of Metrobus that I recognized as being “different” (in other words, new) as a budding transit fan in the early 1990s.  At that age, I had no idea what a Flxible was, what a Metro-B was, or that these buses would push out some older bus that I either wasn’t familiar with or didn’t have an attachment to.  However, I did notice these buses had larger destination signs, that they “flipped” horizontally instead of vertically, that the interior speakers had a different shape, and a few other differences that most commuters would pass off as being subtle.  As I’ve grown older and as time has marched on, there are now quite a few buses in the DC area that I can recall being new that I have seen entirely retired.  One of the great joys I have in running this website is that I am able to document my transit fan experience for the ages so that others can see the equipment, paint schemes, and more that are no longer with us but remain as memories perpetually.

For more photos of WMATA’s Flxible Metro-Bs, please click here. The De