Metro Silver Line: Back on the Bus

As Metro's awesome Silver Line remains in hilarious, sitcom-like limbo, its longtime opponents are bringing back the idea of something faster, cheaper, and at least somewhat less likely to burst into flames on a regular basis: a bus line.

Del. Bob Marshall (R-Leesburg) and Sen. Ken Cuccinelli (R-Centreville) held a press conference Feb. 3 to discuss the possibility of using a bus rapid transit system to supplement or replace the proposed rail project.

“I believe now that the governor should stop pushing this project – I think it’s like pushing air through a corpse – and get serious about bus rapid transit,” Marshall said.

Cuccinelli also expressed concerns over the efficiency of the rail system. He said he opposed the “Dulles rail boondoggle” since 2002. He believes the bus system would benefit more of the region, instead of just having the one rail line.

“The Metro system is crumbling,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to add to it when we need congestion relief, and all we get from Metro is essentially broken down trains … and we do not need the additional taxes.”

Fine, but if we're going to have an awesome bus system, let's do it right. None of those boring commuter buses -- that's so Montgomery County! Let's get those awesome open-air double decker buses so people can get the full experience of the sights, sounds, and smells of all the wonderful chain eateries in Tysons Tegucigalpa. In fact, instead of worrying about some sort of bus-Metro connector fare, they should just sell hop-on-hop-off tickets like they do on the tour buses downtown, so folks can jump off at the Bed-Bath N Beyond and then get back on, new perfumed bedding in hand, to head over to the awesome CompUSA, or whatever big-box store has taken its place. Which, given the awesome, non-Metro abated traffic, should only take... 30 minutes.