American Dream

While its rail system is popular with tourists and downtown workers, Washington DC's bus system has been left to stagnate. Though DC travel patterns have changed tremendously, bus routes have not changed since 1973. Though Metro's board of directors have promised to improve the bus system, none of them regularly use it and some can't remember the last time they were on a bus. Though bus riders say they are mainly concerned that the buses run on time, Metro does not even monitor on-time performance.

The bus system clearly shows signs of neglect. The average Metro bus is more than ten years old, nearly twice the average of most other bus systems. Though Metro buses carry fewer riders than the rail system, they generate twice as many complaints. One bus driver admits that drivers sometimes bunch together when they should run fifteen minutes apart so that they don't have to stop for as many passengers. Metro once had 24 monitors to make sure drivers stayed on schedule; now it has just sixteen.

"It's a management problem," complained one bus rider to the Washington Post. In fact, it is a financial problem. Once your transit agency is committed to run an expensive rail system, your bus system and bus riders almost always suffer.