The Arlington–Union Station Line, designated Route 13Y, was a bus route operated by the

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA ), commonly referred to as Metro, is a tri-jurisdictional public transit agency that operates transit services in the Washington metropolitan area. WMATA provides rapid transit servic ...

between

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is a public airport in Arlington County, Virginia, United States, from Washington, D.C. The closest airport to the nation's capital, it is one of two airports owned by the federal government and ope ...

and

Washington Union Station Washington Union Station, known locally as Union Station, is a major train station, transportation hub, and leisure destination in Washington, D.C. Designed by Daniel Burnham and opened in 1907, it is Amtrak's second-busiest station and North ...

in Northwest DC. The line operated during the weekend early AM hours only between 5:00 AM and 7:00 AM providing riders to National Airport prior to Metro's opening at 7:00 AM. The line was discontinued due to low ridership and replaced by route 10N.

Background

At one point during the 1970s and 1980s,

would be served by multiple Metrobus lines primarily the 11 lines. Most of the lines would travel to various points into

Northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several County (United States), counties and independent city (United States), independent cities in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. ...

or to Downtown Washington D.C. However those routes were later phased out throughout the 1980s to 1990s being simplified or replaced.

History

The line was created as the Pentagon–Washington Line on June 26, 1983 as routes 13A, 13B, 13C, 13D, and 13E in order to provide service between Pentagon and Downtown DC. Routes 13A and 13B would operate daily except during weekday peak hours between

Pentagon station Pentagon station is a split platform station on the Washington Metro located adjacent to The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The station was opened on July 1, 1977, and is operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. Prov ...

and

Federal Triangle Federal Triangle is a Triangle, triangular area in Washington, D.C., formed by 15th Street NW, Constitution Avenue, Constitution Avenue NW, Pennsylvania Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue NW, and E Street NW. Federal Triangle is occupied by 10 large c ...

via

Arlington Memorial Bridge The Arlington Memorial Bridge, often shortened to Memorial Bridge, is a Neoclassical masonry, steel, and stone arch bridge with a central bascule (or drawbridge) that crosses the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United Sta ...

and Arlington Cemetery station. Route 13A would operate in a clockwise direction loop while route 13B would operate in the counter clockwise direction loop. Both routes would operate every 30 minutes. Routes 13C and 13D would operate during the weekday peak-hours between Pentagon station and

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill is a neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in both the Northeast, Washington, D.C., Northeast and Southeast, Washington, D.C., Southeast quadrants. It is bounded by 14th Street SE & NE, F S ...

following much of the same path of routes 13A and 13B but would loop along Arlington Memorial Bridge and the 14th Street Bridge. Both routes would operate every 12–15 minutes. Route 13E would only operate between 7:15 AM to 8:15 AM every 12 minutes between Pentagon and Federal Triangle via the Memorial Bridge. The new 13 lines replaced most of routes operating between Pentagon station and Downtown Washington DC on the same day.

1990s

Throughout the 1990s, more changes were made to the line.''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', Changes Announced in Virginia Metrobus Routes, Schedules, January 15, 1987, page 11 Routes 13C, 13D, and 13E were all discontinued and replaced by routes 13A and 13B. Routes 13A would operate in the clockwise direction via Army Navy Drive,

Constitution Avenue Constitution Avenue is a major east–west street in the Northwest, Washington, D.C., northwest and Northeast, Washington, D.C., northeast quadrants of the city of Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was originally known as B Street, and ...

, Independence Avenue, and the 14th Street Bridge while 13B would operate the same routing in the counter clockwise direction (opposite direction). These routes are a combined 13C, 13D, and 13E. Also a new 13F and 13G were introduced to operate between

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport station Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport station is a Washington Metro station in Arlington County, Virginia on the Blue and Yellow Lines. The station platform is elevated and covered and is the last above-ground station on the Yellow Line in ...

and

via Crystal City station and

which operates along the 13A, 13B, 13C, 13D, and 13E routing between Pentagon and Downtown DC. The 13G would operate in the clockwise direction (same as 13A) and 13F would operate in the counter clockwise direction (same as 13B) during the weekend early AM hours only between 5:00 AM and 7:00 PM prior to Metro's opening. The line was later renamed the National Airport–Pentagon–Washington Line

2006 Proposed Changes

In 2006, WMATA proposed to eliminate all off-peak service for routes 13A and 13B. This was because service was redundant with Metrorail service and low ridership during the off-peak hours. According to WMATA, weekday peak ridership averages 21 passengers per trip versus 5 passengers per trip (65 passengers) during the off-peak. Weekend pre-Metro opening ridership averages 28 passengers on Saturday and 38 on Sundays. After 8:00 AM ridership averages four passengers per trip ( 108 passengers) on Saturday and seven passengers per trip (133 passengers) on Sunday.

2006 Changes

On September 24, 2006, off-peak service for routes 13A and 13B were discontinued due low ridership and a redundancy towards Metrorail service. Service would now operate between 5:10 AM to 9:10 AM and 3:00 PM to 6:50 PM weekdays. Routes 13F and 13G would operate between 5:20 AM to 7:15 AM Saturdays, and 5:30 AM to 7:10 AM on Sundays.

2010 Proposed Changes

In 2010 during WMATA's FY2011 budget, WMATA proposed to eliminate routes 13A and 13B and replace it with an extended route 16F to

via the 14th Street Bridge and a new route 7Y to

Farragut Square Farragut Square is a city square in Washington, D.C.'s Ward 2 of the District of Columbia, Ward 2. It is bordered by K Street (Washington, D.C.), K Street Northwest, Washington, D.C., NW to the north, I Street NW to the south, on the east and wes ...

via the

in later proposals. Routes 13F and 13G would be retained and still provide early morning weekend service between 5:00 AM and 7:00 AM but could be extended to 8:00 AM if Metro were to change its hours.

2010 Changes

On December 19, 2010, routes 13A and 13B were discontinued by WMATA and replaced by a new route 7Y and an extended 16F. Route 7Y would operate via the

while route 16F would operate via the 14th Street Bridge replacing the 13A and 13B entirely. Routes 13F and 13G remained unchanged.

2013 Proposed Changes

In 2013, WMATA proposed two options to the 13F and 13G. One option was to discontinue all service and replace it with an extended route 54 (designated 54A) from L'Enfant Plaza station to

via

replacing routes 13F and 13G. The second option was to extend routes 13F and 13G to

via

Pentagon City Pentagon City is an unincorporated neighborhood located in the southeast portion of Arlington County, Virginia. It is located near The Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery. Location Pentagon City is located less than a mile from the Potomac ...

and Crystal City stations. The line would be extended along 7th street (Northbound), 9th street (Southbound), and E street to serve Union station. Service along

would be discontinued as the line would be simplified to only operate along the 14th Street Bridge. Service along Independence Avenue and the terminal point along 12th street would also be discontinued. WMATA reasons the changes in order to provide connections to additional activity areas and transfers to other lines and minimal ridership was reported at Arlington Cemetery station and on

west of 14th Street.

2014 Changes

On March 30, 2014, routes 13F and 13G were discontinued and replaced by a new route 13Y which was also extended to

. The new 13Y would operate along WMATA's Option 2 proposal from 2013 and would only operate during weekend early AM hours similar to routes 13F and 13G. The line was also renamed for the third and final time as the Arlington–Union Station Line as of a result.

Proposed Elimination

In 2016 during WMATA's FY2018 budget, it was proposed to eliminate route 13Y due to low ridership, to reduce costs, and has a high subsidy per rider. According to performance measure it goes as the following for WMATA:

Discontinuation of Route

On June 25, 2017, route 13Y was eliminated due to low ridership. A new route 10N of the Alexandria–Pentagon Line was introduced on the same day to operate along the same 13 routing between

and

. Service to Washington DC was fully discontinued. The main difference between the 10N and 13Y was the 10N would operate during Friday and Saturday late nights (after midnight) and early morning Sunday service between 6:30 AM and 7:30 AM only.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arlington-Union Station Line 1983 establishments in Virginia 2010 disestablishments in Virginia 2014 disestablishments in Virginia 2017 disestablishments in Virginia 13Y