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List of Metrobus routes (Washington, D.C.)

This is a list of bus routes operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), branded as Metrobus. Many are the descendants of streetcar lines operated by the Capital Transit Company or its predecessors.

Current routes

The list of Metrobus routes has been split by region:

Numbering

As a part of the BetterBus system improvement plan, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) created new routes under a new route naming convention based on the locations the buses primarily serve and their service type:

  • Buses running primarily in the District of Columbia use the first letters C and D where C represents a bus running a crosstown route and D represents a bus serving downtown.
  • Buses running primarily in Arlington County and the City of Alexandria use the first letter A.
  • Buses running primarily in Fairfax County use the first letter F.
  • Buses running primarily in Prince George's County use the first letter P.
  • Buses running primarily in Montgomery County use the first letter M.

If a bus is running a limited-stop (i.e. "express") service, it is denoted by the final letter X.

Original Numbering System

From 1973 until June 29, 2025, Metrobus routes followed the rules below:

  • Metrobus routes in Washington, D.C., have either a two digit number (31, 42, 64, etc.) or a letter followed by a number (A2, S2, X8, etc.).
  • Metrobus routes in Montgomery County, MD, have a letter followed by a number (C4, Q4, Z6, etc.).
  • Metrobus routes in Prince George's County, MD, have a letter followed by two numbers (F12, J12, P12, etc.).
  • Metrobus routes in Northern Virginia have one or two numbers followed by a letter (1A, 16C, 29N, etc.).

Odd-numbered routes are typically part-time variants of even-numbered routes. At one time, odd numbered routes were express routes, but that distinction has been abandoned. Most Maryland and Washington, D.C., routes are grouped by their first digit. When this system was laid out in 1936, the following clustering was used:

Divisions

References

Notes