Metro’s Board of Directors will consider approving the purchase of 500 new buses to improve current services and create new routes.

The board’s action would approve 100 new buses over each of the next five years, as funding is available. In addition, Metro staff conducted a Bus Network Evaluation to demonstrate the need for an additional 135 buses for expansion efforts, according to staff reports.

Metro’s last order for 50 buses ranged in cost. Compressed Natural Gas buses were $390,000 per bus and a hybrid-electric diesel bus cost $522,000.

“One of the requirements of the study was before we buy any Metro Matters buses, the board wanted to hear why we need the buses,” said Jack Requa, acting Metro general manager. “There is a lot of interest for more service.”

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“That is what these additional buses could do — respond to overcrowding and running time,” said James Hamre, strategic bus planning manager for Metro.

The board previously approved a list of routes throughout the region that could be adjusted to better serve customers, Hamre said. Eliminating unused routes could add buses to more productive route, creating more frequency and buses that follow the schedule, he said.

The adjustments could also lead to new markets, such as routes in Potomac Yard and Crystal City in Alexandria and Arlington, he said. Buses could be added to University Boulevard in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties to address the overcrowding on the existing four lines currently running the route. The same could happen on Georgia Avenue lines in the District.

As new buses come in, the board also must consider where to store them since two garages - Alexandria’s Royal Street and Anacostia’s Southeastern garage — are being threatened by development, Hamre said. If those two garages stay, there will still be a need to house nearly 90 additional buses, he said.

All of these issues will be discussed at the Regional Bus Conference being held Nov. 30.

John Catoe, Jr. Metro’s new general manager beginning in January, has expressed great interest in improving the region’s bus service, but was unsure he would be able to attend the conference due to scheduling.

cgoodman@dcexaminer.com