Metro says free shuttle buses traveling in special bus-only lanes through parts of Montgomery County, Maryland, will help riders affected by the shutdown of five Red Line stations this summer.
The Glenmont, Wheaton, Forest Glen and Silver Spring stations will be closed from June 1 through Aug. 31. The Takoma station will be closed from June 1 through June 29.
To help riders get around, Metro will roll out four free shuttle routes during the entire closure. A local shuttle will stop at each station between Glenmont and Fort Totten, running every four minutes during peak times and every eight minutes all other times. Metro estimates that route will be 61 minutes long.
The “Limited 1” shuttle will include stops at Glenmont, Wheaton and Fort Totten, with an estimated travel time of 37 minutes and the same shuttle frequency as the local route.
The “Limited 2” shuttle will stop at Forest Glenn, Silver Spring and Fort Totten. Metro said the Limited 2 will run just as often as the local and Limited 1, and estimated the route will take 25 minutes.
On weekdays only, Metro will also run an express shuttle that will run between Silver Spring and Metro Center, with no other stops. The express route will run every eight minutes at all times and is expected to a be a 39-minute trip.
To prioritize these buses, Metro has partnered with the Maryland Department of Transportation’s State Highway Administration to create more than seven miles of bus-only lanes along parts of Georgia Avenue between Glenmont and Silver Spring. Signal timing will also adjust to prioritize buses.
In D.C., parts of 16th and I Streets in Northwest will be posted as Emergency No Parking from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays to help the express shuttle get around quickly.
Metro provided the following maps to illustrate the shuttle routes, dedicated bus lanes and parking restrictions:
The Maryland Transit Administration is also offering discounted fares on MARC Trains and buses from stops close to impacted Red Line stations, according to Metro.
The Red Line stations are closing in coordination with the MTA Purple Line project, during which a new mezzanine will be built to connect the upcoming light rail line to Metro at the Silver Spring platform. Since that will already shut down Silver Spring for several months, Metro planned additional work there and at surrounding stations for the same time.
The transit agency said crews will perform rail renewal, tunnel leak mitigation, elevator and escalator maintenance and install new digital signage, along with other improvements.
As for the rest of the Red Line, trains will run every 6 minutes all day, including during rush hours when trains normally run every 5 minutes, due to capacity limitations at Fort Totten and Takoma, Metro said. After 9:30 p.m., trains will run every 10 minutes as normally scheduled.
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