Metro to restore most service beginning Aug. 16

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) announced Monday that it will resume most bus and rail service in the Washington area beginning Aug. 16, after closing routes and decreasing hours and numbers of trains and buses beginning in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Metro also plans to reopen six Fairfax County stations on the Orange and Silver lines, which have undergone construction since May, by Aug. 16, it announced in the news release. Here are the main changes to service:

• Weekday bus service will take place on 174 routes by Aug. 23, at about 75% of pre-pandemic service.
• Buses will run until midnight, an additional hour.
• Metrorail will add 15 hours of more service per week starting Aug. 16, with weekday runs from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturdays and 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Sundays
• Overnight workers will receive a $6 subsidy for Lyft service when there is no service between midnight and 4 a.m., up from $3.
• Stations west of Ballston — McLean, Tysons Corner, Greensboro, Spring Hill and Wiehle-Reston East (Silver line) — will reopen Aug. 16, as will West Falls Church station on the Orange line.
• Vienna, Dunn Loring and East Falls Church stations on the Orange line are expected to open around Labor Day, Sept. 7.
• Arlington Cemetery station, on the Red line, remains closed because the Arlington National Cemetery is closed to the general public.

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.