News

Regional transportation news stories compiled by CommuterPage.com. Subscribe to a daily email with the most recent news, recent ACCS blog posts, and upcoming events. Every CommuterPage.com News email includes an "unsubscribe" link.

Northern Virginia's unlikely transit-oriented-development success story

By providing a direct Metrorail connection to the heart of Tysons, the station has transformed shopping trips, commutes, and daily errands, making car-free access to one of the largest retail hubs on the East Coast a reality. Read more...
Diana Ionescu, October 5, 2025, Planetizen

DoorDash plans to deploy delivery robots in suburban bike lanes

According to the company, “The core sensor, hardware, and software approach is similar to that of robotaxis, enabling the kind of reliable, door-to-door autonomous deliveries that customers expect and merchants rely on.”  Read more...
Diana Ionescu, October 5, 2025, Planetizen

How the federal shutdown impacts Amtrak and U.S. rail travel?

Amtrak reassured commuters that it will keep its regular schedule despite Congress not voting for a spending bill. The Shutdown began October 1, 2025, yet trains continue to circulate in 46 states, Washington, D.C., and parts of Canada. Read more...
October 5, 2025, Railway Supply

This electric two-wheel vehicle by BMW may be the future of urban commuting

Technology wise, the Vision CE comes with a groundbreaking self-balancing function which allows the bike to remain upright when not moving. This means the rider doesn’t have to put in any extra effort to keep it from falling when it’s not in use.  Read more...
Regina Sienra, October 3, 2025, My Modern Met

MARC Penn Line Train 401 returns to service on October 14

The train was suspended back in April 2024 to support Amtrak's state of good repair and ADA accessibility construction work at stations between Baltimore and Washington D.C., according to Maryland Transit Administration. Read more...
Meghan Curtis, October 2, 2025, Fox Baltimore

DC pushes ambitious metro expansion for new commanders stadium, but major questions remain

DC Councilmember Charles Allen, chair of the Council's Transportation Committee, is pushing hard to make Metro central to the gameday experience at the new stadium. His goal is for more than 30,000 fans to arrive by rail on gamedays, a dramatic increase from current ridership levels. Read more...
Eric Flack, October 2, 2025, WUSA9

Fairfax Connector celebrates 40 years, salutes those who keep the buses running

The original 10 routes have since expanded to more than 90 that carried over 9 million riders in 2024. The Connector even operates outside the county’s boundaries, connecting Fairfax with other Northern Virginia jurisdictions, Maryland and D.C. Read more...
Scott McCaffrey, October 2, 2025, FFXNow

Report: A third of Americans can't rely on cars — and 16 million have no access at all

Altogether, that represents a staggering 36 percent of the U.S. population; only 25 percent of total transportation infrastructure spending, meanwhile, flows towards transit, biking, and walking. Read more...
Kea Wilson, October 2, 2025, Streetsblog USA

ART recorded improved ridership, on-time performance during FY25

For fiscal 2025, nearly all ART routes showed year-over-year increases in passenger totals, with the total passenger count up 9% year-over-year, and on-time performance rose 3 percentage points. Read more...
Scott McCaffrey, October 2, 2025, ARLNow

How the government shutdown could impact DMV travel

From air travel to your Metro ride this government shutdown could have a big impact on how you get around.  Read more...
Adam Tuss, October 1, 2025, NBC4 Washington

Free and low-fare transit programs fail to reach many in need: report

“Reduced fare programs are a direct investment in the people who need it to get to their jobs, health appointments, and social connections,” Vanessa Barrios, co-author of the report and director of DEI initiatives at RPA, said in a statement.  Read more...
Dan Zukowski, September 29, 2025, Smart Cities Dive

A week without driving ... or biking?

It’s both a personal challenge, and an opportunity to better understand what life is like for the one third of people in the U.S. who cannot drive whether due to age, disability or economic reasons. Read more...
Tom Fucoloro, October 2, 2025, Streetsblog USA

How the Silver Line has shaped transit-oriented development in Northern Virginia

In 2014, the first leg of the Silver Line opened, providing communities in Tysons Corner, Reston, and beyond with frequent and reliable Metrorail service. Ten years later, and in a post-pandemic world, the Reston and Tysons areas have been drastically changed. Read more...
Brian Shi, October 1, 2025, Greater Greater Washington

Amazon to test its driverless Zoox vehicles on streets of DC

Zoox said it specifically chose D.C. as a test market because of its complex and unique street layout with circles, diagonal avenues, and high pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Before the actual robotaxi rolls out streets will be mapped by SUVs loaded with sophisticated equipment. Read more...
Adam Tuss, September 30, 2025, NBC4 Washington

What is Good Transit?

Good Transit sits in the background of the lives it facilitates. Because of this, people don't really think too much about it. If you bring up at dinner how smooth the bus ride was, you might get a polite “I guess it was.” Read more...
Joshua Woods, September 30, 2025, Planetizen

More transit means safer streets

A study published in the Journal of Urban Health found that cities with a higher share of transit miles traveled per capita experienced lower motor vehicle fatality rates, even after accounting for factors such as climate, congestion, and economic costs of driving.  Read more...
Leslie Vasquez Guzman, September 30, 2025, Streetsblog USA

Washington, D.C.-based Metro delivers $120M in savings, reaches record ridership

Other accomplishments during the 2025 fiscal year include the deployment of 185 new MetroAccess minivans and 49 next-generation vehicles, the re-introduction of Automatic Train Operation, the modernization of faregates at all Metrorail stations, the installation of new fareboxes on 1,500 buses, and the launch of the Better Bus Network and Tap. Ride. Go. contactless fare payment. Read more...
Melina Druga, September 30, 2025, Transportation Today

DC's disability transportation time tax

If DC and WMATA were serious about addressing the transportation time tax for nondrivers with disabilities, there would be more bus lanes or priority areas for buses to ease their movement with more frequent service citywide.  Read more...
Kelly Mack, September 29, 2025, Greater Greater Washington

Alexandria city and school board debate bus proposal

There are some DASH bus routes that already exist and that already provide direct service to the campuses of Alexandria City High School. In the proposal, if a high school student lives within a quarter mile of one of those routes, they would take the city's DASH bus instead of a school bus. Read more...
Joseph Olmo, September 30, 2025, NBC4 Washington

Electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid vehicle occupancy rules change Tuesday at midnight

The federal law permitting electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles to use the HOV lanes without meeting the occupancy requirements expires at the end of the month and the Republican-controlled Congress did not extend the law. Read more...
Dan Ronan, September 30, 2025, WTOP

Metro Navy Yard Station west entrance to close for months-long renovations

Crews will replace a total of five escalators at the station, including three at the west entrance. Metrorail said in a statement that heavy equipment and cranes are needed to remove the old escalators and bring in the new ones. Read more...
Dave Leval, September 29, 2025, DC News Now

Alexandria City Council, School Board to discuss DASH pilot, long-range facilities planning

The meeting addresses two initiatives that could reshape how the city educates and transports its roughly 16,000 public school students. Read more...
September 29, 2025, ALXNow

Ride for Your Life: Join the movement for safer streets

Held this year on the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, this event is more than just a bike ride—it’s a movement to remember those we’ve lost, stand up for the living, and press for urgent change on our roads. Read more...
September 28, 2025, Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling

States have more power than they think to fund sustainable transportation

That's because states have underutilized authorities to transfer highway funding to projects that give people healthier, easier, and cleaner options for travel, like public transit, biking, or walking.   Read more...
Liya Rechtman, September 29, 2025, Streetsblog USA

Metro delivers $120 million in savings and record ridership in FY2025

Metro customers took 264 million trips, a 9% increase over FY24 and 16% above budget projections, generating $462 million in passenger revenue. Rail ridership rose to 139 million trips and Bus reached 124 million, both well above projections. Read more...
September 26, 2025, WMATA

Falls Church may try again to entice e-scooter firms

In recent years, the governments of Arlington and Fairfax counties and the cities of Alexandria and Fairfax have approved processes to regulate shared-mobility devices in their jurisdictions. Because Falls Church has not, the city is a “no-go zone” for riders renting the vehicles in neighboring jurisdictions. Read more...
Scott McCaffrey, September 26, 2025, ARLNow

Metro plans to boost bus frequency and rail capacity amid budget talks

To afford this, Clarke said they plan to increase ridership. And will cut costs by returning to automatic train operations to increase scheduling efficiency, save money through bus schedule optimization, and will evaluate their current job vacancies. Read more...
Kelly Vaughen, September 25, 2025, WUSA9

For drivers and transit users, job access in nearly all major US cities is on the decline

Using detailed information about roadway speeds, transit service, bicycle facilities, and more, the researchers apply custom trip planning software to quantify how many jobs could be reached in a given amount of travel time from a specific starting point.  Read more...
Cirien Saadeh, September 26, 2025, Streets MN

Feds open $5b in rail safety grants

The FRA will evaluate projects based on projected benefits such as improved travel time and reliability, better integration with other transportation modes, and economic and employment benefits around stations.  Read more...
Diana Ionescu, September 25, 2025, Planetizen

News4 takes exclusive test ride on Purple Line

Although the line is a Maryland Transit Administration project, separate from Metro transit, the trains will connect with the Metro system’s Red, Green and Orange lines at various points between Bethesda, Silver Spring, College Park and New Carrollton.  Read more...
Adam Tuss, September 25, 2025, NBC4 Washington

Why transport sustainability should focus on people instead of cars

Simply incentivizing electrification is not enough to make a meaningful impact; we must shift our focus toward prioritizing public transportation and infrastructure. Read more...
Anna Allwright, September 24, 2025, Metro Magazine

Slugging in Stafford rises rain or shine

At the Warrenton Road lot, surveyors counted 42 vehicles picking up 104 riders on Tuesday, September 9th. This marks the most substantial slugging presence at the Rt. 17 lot since before the pandemic. Read more...
September 24, 2025, Potomac Local News

Virginia Railway Express, Amtrak adjust schedules to accommodate Long Bridge Project

The Long Bridge Project, once completed by 2030, will enable more freight and passenger rail service by separating the lines between Washington, D.C. and Virginia. The current two-track system, widely regarded as a bottleneck, has negatively impacted travel times. Read more...
Nathaniel Cline, September 24, 2025, WTOP

WMATA tweaks new Metrobus schedule

One begin concern came from veterans who expressed dissatisfaction with not being dropped off directly at the Veterans' hospital. This has been fixed in the new route. Read more...
September 23, 2025, ABC7 News

Escalator replacement project at Navy Yard to close Half Street entrance until March 2026

During the entrance closure, crews will replace the two mezzanine escalators and the three west entrance escalators simultaneously. Metro’s escalators are custom built to fit each location. Heavy equipment and cranes are needed to remove the old infrastructure and bring in new parts. Read more...
September 23, 2025, WMATA

Capital Bikeshare is 15: How did we get here, and what did it get us?

Capital Bikeshare is celebrating the milestone with a quinceañera. There’s no better time than now to reflect on major milestones, the steady expansion of the system, and how the region has taken advantage of this proliferation. Read more...
Aden Yacobi, September 23, 2025, Greater Greater Washington

'Excitement and construction fatigue': Purple Line team gives update on progress

According to Senior Project Director Ray Biggs II with the Maryland Transit Administration, construction is 82% complete with more than 70% of track installed. Read more...
Linh Bui, September 24, 2025, WTOP

Why saving transit matters

In a piece for Bloomberg CityLab, Jarrett Walker outlines the problem with letting public transit systems die out, arguing that the loss of robust public transit is bad for everyone, even those who don’t use it. Read more...
Diana Ionescu, September 22, 2025, Planetizen

Virginia Railway Express, Amtrak adjust schedules to accommodate Long Bridge Project

Starting in January 2026, Virginia Railway Express will adjust its rail service due to the Long Bridge Project, with some trains operating from Alexandria instead of Union Station. The company is also welcoming the return of the Amtrak Step-Up Program, offering additional travel options. Read more...
Ryan Belmore, September 23, 2025, ALXNow

Bike lane distribution in DC is unequal. DDOT's new bicycling plan could help.

The Strategic Bikeways Plan will inform how DDOT prioritizes and implements bike lanes through fiscal year 2030. In one of the early steps of this process, DDOT released its State of Bicycling in DC Report, which highlights key takeaways to inform the decision-making process. Read more...
Cristian Benavidez, September 22, 2025, Greater Greater Washington

DC leaders, residents to participate in the National Week Without Driving

The National Week Without Driving invites public officials and members of the public to reflect on the transportation options available to them, identify the barriers that exist in their neighborhoods and commutes, and to work with non-drivers to build accessible communities for all.  Read more...
Kai Hall, September 22, 2025, Greater Greater Washington

Sligo Creek Parkway closes for Purple Line construction

Crews plan to lay light rail tracks and reconfigure the intersection with the parkway during the closure. Montgomery Parks said it will make other improvements to the roadway too, including signage and repairing guardrails. Read more...
Jessica Kronzer, September 22, 2025, WTOP