BRT Comes to D.C.

There are several bus rapid transit plans in the works for the D.C. area, but five miles of dedicated bus lanes connecting Arlington with Alexandria in Northern Virginia will start serving passengers as early as spring 2014, reports Luz Lazo.

The first dedicated lanes in the metro area, they will connect busy Crystal and Pentagon Cities with "booming" Potomac Yard in northeast Alexandria, and Metro says they will be a money-saver with fewer buses running more frequent trips.

As part of the ongoing effort to make public transportation more efficient, the Crystal City Potomac Yard Transitway would adopt a prepaid ticketing system with random on board checks.

Officials hope to use this project as a stepping stone to building support for similar routes throughout the region.