Washington Metro

The Washington Metro, known as the Metro and branded as Metrorail, is the heavy rail rapid transit system serving the Washington metropolitan area in the United States. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), which also operates Metrobus service under the Metro name. Besides the District of Columbia, Metro serves several jurisdictions in the states of Maryland and Virginia. In Maryland, Metro provides service to Montgomery and Prince George's counties; in Virginia, to Arlington and Fairfax counties and the independent city of Alexandria. Combined with its ridership in the independent Virginia cities of Falls Church and Fairfax, the Metro service area is largely coextensive with the inner ring of the Washington metropolitan area. The system is currently being expanded to reach Dulles International Airport and Loudoun County, Virginia. It operates mostly as a subway in the district itself, while most of the surface tracks are at the surface level or elevated.

Opened in 1976, the network now includes three lines, 91 stations, and 117 miles (188 km) of route. Due to subway track depths, Metro's Wheaton station has the longest single-tier escalator in the Western Hemisphere, spanning 230 feet (70 m).

Metro is the third-busiest rapid transit system in the United States in number of passenger trips, after the New York City Subway and Chicago "L". There were 179.7 million trips on Metro in fiscal year 2016. In June 2008, Metro set a monthly ridership record with 19,729,641 trips, or 798,456 per weekday. Fares vary based on the distance traveled, the time of day, and the type of card used by the passenger. Riders enter and exit the system using a proximity card called SmarTrip.

History
During the 1960s plans were laid for a massive freeway system in Washington. Harland Bartholomew, who chaired the National Capital Planning Commission, thought that a rail transit system would never be self-sufficient because of low density land uses and general transit ridership decline. But the plan met fierce opposition, and was altered to include a Capital Beltway system plus rail line radials. The Beltway received full funding; funding for the ambitious Inner Loop Freeway system was partially reallocated toward construction of the Metro system. In 1960 the federal government created the National Capital Transportation Agency to develop a rapid rail system. In 1966, a bill creating WMATA was passed by the federal government, the District of Columbia, Virginia, and Maryland, with planning power for the system being transferred to it from the NCTA. WMATA approved plans for a 97.2-mile (156.4 km) regional system on March 1, 1968. The plan consisted of a "core" regional system, which included the original five Metro lines, as well as several "future extensions", many of which were not constructed. Construction began after a groundbreaking ceremony on December 9, 1969, when Secretary of Transportation John A. Volpe, District Mayor Walter Washington, and Maryland Governor Marvin Mandel tossed the first spade of dirt at Judiciary Square.

Red Line

 * Shady Grove
 * Rockville
 * Twin Valley
 * Frontier
 * White Flint
 * Central
 * Grosvenor Gardens
 * Park Road
 * Cleveland Park
 * Woodleigh Park
 * Maryann
 * Takoma Centre
 * Toshiba Valley

Blue Line

 * Karaoke Atrium
 * Tan Hao Rui
 * Park Road
 * Helen Tan
 * Bee Rui
 * Central
 * South Point
 * Staircase
 * River Bencoolen
 * Gallery
 * Nigel Valley
 * Nigeria Falls

Green Line

 * Washington D.C. International Airport
 * South Park
 * North Park
 * Kent Vale
 * Bencoolen East
 * River Bencoolen
 * Staircase
 * Abelle West
 * Nathaniel
 * Prudential South
 * South Gallery
 * Northumbria
 * Lynn Valley