It’s been a couple of weeks since the Fairfax County Connector service in Tysons underwent a re-routing of the new circulator service that began only a year ago. Almost immediately after the new Tysons circulators began service last July it was obvious that the routes would not function. Changes during the planning of the circulator routes, after the approval of the Tysons Comprehensive Plan, took what was four bus routes and exchanged them into only three, while trying to keep the same access area. The result was a watered down and serpentine bus network, which routinely took longer to ride than walking, for many of the most populous paths.
The new services are up front about what they are correcting in the summary of changes, “providing more direct service to residential communities and businesses in the Park Run-Westpark area”. How well do the 420’s do at coupling the major destinations in Tysons in a logical and time saving way? We’ll be looking at each new route.
422 Boone Boulevard – Towers Crescent
It’s pretty obvious that the new 422 bus route has a smaller coverage, but the new route makes sense. Previously the 422, in order to connect the area of Greensboro Drive north of Route 7, got stuck in rush hour traffic and had minimal benefit to those along the outstretched path. The largest points of interest on the old route were the Greensboro Drive offices, Tysons Corner Center, and the offices and homes on the north side and south side of Route 7 near the mall.
The employees who worked at Greensboro Drive wouldn’t use the old route because it was stuck in traffic and took forever to get anywhere compared to going one metro stop over, or walking. Of course the circulator is cheaper than metro, but when it takes an extra 15 to 20 minutes, even that significant cost savings means little. At the same time the area most dependent on bus service, south of Route 7 near Gallows Road, was completely unserved. This neighborhood depends on bus service, unlike Greensboro Drive it has no metro stop.
The new bus route takes only 14 minutes, even during rush hour, and is less affected by congestion due to the limited use of Route 7 and Route 123. Overall the big winners will be those who live or work along Gallows and Old Courthouse Road who can now get a consistently short bus transfer from Tysons Corner Station and the loss of coverage near Greensboro Drive has almost no impact to transit access in town.
Feature image cropped from panoramic photo by Kit Case via Flickr