Fairfax Connector

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An Orion V arrives at the Franconia-Springfield Metro station.
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An Orion V arrives at the Franconia-Springfield Metro station.

The Fairfax Connector is a public bus service provided by Fairfax County, Virginia, and operated by Veolia Transport under contract. The first buses rolled out in September 1985 as a lower-cost alternative to the Metrobus service of the regional Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. The original routes connected the southern part of the county (near the Mount Vernon Estate) to the Huntington Metrorail Station which borders Alexandria. This area continues to be the core of the system, and is noted for the number of residents in the Richmond Highway area who use the service at all times of the day.

The Fairfax Connector, or simply "The Connector," has since expanded to 50-odd routes spanning much of the county. In 1994, the service was extended to the high-technology industrial areas of suburban Reston and Herndon, located between Washington, D.C. and Washington Dulles International Airport. Along State Route 267 (the Dulles Toll Road), express buses carry commuters from free park-and-ride lots to the Washington Metro system.

[edit] Bus lines

The following are the line numbers and names that make up the Fairfax Connector bus system:

North County routes
Route number(s) Route name
Herndon routes
922, 924, 926 Herndon Line
927 South Herndon
929 Centreville Road
950/980 Herndon/Reston Town Center
951/952 Reston/Herndon Reverse Commute
Reston routes
505/556 Reston Town Center
551, 553, 557 South Reston
552, 554 North Reston
574 Tysons Corner - Reston Town Center
585 South Reston
595 Pentagon Express
597 Crystal City Express
RIBS 1 & 3 Lake Anne/Hunters Woods
RIBS 2 South Lakes/Herndon-Monroe Line
RIBS 4 North Point/Herndon Line
Tysons routes
401 Backlick-Gallows Road
402, 403 Vienna-Merrifield-Dunn Loring
425, 427 Tysons-West*Park Transit Station/West Falls Church Metro
Government Center routes
621, 622, 623 Government Center
605 Fair Oaks-Reston
South County routes
Route number(s) Route name
101 Fort Hunt
109 Rose Hill
151, 161 Richmond Highway Circulator Counter-Clockwise Loop
152, 162 Richmond Highway Circulator Clockwise Loop
171 Richmond Highway
231 Kingstowne Line Counter-clockwise Loop
232 Kingstowne Line Clockwise Loop
301 Telegraph Road Line
303 Island Creek Line
304 Saratoga
305 Newington Forest Line
306 GMU Line
307 Laurel Hill/Lorton
310 Rolling Valley
321 Greater Springfield Circulator Counter-clockwise Loop
322 Greater Springfield Circulator Clockwise Loop
331 I-95 Circulator Counter-clockwise Loop
332 I-95 Circulator Clockwise Loop
380 Franconia-Springfield/Pentagon Express
401 Backlick-Gallows Road
Source: Fairfax Connector

[edit] External links

Washington, D.C. metropolitan area bus systems
Metrobus — District of Columbia: DC Circulator
Maryland: The Bus · Ride On · Connect-a-Ride
Virginia: ART · CUE · DASH · Fairfax Connector · GEORGE · PRTC