The Crystal City Potomac Yard Transitway officially opened on Sunday, upgrading Metroway bus service to bona fide bus rapid transit in Arlington.

27th & Crystal station. All photos by the author.

Metroway runs between Pentagon City and Braddock Road Metro stations. For much of its route between Crystal City and Potomac Yard, it runs in dedicated bus lanes, making it the Washington region’s first real foray into BRT.

The Alexandria portion of the transitway opened in 2014. Arlington’s portion through Crystal City opened yesterday, Sunday, April 17.

Through Potomac Yard, the transitway runs in a totally exclusive busway—a completely separate road from the regular lanes.

27th & Crystal station.

Stations in the busway have substantial arched roofs and attractive wall panels.

South Glebe station.

Through Crystal City, bus lanes and bus stations hug the curb.

18th & Crystal station.

Since northbound buses run a block away from southbound buses, bus stations are smaller through this section. They’re more like large bus stops.

23rd & Clark station.

Crystal City is pretty quiet on Sundays, so there weren’t many opening day riders, and buses only came every 20 minutes. During the week there’ll be a lot more riders, and buses will run every 6-12 minutes depending on the time of day.

Head over to Crystal City and check it out! Or see more pictures of both the Arlington and Alexandria transitway sections via Flickr.

Cross-posted at BeyondDC.