Ride On is the primary public transportation system in Montgomery County, Maryland. Ride On serves Montgomery County as well as the community of Langley Park in Prince George's County. Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C.
Ride On operates 81 routes, including operating two Metrobus routes on weekends.
Video Ride On (bus)
History
1970s
Ride On began service on March 31, 1975.
1980s
Starting in 1983, single front door TMC City Cruisers entered service. These buses were part of a joint order with Frederick City Transit, and shared the same paint livery. In 1988, OBI Orion I 30' foot buses were introduced. In 1989, 57 30-foot Gillig Phantom buses, the first buses in the second-generation blue-and-white scheme, went into service. These buses retired in 2014 due to the arrival of the Gillig Advantage CNG
1990s
In the spring of 1996, Ride On's first CNG buses, the 1996 35-foot Orion V buses, went into service. These buses have since retired.
2000s
In September 2001, Ride On buses were used to transport Montgomery County firemen to the Pentagon in Virginia to assist in search and rescue operations after the September 11 attacks.
In early 2004, Ride On's first low-floor buses, the 2003-04 35-foot Orion VII CNG buses (5900-5932), went into service. They replaced all of the remaining 1989 30-foot Gillig Phantom buses (which were also Ride On's last buses without wheelchair lifts), therefore resulting in an all-accessible fleet.
In 2006, Ride On started accepting SmarTrip cards. All of the buses would be equipped with SmarTrip-compatible fare boxes by August of that year.
Also in 2006, Ride On's first 5 hybrid-electric buses, the 2006 40-foot Gillig Low Floor aka Gillig Advantage buses (5300-5304), went into service. The following year (2007), eight additional 40-foot Gillig Low Floor hybrid-electric buses (5305-5313) went into service.
Between the summer and fall of 2008, Ride On's first low-floor diesel buses, the 2008 29-foot Gillig Advantage (5001-5006) and 2008 40-foot Gillig Advantage buses (5726-5746), went into service. They are the last buses in the second-generation blue-and-white paint scheme.
In 2009, Ride On introduced a new logo and blue-yellow-green paint scheme with the delivery of new Gillig Advantage clean diesel and hybrid buses.
2010s
In the autumn of 2011, Ride On's 12 40-foot Gillig Low Floor hybrid buses (5349-5360) and one clean diesel bus (5758) went into service. All 13 of these buses were purchased with funds from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. Seven additional 40' Gillig Low Floor hybrid buses (5361-5367), which were also purchased with stimulus funds from the ARRA, went into service in mid-2012.
In July 2012, Ride On retired all 62 of its 2007 Champion cutaway buses due to fires and replaced them with 30 1998 30-foot Orion V buses. All 30 of these units were formerly operated by Washington's WMATA.
On September 19, 2013, 12 new 40-foot Gillig Low Floor clean diesel buses (5759-5770) went into service. A week later (September 26, 2013), 28 new 29-foot Gillig Low Floor clean diesel buses (5032-5059) also went into service. Also, the 2013 29-foot Gillig Low Floor clean diesel buses replaced all of the 2003 model shuttle transit vehicles (STV) that were formerly operated by Pittsburgh's Port Authority of Allegheny County.
In April 2014, 19 brand-new 2014 40-foot Gillig Low Floor CNG buses (5837-5855) entered service. They are Ride On's first new CNG buses in almost a decade (2005 35' Orion VII CNG buses, which went into service in 2006).
Between September and October 2014, 32 new 29-foot Gillig Low Floor clean diesel buses (5060-5091) went into service and replaced all of the 1998 30-foot Orion V buses that were formerly operated by WMATA.
Ride On celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2015, with 3 buses (1 from each of the 3 bus divisions) wrapped in the transit agency's 40th anniversary ad.
Between April and May 2016, 40 new 40' Gillig LF clean diesel buses (4000-4039), 1 29' Gillig LF clean diesel bus (2000) and 16 40' Gillig LF CNG buses (4040-4055) entered service. And with the new buses came the new five-digit numbering system for Ride On, along with the suffix demoting engines ("C" for compressed natural gas, "D" for diesel and "H" for hybrid).
Ride On extRa, a new bus service that started on October 2, 2017, is a new Limited Stop route via 355. It has 12 bus stops between Lakeforest Transit Center and Medical Center Metro Station. This bus route has free WiFi, USB charging ports, and more padding in the seats. The fare will be $2 starting November 1. There also will not be any on-board fare addition to allow for faster service.
Ride On added 59 Gillig 40-foot buses in the summer and the fall of 2017, 42 buses replaced some of the oldest vehicles in the fleet. 17 buses (4056D-4072D) are specially branded and used exclusively for Ride On's new extRa service that began October 2, 2017. This limited-stop service runs along Route 355 from Lakeforest Transit Center to Medical Center Metro Station. All of the 59 buses are manufactured by Gillig; 25 run on clean diesel (4056D-4080D) and 34 use compressed natural gas (4081C-4114C).
Ride On was award a $1.75 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration to purchase the county's first four electric buses and charging stations. Ride On is partnering with Proterra, the bus manufacturer, and the Center for Transportation and the Environment, a nonprofit that develops technologies and implements solutions to achieve energy and environmental sustainability. The Montgomery County Department of General Services, which purchases and maintains the Ride On buses, greatly assisted with the grant application. The four Proterra Catalyst 35 ft electric buses are scheduled to serve Route 18 in Takoma Park starting in 2019. The county has applied for a separate grant to help buy 10 more electric buses through FTA's Bus and Bus Facilities Infrastructure Investment Program. The county expects to hear back around the end of the year if its application was approved.
Maps Ride On (bus)
Fares
Ride On's current one-way fare is $2.00 for riders using cash and for riders using SmarTrip. Senior citizens and persons with disabilities ride free on weekdays between 9:30 AM and 3:00 PM, and on Saturdays between 8:30 AM and 4:00 PM; at all other times, a reduced fare of $1.00 is charged. Ride On offers a $0.50 discount for bus fares that transfer from the Washington Metro.
As with all other transit providers in the Washington Metropolitan Area, as of January 4, 2009, Ride On stopped the issue or acceptance of paper transfers. Riders wanting transfer credit must use a SmarTrip card to get the rail-to-bus discount or to transfer free from bus to bus.
Routes
Ride On offers 81 routes throughout Montgomery County. All routes run through Peak Rush Hour Period between 6AM and 9AM and 3PM to 7PM on weekdays. Many routes offer services for off-peak hours and weekends as well.
Additionally, Ride On operates two weekend routes that are served by WMATA Metrobus on weekdays.
Active Fleet
Ride On operates a fleet consisting mainly of Diesel, CNG, and Diesel-electric hybrid buses produced by Orion Bus Industries, Gillig Corporation and New Flyer Industries.
On Order
The bus fleet, owned and operated by Ride On, is distributed among three garages in Kensington, Silver Spring and Gaithersburg.
References
External links
- Official website
- The Schumin Web Transit Center: Ride On
- Oren's Transit Page: Ride On
- GP Bus Gallery
- Ride On at the Wayback Machine (archived February 5, 1998)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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