13A, 13B, 13F, 13G – Washington National Airport-Pentagon-DC Line

Last Thursday I had to be at a get together at Ireland’s Four Courts in Courthouse.  Previously, a trip to that pub would have consisted of crossing the street, but I’ve recently started a new job and now have the great fortune of working right on the National Mall, which meant I had two options for getting there (Courthouse) from my new location: Orange line or 13s.  Seeing as how I had some time to kill (about 45 min.) it was peak of the peak ($$$!), I decided to take my chances with a bus that only runs a couple dozen times a day in a giant loop reaching from Chinatown to Crystal City.

I’d never heard of the 13s before I began working downtown, and I wasn’t entirely convinced that I’d want to ride them.  I mean, I’m not a superstitious person by nature, but why didn’t WMATA choose to skip the number 13 prefix altogether, like the CTA (Chicagoland) and MBTA (Massachusetts) do on their bus lines?  Oh well, I’m probably just reading too much into it.

I decided I would just walk toward the Smithsonian station – all casual, nonchalant like – and if a 13 bus *happened* to be arriving at that moment, I’d hop on.  Well guess what was heading my way?  Ding-ding! The 13B bus was directly in my line of site, so I slowed down my pace at the bus stop, only to get tangled up with a bunch of MTA commuter bus riders who gave me the evil eye (Sheesh, I’m not trying to “cut” in line, people!) before I pointed at the 13B behind them and extricated myself from the mass of Marylanders.

The sun was setting and the bus started to pull away from the curb before I gave the driver a little wave and he opened the door.  I then realized I was the only person on the whole, full-size bus.  Just me.  Yep, doo-dee-doo.  Nothing at all creepy about being the lone bus rider on an unfamiliar bus at sunset.  Nope, nothing at all.  I had intended briefly to check the map at the bus stop so that I would know where to get off in order to make it to Courthouse on time.  But I hadn’t had the chance and now I was kind of stuck.  I mean, I could hop off at Penn Quarter (the bus had turned left on 7th Street NW), but then I’d be doing a disservice to you, dear readers.  So I rode on.

Okay, let’s see: right on Constitution, left on Pennsylvania, right on 12th, and then a whole series of other turns (I lost track) that led us to the 300 block of 10 Street NW, one of the strangest – to me – blocks in the city, due to its bricked center strip, curious assortment of light fixtures, and seeming disconnect from anything human, besides the people waiting at the bus stop.  After having bypassed multiple stops, there were still no other riders at that point.  I was feeling kind of spooked (I know!  All in my head!), so I walked up to the driver and asked, “Is this bus always so empty?”  He told me it would fill up as soon as we hit Constitution traveling westbound, and boy was he right.

A small group boarded at 10th and Constitution; at nearly every stop after that, the groups of riders grew in size and noise.  By the time we reached 22nd, it was standing room only.  At the intersection of Constitution and 23rd, the bus driver pulled a totally sweet move and somehow – magically? – maneuvered from the far right lane into the left turn lane with nary a horn or squealing tire in earshot.  Impressive.

I hopped off at the Arlington stop and descended to the Blue Line for an easy transfer to the Orange Line at Rosslyn.  The whole trip took less than 45 minutes, and the ride around the Lincoln Memorial and across Arlington Memorial Bridge revealed an absolutely stunning sunset.  Turned out there was nothing unlucky about this ride on the 13, and if I find myself under similar circumstances again, I’d definitely repeat the trip.

Ooh, reflective and atmospheric! The sun sets over Arlington Cemetery as the 13B rumbles on toward the Pentagon Transit Center.

Line: 13A, 13B, 13F, 13G – Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport-Pentagon-DC Line (Yes, I left the “Ronald Reagan” part off in the title, zing!)          Rating (1-10): 7

Ridership: For nearly half the trip I thought the response would me “Just one: me,” but I was incredibly surprised at just how many people use this route.  It’s a group of old pros, most of whom probably work for the government or the smattering of large associations that run parallel to the National Mall, and all of whom (I was keeping close track!) used a SmarTrip card.  That’s right: not a single person paid cash or used a paper bus pass, and they were so efficient at boarding the bus, we made several green lights that I was sure we’d be stuck at due to slow boarding.  Conversations were plentiful and congenial; it was almost the weekend after all.  Because the 13s run during a relatively small window of time only during rush, I’m guessing that the riders get to know each other- and the driver – quite well.

Pros:  Serves a rather isolated – Metro rail-wise – section of the city that would otherwise require commuters to walk a half-mile or more uphill to the nearest station.  Although the route is circuitous at first, it picks up steam and speed along Constitution and takes just a little under 30 minutes for the whole weekday loop, which terminates at the Pentagon and does not extend to National Airport.

Cons: The bus stops are a bit hard to find in the L’Enfant/Penn Quarter area, or are simply overshadowed by the far more popular bus lines that stop there.  Each letter runs a slightly different route, half in clockwise direction, half in counterclockwise.  Like I said, service is limited to very specific times during rush and there are only two of each loop (clockwise and counterclockwise) on Sunday morning, very early Sunday morning.

Nearby & Noteworthy:  The Albert Einstein Memorial is located on the grounds of the National Academy of Science and is a great memorial for kids to check out, as they can clamber onto his lap for a picture.  In an equally scientific spirit – and at the opposite end of the route in DC – is the Marian Koshland Science Museum, a place that I always thought was either closed or some kind of glorified tourist trap, but actually offers interactive exhibits on such exciting topics as infectious diseases.  No, really.

Latest Metro News:  Anyone who rides the Red Line often knows that this much-maligned section of the Metro is due for a serious overhaul.  Hopefully that will happen sooner rather than later as Metro’s Board of Directors approved more of the contract options that will continue to bring improvements to the line, including safety issues like lighting and exhaust systems; repair and replace various canopy and platform hardware; and repairs to significant portions of track and tunnel.