WMATA adding mid-week service to Blue, Orange and Blue Plus lines

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) is adding mid-week service for customers who use the Blue, Orange and Blue Plus lines during the morning and evening rush hour periods. Service on the three lines will increase to every 12 minutes instead of 15 minutes from 6 – 9 a.m. and 3 – 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. In the heart of the system, between Rosslyn and Stadium-Armory where the lines merge, trains will arrive at stations every four minutes.

The service improvements are focused on the middle of the week, where ridership is growing the most. As ridership has evolved post-pandemic, peak period demand is increasing with the heaviest ridership concentrated on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The improvements come as WMATA continues to return more 7000-series trains, increasing the number of daily trains in service by more than 40 percent since July.

Later this month, WMATA will expand earlier improvements, on the Red Line, which currently operates every eight minutes during weekday peak periods and 10 minutes at all other times. Starting on Feb. 21, Red Line service will improve to every eight minutes all day from 6 a.m. – 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

The combined improvements will provide customers with better, more frequent service throughout the system, with 70 percent of all mid-week rush hour trips served by a train every eight minutes or less. That means customers will spend less time waiting, see more capacity and less crowding on trains, make quicker transfers and have more time to spend outside of their commute.