Pike Ride Celebrates One Year Anniversary

To celebrate Pike Ride's one year anniversary, Arlington County staff and Board members were stationed at 12 Pike Ride bus stops along Columbia Pike during the morning rush hour on Wednesday, Sept. 15 and handed out free SmarTrip cards to the riders.

All Metrobuses are now equipped with SmarTrip fareboxes and using the cards will help speed up operations. Riders who transfer from Metrobus to Metrobus, or Metrorail to Metrobus don't need a paper transfer when using a SmarTrip card.

"This is a wonderful opportunity to say thanks to our riders for making Pike Ride so successful," said Barbara Favola, Chairman of Arlington County Board. "It's also a great way to get more passengers to start using the SmarTrip card on the buses, making it easier and faster to ride the bus."

With over 11,000 riders a day, Pike Ride has one of the highest riderships in the area. During its first year it carried more than three million passengers. Its marketing and advertising campaign have won four major national awards from communications and transportation trade associations.