I saw this bus in Dupont Circle about a week ago and was a little thrown by it. It’s painted under a different scheme than the normal WMATA Metro Bus, which is predominantly white with red and blue accents.

Metro has been adding some new buses to it’s fleet over the last few years, as well as identifying express bus corridors to enhance service and shore up reliablility. For instance, about two years ago, they created the “Metro Extra” (79) line on Georgia Avenue, gave it a dedicated fleet of buses, as well as a jazzy new paint scheme. This bus serves only 15 stops along the route, versus the 54-stop local bus, and saves nearly 20 minutes of travel time.

And just about six weeks ago, the S9 bus was announced for service on 16th Street NW. This corridor is notorious for poor service and long ride times, so the (now-operating) express service will serve 16 stops, instead of the normal 54 stops served by the local buses (although they are only estimated to save about 10 minutes in ride time).

The new grey and red bus I saw in Dupont, however, I cannot seem to pinpoint. I do know this: the 79 on Georgia Avenue, the S9 on 16th Street, and this bus in the photo above are all New Flyer Model C40LFR buses running on compressed natural gas. Metro recently announced in a press release that they intend to have over 200 hybrid-electric buses operating in their fleet by the end of 2009 and nearly 40 of those will be dedicated to the new express lines throughout the region.

Has anyone else seen these buses around town?