Fairfax Connector
In response to the other local jurisdictions that have started up service, Fairfax County decided to start a service of their own called “Fairfax Connector” on September 29, 1985. They started operating 33 Orion buses numbered 7700-7732. These buses were 35 feet long and had roll signs. The first 10 routes were numbered 101-110 that operated out of Metro’s Huntington Station.
1988 was a good year as they ordered seven additional 35-foot Orion I buses numbered 7733-7739 and their first order of 30-foot buses of the same model numbered 7800-7809. With this additional equipment came four new express routes that operated to the Pentagon. This expanded service operated out of a brand new bus division then known as the “Newington Maintenance Facility”.
In 1991, the Van Dorn Station opened with big opportunities for Fairfax Connector to further expand. By now the fleet had expanded further with 22 additional units numbered 7740-7761, which were all 35-foot Orion I vehicles. In 1992, Fairfax Connector took over the WMATA Route 26A and renumbered it to the 401. This was the first cross-county service operating to and from Springfield Mall to Tysons Corner Center.
A big expansion in 1994 brought Fairfax Connector to northern Fairfax County. The takeover of 16 WMATA routes that operated out of the West Falls Church Station to the Reston/Herndon area was a huge effort. It brought on another bus division now known as the “Herndon Operations Center” and a new type of bus, the TMC RTS numbered 7810-7854. The order of 45 RTS buses were the first 40-foot buses in the fleet and had rear door wheelchair lifts.
In 1997, the Franconia-Springfield station opened and bus service in southern Fairfax County was restructured and again expanded.
In 1999, Dulles Corridor service was expanded and the Herndon-Monroe Park & Ride and Tysons-West*Park Transit Station opened. In addition, the county opened four new “Connector Stores” to sell bus passes and provide route information similar to the Commuter Stores that opened in Arlington County in 1992.
In 2002, the Fairfax Connector fleet was converted to use Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel fuel. The following year, the Fairfax County Community Bus Services Division (operator of RIBS) was merged with the Reston-Herndon Division and one contractor, First Transit, took over both operations. The Lorton Park & Ride also opened that year, the system was recognized by Metro Magazine as one of the ten most improved transit systems in North America, and, in search of new sources of revenue, the county began selling ad space on Connector buses for the first time.
2004 was a big year for Fairfax: on September 26, the South County Bus Plan was launched, bringing the restructuring of almost all routes operating out of Huntington, Springfield, and Van Dorn St stations and eliminating almost all local service that extended out of the county, including the Route 107 rush hour extension to WMATA’s Royal St bus garage in the City of Alexandria. Many routes were consolidated into new “loop” service and off-peak service was expanded in many parts of southern Fairfax. Among the most major change was the addition of REX, the Richmond Highway Express, new limited-stop service from King St Station in Alexandria to Fort Belvoir, leading to the elimination of Metrobus 9A service in the area between Huntington and Lorton.
On November 21, 2005, ground was broken on the new West Ox Road Public Safety and Transportation Operations Center (PSTOC), which will be a joint facility operated by both WMATA and Fairfax Connector; upon its opening in 2008, Fairfax Connector will assume operation of Metrobus 12- and 20-line service, and WMATA’s Arlington Division will be closed.