Metro News Release
For immediate release: June 8, 2004
Metro to provide shuttle buses Wednesday and Thursday nights to allow mourners to pay respects to former President Reagan
Metrobus, MetroAccess service also impacted by funeral
Metro officials will provide free shuttle buses from RFK Stadium to the U.S. Capitol late on Wednesday and Thursday nights (June 9 and 10) to enable mourners to pay respects to former President Ronald Reagan as his casket lies in state in the U.S Capitol Rotunda. The free shuttle buses will operate from 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday to 6 a.m. on Thursday and then again from 11:30 p.m. on Thursday to 6 a.m. on Friday. The shuttle bus service will complement the Metrorail system, which will be open as usual from 5:30 a.m. to midnight during the week.
Three 60-seat Metrobuses will be used to shuttle mourners every 15 minutes between the stadium and the Capitol to ensure the public is able to access the U.S. Capitol building--where the body of the nation’s 40th President will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda from 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 9, through 7 a.m. Friday, June 11. More buses will be put on the road if the demand warrants the additional service.
Parking at RFK Stadium also will be free and will be monitored by the Metropolitan Police Department to ensure safety. An exact location for pick-up and drop-off has not yet been determined.
The additional service is expected to cost Metro approximately $2,000 to $3,000. Officials do not know how many mourners will take advantage of the special late-night shuttle service.
To honor the former President, Metro officials also draped black bunting today along a portion of the mezzanine at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Metrorail Station in Arlington. The station, which serves both the Blue and Yellow Lines, was renamed Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Metrorail station in 2002
The week’s events will also impact Metrobus and MetroAccess. Metrobuses will detour around several major road closures, and MetroAccess customers with a subscription to take a regular Friday trip will have to call to schedule them, due to the federal holiday as Ronald Reagan’s body will lie in state and then the nation observes a federal holiday for the official state funeral of the nation’s 40th President. The body of the former President is scheduled to arrive in downtown Washington, DC, across from The White House on Wednesday, June 9. A formal funeral procession to the U.S. Capitol will take place once the casket is transferred onto a horse-drawn caisson at 1600 Constitution Avenue. The caisson will proceed along Constitution Avenue at 6 p.m. to the U.S. Capitol for the state funeral ceremony. Constitution Avenue will be closed to traffic during that time.
In addition to Constitution Avenue being closed from 16th Street to the Capitol, several other nearby feeder roads will also be closed, requiring approximately 20 Metrobus routes to be detoured around the area of the road closures.
On Friday, June 11, the casket will be moved from the U.S. Capitol at 10:30 a.m. to Washington National Cathedral for the 11:30 a.m. national funeral service. Any road closures associated with the moving of the casket to the Cathedral may result in brief delays for Metrobuses. Metrorail service will not be impacted and will operate on its normal schedule.
Because Friday is considered a national holiday for the observance of the death of the former President, MetroAccess service automatically cancels all regular subscription trips for that day, instead customers are required to call MetroAccess at 301-562-5360 if they wish to schedule a trip for Friday.
For more information on how this week’s memorial events will impact Metrobus and MetroAccess, visit www.metrooopensdoors.com.
News release issued on June 8, 2004.