Missing the Bus
Rusting away in the shadow of the subway, the bus has long been Metro's neglected stepchild. Now the mission of Metrobus is being rerouted for the convenience of the suburbs.
Cover Story
Efficiency is not a hallmark of the A2 bus. On its wide loop through Anacostia, it lurches to a stop every few feet. Sometimes it barely clears the curb lane before it pulls over again. The driver, R.L. Simons, announces every stop and greets every patron. The trip is less about shuttling from Point A to Point B than about making many points along the way.
Simons is one of Metrobus' talkshow-host drivers. He never stops narrating and chuckling behind his big black sunglasses. "If something's going wrong with his day," says one woman rider, "you'll never know it."
On one midday route last fall, a rider stands up at the front and reminds the other passengers to stop by the Black Family Reunion event on the Mall the following weekend. Simons can't help himself. "Y'all let me know if you go," he says, pausing for effect before adding, "so I can rob your houses." The bus cracks up. Simons gives us a huge smile, filling the mirror over his head with a broad expanse of teeth.
Every time a kid boards the bus, Simons announces, "Check-in time," and extracts a high-five. Then he does it again on the kid's way out. All the while, he hands out transfers like invitations to a party.
An older woman gets on with a grin that won't stop. "We miss you on the A4," she singsongs to Simons. "Yeah," he says, laying on the charm. "They kept giving me raggedy old buses. Tryin' to kill a brother out there."... Continued 
Issue of Jan. 23 - 29, 1998
News and Features
- Missing the Bus
Cover Story - Riding With Mary
Feature - Bye-Bye Miss American Chai
The City - Technical Foul
The City - Almost Blue
The City - Brain Cloud
The Mail - We Shall Return
The Mail - Popping Off
The Mail - Mighty White of Him
The Mail - Voracious Reader
The Mail - Hulk Mailing
The Mail - Party Line
The Mail - Where's the Problem?
The Mail
Columns
- A Matter of Principal
Cheap Seats - How to Try in Business Without Really Succeeding
Demimonde - Bottom Feeders
City Desk - The Search For Candidate X
Loose Lips
Eats
Movies
- Hell's Angel
Film Review - Behind the Door
Film Review - Spice Spice Baby
Film Review
Music
- Edwyn Collins
Music Review - Jon Langford
Music Review - The Human Breakdown of Absurdity: MSR Madness Vol. 3, I'm Just the Other Woman: MSR Madness Vol. 4
Music Review - Quite Contrary
Music Review
Theater
- For Whom the Bell Clanks
Theater Review
Arts and Events
- From Art House to Our House
Arts - McSweeny Agonistes
Artifacts - Victoria's Secrets
Artifacts
City Lights
This week's best in Arts and Entertainment.
- Pygmalion
City Lights - Rex
City Lights - Lotion
City Lights - Toni Morrison
City Lights - Ajax Moving Company
City Lights - Homage to Sergei Eisenstein
City Lights - Salt of the Earth: A Tribute to Paul Jarrico
City Lights - Annette Sanders
City Lights - Whop Frazier
City Lights - Eugene O'Neill: A Glory of Ghosts
City Lights - Kevin Seconds
City Lights - Kepone
City Lights - Buzz Bissinger
City Lights - Reuben Jackson, Al Young
City Lights - Of Flesh and Blood
City Lights - Marcy Playground
City Lights - Ernst Lubitsch
City Lights
Find an Event
Enter a keyword, select the type of event, and the particular day this week below.
Submit your event to the City Paper's Event Calendar.
Find a Restaurant
Enter a restaurant name, or select a cuisine and neighborhood below.
Find a Movie
Select a movie theater in the box below to see a list of all movies at that theater.
...Or view a full list of theaters, films, and showtimes.
Search Classified Ads
Post a Classified Ad
Search inventory on the City Paper's CarTango website:
This Week in
City Paper History
- Angels Without Wings
Oct. 2 - 8, 1998 - Fare Elections
Oct. 3 - 9, 2003 - Kicking and Screaming
Oct. 3 - 9, 2003
