Took the opportunity to head out to Silver Spring to document the action. So far, I think I snapped well over 100 photos. I got a list of all of the buses that were used for shuttles, extra 79s, etc.
Red Line Shuttles:
9366, 2364, 2220, 9306, 2715, 2546, 2612, 4045, 9830, 4010, 4096, 5419, 4041, 9314, 4323, 2395, 4049, 2359, 6008, 9742, 2189, 6149, 2717, 2418, 9738, 2625, 4067, 2823, 2569, 2349, 3943, 6209, 2212, 6175, 9403, 2395, 4015, 2193, 4061, 2193, 2055, 6391, 5303, 9715, 9399, 2579, 2729, 2413, 2442, 2318, 2189, 2196, 9399, 2212, 9825, 4323, 2413, 5402, and Circulator 1124
Extras/Interesting Sightings
5403, 06, 08, 09, 14, 15, 19, 20, and 22 79
2452 79
2120 S9
6019 79
9819 70
2359 79
2349 79
2810, 11, 12 79 (These were the only three regular 79 buses out today)
2810 83 @ College Park
Other sightings
6376 32 @ Friendship
6404 32 @ Friendship
6389 36 @ Friendship
6423 S2 @ Silver Spring
2810 must have been having fun. I had a feeling BRT's was on the 79 when i saw the block number of it saying B777 on the news. I also spotter 6385 on the shuttle while watching channel 7 news. Hopefully tommorow if the shuttle will still be running ill post some pictures up.
I get the feeling after today wmata will consider having the S9 operate all day.
http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/news/PressReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=2637
I'm sure it is already in their longer range plans. It didn't take long for the 79 to gain midday service, I can't think of a reason why midday service wouldn't end up on the S9 at some point, However, I don't think that change would necessarily be the result of this week's events, which seems to be what you are suggesting.
I would be interested to see how many people stick to the bus after the Red Line is fully functional again. There are many benefits, including cost to taking a parallel bus route that is not much longer than the rail than just riding the train. Not to mention it may deliver you closer to your ultimate destination. If done properly a decent bus route can be an easy supplement or replacement to a rail line as long as it has capacity, frequency and some sort of priority lane/signaling.