Little bus signs

[Antozilla]

OK how do you read those little signs on the front of Metro Buses that say things like F030.  What are they for anyway?

[LandoverDivision]

If you mean the letter then 4 numbers on the dashboard, then the first letter is the block that bus has. For instance:

Montgomery = M
Landover = L
Bladensburg = B
Southern Ave Annex = P
Western = W
Arlington = A
Northern = N

...and so forth. I don't know if that's what you were talking about, but yeah...

[WMATAGMOAGH]

OK how do you read those little signs on the front of Metro Buses that say things like F030.  What are they for anyway?

That is the block number.  It is used internally so relieving drivers relieve the correct driver, supervisory, and for other purposes.

[Antozilla]

That is what I am talking about.  How does one read these .  I have the first number so I assume F is Four mile so that tells me what garage the lil fella comes from.  What about the rest? 

Why is Southern P and not S?

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Let's use WE04 as an example.  W indicates the division (Western in this case).  The E indicates the line (E2/E3/E4 in this case).  The 04 amounts to being a unique identifier among all the WE blocks.

Of course, there are all sorts of little nuances to the system with interlining and also because there are shared letters even within divisions (i.e. N2/N3/N4/N6 and N8 at Western).

P stands for Prince Georges (Annex).  S stood for Southeastern.  A is Arlington.  Here is the full list off the top of my head:

A-Arlington
F-Four Mile Run
R-Royal
W-Western
N-Northern
B-Bladensburg
P-Annex
L-Landover
M-Montgomery
(S-Southeastern, not currently in use AFAIK)

[Perry]

The block that remains to be seen in the identifier for West Ox.  I was thinking "X", but it will follow some nonsensical system of lettering. It will probably end up being something weird like T or Q.

[OrionFlyer]

So whats the case for Virgina's routes? Like in this picture. Its the 3Y but what does the "9" in F938 stand for?

[Tristan]

The system is no different in VA - the route numbers might be different but it's still one WMATA.  As Oren mentioned, you're gonna see a lot of because of interlining and other issues, especially with rush hour routes.  My guess is that F938 is a straight run (as opposed to a split where the driver shows up early in the morning, does about 4 hours of peak period work, leaves for a few hours, then comes back to do 4 or so more hours) that starts on the 9A or 9S, maybe at about 11 AM, then holds down the 3Y for the PM rush.

That's just a hypothesis, wmata employee or someone with a headway book would have to confirm it, but it looks like just an interline issue.

[79MetroExtraMD]

The block that remains to be seen in the identifier for West Ox.  I was thinking "X", but it will follow some nonsensical system of lettering. It will probably end up being something weird like T or Q.

I think X would probably fit for West Ox. W and O are kinda out. I can understand T but why Q?

Also, with the blocks, I've gotten somewhat a sense of Montgomery's ones

M100s up to M140 I think (C7, C9)
M141-M156? J4
MCxx (C2, C4, C8)
MJxx (J1-J9 except J4)
MKxx (K6)
MLxx (L lines, both DC and MD ones. I think the upper ones are for the L7 and L8 and the lower ones for the L1,2, and 4)
MNxx (N line)
MQxx (Q2)
MSxx (S line. I have seen a couple MS blocks recently)
MTxx (T2)
MWxx (Z9, Z11, Z13, Z29)
MYxx (Y line)
MZxx (Z line)

[NewFlyer9736BCT]

That is what I am talking about.  How does one read these .  I have the first number so I assume F is Four mile so that tells me what garage the lil fella comes from.  What about the rest? 

Why is Southern P and not S?

Southern is P not S because S is Southeast Division, which is closed. The other southern that has P is Annex Division, which used to be called "Prince George Division" or something like that, and that's where P is from.

As for Royal, I know that RJxx is the 10 line and RExx is the 28 line, not sure about the others. For the blocks that are for routes 1-9, usually it's DNxx where D=Division letter and N=number of the line. For example, for a FMR bus doing a Rush Hour 1A run, it would be something like F145, or on a normal Arlington run, it would be something like A121. Another example: Arlington run of the 4 line: A408.

In some cases, like the 70 line and 90 line, it would also be in the DNxx format. Like the 70 line for example: N704. 79: B780. 90 line: S904 (not sure if this has changed since SE closed, Northern does the 90 line for now).

Also, I'm pretty sure some MWxx blocks end up on the Q2, I have seen that before.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

West Ox could just be A since it is replacing Arlington, especially if they are never open simultaneously.  They could also use E for West Ox.  I wonder if X is reserved for any internal purposes.

[Perry]

I was just saying Q because it will be something that makes no sense except to those blocking the runs. 

Actually I was thinking that about A too, but I doubt they'd do that.

[79MetroExtraMD]

That is what I am talking about.  How does one read these .  I have the first number so I assume F is Four mile so that tells me what garage the lil fella comes from.  What about the rest? 

Why is Southern P and not S?

Southern is P not S because S is Southeast Division, which is closed. The other southern that has P is Annex Division, which used to be called "Prince George Division" or something like that, and that's where P is from.

As for Royal, I know that RJxx is the 10 line and RExx is the 28 line, not sure about the others. For the blocks that are for routes 1-9, usually it's DNxx where D=Division letter and N=number of the line. For example, for a FMR bus doing a Rush Hour 1A run, it would be something like F145, or on a normal Arlington run, it would be something like A121. Another example: Arlington run of the 4 line: A408.

In some cases, like the 70 line and 90 line, it would also be in the DNxx format. Like the 70 line for example: N704. 79: B780. 90 line: S904 (not sure if this has changed since SE closed, Northern does the 90 line for now).

Also, I'm pretty sure some MWxx blocks end up on the Q2, I have seen that before.

There are a few MW blocks that wind up on the Q2. I think they do other lines (a J2 maybe).

I think with the 90, it might still be N9 or maybe it went to NJxx.

[LandoverDivision]

That is what I am talking about.  How does one read these .  I have the first number so I assume F is Four mile so that tells me what garage the lil fella comes from.  What about the rest? 

Why is Southern P and not S?

Southern is P not S because S is Southeast Division, which is closed. The other southern that has P is Annex Division, which used to be called "Prince George Division" or something like that, and that's where P is from.

As for Royal, I know that RJxx is the 10 line and RExx is the 28 line, not sure about the others. For the blocks that are for routes 1-9, usually it's DNxx where D=Division letter and N=number of the line. For example, for a FMR bus doing a Rush Hour 1A run, it would be something like F145, or on a normal Arlington run, it would be something like A121. Another example: Arlington run of the 4 line: A408.

In some cases, like the 70 line and 90 line, it would also be in the DNxx format. Like the 70 line for example: N704. 79: B780. 90 line: S904 (not sure if this has changed since SE closed, Northern does the 90 line for now).

Also, I'm pretty sure some MWxx blocks end up on the Q2, I have seen that before.

There are a few MW blocks that wind up on the Q2. I think they do other lines (a J2 maybe).

I think with the 90, it might still be N9 or maybe it went to NJxx.

What about LE? What's that one? 

[Antozilla]

OK, rode the 16Y this AM to work the first number was an F for FMR the second one was a C.  Whats up with the C should it not be a 1 (for 16?)