D.C. Metro Shows its Pride with Rainbow-Wrapped Train and Bus
Metro will celebrate D.C. Pride by circulating a rainbow-wrapped bus and subway train throughout the transportation network during June.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) will run a Pride-themed, rainbow-colored subway train and bus throughout the system during June.
This marks the second year in a row Metro will wrap the exterior and interior of a single train with a Pride-themed design, and the third year that it will wrap a single bus in Pride-themed colors.
This year’s theme is “Be True. Be You. On Metro” and the colorful wraps adorning the vehicles will echo Capital Pride’s “Totally Radical” theme for this year’s festivities.
The vehicles will circulate throughout the WMATA system through June 30. They can be tracked online by visiting the WMATA website at wmata.com/live and clicking on the “special edition” tab.
The Pride-themed bus will participate in the Capital Pride Parade on Saturday, June 8. Nearly 100 WMATA employees will march in the parade, handing out sweatbands, stickers, bandanas, and flags to parade-goers.
In addition, Metro will sell Pride-themed shirts, mugs, and other items at DCMetroStore.com.
Metro started wrapping trains in 2022 as a way to celebrate and commemorate holidays or special events observed by riders, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, cherry blossom season, Earth Day, the Fourth of July, Veterans Day, Christmas, and Hanukkah.
The transportation authority is expected to roll out similar campaigns next year, when Washington, D.C., will host WorldPride festivities, which are expected to draw hundreds of thousands of visitors from across the globe.
WMATA is encouraging attendees to utilize public transportation when traveling to next weekend’s various Pride festivities.
Several bus lines will experience detours in order to circumvent the areas where Pride events are being held, but trains will remain operational.
The closest Metro stations to Saturday’s new Pride Parade route — which travels southward down 14th Street NW before turning left on Pennsylvania Avenue — are the U Street-African American Civil War Memorial-Cardozo and the Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter stations on the Green and Yellow Lines; the McPherson Square, Metro Center, and Federal Triangle stations on the Blue, Orange, and Silver Lines; and the Metro Center station on the Red Line.
Saturday’s Capital Pride Block Party is most easily accessible from the Dupont Circle Metro station on the Red Line.
For the Capital Pride Festival and Concert, situated between 7th and 3rd Streets NW, along Pennsylvania Avenue, the nearest stations are Judiciary Square on the Red Line and the Archives stop on the Green and Yellow Lines.
In its announcement touting the pride wraps, WMATA reminded that locals and out-of-town visitors can park for free on weekends at all Metro-owned parking lots and garages before riding into the city.
This allows revelers to avoid traffic snarls and the hassle of finding street parking, which will be extremely limited. Weekend fares are a flat $2 for any one-way trip anywhere in the system.
For more information on transportation options and scheduled trains and buses, Pride attendees can utilize WMATA’s trip planner at wmata.com/schedules/trip-planner.
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