Metrobus is a bus service operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). Its fleet consists of 1,595 buses covering an area of in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. There are 269 bus routes serving 11,129 stops, including 2,554 bus shelters. In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . History Metrobus was founded on February 4, 1973, after acquiring DC Transit, Washington, Virginia and Maryland Coach Company (WV&M), Alexandria, Barcroft and Washington Transit Company (AB&W) and the Washington Marlboro and Annapolis Motor Lines (WM&A) to combine into Metrobus. During its founding, WMATA dropped transfer charges, extended senior citizen discounts region-wide and began fare reductions on routes formerly served by the different carriers at different rates. WMATA also unified a new bus livery with red, white and blue paint scheme and purchased 620 buses from AM General with the last buses being delivered in 1974. Today, Metrobus serves the nation's capital 24/7, with over 1,500 buses. Fares , the Metrobus fare structure is as follows for cash and SmarTrip: Local bus routes within the District of Columbia, Central Maryland and Northern Virginia: $2.00 Express bus routes (17B, 17G, 17K, 17L, 17M, 18G, and 18P): $4.25 Express Airport bus routes (5A and B30): $7.50 Discounts are available for senior citizens, people with disabilities and D.C. students. Up to two children, per paying adult, under 5 years of age ride for free. Children at least 5 years of age pay adult fare. All Metrobuses have SmarTrip card readers which automatically deduct the correct fare from a rider's SmarTrip card (including transfer credit). Metrobus issued paper transfers until January 4, 2009. Transfers are now currently attainable only through SmarTrip cards. On June 27, 2010, the transfer window was reduced from 3 hours to 2 hours. All fares were free from mid-March 2020 to January 3, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On December 6, 2022, the Council of the District of Columbia voted to abolish fares within city limits from July 1, 2023. Fleet On July 4, 2018, WMATA awarded a 5-year contract to New Flyer for up to 694 buses, order consist of forty-foot CNG, forty-foot clean diesel, sixty-foot CNG, and sixty-foot diesel heavy-duty transit buses. These new buses will replace Metro's older New Flyer Low Floor buses, which were delivered between 2005 and 2007. Red/Silver painted buses will be used on local routes