It was two years ago when the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority decided to eliminate a bus route that many people relied on as their primary mode of transportation. Thanks to grassroots efforts, that route is up and running again. 

Community members along with the Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement got together to bring back the bus route to allow many low-income residents in the area get to work, as well as grocery stores. After months of negotiating with the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, the route was unanimously approved, along with the needed funding. Community members say this is what a grassroots movement looks like. 

“This was us going to politicians and saying this is a problem that we have to resolve. This isn’t right and what we’ve seen come out of it is that when neighbors and school staff members and community leaders and when local government work together, we can actually do the right things and we make good things, and the right things, happen,” said Tracy McCarty, one of the organizers that led the movement. 

The Fairfax Connector routes 462 & 467 go from Tysons Corner Metro station through downtown Vienna continuing to Dunn Loring Metro station and the Mosaic District.