Ride On (bus)

Ride On

A Gillig diesel-electric hybrid bus at Glenmont station, in the most recent paint scheme
Parent	Montgomery County
Founded	March 31, 1975; 42 years ago (1975-03-31)
Headquarters	101 Monroe Street, 5th Floor, Rockville, Maryland, U.S.
Service type	Bus service, paratransit
Routes	80
Fleet	350
Daily ridership	82,100 (2015)
Annual ridership	25,293,700 (2015)
Fuel type	CNG, Diesel, Diesel-electric hybrid
Website	http://www.MontgomeryCountyMD.gov/

Ride On is the primary public transportation system in Montgomery County, Maryland. Ride On serves Montgomery County as well as the community of Langley Park in Prince George's County. Ride On also serves the Takoma Metro station, and Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C.

Ride On operates 80 routes, including operating two Metrobus routes on weekends.

Ride On began service on March 31, 1975.

In 1989, 57 30-foot Gillig Phantom buses, the first buses in the second-generation blue-and-white scheme, went into service. These buses retired in 2004.

In the spring of 1996, Ride On's first CNG buses, the 1996 35-foot Orion V buses, went into service. These buses have since retired.

In early 2004, Ride On's first low-floor buses, the 2003–04 35-foot Orion VII CNG buses (5900–5932), went into service. They replaced all of the remaining 1989 30-foot Gillig Phantom buses (which were also Ride On's last buses without wheelchair lifts), therefore resulting in an all-accessible fleet.

In 2006, Ride On started accepting SmarTrip cards. All of the buses would be equipped with SmarTrip-compatible fare boxes by August of that year.

Also in 2006, Ride On's first 5 hybrid-electric buses, the 2006 40-foot Gillig Low Floor aka Gillig Advantage buses (5300-5304), went into service. The following year (2007), eight additional 40-foot Gillig Low Floor hybrid-electric buses (5305-5313) went into service.

Between the summer and fall of 2008, Ride On's first low-floor diesel buses, the 2008 29-foot Gillig Advantage (5001-5006) and 2008 40-foot Gillig Advantage buses (5726–5746), went into service. They are the last buses in the second-generation blue-and-white paint scheme.

In 2009, Ride On introduced a new logo and blue-yellow-green paint scheme with the delivery of new Gillig Advantage clean diesel and hybrid buses.

In the autumn of 2011, Ride On's 12 40-foot Gillig Low Floor hybrid buses (5349–5360) and one clean diesel bus (5758) went into service. All 13 of these buses were purchased with funds from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. Seven additional 40' Gillig Low Floor hybrid buses (5361–5367), which were also purchased with stimulus funds from the ARRA, went into service in mid-2012.