Shuttle Service Links Washington, D.C., Off-Mall Museums And Art Galleries

Museumgoers and gallery hoppers in the nation’s capital have a new, inexpensive way to get around the Washington Museum Bus, a shuttle fleet that visits not only museums on the National Mall, but also 20 off-the-mall locations such as the Renwick Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

The service was launched this summer by the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington in concert with the Washington Museum Bus Consortium, with initial funding from a variety of foundations. It is expected to eventually pay for itself.

To use the service, visitors purchase a one-week “membership” in the Cultural Alliance: $5 for individuals, $12 for families.

That fee gives members unlimited use of the service that week. It includes 14 stops on two loops in central Washington.

The membership also entitles people to free entry to alliance locations that usually charge admission, as well as discounts in museum shops and restaurants.

The Museum Bus vans operate Thursday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tickets can be bought at the shops or information desks of the participating museums, or from the Ticketplace at George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium, 730 21st St. N.W.

The shuttles operate on two loops. One loop reaches the Historical Society of Washington, the Phillips Collection, the Textile Museum, the Woodrow Wilson House, and Ticketplace.

The other reaches the Mall museums, the Decatur House Museum, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Museum of American Art, the National Building Museum, the Small Jewish Museum, the Art Museum of the Americas, the DAR Museum, and the American Red Cross.

Both loops reach the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Octagon and the Renwick. Recorded information: 202-588-7470.