Among the Washington area’s many mass transit enthusiasts, there is a large subset of “bus snobs.” These are people who are all for spending billions of other people’s tax dollars on hideously expensive and underused rail lines, but balk at achieving the same ends using much cheaper bus rapid transit.

This should be the heyday of BRT. The nation’s 100-year supply of natural gas will make buses much cheaper and probably cleaner to operate than rail lines, which depend on coal-fired electricity. Modern design, with plush seating, Wi-Fi, doors that open on both sides and transponders that can control traffic signals, makes them more flexible than rail or trolley lines and more comfortable than Metro.