Metro is bringing back its brown color scheme

In most ways, Metro is looking forward. Riders can now pay for train rides by merely swiping a credit card, bus routes have been reconfigured and renamed (though some people aren’t enamored with the changes), and more people say the system is safer than it was before.  

But in one key way, Metro is very much looking backward. The transit agency is asking area residents to vote on what the exterior of its new 8000-series railcars will look like, and there’s one thing that’s similar across the three possible options: They all incorporate the color brown.

Brown is, in many ways, Metro’s official (if potentially unloved) color. Trash cans, fare gates, pylons, and most of the system’s generations of railcars have either been fully brown or heavily feature the color. But over the last decade or so, it was phased out in some critical places: Metro’s chief architect said it made stations too dark, and the 7000-series railcars — the newest in the fleet — are black and silver, with nary a brown accent to be seen.

But now, brown seems to be back on track.

“The designs are part of a broader branding refresh that includes refined Metro logos and illustrations that reflect our heritage. With this final step in the process, customers will see a revamped color scheme in a warm palette that embraces modern design principles and pays homage to the standards set by Metro’s founding designers,” says WMATA in a press release.

Voting on the three possible designs will be open until Friday, Aug. 22, at midnight. Sadly, there’s no option for riders to submit their own design – or color scheme.