The newest Smart Way bus hummed along Interstate 81 from downtown Roanoke to Virginia Tech and back, a ceremonial journey for the Valley Metro commuter service on Thursday morning.

Fred Donaher, eager to chat with the dozen other passengers, sat four seats from the front, his seat cocked back and a green tote bag at his side.

Donaher, 32, is a bus aficionado; Thursday's ride was both a trial and a day of indulgence. Four new buses, including the one tested Thursday, will replace the 5-year-old buses currently in use on Jan. 4, the same day Valley Metro raises the fare to $4 from $3 on the Blacksburg-to-Roanoke route.

The bus upgrade has been long-awaited, contingent upon funding since Smart Way began service in 2004, said Carl Palmer, general manager of Greater Roanoke Transit, which operates Valley Metro. This investment is another step toward bringing the regions of Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Roanoke together and helping citizens cut costs and live "greener," he said.

"You can't build yourself out of congestion, you can manage it," he added.

Donaher pulled the white frame of a miniature bus -- a replica of a South Bend, Ind., Transpo bus, small enough to hold in one hand -- from his tote bag, an on-the-road toolkit.

He painted pencil-thin black lines along the model bus' roof. He rides the Smart Way about once a month and uses the time to work on his models, which he sells online.

The current Smart Ways' bumpy drive challenges his steady hand, he said. He never made a model of those buses.

"That's not what I or real bus enthusiasts would classify as a bus," he said. The four older Smart Ways, blue with bike racks attached to the rear, look similar to school buses. They'll be sold at public auction or kept as Valley Metro backups, Palmer said

The new white buses replacing them look like charter buses, with steep steps into the elevated cabin, overhead luggage racks, TV monitors and upholstered bucket seats.

Donaher intends to make a model of the new Smart Way, manufactured by Motor Coach Industries, confirmation that the new Smart Ways are "real" enough for bus enthusiasts.

And with price tags of $490,000 each, or about $2 million total, they had better be.

The new buses will seat 57 passengers, allowing 25 more people per ride than the older buses. Eventually, seats will have cup holders and access to electrical outlets, Palmer said.

Jim Grigsby, assistant city manager in Roanoke, predicted the additional space will fill up quickly.

Smart Way has increased ridership by 6.2 percent since July, with about 5,000 people riding each month. Some of these hourlong rides fill to capacity with businesspeople, shoppers and students.

"Once you leave Short Pump, the folks in Richmond don't think of us out here," said Bev Fitzpatrick, chairman of the Smart Way Advisory Committee. "When we work together out here, they take note."

He spoke to a small crowd in the Virginia Museum of Transportation parking lot with the bus as a backdrop. Fitzpatrick and Valley Metro, Virginia Tech and local officials repeated the conference on Virginia Tech's Drillfield Drive after riding the bus there.

Roanoke, Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Montgomery County and Virginia Tech contributed about 10 percent of capital funding for the purchase. The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation gave another 10 percent, and the Federal Transit Administration supplied the rest, Palmer said.

Once funding becomes available -- which Palmer said he hopes by next year -- the Smart Way service may expand to Lynchburg, a longer route that the new buses will make possible.

In the meantime, Donaher will keep riding the Smart Way and working on his models -- a hobby he's had for a lifetime.

The Roanoke native's first bus ride at 5 months old was commemorated by a note in his baby book. Donaher's father took the toddler on Roanoke buses regularly and taught him how to count by watching passengers as they got on and off. And more recently, in October, Donaher and his wife, Beth, wed at the Mill Mountain Star after a 1979 Valley Metro bus, made by Grumman, chauffeured them there.

The new Smart Way earned Donaher's approval.

"It's like trading in the Pinto for a new Cadillac," he said.