Metro News Release
For immediate release: September 30, 2010
Metro to introduce direct, fewer-stops bus service
Modifies underused service to meet ridership demand
Metro will provide faster, more direct bus service through popular routes in Virginia, the District of Columbia and Maryland without spending additional funds, by modifying service on underused routes and some holidays.
Metro’s Board of Directors today (Sept. 30) approved a plan to implement two new direct bus routes from Virginia into the District of Columbia, launch limited-stop service between Capitol Heights and downtown Washington, and increase the frequency of buses between Silver Spring and Bethesda, all in an effort to enhance reliability and increase ridership. The proposed changes will go into effect on Dec. 19.
To cover costs associated with these bus service enhancements, Metro has proposed to reduce bus service levels on and surrounding select holidays when ridership typically drops by 30 percent. The holidays with less service include Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, President’s Day, the day after Thanksgiving, and the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, because historically fewer people ride on those holidays.
The service changes all aim to match capacity to demand, reduce redundancy, streamline travel paths, implement enhancements and respond to customer requests. Existing resources are redirected to improve customer service and achieve efficiencies by transferring service hours from underutilized times and routes, to times and areas requiring additional resources. This was accomplished by matching holiday service to demand levels.
Virginia Routes
Bus customers in Virginia who are headed into the District of Columbia will benefit from changes to the 16F and 7E routes that will take them directly downtown and will no longer require a transfer to a Blue or Yellow Line Metrorail train, thus saving riders money in addition to the convenience of being able to get downtown without transferring. The existing 13A and 13B will be replaced with extensions of the 16F and 7E routes. Service will be preserved through the Pentagon for customers who want to transfer to the Metrorail system or another bus as well as to allow other bus customers to transfer to the downtown bus routes.
The 7E route will provide service through the Pentagon and across Memorial Bridge to Federal Triangle, by way of Constitution Avenue. The adjusted 16F route will begin in the Culmore neighborhood, travel along Columbia Pike to the Pentagon and then continue across the 14th Street Bridge to Federal Triangle, by way of Independence Avenue. These route extensions will replace routes 13A and 13B.
D.C. Routes
Proposed adjustments to routes on the X Line include providing peak-period, limited-stop service in both directions on the X9 on Benning Road and H Street from Capitol Heights Metrorail station to downtown, revising the existing X2 schedules to complement the new service, and extending of the X1 to Foggy Bottom. This means buses will move quicker through that corridor. Limited-stop service has been popular along other bus routes because it speeds the trip for riders who are travelling longer distances. The new articulated, red CNG buses are servicing these routes in addition to traditional-size buses.
Maryland Routes
Also under the proposed changes, some Greenbelt routes will be simplified and shortened to improve schedule reliability, overall cost-effectiveness and local connectivity. The adjustments were discussed in recent public hearings and endorsed by the Greenbelt City Council. Metro has worked extensively with Prince George’s County to ensure that Metrobus service complements other bus service (The Bus) in the Greenbelt area.
To enhance service between Silver Spring and Bethesda, bus trips will be added to the J2 route to provide additional service where popular buses have been identified as operating at capacity. Greenbelt area routes affected include C2, R12, T16 and T17.
Metro will also make minor additional adjustments in the future, based on jurisdictional planning efforts, school closings and relocations, roadway construction, special events, the planned opening of the new Silver Spring Transit Center, and a general need to ensure safe operations and improve schedule reliability.
News release issued at 2:28 pm, September 30, 2010.