The three public hearings previously canceled due to Hurricane Sandy have been rescheduled - the new public comment deadline is 9 a.m. Monday, December 3, 2012.

See  the notice in:

• English - Notice with updated schedule information
• Spanish - Notificación en Español Incluye nuevas fechas y horarios para las audiencias públicas
• Korean - Notice in Korean
• Vietnamese - Notice in Vietnamese
• Chinese - Notice in Chinese
• Amharic - Notice in Amharic

The docket contains a detailed description of the proposal and information on how to participate in the public hearing process.

• District service proposal with maps
• Maryland service proposal with maps
• Virginia service proposal with maps

Rescheduled Hearing Dates, Locations and Transit Information

Hearing No. 578
  Mon, November 26, 2012
  New Carrollton Library
  7414 Riverdale Rd
  New Carrollton, MD
  Transit: Metrobus F4 or TheBus 16
  Open House at 6 p.m.
Public Hearing at 6:30 p.m.

Hearing No. 579
Mon, November 26, 2012
  Metro Transit Police District 1 Substation
  Marlon F. Morales Building
  5315 First Place, NE
  Washington, DC
  Transit: Across from Ft. Totten Metrorail station
  Open House at 6 p.m.
  Public Hearing at 6:30 p.m.

Hearing No. 580
Tues, November 27, 2012
  Mary Ellen Henderson
  Middle School Cafeteria
  7130 Leesburg Pike
  Falls Church, VA
  Transit: Metrobus 3T, 28A, 28T or West Falls Church Metrorail station
  Open House at 6:30 p.m.
  Public Hearing at 7 p.m.

Overview of Proposed Changes

Overall, the bus service changes in this proposal aim to increase the effectiveness of Metrobus services by removing specific trips with very few riders; slightly expanding the time between buses on selected routes with extra capacity; eliminating trips or sections of routes where other bus service is available; and terminating select routes that do not meet performance criteria.

The savings realized from reducing these non-productive services will be used to add capacity on crowded routes; add running time to routes that are consistently late; add trips to expand non-rush hour service to areas of the greatest demand; and restructure routes to streamline service.

Routes seeing improvements in this bus service change proposal are:

District of Columbia

• A5 Reroute A5 via South Capitol Street
• A9 Reroute from South Capitol Street to Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue and 11th Street Bridge. Extend to McPherson Square and convert to limited-stop MetroExtra service.
• D4 Extend to Fort Totten
• H6 Reroute in Fort Lincoln
• W4 Increase frequency of midday service to every 22 minutes
• B8 Reroute in Fort Lincoln and between Fort Lincoln & R.I. Ave Station
• 79 Add new Saturday service with 12 minute frequency

Maryland

• K6 Adjust running times
• R3 Add one later northbound evening trip.
• T18 Shorten the time between buses in the midday and rush periods.

Virginia

• 7A,F Reroute 7F weekdays and Saturdays via Braddock Rd. & N. Hampton Drive; provide more running time on 7A,F off-peak and weekend service.
• 1C Reroute to Random Hills Road; extend to West Ox Road.
• 2A,B Split into two lines: 2A to run all days from Ballston to Dunn Loring, 2B to run weekdays and Saturday from Dunn Loring to West Ox Road via Fair Oaks Mall, and the Government Center area.
• 3T Extend to Seven Corners via West Broad Street, Washington Street, East Falls Church Station, and Roosevelt Boulevard.
• 15M Reroute via Vienna Station
• 23A,C Split into two lines during peak hours: 23T (north end) from Shirlington to Tysons Corner Center via McLean Station (Silver line *); 23B (south end) from Ballston to Crystal City. Trip times at Crystal City coordinated with Crystal City-Potomac Yard transitway service. Operate 23A between Tysons Corner Center and Crystal City off-peak and weekends.
• The proposed package of service realignments does not increase operating costs or the number of buses in the fleet. The changes are expected to improve overall on-time performance and customer satisfaction, increase ridership, and improve cost recovery.
• The ratio of passengers currently using services that would see improvements to the number of passengers using non-productive services is approximately 15 to 1. Fifteen passengers will see improvements for every one passenger who may be inconvenienced.

* These changes will be made when rail service is operational on the Silver line Phase I to Wiehle Avenue.