Proposed Metro bus route changes include renaming, removing 500 stops
Tuesday morning Metro unveiled what the transit agency expects will be its final proposal for a revamp of the bus system that will take effect next summer.
The revamp will include major changes to many routes and the removal of more than 500 bus stops.
Dubbed the "Better Bus System," the plan Metro unveiled also involves renaming routes in a way Metro officials believe makes more sense than the current haphazard naming system, which stems from when four companies consolidated in the 1970s.
Metro first came out with major proposed changes to many bus routes in the spring.
Since then, the transit agency says it has received tens of thousands of comments on the proposals, and has now made changes to its proposals based on those comments.
For example, Metro says it received numerous complaints that its proposal did not provide bus service to Massachusetts Avenue SE in an area west of the Anacostia River, so Metro made changes to a route that will be called C51 in order to provide such service. The C51 route will make its way all the way from Tenleytown to Union Station to Anacostia.
In another case, Metro added a bus stop back that it initially proposed getting rid of. Metro had planned to remove a bus stop at 23rd Street South and Grant Street in Crystal City, but after hearing from people in the area who felt that was a mistake, Metro changed its mind and added the stop back on what is today the 10A route, but what will be known as the A1 route.
SEE ALSO |
Under Metro's proposal, all bus routes will be renamed based on the primary geographic area they serve:
The new names will start with those letters, followed by a number. An X will be added to the end of the names of routes that have limited stops.
Some of the new names will likely take some getting used to. For example, the well-known X2 route will become the D20 route, and the X9 route will become the D2X route.
Metro says as part of the Better Bus Network, it is proposing 11 more "frequent service routes" that operate every 12 or 20 minutes seven days a week. It is also focusing on having routes go to destinations such as hospitals, grocery stores, malls, and entertainment areas. In addition, in an effort to make bus service faster Metro is proposing the removal of 510 bus stops, which is about five percent of all stops that currently exist.
Metro's board of directors is expected to discuss the final proposed changes on Thursday and then vote on them later this month. The changes are expected to take effect next summer.
To view the final proposals for different bus routes, you can go to .
Metro officials say they redesigned the bus network using the resources the transit agency already has, and they did not rely on an increase in funding.
Officials with the transit agency say if funding is increased in the future, they hope to make other changes to the bus network such as adding 24-hour bus service to local airports.
