November 13, 2008
Circulator Definitely Coming to Adams Morgan
So sayeth The Examiner, which has Ward 1 Council member and Metro board member Jim Graham confirming that the buses have already been ordered and are scheduled to arrive in March. The new Circulator route is intended to replace the 98 bus, the 25 cent shortbus link that connects U Street to 18th Street. The $1 Circulator will go much farther than the 98, and will include parts of K Street, U Street, up through Adams Morgan and Woodley Park as well as Columbia Heights - we'll be excited to check out an exact route map when it's ready. There's a public hearing set for Wednesday, Nov. 19 about canceling the 98 bus, at 600 5th Street NW at 6:30 p.m.
| 
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
email this
add to facebook
add to del.icio.us
Advertisement: DCist Continues Below!
Post a comment (Comment Policy)
[ report this ]
canceling the drunk bus??? But why? I love that little ice cream truck bus.
[ report this ]
I live on U street and I love the 98 bus. It takes me pretty much from my house to Adams Morgan and Woodley. This might not be a good change for me.
[ report this ]
I live on U Street and I love the 98 bus. It takes me pretty much from my house to Adams Morgan and Woodley. This probably wouldn't be a helpful change, for me at least.
[ report this ]
So, with this development, can we conclude that earlier speculation is true and DC really is building its own bus system?
[ report this ]
Didn't another story mention that the 98 bus line was *the* least utilized, least patronized, and least profitable bus line in DC. I seem to recall something about only 300 riders a week.
Now, a circulator from the Georgetown/Downtown area through to U-street and then Woodley park? Dream come true for me!
[ report this ]
WestEnder:
I totally agree with you: something that would directly connect Georgetown/Downtown with Adams Morgan would be brilliant, but it doesn't sound like that's what this is designed to do.
[ report this ]
The 98 is subsidized by the city and was never planned to be a money maker - it is to help the businesses in Adams Morgan and U Street and to help drunk people get to the metro safely.
I think it is underutilized because people simply don't know about it, don't know it only costs a quarter and because the drivers are so inconsistent - they are rarely 10-15 minutes apart, and not all of them actually take riders all the way to the last stop before the turn around on 9th street NW (super convenient to eh 9:30 Club, DC9 and Nellie's). It can be improved, but don't take it away!
[ report this ]
As an Adams Morgan resident, I'm in the same group of "extend the current Circulator up to Adams Morgan, not create a whole new one."
Next on my list of things to complain about to WMATA - make the 42 bus run under Dupont Circle.
[ report this ]
Any route containing 18th Street is retarded. They'd be better off dropping people at 18th and Columbia, otherwise you'd be better off walking on Friday and Saturday.
[ report this ]
the georgetown bus is sooooo slow even after they changed the route and eliminated the superfluous stops.
[ report this ]
I think it is underutilized because people simply don't know about it
It's probably underutilized because white people are scared/turn-their-noses-up at buses.
[ report this ]
@majapa:
Seconded on the 42 bus suggestion. It seems absurd that it doesn't go under Dupont. That trip around the circle is often a harrowingly slow, I'd-pull-my-hair-out-follicle-by-follicle-if-I-could-move-my-elbows nightmare crawl.
[ report this ]
majapa: a 43 bus is planned for late 2008/early 2009 that will take the same route as the 42 but go under the circle.
you should all go to this WMATA meeting and make your voices heard. the adams morgan circulator route is not finalized by any means regardless of what graham is saying about where it's supposedly going.
[ report this ]
It seems absurd that it doesn't go under Dupont. That trip around the circle is often a harrowingly slow, I'd-pull-my-hair-out-follicle-by-follicle-if-I-could-move-my-elbows nightmare crawl.
Don't they need the 42 to stop at Dupont metro? Furthermore, they probably need it to stop close to the entrance for disabled accessibility.
[ report this ]
The Dupont entrances are at Q & Conn and 19th & Conn, so there's no way to stop a bus right next to either of them and still go under the circle. One could skirt around the circle, but that has the same problems of distance.
[ report this ]
Didn't another story mention that the 98 bus line was *the* least utilized, least patronized, and least profitable bus line in DC.
Quite possibly, because it is all those things. (There are worse lines for all those metrics, but in the suburbs. The absolute worst performer in the entire system is the T24, which connects East Falls Church to Tyson's Corner.)
[ report this ]
jeez, wasn't the point of the circulator system, when it was first introduced, to be simple routes to get people from one place to another.
the route that is being talked about here would be the most haphazard thing that public transportation around here has done in a while.
a map won't help you here. you'll need a cray supercomputer to figure out where you're going!
[ report this ]
i am going to have an aneurysm if they ever fuck with 90 or 92