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Last week, we reported that the Georgetown/Union Station route of the popular Circulator bus would cease traveling up Wisconsin Ave. beginning Oct. 4, and Monday the District Department of Transportation announced several other route changes to the Circulator buses. The changes will result in the complete cancellation of the National Mall loop during the off-season, plus the loss or addition of service to some stops on other routes.
“We regret having to make any cuts in service,” said DDOT Director Gabe Klein in a statement. “It was not a decision we took lightly and the reductions were targeted to affect the fewest riders and produce the greatest savings"
Find the breakdown for how all the Circulator changes will work after the jump. These changes will take effect on Sunday, October 4.
Union Station - Georgetown route
As we already mentioned, service on Wisconsin Avenue NW will be discontinued north of M Street. The new routing will therefore be Washington Circle to K Street, right on Wisconsin Avenue, right on M Street, right on Pennsylvania Avenue, and returning to Washington Circle and downtown. The change will lead to the elimination of 7 stops along the upper part of Wisconsin Ave., as well as all stops on the north side of M Street NW, because the Circulator will only operate eastbound on M Street.
Two stops will be added to the route traveling westbound on K Street: one at K Street & 30 Street, and another at K Street & Wisconsin. The stop at Wisconsin & M will also move around the corner onto Wisconsin instead of on M.
Smithsonian-National Mall Loop
The is the weekend-only, tourist-oriented Circulator, and DDOT has decided to go ahead and shut the whole thing down during the fall and winter months in order to save money. The last day of weekend service will be October 4, 2009. DDOT says service will resume on April 3, 2010.
Union Station - Navy Yard Metro route
Service on this route will be modified slightly near Union Station. Buses traveling to Navy Yard Metro will exit the Union Station parking garage, travel around Columbus Circle and stop at Delaware Ave. NE. From there the buses will turn right on 1st Street NE, right on D Street NE, and left onto Louisiana Ave., returning to their regular route.
Buses traveling to Union Station will turn left at Louisiana Ave. onto North Capitol Street, right onto E Street NE, right onto Columbus Circle and stop at Delaware Ave. NE, and return to the Union Station parking garage.
DDOT has also added stops at Louisiana and D Street NE in both directions.
Woodley Park/Adams Morgan-McPherson Square Metro route
DDOT is adding one stop to this limited-stop, express route: at Columbia Road NW and Ontario Road, in both directions. It's hoped the addition of this stop will help better serve residents of Mount Pleasant and Adams Morgan.
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So they are still running empty busses to and from the empty SW Waterfront? Brilliant!
That's a weird choice for ading another stop on the Woodley Park line. To my mind the location that most needs another stop is 14th St: there's nothing between P and the north side of U. That works out fine for me, but it's about a ten minute walk between the stops, and there are a bunch of businesses right in between.
Eh, I don't know, I think I get this move. If you're heading to Columbia Road/Adams Morgan, your only two options are exiting at 16th & Columbia, or riding all the way to the weird stop that's on 18th Street, but actually north of Columbia by a couple blocks. This way, you can get off closer to where most people actually want to go. And I'd hate to see another stop added on 14th Street! The best part about the Circulator is that you can zip up from Logan Circle to Columbia Heights in no time. If you want local service, take a 50 bus!
amen!
i am curious to know why there are no changes to the SW line. i'm certain it doesn't have the ridership that the wisconsin avenue part of the georgetown line did.
The wisconsin ave portion of the G'Town line only had 2% of the ridership but sucked up 15% of the total cost for the route. It had something like 3 regular users and duplicated a service Metro already offers.
Maybe it's all the affluent, retired, and mass-transit dependent honkeys that live in Southwest. Like Randy "Duke" Cunningham and his yacht crew of sexy hookers.
I actually rode the Southwest Circulator up from the Waterfront on Monday morning, and it was honest-to-God-crowded. Like, standing room only. And there were only a couple of sexy yacht hookers, clearly not enough to make a difference in ridership.
Sommer, they moved the Adams Morgan stop recently. It's now right in front of the Adams Mill Bar & Grill.
Ah cool, thanks, I hadn't noticed.
Agree with Tom. There's a stop at K and then just south of P, and then a long stretch. Considering 14th St is a fairly major corridor I think they'd be justified in adding a stop or two on 14th.
I'm sort of glad to see Circulator back on the shady side of K. It'll be kinda cool to relive the early days of the route.
There are no stops between P and U because it's an express service. If you need to get anywhere between McPherson Sq. and U, you can also take any of the very regular 50-series buses that run up and down 14th St. and stop at pretty much every street in between P and U.
i'm aware of the 50s buses.
Wow. If there's one thing the Circulator does not need, it's more stops on the Union Station-Georgetown line; it's a slow enough ride as it is, especially when the drivers decide to go 10mph in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent bunching.
In addition, there's a stop at Franklin Square that only serves the Adams Morgan/Columbia Heights line, but the sign doesn't say that. Naturally, there are always a number of people waiting at the sign expecting the bus to stop and start screaming when it blows right by. The entire point of the Circulator service is that it's supposed to be easier to use with clearly defined routes and schedules, right?
Good point. The biggest problem with the circulator is the signage at places where the routes intersect. Why not have a blue circulator, red circulator, etc. with signs that match so we know exactly where to wait for them?
My circulator use completely plummeted when metrobus started nextbus and the circulator wasn't on it. Any ideas if they plan to jump on board with that? I mean, being out competed by metrobus' newfangled technology has to hurt a little...
Circulator has its own system:
http://www.dccirculator.com/DCCirculator.html#myBus
It tells you where the bus is and how many miles it is from your stop, but doesn't estimate the time.
@ downton rez - as a student of the corcoran college in downtown, the gtown circulator bus is the most convenient and accessible way for student to travel between the downtown and smithsonian campuses and the one located in Georgetown, near the duke ellington school. regular student ridership up winsconsin avenue has to be at least 70-75% of corcoran students- maybe not every day, but at least a few times a week. The line cuts are understandable, but regular riders up wisconsin ave are definitley more than you think. it's unfortunate that now we'll have to find alternative, less convenient ways between campuses, but that circulator route has long been an awesome alternative for us.
@ downton rez - as a student of the corcoran college in downtown, the gtown circulator bus is the most convenient and accessible way for student to travel between the downtown and smithsonian campuses and the one located in Georgetown, near the duke ellington school. regular student ridership up winsconsin avenue has to be at least 70-75% of corcoran students- maybe not every day, but at least a few times a week. The line cuts are understandable, but regular riders up wisconsin ave are definitley more than you think. it's unfortunate that now we'll have to find alternative, less convenient ways between campuses, but that circulator route has long been an awesome alternative for us.
@ downton rez - as a student of the corcoran college in downtown, the gtown circulator bus is the most convenient and accessible way for student to travel between the downtown and smithsonian campuses and the one located in Georgetown, near the duke ellington school. regular student ridership up winsconsin avenue has to be at least 70-75% of corcoran students- maybe not every day, but at least a few times a week. The line cuts are understandable, but regular riders up wisconsin ave are definitley more than you think. it's unfortunate that now we'll have to find alternative, less convenient ways between campuses, but that circulator route has long been an awesome alternative for us.
I'm sorry...
But I'm confident in my read of how many ride that portion of the route. Perhaps Corcoran could offer a shuttle?
Last time I checked, the purpose of the Circulator was to move tourists around the city. Not to move college students from one campus to the other. Why can't Corcoran set up a shuttle bus like GW does between its two campuses?
Oh. You beat me to it. Good show.
@downtown rez. Wow you really have no clue what you are talking about. I'm currently siitting on the ciculator on Wisconsin ave and resevoir and I will say there are at least 10-15 riders on board (with only about two stops left). Plenty of riders depend on this bus for their commute. Honestly I think it's more of a case of the NIMBYs (British school of Washington) complaining
Eh, not really. As you might imagine, DC keeps stats on transit ridership.
I understand these changes. Restoring the G'town route to the old one makes sense. However, I don't understand moving the stop back to Wisconsin like it used to be.
The problem is that this is a very long light. People get on, and the bus sits there. Invariably, other people come running up to the bus just as its about to leave. Driver lets them on-and he misses the light. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
The Ontario and Columbia stop makes sense A) as I live there and B) an interim stop between co hi and the weird adams mill grand pedestrian and traffic slamjob.
I for one welcome our new red bus overlords, and would endorse a "colored" bus system.
Upon reflection, better branding than the "Colored bus system" might be advisable, but the idea of "green circulator, blue circulator," etc, or somethign similar, would be awesome.