We know you love being able to grab a cheap bus to New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and other destinations along the east cost. Entrepreneurs know it too, which is why we’ve kept track of an explosion in new intercity bus options recently, including BoltBus, Megabus, and DC2NY, along with the traditional Chinatown buses. But with so many more buses picking up and dropping off in several areas of downtown, the District Department of Transportation has taken notice of safety and congestion concerns, and is now planning to force all such buses to load in a single “intercity bus zone” in Southwest.

The Examiner reports that a pilot program will soon be unveiled by DDOT that would force intercity buses to load and unload at a curb lane on northbound 10th Street SW, just south of D Street, about two blocks from the L’Enfant Plaza Metro stop. All buses must get a $100 DDOT permit to use the bus zone. Any bus company that tries to load or unload anywhere else could face fines as steep as $1500.

The Examiner story quotes at least one bus company owner, Asi Ohana of DC2NY, as not having heard a thing about such a plan from the city, and it’s a good bet many of the other bus companies are going to be surprised as well. We can imagine long-running Chinatown bus companies, such as New Century Travel which operates a ticket office on H Street, will be the most inconvenienced.

But what about you, the customer? Will having to go down to L’Enfant Plaza to catch a bus to New York or Philly change anything about the way you use these services?