Photo courtesy CStan Photo.

Anyone who frequents the H Street NE corridor will tell you that the popular H Street Shuttle has made life much easier since its arrival in 2009. The shuttle serves as a compliment to the X2 Metrobus, connects multiple wards and, perhaps most importantly, is a boon for businesses around a corridor which has been hampered by construction for the better part of the last couple of years. But the shuttle will soon be a luxury of the past: service will cease after December 31.

“NOTE: The SHUTTLE WILL CEASE OPERATIONS AFTER DECEMBER 31st 2010” reads the booming alert on the shuttle’s section of the Atlas Performing Arts Center’s website. And Frozen Tropics, a blog covering the neighborhood, shares a pair of advisories bemoaning the potential shutdown, noting that the shuttle — which operates between the Gallery Place-Chinatown and Minnesota Avenue Metro stations — has been serving as many as 6,000 riders per month. But the shuttle, which has been funded with money from the District’s Department of Transportation, will soon be just another casualty of the city’s massive budget crunch.

Charles Allen, chief of staff for Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells, said today that while Councilmember Wells “would love to see the shuttle continue, it looks unlikely that there’s going to be any funding to continue the H Street Shuttle past December 31.”