Photo by ep_jhu.

Big changes are in the cards for the D.C. Circulator — that’s not news. But how much will those changes cost riders? Ah, therein lies the rub. According to reports in the Examiner and Greater Greater Washington, the District Department of Transportation is considering raising fares on the red buses to $1.50 for SmarTrip users and $2 for those paying cash. It would be the first fare increase for the Circulator since the service was initiated six years ago.

Obviously, there are going to be many people miffed about the idea of a fare increase. The Circulator’s one-dollar fare is not only incredibly convenient, but it’s less than what it costs to ride Metrobus. But the increase — combined with service cuts, like the elimination of the Smithsonian route, suspending service along the Downtown-Convention Center route, and cutting late-night hours on the Woodley Park-Adams Morgan-McPherson Square route — would bring in an estimated $3.7 million per year.

DDOT is planning on using those savings on several new ideas, some of which may strike your fancy. GGW has the complete list of DDOT’s service proposals, some of which could be put into place immediately — assuming, of course, that Mayor Vince Gray’s FY2012 budget does not cut Circulator funding. The proposals include extending lines — the Union Station-Navy Yard route to east of the Anacostia river, and Rosslyn-Georgetown-Dupont to Howard University — and adding a route between Dupont Circle and the Waterfront and Navy Yard. (We covered some early iterations of these ideas back in November.)

Didn’t quite catch all of that? DDOT will explain all of these proposals to the public at a gathering this Thursday, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., inside the Capitol Hilton Hotel at 1001 16th Street NW.