(Photo by Rachel Sadon)

One of the city’s most heavily trafficked bus corridors is getting a whole new number.

Mayor Muriel Bowser announced today that she is allocating $1.2 million in the 2018 budget for a new express bus route on the 14th Street corridor: the 59.

Currently about 15,000 people take bus trips on 14th Street each day on the 52, 53, and 54 buses—which can get packed during peak periods. It sees more weekday passengers on average than any other line in D.C., Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld said in a release.

About one-fourth of all residents who moved to D.C. between 2011 and 2015 live in places served by the 50-bus routes, according to data from DC’s Office of Planning obtained by Greater Greater Washington. WMATA has been studying what to do about overcrowding on the line for more than five years, and has been suggesting an express bus as one possible solution for nearly as long.

Now it seems that will finally come to pass. Assuming it receives approval in the budget, the 59 route would go from the Takoma to Federal Triangle Metro stations. It would run every 15 minutes during weekday rush hours and make fewer stops than the other routes on the corridor (similar to the S9 bus on the 16th Street corridor). Service would begin the next time WMATA makes bus service adjustments, likely in December.

“14th Street is a major corridor and today it gets the better, more efficient bus service it needs,” said Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau. “As the population along 14th Street continues to grow, this express bus service will ease congestion and help improve the transportation options available to residents.”

Another bus line, the G9, launched last week to take travelers along Rhode Island Ave. after last year’s budget included funding for it.