Starting Sunday, Sept. 5, Metro is increasing weekday service and lowering fares on weekends, but not everyone will get back what they’re used to once Labor Day ends. A number of bus routes are being eliminated or altered, forcing some people to change their routines out of necessity — and for an undetermined future to come.

Kate Anderson says she’s not sure when her A9 express bus, which runs during weekday rush hours from Southern Avenue and South Capitol Street in Ward 8 to Franklin Square in the heart of D.C., will come back. She’s been riding that bus for more than a decade.

“It’s direct, so you can sit down the whole way, which allowed me to do some work, make some phone calls,” she said. “A lot of us (riders) know each other since we take it at the same time of day, so there’s also a community around it, too. You have families, you have office workers, you have frontline workers.”

Now A9 riders will have to take an A8 bus to Anacostia Metro and then transfer to the Red Line to get to downtown D.C.

Similar cuts are happening across the system, including eliminating some of the express buses and consolidating a handful of routes that are similar to other routes. Anderson and her family don’t have a car, so they relied on the A9 to get to work and grocery stores in Navy Yard.

“I understand removing the duplicative routes, we have to be fiscally responsible,” Anderson says. “But you look at the other routes that kind of go over this area and they only go to Anacostia station and even at 12-minute intervals, you’re just gonna have a crush during rush hour when the pandemic is over. I feel like we’re constantly left behind [in Ward 8].”

Rosie, who asked that her last name not be used for privacy concerns, is in the same boat when she returns to work after Labor Day. Instead, she’ll walk 10 extra minutes to the Congress Heights Metro station and then transfer at L’Enfant Plaza.

“It probably takes about the same amount of time, all things considered. It’s a longer walk in the heat, and then transferring at L’Enfant isn’t always efficient,” she said. “It’s a little bit less peaceful than just, you get on a bus, you sit down, you read a book or listen to something. It’s just not my preferred method of transportation, and especially for people in this ward, it’s also a more expensive method of transportation.”

When will all bus service return?

Metro says it focused on increasing core bus routes and restoring service areas where no other transit options were available. It also chose to reduce or consolidate routes where duplicative service was available.

Metro recommends bus customers whose express routes haven’t returned to transfer to Metrorail, since transfers are now free. For instance, A9 riders can instead use the A8 to the Green Line at Anacostia station to downtown D.C.

The crosstown H1 riders, whose usual bus isn’t back, can use the H2 or H4 to get to the Green and Yellow Line at Columbia Heights or the Red Line at Brookland. They could also take the realigned 42/43 routes in the Mt. Pleasant area.

But someday, buses like the A9 may return.

“The board has committed to evaluating ridership trends and making future changes based on observed ridership patterns and input from the public while keeping capacity ahead of demand,” Metro spokesperson Ian Jannetta wrote in an email.

Residents did get some traction to make changes. The 63 bus from Takoma to Petworth was added back to service after letters and complaints from local Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners.

Comparing pre-pandemic service to now

Metro was able to increase service because of the influx of federal aid. The transit agency is far past the doomsday cut proposals of Nov. 2020, for now.

Fare revenue still is way down as ridership remains about one-third or less compared to pre-pandemic times. But different waves of federal dollars and different phases of the pandemic have brought several versions of service over the past year and a half, making it hard to keep track of how service levels now compare to those before the pandemic.

https://twitter.com/jamespizzurro/status/1428775427598950412

Metro watcher and MetroHero app developer James Pizzurro put together an analysis of pre-pandemic hours and frequencies for Metrorail before and after the pandemic. He used two years worth of data from the app to look at how frequently trains arrived at stations pre-pandemic and compared it to the Metro’s approved schedule for this year.

He says more trains during non-peak hours is a great step, but trains will come less frequently in rush hours and Saturdays compared to before the pandemic.

“So from that standpoint, it’s kind of all over the place and really depends, as it usually does, when you’re riding, where you’re coming from, where you’re going,” he said. “All those factors dictate what sort of service you experience.”

Pizzurro also noted some changes from the Metro board’s proposal to what service is actually in place for Sept. 6. For instance, on Saturdays, the Red Line will see trains every 8 minutes, though the board approved trains every 6 minutes. On other lines, trains were supposed to come every 12 minutes, but they will instead arrive every 15 minutes.

“It’s interesting that didn’t happen,” he said. “Don’t know what happened there, but Metro can technically start that any time during the fiscal year.”

He says Metro has generally done a good job of bringing back bus service but needs to communicate better with riders who are still left wondering when their route could come back.

“Getting some answers to those folks would be good, but generally speaking we are seeing more frequent all-day service, a little bit more attention to the frequency at which buses arrive. All those are changes I think transit advocates have been asking for a while,” he said. “So to see that sort of coming to fruition, especially now when other decisions could have been made… the sentiment is pretty hopeful.”