Starting Sunday, residents of the Forest Hill Apartments in Hillcrest Heights, Maryland, will have to walk off the property to catch the P12 Metrobus.
Metro is discontinuing service to the route after the apartment complex’s owner sent a cease and desist letter to the transit agency.
In November, attorneys for the owners of the Forest Hill Apartments sent the letter demanding Metro stop sending its P12 buses through the roads of the apartment complex, alleging “significant damages” from the buses that, in the words of the letter, were “trespassing through the property.”
The complaint states that the heavy buses damage the asphalt of the roads within the complex off Wheeler Hill Road.
WTOP reached out to the law office representing the complex owners for comment.
Metro declined to comment to WTOP other than to forward a statement on the issue. In it, Metro officials said the transit agency’s been using the P12 route for 50 years and that it serves roughly 150 residents.
As a result, Metro is eliminating four stops within the apartment complex and four on the road leading up to the complex, meaning eight stops in all will no longer be in use after Sunday.
Riders would then have to walk off the property to catch the P12 at other locations including:
- Southern Avenue and 13th Street
- Southern Avenue and United Medical Center
- Wheeler Road and Vermillion Avenue
That change would add a 7-10 minute walk, judging by navigation apps that estimate the time it would take to walk from the property to the three nearby stops.
Residents approached by WTOP on Friday declined to comment on the issue.
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