At least some of the bus routes Metro has proposed cutting could be saved after some 200 people turned up to Metro budget hearings and thousands more submitted comments online.
Metro Board Chairman Paul Smedberg promised Thursday that Metro staff and the board will carefully review public comments from three hearings earlier this week and more than 8,500 online surveys.
“We’re hearing a lot of good feedback from the public,” Smedberg said, specifically citing the significant concerns about bus cuts.
“That’s the purpose of this, is to get that input,” Smedberg said.
The online survey remains open through 5 p.m. Monday.
The budget proposes cutting or combining service on dozens of bus routes across D.C., Maryland and Virginia that Metro staff see as redundant or unnecessary.
“I had tears in my eyes … as I heard the people begging to not have bus cuts,” Denise Rush told the Metro Board Thursday.
Rush is the vice chair of Metro’s Accessibility Advisory Committee.
“You should not cut any buses. You need to make them stronger,” Rush said.
The committee has also asked for MetroAccess Paratransit fare changes that are not included in the budget proposal.
“In Washington, D.C., they’re putting up million-dollar condos, and people can’t ride the bus to get where they need to be. They’re being cut off because they live far out,” Rush said.
Even if key bus routes are saved by the board’s final budget vote in April — as seems likely for many of the ones that have drawn the most complaints to this point — even popular routes across the system are in for major changes starting as soon as next year.
The changes are part of the regional Bus Transformation Project that calls for a total overhaul of the region’s bus routes.
The Metro budget plans being considered would also raise rush-hour rail fares, raise cash fares on buses, restore some of the rail-service hours cut a few years ago and could add additional fees for limited-stop Metrobus routes and for riders at the future Dulles International Airport station.
There have been serious complaints about forcing people who must use cash on a bus to pay more, so that plan may be scrapped. But there have been fewer speakers at the public hearings on other fare increase proposals.
“This is the first fare hike in three years,” Smedberg said.
Overall, he believes Metro is taking steps aimed at winning back ridership through extended hours and potential fare changes, such as improved unlimited-ride passes for short trips or weekends and the potential for a flat fare for weekend rail riders.
Budget plan highlights
Bus service cuts
D.C.
- Eliminate crosstown routes 30N, 30S and 34, and MetroExtra limited-stop rush-hour 37 service.
- Metro would add some service along portions of the routes on Routes 31, 32, 33 and 36.
- Add Route 59 MetroExtra trips, but eliminate Route 54 trips down 14th Street NW. Route 59 would serve Route 54 stops between Takoma and Colorado Avenue.
- Combine routes G2 and D2 to a single route between Glover Park, Georgetown, Dupont Circle and Ledroit Park.
- Combine routes E6 and M4 to a single route between Sibley Hospital, Tenleytown and Chevy Chase.
- Overhaul W line buses and Route A4, including ending W4 segment between Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE & Alabama Avenue SE and the Anacostia Metro and extending the W4 to Fort Drum (extension would replace routes A4 and W5 service).
- W2 and W3 buses would be rerouted to South Capitol Street.
- Route A8 would be extended to St. Elizabeth’s Gate 4.
- Eliminate Route X1, but extend half of rush hour X8 trips past Union Station to and from Foggy Bottom.
- Eliminate Routes B8, B9, D1, D5, V1 and X3.
Maryland
- Cut all Q1, Q2, Q5 and Q6 Veirs Mill Road service between Rockville and Shady Grove Metro. The routes will run only between Rockville and Silver Spring.
- Eliminate Routes Z2, Z8 and Z11 when Montgomery County launches partial bus rapid transit on Route 29. Metro would add some service on Route Z6, which would be rerouted to Greencastle Park & Ride and no longer serve Burtonsville.
- Eliminate B29, B30 (BWI-Marshall to Greenbelt), C11, C13, C28, F12, W14.
Virginia
- Eliminate Route 7Y service between D.C. and the Pentagon. The route will only run between Southern Towers and the Pentagon.
- Eliminate Route 16C service between D.C. and the Pentagon. The route will only run between Culmore and the Pentagon. Only Route 16E would continue to run from Columbia Pike in and out of D.C.
- Eliminate Route 16G, add service on Route 16H. Metro said Arlington’s ART bus service in Arlington Mill would serve as an alternative.
- Eliminate Routes 22A and 22C, add rush hour service on route 22F. Metro said Arlington’s ART bus would provide a weekday alternative.
- End NH2 stop at Huntington Metro. The bus will still run between National Harbor and King Street-Old Town. (A previous version of the plan would have run the bus to Huntington but not Old Town Alexandria)
- Completely eliminate routes 3A, 3T, 5A (Dulles Airport-D.C.), 15K, 29W, S80, S91.
Other bus service changes
- Metro would cut some late-night and early-morning trips on Routes 2A, 10A, 10N, 16E, 30N, 30S, 80, 96, G8, H4, P6, W4, 92, 96, C4, D4, D6, E2, J2, K6, L8, T2, W1 and Y2.
- Metro would add to MetroExtra limited-stop service on Routes 16Y, 79, K9 and X9.
- On weekends, Metro would run buses more frequently on Saturday and/or Sunday on Routes: 7A, 7F, 23B, 23T, 28A, 80, 83, 86, A12, C29, E4, F4, P6, P12, S2, S9, Y2 and Y8.
- To avoid additional complications from all of the proposals, Metro has promised the bus cuts will not affect MetroAccess service areas.
Bus fares
Bus riders who transfer to or from a Metro train would essentially get a free bus ride on regular bus routes under one Metro proposal. Currently, there is a 50-cent transfer discount, rather than the proposed $2 discount.
Metro is considering increasing the fare for limited-stop MetroExtra routes from $2 to $3.
Metro has also proposed charging riders an additional 25 cents on any bus trip if riders use cash to pay the fare or add value to their SmarTrip cards.
A third bus-specific proposal would lower the cost of a 7-Day Regional Bus Pass from $15 to $12.
Rail fares
At Rush hour, Metro has proposed raising the base fare for the shortest trips by as much as 25 cents — from the current $2.25 to $2.50 — and the maximum fare for the longest trips by up to $1 — from $6 to $7.
Metro would not change the cost of existing unlimited-ride passes and is proposing new passes that would allow unlimited bus and trips for $8 for a single day or $18 for three days. (The rail trips would have to cost $3.85 or less).
On weekends, Metro is proposing a flat fare for rail trips that could be as much as $2.75.
Currently, weekend rail trips cost $2 to $3.85, depending on the length of the trip. If the flat fare is adopted, Metro plans a special weekend unlimited-ride rail and bus pass that would cost about $6 for one day or $10 for two days.
Other rail fare changes would shift the way fares are calculated, add an extra $1 fee for riders using the Dulles Airport station and could charge peak fares for riders boarding after midnight on Friday and Saturday nights.
Rail service
The budget plan would restore some of the hours cut from rail service a few years ago by returning to midnight closings Monday through Thursday and shifting to a 2 a.m. closing Friday and Saturday nights.
Sunday hours would remain 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Metro has proposed scheduling trains more frequently on Sundays, every 12 minutes rather than every 15 minutes currently on the Orange, Silver, Blue, Yellow and Green lines.
On the Red Line, it would mean trains scheduled every six minutes rather than every eight minutes downtown.
However, the budget also proposes cutting weekday morning service by reducing scheduled service between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. from every eight minutes to every 12 minutes.
Riders would still pay rush-hour fares.
