Georgetown Bus Service Reductions Planned
By • February 24, 2020 0 1607
The major bus lines serving Georgetown — the D1, the D2, the D6 and the G2 — are set to be rerouted, rescheduled or eliminated in the District’s fiscal year 2021 budget.
Route D1 (Glover Park-Franklin Square Line) would be eliminated. Routes D2 (Glover Park-Dupont Circle Line) and G2 (P Street-LeDroit Park Line) would be consolidated. And Route D6 (Sibley Hospital-Stadium Armory) would lose some late-night trips.
“But nothing will be decided until the public has a chance to make their voices heard,” Ian Jannetta of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s media staff told The Georgetowner on Feb. 20.
Public input on bus service changes will close on March 2, but Jannetta said that online comments are welcome anytime. A public meeting with the WMATA board is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 26, at 4 p.m. at the agency’s headquarters, 600 5th St. NW.
“I will be going down there for the fourth time in three months,” Georgetown-Burleith Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Kishan Putta wrote to constituents on Feb. 17. “In my neighborhood, residents rely on the D1 & D2,” Putta wrote, noting that, in the new budget, the rush-hour D1 would be cut and the route combined with the G2. “I appreciate the connection to the Logan Circle, Shaw, and Ledroit neighborhoods, but that should not come at the cost of cutting vital rush hour service in half.”
Putta concluded: “I would request that they extend the deadline. ANCs should have a little more time to meet, vote, and submit input. Community organizations as well.”
The changes would also have a significant impact on students at Georgetown University. Although nearly all of the roughly 7,500 undergraduate students at the university have university housing on campus or within a block or two, the buses are their main link to Dupont Circle and downtown D.C.
“The university is a transit desert, or an area where the demand for public transportation is greater than the supply because most students do not have personal vehicles or the financial means to frequently use ride-sharing services such as Uber or Lyft,” noted an article in the Feb. 14 issue of the Hoya student newspaper. “The proposed changes would cut service and move the bus stop from in front of the campus west gates to five blocks north on Q Street.”
“The university is working with community and student leaders to ensure our voices are heard on WMATA’s proposal,” GU Vice President for Governmental Relations and Community Engagement Christopher Murphy wrote to the student newspaper.
The WMATA board — which former Ward 2 Council member Jack Evans chaired until last year — is expected to vote on the proposal in late spring, according to Jannetta. “It is rare when they reject a proposal or decide to keep something the old way,” he told The Georgetowner. “But there are dozens of proposals before the board and I would be surprised if they said yes to them all. In the past, many proposals are reintroduced another year.”
