‘Driving, Not Reading!!! :)’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’
The Georgetown Monitor reported yesterday that the DDOT is seriously considering a significant cut to the Circulator’s Georgetown service based on budgetary concerns and ridership totals. Despite Ward 2 DC Councilman Jack Evans’ protests, City Administrator Neil Albert has apparently already signed off on the plan.
The only hope for keeping the service is for DC residents and businesses to appeal to Mayor Fenty directly. If you’re interested in joining the petition to prevent further Circulator service cuts to this area, GM has a sample letter you can sign.
***For clarification, the DDOT’s proposal would eliminate the Wisconsin Avenue portion of the Georgetown-Union Station Circulator’s route, specifically from M Street to Whitehaven Street.
A born and bred New Yorker, Rebecca made the big trip “down south” to DC in 2006 and hasn’t looked back. She spends her days strategizing/planning/ideating how interactive products can help her clients and change the world. In her free time, she explores DC’s ever expanding bar, restaurant and small business scene, plays a crap ton of soccer, attends concerts that contribute to her sleep deprivation and embarks on local adventures. Read why Rebecca loves DC or follow her on twitter.
The headline “Save the Georgetown Circulator” makes it sound as if the entire Georgetown-Union Station route is in danger of being cut, or that the Circulator would no longer go to Georgetown at all. From what I’ve heard, the proposed cuts would only cut out the tail end of the service up Wisconsin Ave north of M Street, right? Certainly still of concern to many, but not “Save the Circulator!”-worthy.
Given that the Wisconsin portion of the route is ~.8 miles out of the ~4.3 mile long journey, covers the majority of the Circulator’s Georgetown route, and is the only Circulator route within the Georgetown area, I think the title is warranted.
Why does it need to be saved? Is it that heavily used? Don’t most people going to Georgetown get off before it turns up Wisconsin?
ahem. 30s buses anybody?
I agree with C. The post doesn’t even say what part of the service is slated to be cut. Come on Welovedc. Don’t have a bunch of people writing to the Mayor thinking that they are making serious cuts to the Circulator routes. At least make a post that gives all of the facts. This sounds like someone wanting to have a bunch of people complain about something when they don’t even know the full story. GIVE ALL THE FACTS Welovedc!
If ridership is down then apparently people aren’t using this route, so save the rest of the system some money and CUT IT! Anyway, it’s not like you can’t find other ways to get into Georgetown, as jason astutely points out.
As a daily rider of the Georgetown-Union Circulator, specifically the Wisconsin corridor, I have the below rider/neighborhood denizen insights.
On my daily commutes in both the morning (@ 8am) and afternoon (@ 6pm) the Circulator is packed both going down and coming up Wisconsin Ave.
I strongly believe that this Circulator route will become only more and more traveled with the opening of the new Safeway/commercial area near Whitehaven AND the increasing nightlife/restaurant scene of Glover Park. In fact, I’ve often hoped they’d extend the service up to Calvert so I could visit the Whole Foods, WSC and restaurants without walking up or down a huge hill.
Additionally, the 30 line bus changes were not just to the routes but also to the quantity and frequency of buses running the route. I’ve spend close to 45 minutes waiting for any of them, only to have 3 different 30 buses show up all at once.
All in all, the Wisconsin corridor and Glover Park/Burleith neighborhoods have seen drastic cuts in bus service and routes. In fact, should the Wisconsin corridor be cut from the Circulator line, the Georgetown/Glover Park/Burleith area will have seen a net reduction in service of at least 70%.
What’s more alarming is that the DDOT decision was made without any public meetings, so there was no forum to raise possible alternatives (i.e. cutting the amount of stops on the Wisconsin Avenue corridor or expanding the route during rush hours) or have a dialogue about the proposal.
If you want to know the nitty-gritty, the Georgetown Metropolitan has great write up including further justifications for the Wisconsin corridor service and the background history of the bus situation in the area. http://georgetownmetropolitan.com/2009/09/17/ddot-confirms-circulator-service-cut/#more-3146
I’ve been know sometimes, on occasion, to post in a less-than-serious manner on this board. But this posting has really struck a nerve with me.
I am going to sign a petition supporting the slashing of the Circulator route. Those Georgetown and Glover yuppies should have allowed the DC Metro to put a stop on their precious M Street when they had the chance. They’ve made their bed, now let’s all point & laugh.
Schrendan, the story that the metro station didn’t go into Georgetown because of resident opposition is a myth- WMATA decided not to build it because of the cost.
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For me, the Circulator bus is the most useful and reliable bus serving Glover Park/Burleith and downtown. Its every 10 minute schedule provides a much reliability to resident’s ability to get downtown in a reasonable length of time. The 32 and 36 buses, which are now the only ones that go downtown from the upper Georgetown location are spaced too far apart. Since I retired last July, I have used the circulator several times a week and expect that when the Safeway is reopened with additional shops the need for it will be even greater. Please don’t eliminate the Wisconsin Avenue portion. It hardly seems worth any savings when it serves such a vibrant area and is such a small portion of the entire route.
It’s been saved. Woo hoo! http://georgetownmetropolitan.com/2009/09/29/circulator-saved/