Councilmember Charles Allen submitted the following letter to WMATA General Manager Randy Clarke on the proposed Better Bus Network:

Dear General Manager Clarke,

As I wrote one year ago, for the first time in 50 years, WMATA is proposing a significant and impactful vision for a better bus network that will improve service, reliability, and transit options for the region. WMATA’s goal is to better support residents, businesses, and services, and its proposal has the potential to better connect the region, grow ridership, and help meet our shared climate goals.

Thank you for your consideration of my comments submitted last June in response to your first proposed network. WMATA listened to Ward 6 residents’ feedback and made several changes that are reflected in this second proposed network. Specifically, you helped maintain important connections for students, families, and workers to get downtown, such as on the D6, and you made changes based on substantial feedback.

As the Ward 6 Councilmember, I am sending this letter to highlight my major concerns with the second proposed network – which we have already had the opportunity to discuss in a meeting with your team – as well as my support for routes that should be preserved. While I recognize that WMATA has limited resources, and this second proposed network is intended to more closely adhere to the reality of your budget, this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and the final proposal must be modified to meet the community’s needs in several important respects. I am also writing to amplify the feedback of Ward 6 residents, who again submitted comments through my website and joined my second Better Bus Town Hall last month.

74, P6, and proposed D14/D52

This is one of my top priorities for your reconsideration in the final network. The current 74 route is a critical connection serving the Southwest community and especially residents and businesses located in Buzzard Point. Thank you for noting my concerns in the first proposed network about the lack of service south of P Street, SW. While the new proposed D14 route continues some of the existing 74 route through Southwest and adds an important connection between Southwest/Navy Yard and the Capitol Complex, as well as Union Station, the route is so winding with such long headways that taking the bus will have a large time penalty compared to virtually any other mode of transport.

Additionally, most Southwest residents value the direct connection between their neighborhood and downtown, which this proposal lacks. Southwest is isolated from most forms of transportation – further compounded by the unjustified elimination of the P6 in the second proposed network – and the Buzzard Point neighborhood is quickly growing. This will be the only bus serving the entire neighborhood. It must run efficiently and regularly to desirable destinations.

I would recommend better connecting to existing 74 service, perhaps by maintaining service northbound on 7th to L'Enfant Plaza Metro before moving to the west to connect to Union Station, in addition to streamlining the route south of M Street to avoid lengthy delays and slow service. I also want to note gaps in coverage around L’Enfant Plaza and Jefferson Middle School, in particular, that must be filled, as well as gaps left by the elimination of the P6. This could also be an opportunity to further restore parts of the Circulator coverage through slight modifications to the route, as highlighted by the Capitol Hill BID.

96 and proposed C51 and lack of routes in the eastern side of Capitol Hill

The current proposal to eliminate the 96 leaves an obvious and glaring hole in bus service for all neighbors and businesses around Lincoln Park and large sections of Capitol Hill. I strongly urge WMATA to reevaluate its proposed elimination and restore service plans for this community. This is a high priority for me. The proposed elimination of service on Massachusetts Avenue to points east in favor of a new routing along H and 8th Streets leaves most of Capitol Hill and almost the entire neighborhood around Lincoln Park, all the way to 18th Street, without any bus connections at all. East Capitol Street has no east-west service.

Some potential remedies could be the restoration of bus service on East Capitol Street between First Street and Stadium-Armory, a main artery of the neighborhood with existing bus infrastructure including multiple shelters, or some form of restoration of the original 96 route via Massachusetts Avenue. WMATA must not leave a 10 x 10 block area of the core of the Hill with zero service. Many of my constituents cannot walk – or roll – that far to take the bus, particularly seniors and individuals with disabilities.

D6 and proposed D24/D94

The current D6 route is a pivotal connection for students, families, workers, and essential workers to get downtown. Whether it's the student who needs to get to schools such as BASIS, Duke Ellington, or School Without Walls, the worker commuting downtown to Penn Quarter or Freedom Plaza, or the essential worker needing to connect to Union Station and points beyond, the D6 is a vital bus line and connection. Thank you for listening to the community’s concerns about the first proposed network’s failure to serve riders west of 8th Street, NE. This was one of my top priorities, and you heard my feedback.

Under the second proposed network, the existing D6 would still be split into two routes. While there may be benefits to splitting this long east-west route into two distinct routes to increase speed and reliability, I remain concerned about the loss of a single-seat ride for riders needing to reach Georgetown Hospital, Sibley Hospital, and other destinations on the western end of the route. In addition, the eastern end of the route will now originate east of the Anacostia River – an excellent change that will likely positively affect ridership – but one which will need to be closely monitored to ensure seat capacity. The current origination at Stadium-Armory already generates full buses during the morning commute.

B2 and proposed C41

The proposed C41 route now extends from Mount Ranier north to West Hyattsville, making the route far more usable for those heading to or coming from parts of Maryland above NE DC. However, the segment through Ward 6 and Capitol Hill/Carver Langston has been shifted further east away from the important Bladensburg Road and 14/15th Street corridors. This not only worsens the pressing gap in bus service on Capitol Hill in WMATA’s second proposed network by moving an already very heavily used north-south route even further away from alternatives, but it also moves bus service off heavily developed corridors and isolates Hill residents.

X8 and proposed C43

The proposed C43 route has the potential to create a new significant and positive north-south connection across Capitol Hill, better connecting neighbors to local businesses on Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, Eastern Market, and Barracks Row. However, the C43 remains a rush hour-only service instead of a route on which people can rely at all hours of the day. This route could help compensate for the Circulator winddown and serve as an important and logical connection for Ward 6 and the neighborhoods it runs through, and as such, it should at least run most hours and arrive more often than every 20 minutes. While the loss of connection to Union Station is also concerning, I hope frequencies on the H/Benning routes will increase sufficiently to compensate for less direct service routing into residential areas.

Proposed D92

I wanted to highlight comments shared with me by Georgetown University with which I agree and would urge you to adopt. WMATA has proposed the D92 route that will cross the District from Georgetown University’s main entrance at 37th and O Streets, NW, to Union Station. As the route returns from Union Station back towards Georgetown University, the proposed route travels down E Street, turns right on North Capitol Street, left on Massachusetts Avenue, and right on New Jersey Avenue.  With the proposed growth at Georgetown’s Capitol Campus and steady enrollment at Georgetown’s Hilltop campus, I would propose a slight modification to the return route leaving Union Station that will further connect the two campuses together for students and the community.

The proposed route change would leave Union Station, travel down E Street (as currently proposed), travel past North Capitol Street, turn right on New Jersey Avenue and continue on its proposed route across the city towards Georgetown’s Hilltop campus. Additionally, WMATA might consider increasing the frequency of the proposed route during morning and afternoon rush hours, as well as midday and evening travel. 

Other Comments

Urgent Need for Coordination with District Agencies

As WMATA further refines the bus network plans, in addition to cooperation with elected officials and residents, I urge you to continue to engage closely with District agencies—DDOT, in particular. For DDOT, future plans must consider how proposed bus routes will interact with road planning and current and planned infrastructure. For example, as proposed, many lines will run down 8th Street, SE, which DDOT is concurrently evaluating for a bus priority lane. For WMATA to be able to achieve its goals, it needs to align and support DDOT's bus priority work to make sure bus service is fast and convenient for all riders. It is critical that WMATA and DDOT work on the staff-level to coordinate on interrelated decision making.

And there is still not full coverage to replace the gaps in Circulator service throughout the Ward, and I encourage WMATA to engage DDOT with this specific lens in its final planning stages. While I know I have discussed these concerns directly with WMATA leadership, it warrants addressing here again. With the Executive branch's failure to coordinate with WMATA about their elimination of the DC Circulator bus service in a way that could be incorporated into Better Bus planning, the loss of these routes creates significant service gaps for riders, workers, and small businesses. As WMATA reviews feedback, I strongly urge that each route and proposed change be done so with the Mayor's elimination of the Circulator in mind so that the impact (or mitigation of those impacts) is considered in ridership and route planning. The Committee on Transportation and the Environment has set regular reporting requirements for the Department of Transportation and will exercise strong oversight to ensure that DDOT is coordinating and working with WMATA on possible route modifications to protect these critical service lines.

General Shortening of Routes

I understand the 2025 network was designed around existing constraints of operators and rolling stock in mind; however, it seems that one of the ways WMATA is proposing to improve headways is slightly shortening some routes to increase the density of the number of buses operating on routes. While I highly value and support improving headways and understand the necessity of doing so to create a more usable bus network, trimming routes at their termini downtown may not be the best option. Many residents use the bus for longer trips, such as from Capitol Hill to Georgetown and points west on the 30-series or from MacArthur Boulevard to the Hill on the D6. Aside from the few true crosstown routes being split, many routes which currently terminate downtown see their lengths in downtown cut short. The X2, one of the highest ridership routes in the network, is seeing its downtown terminus shift from the White House area to Gallery Place, making the route superfluous to a large segment of downtown workers critical to our recovery, as well as losing a convenient transfer to the Blue/Orange/Silver lines. Reducing route lengths and truncating downtown segments makes the bus system less usable for residents who ride the bus as their primary commute or method of transportation and could potentially negate any ridership benefits from improved headways.

* * * * *

While I do see some areas for improvement, the Better Bus Network project is a huge step forward for the region and for District residents. As you know, District residents are more dependent on the Metrobus system than our neighbors in Maryland in Virginia. Expanding and improving bus service is also always a good investment in transit equity, and I applaud WMATA for its efforts on that front.

I appreciate your attention to my comments. I have attached to my letter additional comments I received from Ward 6 residents since the second proposed network was released. Note that these comments are not necessarily reflective of my views, but they do overlap significantly. Please feel free to reach out to my Chief of Staff, Kate Mitchell, with any questions, and thank you for your leadership on this visionary project.

Sincerely,

Councilmember Charles Allen, Ward 6

Chairperson, Committee on Transportation & the Environment

Chair, Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments

Cc: Tracy Hadden Loh, District of Columbia Board Member, WMATA

Valerie Santos, District of Columbia Board Member, WMATA