BUS SERVICE CHANGES + RED LINE CLOSURE COMING IN JUNE AND JULY
Changes to bus service, effective June 21
These two changes revert back to the bus routings (original Line M4) prior to the implementation of the Better Bus Network. A shoutout goes to the feedback of bus riders and the work for more than a year of the Friends of Bus Transit members to convince WMATA to revert back to prior routing and stops.
Line C81 in Tenleytown: Direct access to Tenleytown Metro station restored:
This line (Fort Totten to Sibley Hospital) will now follow the same routing as the C85 and C87, serving the pair of stops on Chesapeake Street, and the stops on 40th Street (Wawa market) and Fort Drive.
(For the past year, this line stayed on Nebraska Avenue, bypassing the Tenleytown Metro station, which had resulted in a 0.4-mile gap between stops, a nearly 10-minute walk to or from the Metro station. The original M4 route and stops have been reinstated, except for the stops on Fort Drive, just off Tenley Circle.)
One new eastbound schooltime trip will be departing Tenleytown at 3:30 pm towards Fort Totten.
Line C83 in Chevy Chase: Service returned to Barnaby Woods and Hawthorne in both directions:
This line (Friendship Heights to Knollwood) will now follow the original routine of the M4 (or E6, depending on how far back). Service to stops in both directions between Nebraska & Utah Avenues and Knollwood is restored, including the westbound stops on Chestnut Street, on Western Avenue, and on Utah Avenue.
(The remainder of the short-lived clockwise loop is being discontinued and the stop on Nebraska Avenue at 29th Street is being eliminated. Riders heading towards Friendship Heights will no longer need to travel on Oregon Avenue by Knollwood. The full round trip will take a few minutes longer.)
Note that the hours and frequency of these two lines will remain as before - generally every 20 minutes for the C81, and every 30 minutes for the C83 on weekends and every 60 minutes on weekends.
Line C83 on “Do Not Cut” list: On weekends, only one bus and driver is assigned to the route, so service will be given priority, so that riders are not left with no service at all.
Lines C85 and C87 schedule adjustments: These routes that run only during rush/school hours will have minor changes to schedule and timing.
Red Line service shutdown, effective July 6
No rail service between Friendship Heights and North Bethesda (formally called White Flint); shuttle buses replace trains:
For two months (July 6 through September 6), the Bethesda, Medical Center, and Grosvenor Metro stations will be out of service. Service from Glenmont and downtown with end at Friendship Heights, and a separate segment will operate between North Bethesda (formerly called White Flint) and Shady Grove.
Shuttle buses will run between Friendship Heights and North Bethesda, with an “express” shuttle that goes non-stop between those two stations “local” shuttles that stop at each Metro station.
Using the shuttle buses, your SmarTrip card will be charged the same as if the trains were running.
Bus lanes implemented along Wisconsin Avenue (and a small portion of Rockville Pike):
As partial compensation, MCDoT will implement bus lanes on Wisconsin Avenue from Western Avenue to Rosedale Avenue (just north of Battery Lane) in the northbound direction, and in the southbound direction from Woodmont Avenue to the Bethesda Metro bus bays, and again from Elm Street to Western Avenue. There will also be a shorter bus lane section in either direction in the vicinity of Grosvenor station. Similarly to the Georgia Avenue bus lanes in Montgomery County, once the rail shutdown ended, MCDoT will decide whether to keep any of the bus lanes in effect.
New versions of WMATA website and MetroPulse app, debuted in May
On May 17, WMATA rolled out a new wmata.com website.
On May 31, a new version of the MetroPulse (2.0) smartphone app was implemented.
The website was completely revamped to make it more consistent with the app. Most links have been changed, so that pages that you have bookmarked are broken and need to be recreated. In addition, some of the quirkiness of the app now occurs on the website.
The 2.0 app was largely reworked. Many new features were added and jumping around from place to place is improved. The new version, once it works, will likely be the first really beneficial version.
Caveat emptor: As with any new implementation, there will be new glitches and bugs implemented. It may be best to wait until the first upgrade (2.01 is released). Note that, for now, BusETA continues to work, with all prior bookmarks you may have made remaining intact. WMATA’s long-term plan is to make MetroPulse include all the convenience and features in BusETA, and to discontinue BusETA.
Written by Cal Simone, CCCA Transportation Committee
