Metro considering limited-stop 16th Street bus

Transit

Metro considering limited-stop 16th Street bus

by Michael Perkins • February 11, 2009 10:45 am

Metro's finance committee will consider a plan to start 16th Street limited-stop bus service. The District will finance the service for for the first 15 months. If the line exceeds the system' average passengers per trip, passengers per revenue mile and cost recovery, Metro will take over funding the line through the funding formula.

The new limited-stop service will receive the designation S9, and will operate every 10 minutes between Silver Spring and McPherson Square during morning (6:30-10:00) and evening (3:00-7:00) rush hours. Metro expects riders to save 6-8 minutes each way by stopping only 16 times per direction. For the first full year of operation (July 2009-July 2010), DDOT expects to pay just over $1.6 million to operate the line. In addition, Metro plans to assign two bus line supervisors to the route to better manage bus bunching and other schedule adherence problems.

Metro has some other changes to the "S" bus lines that require more study before implementation:

"Turn-back" service at Colorado Ave. or Piney Branch Parkway, to more frequently service the more heavily utilized southern portion of the route;
Dedicated southbound morning peak bus only lanes between Piney Branch and Florida Avenue;
Queue jumping lanes at two intersections along the route, where the intersection design will let buses move to the head of the line at red lights;
Transit signal priority, where buses can send signals to traffic lights, holding them green until the bus goes through the intersection.

This isn't the first limited-stop Metrobus service. Metro Extra route 79, which operates along Georgia Avenue and 7th/9th Streets NW, carries over 5,400 passengers per day in all-day (6am to 7pm) service from Silver Spring to Archives. It costs more to operate than the proposed route and recovers less of its costs than the target for the S9. The 79 meets the other productivity requirements for the S9 line, making it likely that similar service on the S9 route will be successful enough to continue. There's also the limited-stop 37 line, which operates on the 30s corridor from Friendship Heights to downtown in the peak direction only during rush hour.

If the committee and full board approve the new line, Metro expects to start operating on March 29.

13 comments — Share	— tags: buses, WMATA

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Comments

What is with WMATA and the naming of the lines why dont they ever use consecutive numbers what happen to S5,6,7,8 or when they plan on creating a metro extra route that just pick whatever the buses are called there currently and add a 9 to it.

Whats with the distance between Luzon Ave and the next stop Eastern Ave thats like three times the distance between every other stop; they should add at least one stop somewhere along there.

So is the X2 line up next ?

by KK on Feb 11, 2009 12:04 pm

This is a welcome development. I live in Mt.P and have been loving the 43 that skips Dupont Circle by going under on Connecticut. I still don't understand why the 42 can't do the same. After all, it stops reasonably close to both Dupont metro exits without it.

I'd love the peak travel lanes for buses in the morning on the 16th street line. That would go a long way towards speeding the buses through the corridor, which of course should be the first priority. More people would ride the S buses if they knew it was comparable to being in a car, even if a little slower.

I'll have to time and see the difference between this and the 43 after it starts running.

KK, there is one stop between Luzon and Eastern. But I would guess those distances are as long as they are based on the ridership data and the busyness of those stops in between. They're trying to limit stops where the fewest people get on. And the regular S buses will still make all the stops of course.

by Steve Davis on Feb 11, 2009 12:14 pm

I like the idea of all the Extra routes having a '9' at the end of their designation. That makes things easier to decipher.

A complete aside - I finally saw a bus in the new Metro Local livery the other day at the Potomac Ave Metro station. It looks sharp.

Combining new livery with with some order to the numbering system, and the bus system will make a whole lot more sense to casual and infrequent riders.

by Alex B. on Feb 11, 2009 12:21 pm

Steve, I was saying that because it would skip Walter Reed by far and maybe Alaska Ave and 16th street would be a better location than Luzon for the stop.

Since you could possibly have people walk down for 16th street to catch bus while I doubt people would walk down all the way to Luzon and the fact that the stop would be really close to the Missouri Ave stop

by KK on Feb 11, 2009 12:27 pm

KK, that's probably a very good point. Would make sense to stop right as it turns left onto the 16th street alignment for all of those folks walking from the north.

by Steve Davis on Feb 11, 2009 1:59 pm

This is really great, and timely, as I was wishing for an express bus this morning while I rode the S2 to work.

Somewhat related: Is there any explanation for how the bus routes were/are laid out? Coming from Chicago, the DC system is absolute chaos. Why are there stops on almost every block? Would the improvements above, like transit signal priority, matter if we still had to stop every block?

by Stefanie on Feb 11, 2009 8:52 pm

Ah, the better to bring you to the DCJCC!

by CPO on Feb 11, 2009 10:34 pm

This bus is great news!

by Jazzy on Feb 12, 2009 7:49 am

Metro retained the bus numbering systems of the previous operators. DC Transit assigned numbers to streetcar lines, and letters to bus lines. Prince Georges and Virginia companies used their own methods.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/29/AR2007122901438.html

I'm wondering if that DC public/private partnership that produced the bus maps is going to update or replace them. I just saw one on a 16th St. bus shelter that dates to 2003-2004, and most of Northwest has been peeled off by some antisocial dolt.

Incidentally, bus maps showing all the routes are downloadable from the WMATA website.

by David Ramos on Feb 12, 2009 10:34 am

The aging public/private bus maps I'm referring to are the ones attached to DC bus shelters. WMATA's downloadable bus maps are more current.

by David Ramos on Feb 12, 2009 10:41 am

The Shit bus has to be one of the worst routes in the system. It NEVER runs even close to on time.

by Dan T. on Feb 12, 2009 2:22 pm

David, I understand that most transit systems are remnants of previous iterations. I am also familiar with the WMATA map, which I must consult frequently.

My real question is why there hasn't been more effort to streamline the system in some way. Public resistance, I'm sure, plays a large role, but at some point, the need for a better system must trump that. Bus routes are constantly being reviewed, but I just don't see much improvement in efficiency with many of WMATA's proposals lately. They don't address the big issues, the big changes that should happen across the board, from DDOT to DC Planning to the Department on Aging. It doesn't feel like there's any push, any commitment to better bus service.

Then again, I'm not exactly privy to anything that happens in those offices, nor am I familiar with their policies. And I realize this a blog comment and these issues are better addressed with actual DC staff and officials. Hence my questions if anyone around here knew the deal.

by Stefanie on Feb 12, 2009 8:53 pm

This is great news! I live in Mt Pleasant, and whenever I take the bus it takes forever because it seems to stop every two blocks. The 42 is particularly bad. When not eliminate some of the unnecessary stops and make people walk just a little bit more? It makes a lot of sense to me.

And the idea of segregated bus lanes is terrific. 16th street is a traffic nightmare and it makes me feel like a live next to a giant expressway for shuttling cars from Maryland into the city and back out again. Why not put in a brt? It would make the commute from Maryland much faster and it would clean up 16th street, making my neighborhood a safer and nicer place to live. Everybody would win.

But for some reason even the most obvious solution needs to be studied to death. Just build the thing, its common sense.

by Ethan Arpi on Feb 16, 2009 12:05 pm