P Streeet, NW. Photo by DDOTDC on Flickr.

When DDOT’s renovation of O and P Streets in Georgetown completed last month, students expected the main Metrobus serving Georgetown University to resume its route to campus. To their surprise, WMATA announced last week that the G2 route will not resume its normal route until December.

Under normal circumstances, the G2 follows O and P Streets through the neighborhood all the way to the main gates of Georgetown University, but for the past 18 months it has ended at Wisconsin Avenue.

ANC Commissioner and Georgetown student Jake Sticka said, “This is particularly unfortunate given that the new campus plan bans students from having cars. This is an unexpected hardship for students going to internships in town.”

WMATA spokesperson Dan Stessel says that because WMATA believed utility work would continue after the September street renovation, “service restoration was included in the next schedule pick, which is December.” Metrobus operators select routes based on seniority in what is known as the pick system.

As it turns out, there is no utility work happening on the G2 route right now. In fact, DDOT won’t allow digging on the affected streets for 3 years, unless there’s an emergency, to protect the street work that was completed.

Nonetheless the G2 won’t go to the university until December, because restoration wasn’t in the schedule pick.

Stessel says “no one should be surprised, as this is what we said we would do all along.” Some ANC commissioners, though, said they don’t recall hearing of any delay.

Communication with residents was a source of frustration in the early months of the O & P renovation project. DDOT responded with a website and other improved communication to help residents change their routines to avoid construction hassles.

Without the G2 bus, students and university employees can get to Dupont Circle using the University-provided GUTS shuttle and the D2 and D6 Metrobuses. These routes pick up from the west and north ends of campus. That’s a good walk from the classrooms on the east end of campus and from the off-campus housing where many students live.

Ken Archer is CTO of a software firm in Tysons Corner. He commutes to Tysons by bus from his home in Georgetown, where he lives with his wife and son.  Ken completed a Masters degree in Philosophy from The Catholic University of America.