Everybody wants a Circulator

Transit

Everybody wants a Circulator

by David Alpert • February 2, 2010 4:29 pm

During the DC Council's debate over the bill to replace the Georgetown Blue Bus with a Circulator, Councilmembers started to chime in about wanting Circulator service in their own Wards.

Photo by PZAO.

Mike DeBonis, who was Tweeting the meeting, covered the saga in 140-character bits:

mikedebonis Everybody wants a goddamn Circulator for their ward. Mary Cheh wondering why Ward 3 can't have one.

mikedebonis Harry Thomas Jr. wants comprehensive plan to bring Circulator (aka 'new private limo service') across town. Especially Ward 5!

mikedebonis Yvette: 'I haven't seen more than five people on a Circulator bus.'

Others chimed in:

davestroup the only ward 3 circulator that might make sense would somehow hit glover park, cathedral, and connect to cleveland park metro.

sherrieindc CM Thomas refers to the Circulator as the 'private limousine' service for certain DC residents...what's wrong with WMATA-clean it up????

amorrissey @mikedebonis @davestroup while we're at it, can we get a Circulator route to the shore? i really hate driving there every summer.

IMGoph tell them to invest money in the streetcar system-the circulator is just a stalking horse for it.

RegBazile Transit svce based on whims of pols has no pax? Shocking!

IMGoph at least kathy henderson won't be able to accuse him of not trying to get for ward 5 what ward 6 has...

sherrieindc has a very good point. We have a comprehensive bus network, the Metrobuses. They provide transit to most neighborhoods in the region and virtually all in DC. If we need to improve transit in various wards of the city, we should improve those.

That said, Circulator buses do play a valuable role: they are more attractive to riders who aren't regular commuters. It's a simple system with a few lines on relatively simple routes, running easy to recognize vehicles that charge a fare that doesn't require change or a SmarTrip.

They're good for getting people to major nightlife destinations that aren't on Metro, like Georgetown and Adams Morgan, or getting people around areas with high rates of walking, like 7th Street across the Mall or around the Mall itself (if only the Park Service allowed that). It would be even more powerful if DC started promoting a combined map to residents and tourists.

It'd be great if Historic Anacostia, Minnesota-Benning, and Fort Totten were big tourist destinations one day, but that evolution should happen around Metro stations or the development that streetcar lines could bring, and is a ways off in the future.

There is a transit plan for all wards (mostly excepting Ward 3), and that's the streetcar plan. As IMGoph pointed out, the Council's eagerness for upgraded transit citywide should focus on the streetcars, not the Circulator.

More broadly, the fragmentation of our region's buses into numerous operators across jurisdictions brings problems. The buses aren't all on one map. The schedules aren't necessarily coordinated. Technology improvements like NextBus rolled out on Metrobus don't apply to the others. And sometimes, jurisdictions have cherry picked popular and potentially profitable bus routes and take them away from Metro.

On the other hand, various bus systems do create some opportunities for competition. It's similar to the way federalism gives states a chance to experiment and innovate in various areas of the law. ART can try out a different kind of service, or Ride On can try working with Google Transit, without the huge Metrobus system having to do it.

It's terrific that Councilmembers are so interested in improving transit service. If they want to move beyond mere posturing, they'll think about the best ways to actually improve their wards' transit, whether that's a red Circulator, a blue Metrobus Express, a streetcar, or something else.

28 comments

Tags: Circulator, DC, DC Council, Harry Thomas Jr, Mary Cheh

Proposed Circulator will connect Ward 7 to the rest of DC (Nov 22, 2010)
DDOT identifies future Circulator routes (Nov 9, 2010)
Streetcars aren't toys, buses aren't about respect (Nov 20, 2010)
New bill would create DC transit board (Dec 15, 2009)
Circulator thrombosis (Mar 16, 2009)

David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington and Greater Greater Education. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.

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David-- We in Ward 3 would be happy to skip the Circulator and go straight for the streetcar.

by Ben on Feb 2, 2010 4:51 pm • link • report

Circulator mission creep could be its ultimate undoing. Since it has no obvious limit in scope, every member of the Council wants one for his or her ward. Is there any objective way to determine which proposed routes warrant a Circulator and which don't?

by Eric F. on Feb 2, 2010 4:59 pm • link • report

Wait, I thought the Wisconsin was perfectly well served by the 30s?

by Neil Flanagan on Feb 2, 2010 5:05 pm • link • report

*Wisconsin Ave.

by Neil Flanagan on Feb 2, 2010 5:06 pm • link • report

I can't speak for others, but I have to say that the Woodley Park -- McPherson Square circulator has been a godsend. I use it extremely frequently to get to Columbia Heights and U street. Perhaps I've just been lucky, but I almost never have to wait long at all for a bus. Even without the benefit of NEXTBUS, I'll usually hop on a circulator when I can. This largely has to do with the fact that circulator buses (at least seem to) have fewer stops, which is a rather obvious way to make them run faster and more on-schedule.

by David on Feb 2, 2010 5:38 pm • link • report

I agree with David and Eric F. I think there's one big advantage to the Circulators that hasn't been discussed: the lack of an incumbent constituency for each route. It should be no surprise that people find a newly-placed bus line to be very convenient -- it can be optimally planned to reflect the city as it currently is! By contrast, established bus lines have a ridership that will complain if stops are eliminated or routes are changed. Surely this produces a significant impediment to make Metrobus as useful as it could be.

With that said, I think it's also the case that the Circulator's scheduling system has proven superior to the Trapeze system that Metrobus employs. It may not be practical to use that for routes that are more commuter-oriented, but perhaps some compromise is possible. Having signage that said "every ten minutes during peak times; at 6 and 36 past the hour other times" would be a huge improvement. I'm sure there are a lot of practical considerations standing in the way of this, but a guy can dream...

by Tom on Feb 2, 2010 5:52 pm • link • report

Waiting for a 52 or 54 bus outside of the black cat (the 14th st. nw bus) I saw 4 circulators going to adams morgan before I saw a Metro bus (who then couldn't get into the bus stop for the cabs). I got kind in indignant towards the circulator as a whole by the end of the night.

by Canaan on Feb 2, 2010 5:54 pm • link • report

As David and IMGoph note above, the Circulator routes are all very similar to the proposed streetcar routes. The District of Columbia Transit Improvements Alternatives Analysis report from October 2005 found that the Wisconsin Avenue corridor would have the highest ridership of the nine corridors examined yet Wisconsin Avenue has the 30s bus (or soon 'Metro Extra') bus service. DDOT has noted many operational challenges with the Circulator on Wisconsin Avenue.

"1) The section of the Circulator route north of M Street on Wisconsin is our most difficult operating environment we have anywhere in the system. Traffic congestion is terrible, parked cars interfere with the traffic stream, the roadway is narrow, and Circulator buses lose their driver-side mirrors frequently (we have had 85 mirrors knocked off in the last two years, mostly on Wisconsin Avenue, costing $800 each to replace). Delays caused by Wisconsin Avenue operation ripple throughout the entire line on K Street to Union Station. Running on this section was intended to be a temporary detour while the Wisconsin Avenue bridge over C&O canal was replaced, but has now essentially become permanent.Â”

The Skoda streetcars the District is purchasing are 8-feet wide. This would make the streetcars easier to operate on Wisconsin Avenue than the wider Circulator buses. Additionally, if a Wisconsin Avenue streetcar route was built, you could eliminate curbside parking on the section of Wisconsin Avenue from Calvert to M Street/K Street and overall mobility will still improve. The average city block has about 10 curbside spaces. Assuming (this is just an estimate) 1.2 passengers per vehicle, there are approximately 12 passengers per block with curbside parking. Meanwhile, the Skoda streetcars can hold 157 passengers. I'll gladly trade 157 passengers for eliminating curbside parking. The demand for parking in parts of Georgetown could actually decrease, even with the elimination of curbside parking, because more reliable transit provided by a streetcar will encourage people to switch modes and leave their vehicles behind.

by Ben on Feb 2, 2010 5:57 pm • link • report

I wish these "transit friendly" politicians would put their money where their mouth is. As far as I know DC has a budget hole that dwarfs WMATA's.

by Jasper on Feb 2, 2010 6:23 pm • link • report

The Circulator service of trying to run buses every 10 minutes instead of a headway-based system that WMATA uses can work successfully where you have both sufficient density & destination--and the Union Station-Georgetown & Woodley Park-Columbia Hts-McPherson Sq routes demonstrate this. And,as David indicates, they can attract new bus riders.

The downside is that some of the routes in the Circulator system are duplicative of WMATA service. It may be a better approach in many instances to improve WMATA service along the major arterials by increasing frequency, implementing bus lanes, skip stop service and other bus priority measures and utilize the Circulator as a neighborhood/destination connector--more of a true circulator with a looping route--connecting neighborhoods with both destinations and major arterials.

Jim Graham's proposal for a transit board composed of DC Council reps, Mayors office and elected members from the community would be a better review system than simply leaving it to the shifting politics of the DC Council to determine bus routes for the Circulator. You can't get away from politics altogether, but the City Council determining bus routes? There has to be a better way.

by kreeggo on Feb 2, 2010 6:53 pm • link • report

Why can't they just institute Circulator style service on key routes that have frequent headway and simple routes. For example, run them down Connecticut, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania Avenues; run them out H Street; etc. In other words, do this instead of or in addition the Metro Extra routes.

by Adam F on Feb 2, 2010 7:19 pm • link • report

I (and my mom and my bridesmaids) took the Circulator to my wedding. There were definitely more than 5 people on it then.

Regarding Wisconsin Ave: I work on Wisconsin, south of Tenleytown, and tried to take the 30's to lunch north of Friendship Heights. Even with NextBus, it took so long I wished I had driven. To be fair, first I wished for more frequent and/or express lunchtime bus. Knowing that wasn't the reality, I wished I had driven.

by Dee on Feb 2, 2010 7:21 pm • link • report

@ kreeggo

WMATA doesnt even need to do the skip stop thing; all they really have to do is make one bus on routes with many lines an express.

Take the 52/53/54, 42/43, 81/82/83/86, E2/E3/E4/E6, or 90/92, and many others and just have one of those lines designated as an express bus/or have it only stop at bus stops every 2 miles or so making only minimal stops; there is no reason why you couldn't have the 53, 82, E2 or 90 only stopping at certain high traffic stops while merging the other routes and having those lines stop at all stops along the route the buses do not even have to run every 10 minutes like the 79 or anything they could operate every 25 minutes and it would still be beneficial to people

by kk on Feb 2, 2010 7:28 pm • link • report

Here's an idea. Privatize some Metrobus lines and call them Circulators with all that that entails. It will save DC some money. All of the suburbs have done the same thing. Privatization, that is.

by Chuck Coleman on Feb 2, 2010 7:30 pm • link • report

Chuck which bus lines are privatized? I know Fairfax county pays for the connector and that the CUE bus is partly subsidized by GMU and I believe that ART and DASH are paid for by their respective govt's. Maybe it's different in MD.

by Canaan on Feb 2, 2010 8:21 pm • link • report

As someone who's used the Circulator frequently, I am absolutely against using the money to improve Metrobus. Why? Because the Circulator works. Metrobus doesn't. Every time I've waited for a Circulator, it's come very quickly. Very frequently when waiting for Metrobuses (especially when I used to live on Wisconsin Ave), I'd find myself waiting 45 minutes for a bus that was supposed to come every 10..

They're cleaner, cheaper, faster, and more reliable. Why aren't people about taking away Metrobus money and giving it to Circulator, instead?

by Justin on Feb 2, 2010 8:25 pm • link • report

The Circulators run into bunching problems just like any other bus, esp. on the Georgetown line. The practice of stopping at every block on K St. is part of the problem.

by Rich on Feb 2, 2010 8:50 pm • link • report

@Rich--I used to think "why does it stop on every block on K St?" Then I realized that the blocks are roughly double the size of residential blocks, so it's more like every two blocks even though it's only one physical block.

I agree that it does cause the bus to back up sometimes, though--the light timing presents a challenge on K St. It'd be great to have a system that would keep the light green a little longer for the bus to make it through.

Another major chokepoint during rush hour for the Union Station/Georgetown route is Washington Circle during rush hour. I've seen buses going towards Union Station held up trying to enter Washington Circle from Pennsylvania Avenue for 5, even 10 minutes!

by Steven on Feb 2, 2010 9:15 pm • link • report

The benefit to the regional bus systems is that in most cases they are cheaper to operate than Metrobus (no Local 689 union rules) and you don't need to go through the Metro board to make changes. This is the case for Ride On, FX Connector, DASH, etc... With all systems accepting SmarTrip, I doubt anyone cares who operates the bus as the fare payment card is standard.

The Metrobus lines in DC are sometimes confusing. Turning at every street. Why is there no bus line along Mass Ave, for example? Instead, there are several bus routes that travel over portions of Mass Ave. To me, Metrobus has only so-so headways. The 30s service along Wisconsin isn't that great, esp. in the non-peak direction, for example.

The Circulator buses do not deadhead in the non-peak direction which means I know, no matter which way I am headed, a bus will be along soon.

Just my opinions.

by Transport. on Feb 2, 2010 10:21 pm • link • report

I use the Georgetown and Woodley Park Circulators. Both sometimes have problems in nonrush periods--weekend days on the Georgetown are erratic. Ditto the Woodley, mostly because of congestion caused by the perpetual construction just above 14th & Irving. The Woodley line had few passengers in the beginning, but now the buses often get full as people discover the convenience.

The blocks on K are the same as any lettered street, such as P St (home of the G2), and there are stretches where the Circulator doesn't stop at every block--I know because its the case near where I pick it up. Washington Circle is a bottleneck, esp. Eastbound.

by Rich on Feb 2, 2010 10:50 pm • link • report

@Transport: The regional bus systems have their own dysfunctional processes for making changes. They also have their own service problems. I use 2 RideOn lines at least once/week. One runs pretty much on time, even in rush hour (#43). Another is totally unpredictable, even outside of rush hour (#26) despite running outside of congested corridors.

by Rich on Feb 2, 2010 10:58 pm • link • report

I ride the circulator every day (SW-circulator route). Yvette Alexander is welcome to come along one day and witness the [more than 4] people who ride with me. Also, I hear the other drivers over the radio and it seems the K St. line is frequently full, even having to bypass certain stops during the morning rush.

Yes, the circulator runs into gapping and bunching problems (like any bus would), and yes I think it stops too frequently on K St. But it's only a dollar! When the fares increase on metro, commuting via circulator will save me about $30 a month, which is pretty awesome.

by stacy on Feb 2, 2010 11:39 pm • link • report

So how about the other side of it?
What is the cost recovery ratio like for Circulator lines?

by Squalish on Feb 3, 2010 7:17 am • link • report

@Squalish

If I'm reading the NTD contractor data correctly, the recovery ratio (fare per $ of operating expense) is about $0.66. Not surprisingly this is higher than the overall MetroBus number, since Circulator runs on only select routes, and doesn't have the same labor costs as WMATA.

by MLD on Feb 3, 2010 8:45 am • link • report

@ Candaan: Fairfax county pays for the connector

The Fairfax Connector is a service directly from the County. The website is part of the County website.

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/connector/

by Jasper on Feb 3, 2010 11:03 am • link • report

The Woodley Park Circulator seems to be primarily used for commuter transit, and it's great. The S2-4 and 52-54 buses take forever, stopping every two blocks, and by the time they reach Columbia Heights in the morning, they are often already standing room only. The S9 express is often similarly full and deviates from its 10 minute schedule frequently. The Circulator is fast and reliable, even at peak periods, and well designed for quick entry/exit.

People want a Circulator because it's a better bus. Many riders don't need every route to stop every 2 blocks, and are fine with walking a half mile if they need to. And for whatever reason there is better overall mental health among the Circulator riders than on the metro buses.

by troy on Feb 3, 2010 11:12 am • link • report

Suburban commuter buses skim the cream at rush hours and cease operation during non-peak hours. City transportation systems cannot do this -- cities are 24/7, not bedroom communities.

by Mike Licht on Feb 3, 2010 1:47 pm • link • report

Fairfax County and other jurisdictions contract out their bus services. This is what I mean by privatization. Competition drives the costs down and improves the quality. London, England has been doing this for years. As for cream-skimming, the locally provided services do indeed provide rush hour only service, which refutes this hypothesis.

Long distance commuter buses are a special case. With few exceptions, there is simply not enough demand to provide any midday service. These are generally privately operated under contract to the providing jurisdictions.

by Chuck Coleman on Feb 3, 2010 8:22 pm • link • report