This morning, a committee of the WMATA Board approved a set of changes to bus service including a new X9 line in DC, replacing the 16A and 16B

13A and 13B with extended 16F and 7E routes in Arlington and Fairfax, and a restructuring of bus service in Greenbelt.

The new X9 line would add limited-stop service on the high ridership H Street and Benning Road line. The express would connect Capitol Heights Metro to downtown.

Map of proposed X9 route.

In Virginia, the current 13A and 13B routes would be removed. Instead, WMATA would extend the 16F into DC along the 14th Street Bridge to Federal Triangle, and extend the 7E route across the the Memorial Bridge to Federal Triangle.

Extensions of the 16F (left) and 7E (right).

After lengthy discussions among WMATA staff, residents, advocates and elected officials in Greenbelt, bus planners have finalized a restructuring plan mostly similar to the one Matt posted about in the spring.

They had originally planned to make these changes as part of budget cuts, but when the Board decided to make no service cuts, the change was put on hold. Staff subsequently made some changes and conducted more public meetings. The Greenbelt City Council ultimately voted to support this plan. Other Greenbelt advocates are not as pleased.

Finally, there are a number of other smaller changes, including reduced service schedules on major holidays and a few vague items:

  • Adjust routes consistent with jurisdictional planning efforts.
  • Modify certain trips based on ridership changes due to school closings and relocations.
  • Revise trip schedules and running times to ensure safe operations and improve schedule adherence.
  • Improve service performance and management consistent with major roadway construction projects, special event detours and in support of the new Silver Spring Transit Center opening late FY 11.

I’ll try to get more details on these changes and post higher resolution versions of the above images when they become available. Unfortunately, as of now the presentation is still not on the Board agenda Web page. I had to get the presentation via email from a Board member’s staff.

Arlington member Chris Zimmerman criticized staff for not publicizing these changes more widely or soliciting feedback from the Riders’ Advisory Council. While most of these changes and any parts that could be considered “cuts” were presented as part of the budget process, they did not release this plan widely. Zimmerman noted that the Board had rejected the changes in the budget itself, and therefore argued staff should conduct more public outreach if it wants to bring back some of these changes.

It sounds like these changes are good ones, and worth putting into practice. It would be nice to have some general public outreach, however. Zimmerman voted against the motion to adopt these changes for that reason, but he was the only one.

Update: I’ve gotten a higher resolution version of the Greenbelt bus map, which is here and linked from the smaller map above.