WASHINGTON – Metro’s revamped bus system, known as the Better Bus Network, enters its first full weekday of service Monday after officially launching on Sunday.
This marks the most significant system overhaul since the 1970s, with hundreds of route changes and nearly 500 bus stops eliminated. One major update includes a new route-naming system: “C” now represents Crosstown routes, while “D” indicates Downtown routes that primarily run north-south.
Regional identifiers have also been updated. “M” designates Montgomery County, “P” stands for Prince George’s County, and “A” covers Arlington and Alexandria.
While many city leaders are praising the initiative for making the bus system more reliable, frequent, and user-friendly, at least two community leaders are pushing back.
Romeo Morgan, longtime business owner and president of the Georgia Avenue Business Association, says he’s outraged that the revamped routes have removed direct service to the front entrances of Washington Hospital and the VA Hospital. The H2 and H4 buses now stop only at the campus entrance, which poses a significant challenge for patients. For those dropped off on Michigan Avenue, the remaining walk to the VA Hospital includes a stretch with no sidewalk.
“People don’t understand—it’s like, on a 100-degree day, how do you expect a senior to walk? How do you expect an amputee to walk or wheelchair that long mile? I mean, it’s ridiculous that they take money over their budget—over the health of the citizens of the District of Columbia,” said Morgan. “Seventy-five hundred senior citizens, over 1,500 Veterans, are you ridiculously crazy, or what?”
FOX 5 raised these concerns with the head of the transit system following a Friday ride-along he hosted with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on one of the newly updated routes.
“We’ve said from the start, there’s going to be a lot of trade-offs in public service, right? And we are very empathetic with anyone that has a change that might not work for them. I think the last thing I saw was about 95% of people who use the bus today are going to have better service,” said WMATA General Manager Randy Clarke.
Calls for route changes
“These are challenging decisions,” Clarke continued. “This network is going to provide—and it was really done through an equity lens. Part of the entire analysis was: where do people really need service, where they live, and where they’re trying to go. How do we get people and buses closer to the curb to support those with mobility needs—wheelchairs, walkers, things of that nature, as you mentioned. How do we get people to hospitals and medical facilities even at midday, on weekends, and during times we don’t currently serve. So overall, in aggregate, more people are going to get better service—including many who desperately need it: lower-income individuals, people with no other options. We are providing more and better service for them.”
Darren Jones, President of the Pleasant Plains Civic Association, told FOX 5 that more than 40 ANC leaders in Ward 1 weren’t informed about the hospital route changes in Ward 5. Some of those ANC members are now petitioning to reinstate the previous routes.
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