Circulator eyed for Georgetown-to-Rosslyn route
By: Kytja Weir
Examiner Staff Writer
October 11, 2009
District officials are laying the groundwork to expand the Circulator bus system from Georgetown into Arlington, just weeks after the city backed down from a plan to limit service within the tony D.C. neighborhood.
D.C. Councilman Jack Evans, D-Ward 2, introduced a bill last week asking to change the rules that prevent the D.C. Circulator from running outside the city limits.
The idea is to allow the Circulator to run to Rosslyn, taking the place of the privately run Georgetown Metro Connection, known as the "blue bus," according to Evans aide Jeff Coudriet.
The blue bus runs vehicles under the same 10-minute schedule and $1 fare as the Circulator. But for both Arlington and the District, the switch from the blue buses to the iconic red of the Circulator would mean a more permanent and government-run solution for a section of town that does not have a Metrorail stop.
"We certainly are glad to see the service remain," said Stephen Del Giudice, Arlington County's transit bureau chief. "It's obviously filling a gap."
The blue bus was begun as a demonstration project by the Georgetown Business Improvement District to show the demand for transit service between the Dupont Circle Metrorail stop and the station in Rosslyn. Today it carries 35,000 to 40,000 riders a month, said Georgetown Business Improvement District Executive Director Jim Bracco.
The blue bus was begun as a demonstration project by the Georgetown Business Improvement District to show the demand for transit service between the Dupont Circle Metrorail stop and the station in Rosslyn. Today it carries 35,000 to 40,000 riders a month, said Georgetown Business Improvement District Executive Director Jim Bracco.
But the business group has long hoped the Circulator would take over the route.
"We would have liked for it to have been last year," Bracco said. "The wheels of progress grind slowly."
Bracco said the District has pledged local money and Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., secured some federal funds to pay for new buses.
Even so, there is no timetable for when a Circulator route would begin. "We have no plans for a new route at this time," said District Department of Transportation spokesman John Lisle.
Last month, the District had planned to truncate the existing Circulator route that runs to Georgetown to save $950,000. After complaints from riders, Mayor Adrian Fenty announced on Sept. 29 -- just days before the cuts were to begin -- that the service would be untouched on that line.
