A publicly subsidized but privately run local bus service that provides convenient and affordable transportation to otherwise hard-to-reach areas in Washington for a buck a ride is now in jeopardy. District officials must view anything that works well as suspect, given the ongoing discussions by Mayor Vincent Gray’s administration about discontinuing city funding for the widely popular D.C. Circulator. The brainchild of the city’s local business improvement districts, the Circulator’s 29 cheerful red buses run seven days a week between Union Station, Georgetown, the Washington Convention Center, the Southwest Waterfront and other destinations. The buses feature limited stops and consistent 10-minute wait times, which is why 10 million people have ridden them since their debut in 2005. The Circulator has also been recommended for expansion by the D.C. Department of Transportation’s own 10-year planning process.
So why are the red buses on the chopping block? Faced with the necessity of making significant cuts to a bloated budget he inherited, Mayor Vincent Gray seems unable to identify programs that provide city residents with the highest cost-to-benefit ratio. Since 80 percent of Circulator riders are D.C. residents, 57 percent use it to commute to work, and almost half earn under $40,000, cuts will have an immediate negative effect on their mobility. A more cynical explanation is that Gray is just floating the idea of cutting subsidies to the highly popular Circulator not because he intends to do so, but as a way to force city residents to accept an otherwise unpalatable tax increase.
Instead, Gray should take an ax to his predecessor’s ill-advised streetcar program. D.C. already spent millions of dollars to buy three Czech-made streetcars that don’t even meet federal handicapped requirements. Furthermore, fixed-track streetcars with unsightly overhead power lines are the opposite of the versatile Circulator buses, which can do everything streetcars can do with the added bonus of being able to alter their routes in response to changing demand.
“We understand the strain on the city’s budget, but the Circulator system is one of the city’s most important transit options,” Karyn LeBlanc, director of communications for the Downtown D.C. Business Improvement District, told The Examiner. “We think it should stay in place.” And after spending millions of dollars each year trying to lure tourists and workers to Washington, the least the city can do is help them get around once they’re here.
