Yesterday City Desk reported on how the upper Wisconsin Avenue portion of the D.C. Circulator's bus route was on the chopping block. The Department of Transportation has since confirmed: It will in fact be chopped.

According to DDOT spokesman John Lisle, this “difficult decision” stems from budget constraints: Although the upper leg carries 2 percent of the Georgetown Circulator’s riders, it is responsible for 15 percent of the overall cost.

After the service is discontinued,  Lisle says, Georgetown residents should make use of Metrobus' “enhanced and improved” 30 lines, which have “eliminated the need to layer additional Circulator service.” The DDOT is also looking into extending the 31 route downtown. The bus currently runs down Wisconsin Avenue but stops short at Foggy Bottom.

The Citizens Association of Georgetown is having a hard time seeing any "enhancement" about it; the group's members have argued that eliminating the upper Wisconsin Circulator route will leave only two buses, the 32 and the 36—half the number available two years ago when the 34 and the Circulator were also running. CAG also says that the two schools now served by the route (Hardy Middle School and the British School) require a transportation link, and traffic will increase after the opening of the newly renovated Safeway supermarket at 1855 Wisconsin Ave. The market's renovations include abolishing the "congested" parking lot, likely increasing the need for public transportation.

More potholes ahead...

Bus, 2000

In a recent City Desk poll of the city's worst bus lines, one in particular got a whole lot of attention: The 42, which runs from Mount Pleasant to downtown via Adams Morgan and Dupont Circle.

Looks like the 42's about to get a bastard cousin.

Blogger Connetiquette Ave discovers through his eagle eyes that Metro has posted signs for a new 43 line, though no information about the route has been published in public fora, including its new Web site.

So he made like a reporter and called Metro and found out that, yes indeed, a 43 line will be in place starting Dec. 28. Here's the skinny:

It will be a weekday rush hour only service, between 750am and 915am (meaning it will only run Southbound). About 1/2 of the buses currently designated as 42s will henceforth be badged as 43s. It will run between Mount Pleasant and Farragut Square. It seems to me that the 43 will just be the 42 buses that currently run between MtP and FSq - so there will be no service increases or reductions.

Bah!

Here's a good idea. New Columbia Heights has a semi-regular feature where they review Metro bus lines. The blog's latest installment focuses on the Buses of 14th Street--the 52, 53, and 54. The reviewer lets it rip:

"I've taken this bus heading south during rush hour and not during rush hour, and it's always a pain. They don't come very regularly, and they make so many stops (often every block) that it's practically faster to walk. I've started taking them for work during rush hour, and it's terrible - it takes about half an hour to go from 14th and Euclid St NW, roughly, to 14th and F. That's less than 2 miles. I could roll down the hill faster."

There has to be better bus lines. There has to be worse bus lines. I really dig the 16th Street-to-Silver Spring bus. The 42 isn't bad either. I've heard from sources over the years that the buses that run along MLK Ave SE are terrible after school lets out.

What are your bus horror stories?