Check out what the Post has to say about Metro's antiquated bus system. Transportation is one of the most discussed issues on the listservs covering the H Street Corridor & it ALWAYS seems to pop up at community meetings. The "arts & entertainment" section of H Street is not exactly near a metro station (about a mile from NY Ave, or Union Station). Basically, your options are walk, drive, bike, or take the bus. The basic disagreement usually comes down to parking & how much of a priority it needs to be (i.e. is is more parking necessary for the success of H Street, or can public transportation effectively move patrons to and from key areas?).
The X2 is, of course, the primary bus serving H Street, but the 90 & 96 also have a major impact when they cross H at 8th Street NE. I ride the X2 everyday, so I know that the bus is prone to severe overcrowding, a complete disregard for the posted schedule & nasty leaks when it rains. I also remember a few years back when the X2 continued to run (about one an hour) when everything else in the city had shut down (including metrorail) because of a snowstorm. Some people don't like to ride buses because public transportation can sometimes be unpredictable (but so can traffic), or because they feel buses are unsafe/dirty. I think that the ultimate plan for the X2 is to "rebrand" the bus (think Circulator) to attract new riders who wouldn't normally ride a bus. Of course, the real ultimate plan is to put in lightrail on H Street, but that is for the future. I will be thrilled to see new buses added to the route & a reduction in the "bunching" of buses that often occurs. Getting people to ride buses who don't already ride buses can be hard. You not only have to convince them that buses are dependable, but you might also need to overcome the "bus snobbery" factor. I once suffered from this dreaded disease, but I'm a convert. If it's a nice day, I might actually take the 90 to Adams Morgan instead of using the redline (I like to watch the city passing by). But, just because I'm ok with thdoesn't doesn't mean your average shopper/person looking for a night out will be willing to hop on board for the trip to H Street. I worry less about people getting home because I think we'll be seeing more cabs soon (which I am very excited about). I don't know what the solution is to the parking issue (the ANC has lifted rush hour parking restrictions on H & is looking at other moves). We are definitely going to have more cars as businesses begin to populate the vacant storefronts.
Take a peak at the graphic showing the best & worst lines in the city in terms of economic efficiency. What is the most efficient bus line in the city (requiring only a $0.38 per passenger subsidy)? The X2 is apparently the winner. Also of interest is the Post's look at who is riding the metro bus versus who is riding metrorail (broken down by household income, race, gender, & vehicles per household). These figures cover the entire district, so they aren't all that helpful in looking at who rides the X2 (or who rides it for the particular stretches most of interest to us). And you have to remember what the demographic trends are in the parts of the city that are well served by metrorail, versus trends in areas underserved by metrorail (so geography plays a big role in these numbers).
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UPDATE
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Check out Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space on the same article.
8 comments:
I learned about the bus from my now ex-wife, who learned about it from one of her African-American co-workers. Being from the Detroit area, how much of a bus afficionado do you think I was (although Ann Arbor had a decent system, and so did the campus, I pretty much walked to places).
I write a lot about bus marketing. The bus system needs to have the equivalent of Doors Open days on different lines, with a lot of advanced marketing (door-to-door flyers) to get people to try it out.
Similarly, I have said for over a decade that WMATA needs to go out and do seminars, office by office, in the office buildings downtown, to explain to people about the bus, how to use it, etc.
In the H St. neighborhood, it's more efficient to get downtown by bus than by subway. And as you pointed out, it's a direct connection to Adams-Morgan or U Street via the 90s bus from the neighborhood, which can be a 15-20 minute ride (although you can get to Adams-Morgan in 20 minutes by bike via Florida Avenue, if you're brave enough to face the automobile traffic).
Inked, the correct link for Richard's blog post is here.
Richard changed the title of his post & it changed the address. Thanks for heads-up about the change.
I take the X1 every day, but often the bus can be maddening -- one day twenty minues late the next day too early to catch. The article is spot-on: the timetables are a fiction at best. That said, both the X1, X2 and 80 all fill a much-needed public transport gap for H street.
I take the 90/92 and the D4/D6 to work everyday. The D8 is almost always crowded, especially on school days. Fortunately, WMATA has added two additional buses on that route during the morning rush. School begins on Monday so we will then see if they have a positive effect!
thanks for blogging my picture!
Pat,
It was a nice shot. I didn't have any good metrobus shots. Thanks fo rthe photo.
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