This caught GM a bit unaware: Next week DDOT is making some changes to the Circulator route through Georgetown. It primarily involves eliminating stops. According the the Post:

Stops will be eliminated at Wisconsin Avenue and P Street NW, both eastbound and westbound; at Wisconsin Avenue and N Street NW heading westbound, and at M and 31st streets NW heading eastbound.

A stop will be added at 35th Street and Wisconsin Avenue, where the Georgetown-Union Station buses turn around to head back toward Union Station.

DDOT has long disliked the fact that the Circulator goes up Wisconsin Ave. and blames this segment for delays on the line. It has repeatedly either tried to eliminate stops or eliminate the extension altogether. All the attempts at stop elimination have been rolled back (GM remebers, for instance, that the Wisconsin and R stop was eliminated a few years ago, only to return).

Bus stop elimination always pleases some people (namely those that don’t use that stop) and angers others (namely those that do). And it is a balancing act for the system to ensure only 10 minute headways between buses. Eliminating a handful of stops at N and P St. probably makes sense in that the stops at O and Q will still exist and are really very close to the eliminated stops.

However, eliminating the 31st St. stop is a mistake. Right now there is a stop immediately in front of the Sports Zone and another in front of Barnes and Noble. There really shouldn’t be two stops so close together, so eliminating one makes sense. However it’s the one in front of Sports Zone that should go.

As it is, Circulator buses heading west on M St. from Wisconsin Ave. immediately have to pull over to pick up or drop off passengers. This ends up disrupting the flow of traffic through the intersection. The stop down in front of Barnes and Noble is far enough from M and Wisconsin that a bus can easily move in and out of traffic to service passengers. That one should stay.

GM misread the DDOT release, the stop being eliminated is the stop in front of the Sports Zone, which is confusingly called “M and 31st” on the press release despite being called “M and Wisconsin” on the Circulator map.

The new stop actually makes GM laugh a bit. At an ANC meeting several months ago, an elderly woman stood up and testified quite vigorously for the creation of a new stop at 35th and Whitehaven. She argued that the buses sit there waiting to start their run, so why can’t they allow passengers to board? Apparently DDOT couldn’t come up with a reason why not, and thus a new stop is born.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Circulator and Metrobus not expected to change service if the government shuts down.
• More information on the student that died at Yates.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Tragedy at Yates Field House.
• Do the Circulator routes need more distinctive names?

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Gas line ruptured in lower Georgetown, promptly repaired.
• Some more details on the proposed changes to the Circulator.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• The bad news: the Circulator might get twice as expensive. The good news: it might be able to take you to U St. soon.
• Untoward ribaldry at the Tombs.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Nice round-up on some of the openings and closings around town.
• The Georgetown-Union Station Circulator is by far the most popular Circulator.

From GGW and DCist, GM learned yesterday that DDOT is considering adding several new Circulator lines. Included amongst them is a possible third route through Georgetown.

DDOT held a recent public meeting to unveil their long term plans for the Circulator. They are proposing some pretty ambitious expansions (some of which could simply be placeholders for an eventual streetcar line). Here’s a map of the corridors they identified (c/o DCist):

The new line proposed for Georgetown appears to go from Union Station (like one of the Current Georgetown routes does) and goes down along the mall. From there it appears to take Constitution through Foggy Bottom to Pennsylvania Ave. From there it gets a little out of whack since it seems to head up diagonally through the East Village to Wisconsin and Q. Unless they’re equipping it with jet packs, this isn’t the actual route but merely a general indication where this route would go.

This seems mostly suited (if not wholly suited) to tourists shuttling back and forth from the National Mall to Georgetown. And for that, it may be a pretty worthwhile route. Plus, it would appear to double the available Circulator buses to take you from Georgetown to the Foggy Bottom Metro stop.

DDOT is also proposing extending the Rosslyn-Dupont Circulator up to 14th and U. This would be pretty handy since there aren’t any routes that directly connect Georgetown with this popular night spot. Although it could cause the line to be more delayed as it works through the congested streets between Dupont and U St.

The proposals are far from being implemented. DDOT would like to get them in place within 10 years. Although given the tourist-focus of the proposed Georgetown route, GM speculates that it would be amongst the earlier routes to actually be implemented. That is if funding is identified. A huge if.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• The Paper Store on Wisconsin recently closed. Where to get balloons now?
• DCMud does the Hurt Home, but while focusing on price, seems to have missed a lot.
• Yet another good piece from GGW on the changes to the old Circulator route.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• An argument in favor of running the Circulator on K St. (for the record, GM is still against it).
• Fun at Tudor Place this fall.

So, we can all basically agree that DDOT rolled out the Circulator in a pretty ham-handed fashion. Despite the fact that the takeover of the Blue Bus was well known to be coming, there was no official word coming from DDOT or the Circulator website (which, for what it’s worth, is registered to the Downtown Business District Corp., so perhaps they control it).

But more troubling is the sudden change of the old route. As you may be able to tell from above, the Union Station-Georgetown route now stays enters Georgetown on K St. before turning up Wisconsin towards M. This change has some benefits but a lot of drawbacks. (As previously discussed, the new route mirrors the old Blue Bus route but removes a couple stops including the stop in front of the Marriott).

The Benefits: It will get you to Georgetown a bit faster. M St. (particularly on weekends and during evening rush) gets pretty backed up going westbound. Staying on K will avoid that (although K St. itself, particularly just west of Washington Circle, can get bad itself). Second, some argue this will avoid the confusion an redundancy of running two Circulators along the same road.

The Drawbacks: Getting to east Georgetown from downtown will be more difficult. You either have to transfer to another bus or walk all the way up from M. Also, Penn and 24th is a very popular place for people to pick up the Circulator to Georgetown; that stop is gone. Finally, splitting the line up like this will add confusion and tourists will likely struggle with it.

Maybe the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, and people’s behavior will adjust to the new routes (wouldn’t an effective communications campaign been a good way to start that off?), but at least initially it seems people aren’t too happy with the changes.

And it goes without saying (but of course GM will go ahead and say it) that involving, or at least informing, the community before making this decision was the least that DDOT should have done. Maybe they took away a lesson from last year’s attempted route change that notifying the community will only result is headaches. GM definitely hopes that’s not it, but it’s a definite possibility.