The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority will approve the Better Bus Proposal after numerous revisions on Nov. 21.
Better Bus Network Redesign, a new project proposed in 2023, is the first comprehensive redesign of the D.C. Metrobus system since its creation. This final proposal will be implemented in summer 2025.
The redesign comes amid a financial crisis after federal pandemic-relief funds have dried up. Different from transit agencies in other cities, WMATA does not receive dedicated funding for its operations and must seek approval from local and state officials each year.
Maintenance costs increased due to inflation, with personnel taking up the largest sum in the budget. WMATA is set to hit its debt ceiling in 2028, exhausting a critical fund it uses to borrow money for infrastructure repairs.
WMATA conducted numerous surveys in each of D.C.’s wards of residents’ perspectives on improvements to include in the final project, resulting in three proposals, according to Councilman Matthew Frumin of D.C.’s Ward 3. American University is located in Ward 3.
In each iteration of advocacy for improved Metrobus services to WMATA, there have been calls for more frequency, highlighting one of the biggest concerns among residents and American University students alike. Some of the most frequently utilized Metrobus routes for AU students are the N2, N6, 31, 33 and M4.
According to Frumin, the Better Bus proposal has been a “moving target.” In each proposal, the main goal was to consolidate and simplify routes and increase frequency where the budget allows.
According to the most recent proposal, the 31 and 33 routes will be consolidated to form the D82 route. The D82 will travel the same route as the 31 and 33, from Friendship Heights to Foggy Bottom and the State Department.
The D82 will run on increased frequency compared to today’s 31/33 to accommodate the loss of the Circulator on the Georgetown-Union Station route.
The D2, N2, N4 and N6 routes will consolidate into the D96 route which will operate earlier on Sundays, starting at 6 a.m., and stretch from the Bethesda Metro Station to Dupont Circle, and to Potomac Park on weekdays only.
Despite calls for higher frequency across all routes, the D96 will continue running at “low frequency” with service every 30 minutes.
The D90 will serve Jackson Reed High School to the Convention Center, running through Massachusetts Avenue, Cathedral Avenue and Dupont Circle. The D90 will operate every 20 minutes during weekday peak hours, meaning that a bus will pass AU’s campus every 10 minutes during weekday peak hours.
The M4, set to become the C81, will continue running every 30 minutes on weekdays between the hours of 5:30 a.m. and 12 a.m., but will begin weekend service every 20 to 30 minutes in the same time window. This route will provide residents of Barnaby Woods access to Friendship Heights.
“If WMATA had more money, they would build up a better network, and a key place where that would express itself is in increased frequency,” Frumin said.
According to surveys conducted by Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, residents feel that the buses still do not run often enough and that the proposals do not address most concerns, such as frequency and access to places of work or schools.
Ella Lucabaugh, a senior in the School of International Service, recalls her constant difficulty getting to and from school in the Chevy Chase area.
“The worst thing is I always have to plan to get to campus at least a few hours ahead to make sure I can get the last bus,” Lucabaugh said referring to the M4 route.
In the most recent proposal, the M4 will add weekend service but continue running on low frequency.
“The other day it took me an hour and 45 minutes to get home when it is only a 15-minute drive,” Luchbaugh said. “I most definitely stress about getting to class late or even missing class if I don’t time the bus right.”
Not all sections of Ward 3 experience the same issues. Annika Johnson, a senior in the School of Public Affairs, stated that her ride to Tenleytown for the AU shuttle, or to her job on the 31 and 33 routes is reliable most days of the week.
The 31 and 33 currently run on a high frequency of every 12 minutes or better, according to WMATA. These disparities have residents of Ward 3 demanding that the Better Bus Initiative provide more accessibility to all parts of the city.
The biggest factor hindering the goal for increased frequency is WMATA’s financial crisis. Frumin emphasized that increased frequency is a major goal that can only be achieved by an increase in funding and cooperation from the three jurisdictions: Maryland, Virginia and D.C.
D.C. and Maryland have supported major increases in funding for WMATA but have faced pushback from Virginia, according to both Frumin and Ann Mladinov, Commissioner of ANC3D.
“It's not the same priority for Governor Youngkin in Virginia, and the other two [jurisdictions] aren't going to bear the burden for Virginia,” Frumin said. “We're at the mercy of the politics of three jurisdictions.”
Frumin hopes to one day see a stable funding source for WMATA, emphasizing that increased frequency would be a top priority if it had the means to do so.
The Better Bus Initiative began with a Visionary Map that shows what the system would look like if funding were not an issue; this plan is 35 percent more expensive than the current service, which is why the current proposals are unable to reach the Visionary Map’s goals. WMATA hopes to achieve this Visionary Map in the future, according to the project team.
Taxes are the main source of dedicated funding to public transportation. Getting an agreement from all three jurisdictions on funding the transportation system through taxes would be extraordinarily difficult given the states’ differing priorities.
“This is a classic example of the gap in our federal system,” said Mladinov. “Interjurisdictional taxing is something that is virtually impossible to work out.”
Not all counties in each jurisdiction utilize the metro system to the same degree; those closer to the metropolitan area see funding WMATA as a top priority, while more rural areas do not want to spend the extra tax dollars.
“We must support the economy and the lives of people living in our Washington metropolitan area because all of us depend on it,” Mladinov said. “But that's really not how the states have worked in recent decades.”
She compared this issue to that of New York City’s transportation system. he dedicated fund for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is supported through the consensus of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Still, they have faced their share of disagreements. New Jersey recently sued New York for their congestion tax proposal.
The final plan will stay within the budget of $4.8 billion but will allow for the expansion of services in the coming years if more funding becomes available.
In the first Better Bus proposal, the circular service through Cathedral Avenue to New Mexico Avenue was removed to avoid delays from the congestion of narrow neighborhood streets. This change was immediately rebuked by residents, citing that the area’s hilly geography made N bus service on Cathedral Avenue necessary.
“Because of the outcry, they looked back and they said, ‘Oh, that was a mistake. We did not mean to cut the Cathedral Avenue service out,’” Mladinov said.
WMATA considers ethnic background, race and income when considering bus routes and frequency, according to the project team. Because of Ward 3’s high median income, adding frequency and new bus routes to this under-serviced area is not a top priority to WMATA, said Mladinov.
Residents of Palisades have argued that their transportation needs are underemphasized, but WMATA feels they have more economic ability to find alternative options.
A major concern among Palisades residents was access to MacArthur High School, and many residents argue that the proposed C81 route is not enough to accommodate the variety of riders who will rely on it, including some AU students.
“How could all of the people who live on that route possibly all squeeze onto a bus that you're running every half an hour? I think they were still considering changes in that route. It should be a few more weeks to see what they come up with and which roads they're going to use,” Mladinov said.
Despite all of these frustrations, Mladinov highlighted the WMATA board’s “commendable responsiveness to public comments, the overall improvements they had made, in both the extent of bus service and accessibility for larger numbers of riders, and their success at keeping within the currently available budget.”
This article was edited by Mackenzie Konjoyan, Tyler Davis and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks, Ariana Kavoossi, Sabine Kanter-Huchting and Ella Rousseau.
