Greater Greater Washington thinks D buses should replace Dupont GUTS
Posted by: Juliana Brint in News, Vox Populi, tags: Dupont Circle, Greater Greater Washington, GUTS Buses, WMATA
Could GUTS be a thing of the past?
Greater Greater Washington, a blog about smart growth in the D.C. Metropolitan area, tackled the GUTS bus question yesterday and concluded that everyone would be better off if we just relied on the D:
Why does Georgetown need a shuttle from campus to Dupont Circle at all? Right now, there’s a bus that goes right from the Reservoir Road side of campus to the same intersection of 21st and Q that GUTS uses: the D3 and D6 buses. The route is identical, except the D buses stop on Reservoir instead of looping around Lot A just inside campus …
We could improve transit for all if Georgetown applied the money it spends on the Georgetown-Dupont route to WMATA to add service to the D3 and D6, and subsidize students’ rides on them. If the D buses stop too often along the way, we could even create a D9 express bus … Besides, the GUTS schedule estimates a 15 minute trip from Georgetown University to Dupont Circle, while the WMATA schedule actually claims it’s even less than that.
It’s an interesting idea in theory, but there would be some major hurdles. Setting aside concerns about how mind-numbingly complex and the occasionally unreliable D.C.’s bus system is, would the University really be able (or willing) to negotiate with WMATA to create a suitable express route?
And, if we managed that, how would bus rides be paid for? Would the University provide SmarTrip cards to everyone and, if so, how would it be administered? If the stalled Student Metro Discount campaign is any indication, negotiating large-scale deals with WMATA isn’t quite as easy as it might sound. And if the University doesn’t subsidize the trips, would riders have to pay out of pocket?
If the University eliminated GUTS buses but worked with WMATA to augment the D line, would that do anything to pacify the neighbors? Also, GGW’s suggestion doesn’t take into account any GUTS lines besides Dupont. Even if we could work something out for that route, what about the others?
But what say you—would expanded D line coverage be an acceptable GUTS substitute?
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Inasmuch as it might introduce my fellow students to the city buses and combat some of the assumptions/biases they have about them, I think its a very good thing.
Given that the logistics of negotiating increased service and subsidizing student trips are enormous hurdles in this situation though, the likliehood that this doesn’t backfire and seem like a big loss to Georgetown are slim.
Note also the G2 goes from Georgetown to Dupont. Metro would have numbers but I would say that about half of the people that get on West of Dupont get off at the circle. Maybe adding buses that run just to Dupont and back to the G2 route would be easier. They could even be express buses skipping some of the other Georgetown neighborhood stops. You would only need about 2 “shuttle” buses or so in order to have a bus every 15 minutes.
Would you have to pay to get on the D buses?
The university needs to go back to using Q Street for the Dupont GUTS Bus off peak. Now they take an time consuming detour around the Naval Observatory to make nice with the residents of Q Street. The university needs to worry less about neighbors (who live along a busy WMATA bus route) and worry more about their Students, Faculty, & Staff.
I think that this is potentially a good option, but a lot of changes would have to happen to make the D buses (and G2) a realistic replacement for GUTS. First off, there would have to be significantly more buses, particularly during rush hours and when evening classes get out (6:05pm and 8:15pm).
I think the biggest potential problem is that GUTS is used by hospital employees and patients. Can you really make someone in a cast and on crutches or someone in a wheel chair go from Reservoir all the way to the hospital entrance?
As others have mentioned, would the University subsidize the bus for students and employees? People used to riding to Georgetown for free every day wouldn’t be too pleased about having to pay.