Happy birthday to the DC Circulator, the bus service that was designed by the downtown business community to be an add-on to Metro by offering direct routes in both the north/south and east/west corridors that are popular with tourists and convention-goers. I still do a double-take every time I see one because of the VanHool buses that are being used.
These Belgium-made buses are sleek and have a big window in the back unlike the current Metro buses that have nothing more than an engine cover and, more often than not, an ad for some all-news radio station. I understand that Metro is talking with the company that makes its buses about adding a window to the back, which would make the buses more airy and open. Unfortunately, because Metro gets a subsidy from the feds they can’t just go out and buy the foreign-made VanHool buses.
Promoters of the DC Circulator are touting the fact that almost 7,000 riders use the buses every day and that ridership has increased about 9 percent every month since the service launched. In addition, they say that of the 1.6 million annual riders, about 50 percent transfer from another transit service such as Metro rail or bus. The problem I have is that any time I’ve seen one of these stunners out on the road, there are only two or three people on board. At $1 for a trip that doesn’t seem to make good economic sense.
I also find it interesting that the system asked riders if they agreed with the statement: “I prefer the Circulator to other public transit services.” Seventy-six percent of the respondents did, and it makes me wonder whether the DC Circulator is actually trying to compete with Metro and, if so, why?
Questions, comments, random musings? Write to [email protected].
