Crosstown D.C. Bus Service Starting for a Buck a Ride

Georgetown will move a little closer to Union Station tomorrow when the D.C. Circulator begins rolling through Washington, offering frequent crosstown service on a simple route for $1 a ride. The fleet's 29 buses are designed to offer a more comfortable and convenient transportation option.

The buses will initially operate two routes: an east-west line from Union Station to Georgetown via the Washington Convention Center and K Street and a north-south segment from the Convention Center to the waterfront via Chinatown and the Mall.

The Circulator marks the arrival of a new flavor of bus service that has been successful in such cities as Los Angeles, Miami and Salt Lake City.

"The whole idea is to set it apart from how people thought about the bus in the past -- that it's old and smoky and they don't want to ride it," said Lurae Stuart, senior program manager for bus technology programs at the American Public Transportation Association. "The new philosophy is that you can provide something that is new and snazzy and people will realize that they can ride a bus."

The fare is the cheapest public transportation available downtown -- $1 per trip, compared to $1.25 for Metrobus or $1.35 for Metrorail. Transfers between Circulator buses are free for up to two hours. Architects of the Circulator say it will meet a pressing need: a fast and inexpensive way to cross town.

"Metrorail is a great radial system: It brings people into the city, but it doesn't really bring them around," said William G. Dowd of the National Capital Planning Commission, which came up with the idea in 1997.

The planning commission worked with the District government, two business groups and the Convention Center to launch the Circulator. To buy the buses and fare machines, they used $12.5 million from a 1960s legal settlement earmarked for city bus service.

The buses, with red and black exteriors that include a simplified system map, have a certain curb appeal. Before service began, curious passersby asked if they could board an idling Circulator. "I like it," Miguel Rodriguez, 21, of Southeast Washington said as he looked around inside.

The buses will run every five to seven minutes and have three doors for fast loading. On two downtown streets, Seventh and Ninth streets NW, the Circulator will travel in a designated lane to bypass traffic, said Dan Tangherlini, D.C. director of transportation.

Compare that to the Metrobus system, which maintains complex schedules, uses aging buses with a single door for boarding and has many lengthy, complicated routes that bog down in traffic.

"A lot of tourists may want to take a bus but have no idea if the X2 goes to where they want to go," said Joe Sternlieb, a deputy executive director of the Downtown Business Improvement District.

Tourists are just one segment of the potential ridership, Sternlieb said. "We want tourists, we want office workers, kitchen workers, residents," he said. "The target is everybody. We want people to think of taking the Circulator the way they take Metro."