Metro’s finance committee will consider a plan to start 16th Street limited-stop bus service. The District will finance the service for for the first 15 months. If the line exceeds the system’ average passengers per trip, passengers per revenue mile and cost recovery, Metro will take over funding the line through the funding formula.

The new limited-stop service will receive the designation S9, and will operate every 10 minutes between Silver Spring and McPherson Square during morning (6:30-10:00) and evening (3:00-7:00) rush hours. Metro expects riders to save 6-8 minutes each way by stopping only 16 times per direction. For the first full year of operation (July 2009-July 2010), DDOT expects to pay just over $1.6 million to operate the line. In addition, Metro plans to assign two bus line supervisors to the route to better manage bus bunching and other schedule adherence problems.

Metro has some other changes to the “S” bus lines that require more study before implementation:

  • “Turn-back” service at Colorado Ave. or Piney Branch Parkway, to more frequently service the more heavily utilized southern portion of the route;
  • Dedicated southbound morning peak bus only lanes between Piney Branch and Florida Avenue;
  • Queue jumping lanes at two intersections along the route, where the intersection design will let buses move to the head of the line at red lights;
  • Transit signal priority, where buses can send signals to traffic lights, holding them green until the bus goes through the intersection.

This isn’t the first limited-stop Metrobus service. Metro Extra route 79, which operates along Georgia Avenue and 7th/9th Streets NW, carries over 5,400 passengers per day in all-day (6am to 7pm) service from Silver Spring to Archives. It costs more to operate than the proposed route and recovers less of its costs than the target for the S9. The 79 meets the other productivity requirements for the S9 line, making it likely that similar service on the S9 route will be successful enough to continue. There’s also the limited-stop 37 line, which operates on the 30s corridor from Friendship Heights to downtown in the peak direction only during rush hour.

If the committee and full board approve the new line, Metro expects to start operating on March 29.

Tagged: buses, transit, wmata

Michael Perkins blogs about Metro operations and fares, performance parking, and any other government and economics information he finds on the Web. He lives with his wife and two children in Arlington, Virginia.