Greenbelt advocates educate bus riders on changes

On Monday, residents of northern Prince George’s County will wake up to completely new bus routes. Transit Riders United of Greenbelt is working to make sure that everyone knows how to get where they need to be.

Prince George’s County and WMATA have been working for several months on a plan to restructure bus service in Greenbelt. These changes have left almost no routes in the city unchanged. Here’s WMATA’s informational brochure and our posts on Metrobus and TheBus changes.

Despite the efforts of WMATA to engage the public, many citizens are unaware of the impending changes and how they will be impacted. As a result, TRU-G began working on several approaches to informing riders.

In one of the more visible efforts, TRU-G has placed detailed signs at bus stops. These signs tell riders which routes will be calling at a given stop come December 20, where those routes go, intermediate points of interest, and if a major point is no longer served, how to transfer to get to that destination.

For routes in DC where stops are being eliminated, WMATA has posted signs. In Greenbelt, the signs just say that routes are changing and direct riders to the Metro website without having stop-specific information. These generic signs are posted on all Greenbelt area bus stops, regardless of the severity of service changes at a given stop.

I designed the TRU-G signs, with help and input from other members, and volunteers have helped to get the signs posted around Greenbelt. Already, most stops in Old Greenbelt are covered, as are many stops in Franklin Park (formerly Springhill Lake) and Greenbelt East. We’re working to get more signs up at key locations in and outside Greenbelt.

TRU-G got approval from WMATA and from the City of Greenbelt to post these signs. I’m happy that WMATA agreed to let us put the signs up, but I also wish the agency were able to do these types of signs on a larger scale.

TRU-G is also reacing out directly to transit riders. For several hours during the evening rush this Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, TRU-G members have been talking with riders and giving out information at the Greenbelt Metro stop.

Some riders have found it helpful to talk over schedules with members, especially since routes and times are changing. One customer discovered yesterday evening that she’ll now need to catch the bus from New Carrollton instead of Greenbelt due to the way the final departure of a particular route is scheduled.

Other TRU-G members have taken the initiative to stand up on buses and announce to riders that changes are about to happen.

It’s encouraging to see transit riders band together to help other riders. Hopefully, TRU-G’s work will ensure that no one wakes up on Monday morning with no clue about how to get to work. While that’s unlikely to happen, I also hope that WMATA and Prince George’s County will use our work as an example of what they can do in the future to make transit changes easier on riders.