A major bus route connecting the Friendship Heights and Rockville Metro stations is among 67 Metrobus lines WMATA is proposing to eliminate under its "doomsday" budget. The T2 Metrobus travels along the River Road and Falls Road corridors, most of which lack proximity to Metro subway service. If you want to connect to Metrorail beyond the Westbard and West End areas of Bethesda and Rockville, respectively, the T2 can be either one of the few options or the only option to reach a Metro station.
The T2 is also useful for reaching the judicial and government centers of Montgomery County in Rockville Town Center, as well as Amtrak and MARC service via the Rockville Metro station. WMATA's strategy is not novel, however. Governments and transit agencies often release doomsday budgets prior to asking taxpayers to shell out more to avoid the painful cuts proposed.
Since it’s entirely within Montgomery County, maybe Ride-On could take over the route?
ReplyDeleteThis would greatly affect the Westbard area since there would be no bus service to/from Metro on Sundays, I believe. This would make it difficult to get workers and customers for the new businesses who use mass transit. What are they thinking?
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ReplyDeleteWhat is the ridership for this route compare to others? IE #34 is well-utilized. _Learning
2:02 PM By publishing a "Doomsday Scenario" the squeaky wheel gets the attention.
ReplyDeleteWe can't have anything nice....
ReplyDelete2:36 -- You're correct, but cuts are probably likely even given the squeaky wheel. Consider MDOT's transportation budget "gap" in conjunction with the news from WMATA.
ReplyDeletebtw, the proposed cuts are horrible and include not only eliminating nearly half of all WMATA bus lines but closing 10 METRO stations completely and shutting down the entire metro system at 10 p.m.
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/transportation/10-metro-stations-closed-67-bus-lines-cut-2000-layoffs-possible-if-budget-gap-isnt-filled-gm-says/3492307/
To answer 11:14 AM, this is one of the routes for which Ride On already provides the buses and drivers on weekends and holidays. (L8 is another.)
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