Metro News Release

For immediate release: June 23, 2003

Metrobus service route changes in Maryland begin the week of June 29

Schedule adjustments designed to improve service

Several service changes on Metrobus will be implemented on 10 lines in Maryland starting the week of June 29. These changes are in response to customer requests and will eliminate overcrowding on some routes, shorten passenger waits between trips on others, and improve transfer connections between buses and trains. They are listed below.Martin Luther King, Jr. Highway Line, Routes A11 and A12. On Saturday, the running time will be increased as necessary to reflect present traffic conditions. Most trip times will be adjusted but the total number of trips and the approximate frequency of service will not change.Greenbelt-Twinbrook Line, Routes C2 and C4. The weekday running time will be increased as necessary to reflect present traffic conditions. Most trip times will be adjusted, but the total number of trips will not change. The frequency of service during the rush periods will go from every 7 ½ minutes to every 8 minutes between Wheaton Metrorail station and University Boulevard and Riggs Road, the segment of the route served by both the C2 and C4, and from every 15 to every 16 minutes on those segments of the route served by either the C2 or C4 alone. The frequency of service outside the rush periods will not change.Oxon Hill-Suitland Line, Routes D12 and D14. On Saturday and Sunday, the running time will be increased as necessary to reflect present traffic conditions. Most trip times will be adjusted, but the total number of trips and the approximate frequency of service will not change.Bethesda-Silver Spring Line, Routes J1, J2, and J3. On weekdays, there will be three changes to the schedule. The running time will be increased as necessary throughout the day to reflect traffic conditions. Service on the J2 and J3 westbound routes in the morning rush and eastbound in the evening rush will be reduced slightly to reflect the passengers lost to the new parallel J4 route’s limited-stop service that operates over the same route between Silver Spring and Bethesda Metrorail stations. The frequency of the J2 service will be increased in the late evening. On Saturday and Sunday, the running time will be increased as necessary to reflect traffic. On Saturday, the midday frequency will be widened from 20 to 25 minutes.College Park-Bethesda Line, Route J4. The running time will be increased as necessary to reflect present traffic conditions. Most trip times will be adjusted.New Hampshire Avenue-Maryland Line, Route K6. On weekdays, the running time throughout the day and the frequency of service during the rush periods will be adjusted as necessary to reflect present traffic conditions and levels of demand. The midday frequncy will be widened from every 20 to 22 minutes. The first K6 trip arriving at the Fort Totten Metrorail station, which connects with the first Red Line train downtown, is regularly crowded, so a new short trip originating at New Hampshire Avenue and Merrimac Drive in Langley Park will be scheduled to operate five minutes ahead of the existing first trip to provide additional capacity.Connecticut Avenue-Maryland Line, Routes L7 and L8. On weekdays, the running time will be increased as necessary to reflect traffic conditions. Most trip times will be adjusted.Bock Road Line, Routes W13 and W14. The times that trips pass the bus stop on Livingston Road at Oxon Hill Road will be changed to show the times that trips pass the stop on Bock Road at St. Barnabas Road.Georgia Avenue-Maryland Line, Routes Y7, Y8, and Y9. A significant change will be made on weekdays for this line. Almost all trips will operate between Montgomery General Hospital in Olney and the Silver Spring Metrorail station. The new weekday frequency of service along Georgia Avenue will be 15 minutes during the morning and afternoon rush periods, 20 minutes midday, and 30 minutes during the late evening. Trips passing Leisure World before 6 a.m. and after 9 p.m., which do not divert off of Georgia Avenue to serve the stop at the clubhouse, will be designated Y9. Most trips throughout the day, which serve the Leisure World clubhouse stop, will be designated Y8. The Norbeck Park & Ride Lot will be served directly only by southbound trips in the morning rush and by northbound trips in the afternoon rush at those times when checks show that this diversion is used by large numbers of customers. The lot is only a short walk from Georgia Avenue for passengers traveling at other times. Trips that serve the lot directly will be designated Y7, and they will also serve the clubhouse at Leisure World. Extended Y7 service now operating beyond the Norbeck Park & Ride Lot to and from the Rockville Metrorail station will be discontinued.Metrobus Route Q2 will continue to connect the Rockville station and Georgia Avenue via Veirs Mill Road. Ride On Routes 48 and 49, which generally parallel the extended Y7 route, will also remain available. Calverton Express Line, Route Z19. The average daily ridership on all Z19 trips is very low, so service will be discontinued. Route Z7 and Z17 trips between Calverton and the Silver Spring Metrorail sation will not be changed.

News release issued on June 23, 2003.