WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — According to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's Better Bus Proposal Redesign, bus service on North Capitol Street will be revised with possible alternate routes. One of those affected routes runs down First Street NW, leaving people who live in the Bloomingdale neighborhood with concerns over what they say is an already heavy traffic area.
Nick Carton moved to the neighborhood three years ago after living in busier areas like Logan Circle and Shaw.
"We like our quiet neighborhood," he explained. "We moved over here for a reason."
Likewise, Thaddeus Thaler calls his home of seven years on North Capitol Street NW "a cozy neighborhood" but admits the frequent traffic can be a nuisance.
"These large vehicles are shaking the foundations of the houses we're in. I'm constantly rearranging the paintings I have in my house because it shakes the core of the building," he explained.
So when WMATA announced a proposal for major changes to its bus system, both were immediately worried about how it would affect their serene streets.
"People use First Street and then this street here, Seaton, as an access to get to North Cap," said Carton. "At rush hour, you can't get around this neighborhood. We don't even leave the house in the afternoon because of that reason."
"If you're going to increase the congestion there, which is already tight, where you have parking on both sides of the street, and you just have a two-way road, one lane going north and one lane going south," explained Thaler, "to throw in a bus route there and to try and throw in bus stops along that path, just seems like a route for more congestion."
Both say they're not opposed to expanding bus routes.
"I'm all for increasing the accessibility for public transit," explained Thaler. "I use it to get downtown to work on 9th and 8th streets, so I love being able to take the bus to do it."
"I'm pro bus," said Carton. "I think public transportation's fantastic. I'm a user of it."
They just want to make sure their concerns aren't forgotten.
"There needs to strike a chord and a balance between understanding that there are people in these neighborhoods," Thaler explained. "You need to appreciate what they are going through on a daily basis."
In a statement, a WMATA spokesperson tells us:
Any time there is change, it will inevitably make some happy and others not, but Metro wants to make the bus network as usable as possible to as many people as possible. The changes on 1st Street NW in Bloomingdale would bring four buses an hour. We encourage the public to provide feedback on the proposed network through next Monday, July 15th at 5 p.m. We will review and evaluate all the comments submitted before the plan is finalized later this year.
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