WASHINGTON — D.C.'s Circulator bus service is on the chopping block as the District faces a major budget shortfall for FY 2025.
Mayor Muriel Bowser's team is proposing cutting the local service entirely by March 2025.
During Thursday's Transportation Committee Budget Oversight hearing, Department of Transportation Acting Director Sharon Kershbaum said the cut is due to a continued decrease in ridership, continued high expenses to maintain the service, and the $700 million budget shortfall the city is facing.
"We knew that we needed to find ways to cut our budget last year, but I think that the cuts needed this year are more significant," Kershbaum said. "So, instead of deciding to trim the network, we decided to cut the entire program, but to do so every carefully and in conjunction with WMATA to see if WMATA could actually absorb as many routes as possible so that we won’t have as much of an impact on our ridership.”
DDOT provided ridership numbers that show in FY 2019, the Circulator logged close to 5.7 million rides. In FY 2023, it logged right under 2 million rides.
Kershbaum also said that annually, it costs $40 million to operate the service -- not including other capital costs.
Transportation Committee head, Councilmember Charles Allen, questioned if DDOT and WMATA had developed a transition plan if they agree to cut the service, and Kershbaum said WMATA asked that they wait until the summer for specifics.
"My frustration around waiting for a few months is you’re putting a budget in front of me that’s asking me to cut more than 100 million dollars from the Circulator and to end it. Once the council approves that, there’s no going back," Councilmember Allen said. "I can’t undo that decision if you come back with a transition plan that doesn’t materialize or if the routes don’t change or if the workers aren’t protected.”
He added that last year, the mayor's team proposed cutting Circulator service in half. The Council decided against that, fully funding it for another year.
Councilmember Allen said he expected DDOT to come up with an alternative plan during that time.
"It’s why we funded one year and said we want a transition plan. If it’s going to end, we need a transition plan, and yet we’re finding ourselves here with the entire system being eliminated and no transition plan and being asked to just wait till the summer," he said. "But, If I wait till the summer, we already have to vote. We already have to take an action. So that timeline does not work for me. I need to have greater assurances from WMATA, greater assurances from DDOT that there will be a transition plan that riders and workers are going to be taken care of."
Kershbaum responded that she remembers that conversation, which is why they reached out to WMATA six months ago.
"That process is taking longer than anyone anticipated, so today I do not have a plan of how the routes will be absorbed by WMATA. I wish I did. I know that will provide great comfort to people who are dependent on the Circulator. But that said, we have a very willing and cooperative partner in WMATA and our teams meet regularly to discuss this," she said.
She said another cost consideration is that much of the fleet is aging and needs to be replaced. That would require purchasing new buses and updating garages -- all added costs that she said doesn't make sense based on ridership.
Councilmember Allen said that before voting the proposal forward, he would also want to see an estimate of how much the city could receive for selling some of the Circulator fleet -- and where that money would go.
He also wants to make sure DC loops bus drivers in with the hopes of transitioning them to metro bus drivers if WMATA absorbs the routes.
The public has the opportunity to testify on this proposal on April 30.
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