WASHINGTON — DC Circulator employees are protesting the city's decision to cut the local bus service by holding a rally at Freedom Plaza Thursday.
The phased elimination is scheduled to begin on October 1, with the line's final service running on December 31, 2024.
These are the first impacted routes:
- Termination of Rosslyn-Dupont Circle (RS-DP)
- Elimination of late-night service on Woodley Park-Adams Morgan (WP-AM) and Georgetown- Union Station (GT-US)
- Remaining routes will operate on 20-minute headways, a 10-minute increase from current arrival times.
- Woodley Park-Adams Morgan (WP-AM), Georgetown-Union Station (GT-US), Congress Heights-Union Station (CH-US), and Eastern Market – L'Enfant Plaza (EM-LP) routes will end service at 9 p.m. daily, rather than midnight.
Circulator employees shared a memo from the assistant general manager of operations of RATP DEV (the company that operates the buses). Dated October 3, 2023, it announces a five-year contract extension with DDOT until September 2028.
Operator Supervisor Darryl Hairston said employees felt blindsided by the closure announced less than a year later.
"We were told we had a five year contract. We were excited, happy ..." Hairston said. "Eight months later, we're getting this thing about what's going on with them and the government."
That's why Hairston and other employees will protest at Freedom Plaza Thursday at 11 a.m.
These are their demands for the DC government and RATP DEV:
- Provide a guarantee that All DC Circulator employees will retain their current pay grade/rate, and not be subject to a lesser pay rate/grade if transitioned under WMATA.
- Provide a five (5) year transitional financial plan that will allow all DC Circulator employees to properly be made whole.
- Rescind the current closedown letter and allow DC Circulator employees to renegotiate terms that are less imposing on their mental and financial well-being.
- Participate in a mandatory DC Council special hearing to be held accountable to DC Circulator employees, and DC citizens who are seeking answers regarding the mayor and DC governments’ mishandling and failure to protect its workers and citizens from harmful and cruel mismanagement of the city’s contract awards and budget allocations.
Hairston said right now, they are only being offered three weeks of severance.
He's concerned how employees — many of whom are older, he said — will start over at this point in their careers.
The Circulator began service in 2005, according to their website. Operator Natarsha Guest said many the employees have worked there for almost the whole time it's been in service.
"They end our service right before the 20 years. Those people have been robbed. We've been robbed," Guest said.
Guest said she's worried about the layoffs beginning Sept. 30. She’s had to give up her car and bring her daughter home from college because of the potential pay cuts, she said.
"It's impossible for you to restart your life in 60 days," Guest said. "And that's what we've been given, 60 days."
A spokesperson for Councilmember Charles Allen's office, who leads the Transportation Committee, said that they have not set their fall hearing schedule yet but that there would be an opportunity to do a public roundtable on the topic.
Mayor Muriel Bowser and the DC Council decided to cut the service after plummeting ridership numbers.
DDOT shared data that reports 5 million riders in fiscal year 2019 compared to just under 2 million in FY23.
Hairston said it's hard to get an accurate ridership count because so many of the fare boxes on the buses are broken and both he and Guest say they're frustrated that DDOT does not believe they're worth the investment to fix.
"It's no way we can take cash at all. We cannot take cards as drivers. So if you're losing $30 million, do your job and replace the equipment," Guest said. "Why are we accountable for that?"
WUSA9 reached out to DDOT for a response to these drivers' demands on Tuesday. As of Thursday morning, we have not yet received a statement.
Workers have started this petition calling on DDOT and Mayor Bowser to "cut out the games."
"We're losing pay, we don't have answers and all we're asking is that the city be fair," Guest said.