WASHINGTON — There’s a new plan to cut through congestion in our region by using an option that’s always been there. The region’s top transit experts have committed to making the bus better and they just released a new report on how to do it.
"This is not an easy thing to do, there’s no doubt about it," Robert Puentes of the Washington Area Bus Transformation Project said.
It just released its strategy to make the bus better by 2030.
"In many cases, we haven’t updated our bus operations and bus network in a generation," Puentes said. "It’s got to be updated, it’s got to be modernized and it’s got to be fast, flexible, and convenient."
The group has laid out four main goals. Chief among them, changing bus routes so they are more efficient. Also, adding more dedicated bus lanes. There are only two miles of them in The District. Puentes stressed that commitment should spread to Maryland and Virginia.
"Local jurisdictions are going to have an enormously important role to play in all these transformational ideas," Puentes said.
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Metro is supporting this project. Puentes said region-wide, just as many people take the bus as ride Metro. There are nine different bus systems in the region. This project hopes to foster more coordination -- so we can be more connected by bus.
"It can actually be something that folks want to do to avoid transportation and the traffic challenges that we have here in this region," Puentes said.