Big DUH move by DUH BUS

[Scrabbleship]

I decided to spend part of my snow day at the Ikea in College Park in search of a couple last-minute Christmas gifts (that and to get my yearly-or-so-ride on PG's TheBus). Imagine my dumbfoundedness when I found out that the 17 no longer goes into College Park station and now is a straight shot up US 1 between Mount Rainer and the Ikea. After mentioning this to another member of the board, it turns out the move was effective as of the end of November because they were getting next to no traffic from the Metro.

I can understand the economy and that even Ikea might be taking a hit, but how dumb is it to have a bus route not service Metro at all when it services a route that has two other options with more service? How many people in Mount Rainer are going to College Park let alone the Ikea? How about vice versa? Sometimes I wonder about who is really planning the routes over in PG County.

The one consolation for that and trudging 1/3 mile in snow/on the side of US 1 from the 83 I do have is that I got to ride their Advantages for the first time. If it wasn't for the LED signs and that the front cap wasn't chubby, I'd have sworn they were from 1998 and not 2008. Still is an improvement from the older Thomases and the ODV/CAGV's.

[Tritransit Area]

WOW!!!!!    What the heck?! They took away service from Langley Park as well!  How are Langley Park folks supposed to easily get to IKEA?  Guess they have to take the C2 and transfer now?

Check out the new schedule: http://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/Government/AgencyIndex/DPW&T/Transit/pdfs/route-17.pdf

Now it runs from Mt. Rainier Terminal to IKEA.  What, is it supposed to be the cheap alternative to the 81, 83, and 86 routes?

Compare: http://www.wmata.com/bus/timetables/md/81-86.pdf?n

They might as well eliminate that route and use that money to add late night service to the 80's.  Yeesh!

[Scrabbleship]

WOW!!!!!    What the heck?! They took away service from Langley Park as well!  How are Langley Park folks supposed to easily get to IKEA?  Guess they have to take the C2 and transfer now?

Why do I have to resist the want to make a snark "People in Langley Park shop at Ikea!?" comment? And why, somewhat sadly, do I think the PG DPW&T probably thought the same?

Now it runs from Mt. Rainier Terminal to IKEA.  What, is it supposed to be the cheap alternative to the 81, 83, and 86 routes?

I think it's supposed to be the alternative that is a straight shot down US 1 and doesn't spend its time going off route (and if anyone has done the 86 through the PG Plaza area, those detours add up). However, without the fill that a Metro connection brings, the route has very little purpose since now it overlaps 100% of other routes.

They might as well eliminate that route and use that money to add late night service to the 80's.  Yeesh!

I have an odd feeling that this might be next. Axing Langley Park and College Park Station from the 17 pretty much is the start of the end because who does the new routing benefit? Not really anybody. This makes me wonder why PG even set up their own bus system in the first place.

Would it make sense to divert the 86 into the Ikea, or would that just add 2 minutes to an already brutal ride between Rhode Island Ave and PG Calverton?

[Tritransit Area]

Why do I have to resist the want to make a snark "People in Langley Park shop at Ikea!?" comment? And why, somewhat sadly, do I think the PG DPW&T probably thought the same?

Wow, that's a crying shame.  Is IKEA supposed to be for "yuppies" with a lot of money?  Despite the stigma, there are people in Langley Park that would be interested in such products.  Even if people would wrongly dismiss Langley Park residents as simply poor Mexican/Black people that would only shop at Kmart, Wal-Mart (and would work at IKEA!), I'm sure there are college students that live off campus in the apartments in that area that would frequent.  After all, Shuttle UM provides service there as well, in addition to the C2.  Even the former 17 service went through the university.

I think it's supposed to be the alternative that is a straight shot down US 1 and doesn't spend its time going off route (and if anyone has done the 86 through the PG Plaza area, those detours add up). However, without the fill that a Metro connection brings, the route has very little purpose since now it overlaps 100% of other routes.

Instead of duplicating other services, why not provide decent service to places in PG that don't have good service.  Perhaps Upper Marlboro (however that's spelled).

This makes me wonder why PG even set up their own bus system in the first place.

Everyone else had one, so PG wanted one too.  The way their routes run, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the mentality.

Would it make sense to divert the 86 into the Ikea, or would that just add 2 minutes to an already brutal ride between Rhode Island Ave and PG Calverton?

Yes indeed.  In fact, if woudln't be bad for PG to work with WMATA so that they can have a rt 1 "straight shot express" to IKEA (via the train station, of course).  It makes me wonder just who they are catering to with this new 17.

[Scrabbleship]

You make a very good point about Upper Marlboro and its lack of service, however I wonder why WMATA never had service out that way (I know WMAVeteran will correct me on that ). In the pre-DUH BUS era, there at least must have been some market for a route like the current 21X, yes?

I think it might be time for a hypothetical 85 route: RI Ave-Ikea via College Park station. Good idea or no?

[Tritransit Area]

I think that's a good idea, but I'd extend it out to Greenbelt for the bus connections there.

[NewFlyer9736BCT]

yea Ken told me about this earlier this month, I do think it's a stupid move since not only does it not go to Langley Park anymore, but also it doesn't go into the UMCP campus and College Park Metro Station...it's just one more bus route along the 80s line, except this one is like the Y9 where it will bypass all out-of-the-way stops.

[Scrabbleship]

yea Ken told me about this earlier this month, I do think it's a stupid move since not only does it not go to Langley Park anymore, but also it doesn't go into the UMCP campus and College Park Metro Station...it's just one more bus route along the 80s line, except this one is like the Y9 where it will bypass all out-of-the-way stops.

Ken was my source as well, and I'm surprised that all of the signs for the 17 are still up at College Park station; the only way I found out about the change was from Metro's "service near this stop" page. How this flew under the radar is impressive and sad too.

[Tritransit Area]

I agree - I can't believe this just happened without any fanfare.  Wasn't there any public outcry, or was it such an irrelevant route that nobody cared?

Honestly, the least this bus could do is go to UMCP's campus if not the train station as well.  This line is one of the few suburban transit lines that has no Metrorail connection!

Well, so much for scenes like this:

[79MetroExtraMD]

From what I was told, they were supposed to have posted the info about the changes, but they never got to it. Basically, they shot themselves in the foot. In a time where TAs are trying to cut costs and save money while dealing with ridership increases, PG County took the idiotic approach to providing service on a corridor that already gets enough service as it is. I've only seen at most 2 people riding it. Of course the operators get paid, but the farebox recovery for the line will suffer significantly.

[Tritransit Area]

I honestly think that the planners at PG TheBus don't think of public transportation in the region as a whole.  Up here, an organization would get in trouble for planning a new route that duplicates a SEPTA route in such a manner.

[WMAveteran]

You make a very good point about Upper Marlboro and its lack of service, however I wonder why WMATA never had service out that way (I know WMAVeteran will correct me on that ). In the pre-DUH BUS era, there at least must have been some market for a route like the current 21X, yes?
   

I think it might be time for a hypothetical 85 route: RI Ave-Ikea via College Park station. Good idea or no?

Response: thank you for asking Scrabbleship - WMA Transit operated bus service to Upper Marlboro for years and the service was continued after the WMATA takeover in the early 1970's.  The WMA Transit service to Upper Marlboro began at 11th & Pennsylvania Ave. NW or Lafayette Square and operated during rush hours only using Pennsylvania Avenue and Marlboro Pike to terminate near the Prince George's County Courthouse.  Those communities like Perrywood on Route 202, that have a postal address of Upper Marlboro, didn't exist at the time so the service was limited to those areas that had actual population at the time and they were along Pennsylvania Avenue (extended) and Marlboro Pike.  Prior to WMA purchasing "new look" suburban coaches in the late 60's and early 70's, the Upper Marlboro service was provided by Flxible Clippers.  In the mid-60's the Upper Marlboro service was provided by White suburban coaches. WMA also ran a rush hour express service to Upper Marlboro/North Beach that used Suitland Parkway similar to MTA's current route 904.   

[NewFlyer9736BCT]

I think it might be time for a hypothetical 85 route: RI Ave-Ikea via College Park station. Good idea or no?

yeah it does sound like a good idea, but I believe the 85 already exists, it's pretty much the same as the 84, but with a difference that I can't remember at this time. another idea might be to extend the 82 so that it goes up to Ikea via College Park Station...i might be wrong, but it seems to me that the current 82 is useless because of the pretty decent amount of overlapping routes from RI Ave Station to Mt Rainier (81, 83, 84, 85, 86, T18).

[DCT S9Z4Z6]

I think it might be time for a hypothetical 85 route: RI Ave-Ikea via College Park station. Good idea or no?

yeah it does sound like a good idea, but I believe the 85 already exists, it's pretty much the same as the 84, but with a difference that I can't remember at this time. another idea might be to extend the 82 so that it goes up to Ikea via College Park Station...i might be wrong, but it seems to me that the current 82 is useless because of the pretty decent amount of overlapping routes from RI Ave Station to Mt Rainier (81, 83, 84, 85, 86, T18).

I believe that the 81 is a Sunday/Holiday only bus that runs the same as the 83, cept its the only local bus that serves the Greenbelt Metro on Sundays/Holidays.

The 82 only runs Mt Rainer/RI Avenue Station. Runs in Rush Hours & service for DC residents only after 9pmish, you wont find any service NORTH of Mt Rainer, so WMATA keeps a bus running back/forth to the R.I. METRO.

Before it was leveled to make way for IKEA, the Cherry Hill camp ground/RV park, was located behind the Holiday Inn. One of the reasons the old R2 & current 86 was routed north on US#1, was to get the RV'ers into the METRO. Its also why the 81/83 was extended from 7Springs Village WEST to the new Cherry Hill Park.

I personally think its redundant to have the duplicate service on US#1 by the 80 series & Duh Bus. The 2 lines should compliment each other, not fight for passengers. The only ones who suffer, are the residents of PG county & those who depend on public transportation. 

Maybe we should make the 81/83 NORTH of College Park Metro run along US1 to Ikea, and make Duh Bus run from Cherry Hill, thru 7springs apartments, along RI Ave thru Hollywood to the College Park METRO.

[Scrabbleship]

Bravo, WMAVeteran, Bravo!! I'm surprised that WMATA didn't keep some sort of service after the takeover, even if it was only something peak hours only to connect Upper Marlboro to Metro.

I would endorse your idea to run the 81/83 into the Ikea and the 17 to be a College Park-Cherry Hill connection, only problem is that who would provide service on weekends for the RVers and the (few) non-UM residents at Seven Springs or for people who want to get to College Park Marketplace?  How close does the R2 come to Cherry Hill and would a diversion there work or would it just add more time to an already long-ish trip between Fort Totten/PG Plaza and MoCo Calverton?