Route Movements/Split line changes effective in December

[wmata employee]

A2 will be routed to go to federal center sw. instead of terminating at Anacostia station
A4,5,6,7,8,9,42,46,48 will all go threw a major route study .
S1,2,4 going threw a line study and will introduce new route S3 stucture will be ready in december
D1,2,3,4,5,6,8 line structure studies and block rebuilds

metro wants to have a local bus ,express bus theme to decrease routes such as routes that are old like the 30's to many buses going to the same places are going to stop to ease bus traffic.

[OrionFlyer]

Metro sure is doing reconstruction to the s line pretty fast.

[RailBus63]

What WMATA should do is bite the bullet and finally ditch the archaic route letter/number system.  If the new guy is going to copy the Local/Express/Rapid route structure from LA MTA, why not follow their example and renumber the routes in a logical sequence based on route type, geography, etc.? 

LA's current system for line numbers make a lot of sense:

Metro Local service -

Lines 1-99 - to/from Downtown Los Angeles
Lines 100-199 - East/West routes in other areas
Lines 200-299 - North/South routes in other areas

Limited stop service -
Lines 300-399

Metro Express -
Lines 400-499 - to/from Downtown Los Angeles -
Lines 500-599 - Express in other areas

Shuttles & Circulators
Lines 600-699

Metro Rapid service
Lines 700-799

Yes, there would be massive confusion at first and any changes would likley need to be done in phases, but the long-term benefits would be well worth it.

Jim D.

[OrionFlyer]

I think the route letter/number bus routes WMATA has is what makes Metrobus unique. I've never seen a transit system like that.

16Y, 20F, 24P, T18, P12, F14, NH1, just to name a few. I've never seen a bus system with numbers in letters in the route name like WMATA.  Thats what I really like about WMATA. I hope they never change it. 

Maryland & DC: 00, A0, and A00

Virgina: 0A, and 00A

The way WMATA has it now is pretty cool.

[Tristan]

Pittsburgh's Port Authority (ridegold.com) has a similar system, but for different reason.

[79MetroExtraMD]

What WMATA should do is bite the bullet and finally ditch the archaic route letter/number system.  If the new guy is going to copy the Local/Express/Rapid route structure from LA MTA, why not follow their example and renumber the routes in a logical sequence based on route type, geography, etc.? 

LA's current system for line numbers make a lot of sense:

Metro Local service -

Lines 1-99 - to/from Downtown Los Angeles
Lines 100-199 - East/West routes in other areas
Lines 200-299 - North/South routes in other areas

Limited stop service -
Lines 300-399

Metro Express -
Lines 400-499 - to/from Downtown Los Angeles -
Lines 500-599 - Express in other areas

Shuttles & Circulators
Lines 600-699

Metro Rapid service
Lines 700-799

Yes, there would be massive confusion at first and any changes would likley need to be done in phases, but the long-term benefits would be well worth it.

Jim D.

We don't want to be East LA. The route structure at WMATA is good as it is now. No need to mess around with historical grandfathered routes from the past. The one thing I'd like to see is focus on corridors such as Columbia Pike (VA), University Boulevard, Columbia Pike (MD), 16th Street, etc. and having service guides along those corridors. PikeRide was a very good thing that Metro and Arlington County did. They combined all of the routes that service Columbia Pike and display headways, points of interest, and other things. I find that to be very useful. The same could be applied to other corridors as well.

For example
Georgia Avenue (DC)
I'd have a guide set up to where itll show the 70, 71, and 79 showing their major stops/timepoints and points of interest. Along with headways and service information pertaining to that corridor. It would have the same look of the PikeRide information pylons and schematics. Spider maps would make understanding the route easier (especially around the Waterfront area where both the 70 and 71 has that wacky routing).

[WMATAGMOAGH]

What WMATA should do is bite the bullet and finally ditch the archaic route letter/number system.  If the new guy is going to copy the Local/Express/Rapid route structure from LA MTA, why not follow their example and renumber the routes in a logical sequence based on route type, geography, etc.? 

LA's current system for line numbers make a lot of sense:

Metro Local service -

Lines 1-99 - to/from Downtown Los Angeles
Lines 100-199 - East/West routes in other areas
Lines 200-299 - North/South routes in other areas

Limited stop service -
Lines 300-399

Metro Express -
Lines 400-499 - to/from Downtown Los Angeles -
Lines 500-599 - Express in other areas

Shuttles & Circulators
Lines 600-699

Metro Rapid service
Lines 700-799

Yes, there would be massive confusion at first and any changes would likley need to be done in phases, but the long-term benefits would be well worth it.

Jim D.

Apparently it has been considered, but they think it is easier to keep the current (albeit somewhat confusing system) instead of trying to get everyone to learn a new one.

[OrionFlyer]

I don't get it. How is WMATA's bus system confusing? I was new to WMATA two years  ago and I wasn't confused at all. The routes made sense to me.

[WayneNYC]

I don't get it. How is WMATA's bus system confusing? I was new to WMATA two years  ago and I wasn't confused at all. The routes made sense to me.

Oh yes, I'm not bashing, but I think WMATA route numbering can be quite confusing for anyone.  Sure, once you start figuring out how it's done (or if someone explains it), then it's not so confusing and you can see how it came to be.  I know when I moved to the DC area in '96 I found it quite odd.   

[OrionFlyer]

I had to think about it for a minute, but think I understand what you're saying. Correct me if I'm wrong.  You're not talking about single routes your talking about routes like the the E's (E2, E3, E4), the L's (L1, L2, L4) and the D's (D1, D3, D6) and the very confusing 16 routes.

If thats what you're talking about then I completely agree. It can get confusing especially the 16's. Those multi route lines can get confusing, unlike the single route lines. But some of the single route lines run on the same street as multi route lines like the N3, N4, and N6 running on Mass. Ave along with the N8, which I guess can get confusing. People new to the area may think the N8 goes the same way as the N3, N4, and N6.

[NewFlyer9736BCT]

I had to think about it for a minute, but think I understand what you're saying. Correct me if I'm wrong.  You're not talking about single routes your talking about routes like the the E's (E2, E3, E4), the L's (L1, L2, L4) and the D's (D1, D3, D6) and the very confusing 16 routes.

If thats what you're talking about then I completely agree. It can get confusing especially the 16's. Those multi route lines can get confusing, unlike the single route lines. But some of the single route lines run on the same street as multi route lines like the N3, N4, and N6 running on Mass. Ave along with the N8, which I guess can get confusing. People new to the area may think the N8 goes the same way as the N3, N4, and N6.

Agreed, it's not that hard to figure out, but it takes more time figuring out the other-lettered or other-numbered routes, like the N8 as you mentioned. And same with the D5, and the F line (F1/F2, F4/F6, F8, F12, F13, F14...)
re-numbering every route is a bad idea, its just chaos waiting to happen...

[Scrabbleship]

re-numbering every route is a bad idea, its just chaos waiting to happen...

I think that if rolled out over time, it wouldn't be as chaotic as the headaches going on in Silver Spring right now. If it was gradually done over a year's time with one garage going at a time, it might work.

I'm for the current mess as it's unique, but a renumbering wouldn't be that disastrous. CDTA up in the Albany, NY area is in the midst of a system that might take years to do (with further delays due to the budget crisis that came up after the Spitzer scandal) because it is being done VERY gradually.

[WayneNYC]

The bad part about renumbering routes is that it will always cause some confusion at the time and some time afterward.  The good part is that a new system can be put into place that makes sense and eventually riders will adapt.

I've seen it happen back in the 80s with about one third of the bus routes in The Bronx (NY).  Not only were routes renumbered, but some routes were changed, a couple discontinued and a couple of totally new routes added.  All of this went into affect on the same day.  It was also confusing for NYCTA bus operators because some routes switched to different depots and it was the first day of a new pick.  It was great for me as a fan because in addition to all of these changes, there was also massive bus moves.  One good thing for passengers was that for the first month or so, buses on renumbered routes had a placard on the window with new route number next to the old route number.  The old number was in the red circle with a slash though it.   

[jbgroup1]

Actually there was a limited route renumbering.  Not what you all are talking about but in the Largo/Bowie area the old T-lines were renumbered to C for Central Avenue and B for Bowie.  It was supposed to be the start of a complete renumbering and relettering of the entire system.  The then WMATA GM left for New York and it never got off the ground.