Circulator bus service on the chopping block as DC faces major budget gap

WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — D.C.’s Circulator Bus is on the chopping block as city leaders consider the upcoming budget.

Mayor Muriel Bowser is proposing to cut the bus service after March 2025, as the District faces a $700 million budget gap.

“I told the community and council last year that this was a program that wasn’t rebounding from the pandemic,” the Mayor said. “How many people have seen a D.C. Circulator with one or two people on it? It’s not rebounding. The ridership doesn’t justify the cost.”

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According to city data, ridership on the Circulator has been steadily increasing since 2021. However, the nearly two million riders in 2023 is no where near the nearly six million riders in 2019.

The bus service, which operates six routes throughout the city, runs every ten minutes at just $1 per ride. It was originally designed to operate in the downtown and the National Mall area but expanded over the last two decades.

“I take it every day after work,” said Maya Monagan-Jones, who got on the bus in Anacostia Friday. “I think it’ll effect a lot of people.”

Monagan-Jones does not support cutting the service.

“Public transportation is essential for our city. Not a lot of people drive. The Circulator is part of public transportation so I don’t see a point of cutting it,” she said.

Darryl Wilson, who got off in Anacostia Friday, agreed.

“I take it about three times a month to go grocery shopping and things like that,” said Wilson. “It goes places the Metrobus doesn’t go. That bus is very important for people who live in this vicinity.”

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The city maintains it is working with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to ensure impacted riders have other options. More details are expected later this summer.

“This was an incredibly tight budget. We had to make some hard decisions. The Circulator program is incredibly expensive,” explained DDOT director Sharon Kershbaum. “The good news about the Circulator closing is we can work with WMATA and they’ve been incredibly helpful to see how they can support some of the routes that are going away.”

Council is still working to finalize the budget.

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