Georgetown University students encountered redesigned routes for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) bus network as they returned to campus for the fall semester. The routes aim to improve travel times, minimize transfers and make schedules more straightforward.
The new Metrobus routes feature names designed to make the routes easier for passengers to navigate while removing 527 bus stops to simplify passenger navigation, according to WMATA. The transit agency removed two stops on M Street along the southbound direction, and one stop on M Street and one stop on Wisconsin Avenue along the northbound direction.
Evan Cornell (CAS ’27), a former senator in the Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA), said the Metrobus route changes have limited access to the Georgetown neighborhood.
“Georgetown is already a hard-to-reach neighborhood and area of our city, let alone bus route changes that make it even more difficult for people from outside our neighborhood to come in and enjoy all our area has to offer,” Cornell wrote to The Hoya.
Randy Clarke, WMATA’s general manager and CEO, said the redesign will prepare the Metrobus system long-term.
“The new network reflects years of community input and careful planning to create a bus system that’s more reliable, more accessible and ready for the future,” Clarke said in a June 27 press release.
Ignacio Loaiza (CAS, McCourt ’28), a student passionate about transit policy, said the new bus routes have made travel more difficult across the city, especially for communities that already did not have significant transit options.
“Across town, pushes to increase frequency have turned one-seat trips into trips with transfers, almost doubling some commutes,” Loaiza wrote to The Hoya. “As a budget-neutral change, those compromises had to be made but I do think the changes are disproportionately affecting some communities.”
Navyah Sathyamoorthi (CAS ’26) said she frequently uses Metrobuses to get to her various off-campus jobs, but the new bus routes have made her travel harder.
“One thing I’ve noticed is I feel like I’ve had a lot more transfers, as in one bus does not get me to the place I need to go,” Sathyamoorthi told The Hoya. “The more steps there are in the process, the more likely you’re going to have a delay. That definitely makes it a lot harder.”
Cornell said he introduced an act to add a Metro stop in Georgetown to GUSA in March.
“GUSA unanimously passed Bill 2025-03-23-17 in the spring to ask the university to lobby WMATA on the students’ behalf to solidify and somewhat expedite the timeline for MetroRail blue line expansion into the Georgetown neighborhood with the creation of a Georgetown metro station,” Cornell wrote.
The university did not lobby for the station after GUSA passed the bill, according to Cornell.
The D.C. City Council allocated $10 million to construct a Metro stop on M Street in 2021, but the project was halted due to geological challenges, including hard bedrock.
Loaiza said the bus routes in Georgetown did not change that much, with the exception of the removal of stops along Wisconsin Avenue.
“I feel like our connectivity hasn’t changed much, other than getting rid of some stops on Wisconsin Avenue, which, in an attempt to speed up transit frequency, makes some stops less accessible for people with mobility issues,” Loaiza wrote.
Sathyamoorthi said she has noticed greater walking distances in her commute because WMATA removed bus stops.
“I do think it’s a little bit more walking that I’ve been doing compared to before,” Sathyamoorthi said. “Bus stops tend to be just a little bit further from the place I’m going to.”
Despite the changes to the routes, Metrobus fares remain a $2.25 flat rate with a free transfer from Metrobus to Metrobus and Metrobus to Metrorail.
Loaiza said reliability remains an important foundation of the Metrobus transit system.
“In order for people to use transit, it must be reliable,” Loaiza wrote. “There’s some reasonable expectation that a trip takes the same amount of time every day, and if an agency isn’t delivering, their ridership and budget suffers.”