Loading AI tools
Bus route in Washington, D.C. area From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 16th Street Line, designated Route S2, is a daily bus route operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority between Silver Spring station, which is served by the Red Line of the Washington Metro, and Federal Triangle in Downtown Washington, D.C. with late night and early morning trips extending to L'Enfant Plaza station which is served by the Blue, Orange, Silver, Green and Yellow Lines of the Washington Metro. The line operates every 10 minutes during the weekday peak hours, 15 minutes during the weekday midday and Saturday, 20 minutes on Sunday, and 20 minutes late nights. Trips are roughly 55-60 minutes long.
S2 | |||
---|---|---|---|
16th Street Line | |||
![]() | |||
![]() Route S2 at Metro Center | |||
Overview | |||
System | Metrobus | ||
Operator | Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority | ||
Garage | Montgomery (Daily) Bladensburg (Select trips) | ||
Livery | Local | ||
Status | In Service | ||
Began service | 1920s | ||
Route | |||
Locale | Southwest, Northwest, Montgomery County, Maryland | ||
Communities served | Silver Spring, Columbia Heights, Downtown | ||
Landmarks served | Shepherd Park, Brightwood, Carter Barron Park & Ride Lot, Crestwood, Columbia Heights station, McPherson Square station, Franklin Square, Metro Center station, Federal Triangle | ||
Start | Silver Spring station | ||
Via | 11th Street NW, 16th Street NW, Alaska Avenue NW, Eastern Avenue NW, Colesville Road | ||
End | Federal Triangle (L'Enfant Plaza station on late nights and early mornings only) | ||
Other routes | S9 16th Street Limited | ||
Service | |||
Level | Daily | ||
Frequency | 10 minutes (Weekday Peak Hours) 15 minutes (Weekday Midday and Saturday) 20 minutes (Sunday) 20 minutes (Late Nights) | ||
Operates | 24 Hours | ||
Ridership | 1,807,372 (FY 2023)[1] | ||
Transfers | SmarTrip only | ||
Timetable | 16th Street Line | ||
|
Route S2 operates daily between Federal Triangle and Silver Spring station via the 16th Street corridor providing service along 11th Street, 16th Street, I Street (to Silver Spring), K Street (to Federal Triangle), Alaska Avenue NW, Eastern Avenue NW, and Colesville Road. Route S2 also extends to L'Enfant Plaza station during the late night and early morning hours.
Route S2 currently operates out of Montgomery garage with some peak hour trips operated by Bladensburg garage. The line originally operated out of Northern division but was shifted to Montgomery when Northern closed on June 23, 2019. The line often uses articulated buses due to its high passenger volume.[2]
Routes S2 and S4 originally operated under streetcar lines under the Washington Rapid Transit Company which operated between Federal Triangle and Silver Spring, Maryland, via the 16th Street corridor. Major differences between the two routes was route S2 operated along Alaska and Eastern Avenues while route S4 remain along 16th Street. Route S4 weekend service only operated up to McPherson Square station/Franklin Square during most of its day. Route S4 was converted to a bus route in 1921 while route S2 was converted to bus in 1926.[3]
Routes S2 and S4 were later acquired by the Capital Transit Company and later run by buses in 1933. Later on DC Transit acquired the lines in 1956 and WMATA would later acquire the S2 and S4 in 1973.[4]
Later on, routes S1, S3 and S5 would be introduced to operate alongside the S2 and S4 during the weekday peak hours. Route S1 would operate to Potomac Park and 14th Street while routes S3 and S5 would operate express routing for routes S2 and S4. However the S3 and S5 would be eliminated later in the 1990s.
Route S2 would later have trips beginning on 14th Street (in front of WMATA's Northern bus garage) and run along 14th Street and Missouri Avenue to Federal Triangle. Select trips would also end at Carter Barron Park and Ride.
On February 19, 1978, routes S2 and S4 were rerouted to Silver Spring station via Colesville Road connecting riders to the Red Line.
In 2008, a study was released along the 16th Street corridor in order to improve the line by both WMATA and the District Department of Transportation. The corridor averages a weekday ridership of 16,000 making it the third most heavily used line in the Metrobus system, Parts of the proposal was to create a new route S3 which would be a shorten routes S1, S2, and S4 and create a limited stop route S9.[5] According to the study, it goes for routes S3 and S9:[6]
The S3 proposal was mentioned again in 2013.[7]
In 2013, another study was made on the 16th Street corridor with the S3 proposal coming back. Routes S1, S2 and S4 are plagued with overcrowding with passengers only getting seats early on before hitting Downtown. Route S9 only made limited stops while the S2 and S4 were serving all local stops. The S3 would operate along 16th Street and can run to 16th and Half Street in order to reduce the crowding to the S lines while running up to 16th and Colorado. Other proposals were to add articulated buses to the S1, S2, and S4.[8][9]
Beginning on August 24, 2014, articulated buses will be debuted on the S2 and S4 during the weekdays in order to relieve crowding.[10] Later in 2015, new buses were introduced in 2015 to operate along the 16th Street, 14th Street, and Georgia Avenue corridor.[11]
Articulated buses operating on the line were suspended beginning in late 2018 until summer 2019 due to structural issues at Northern garage (where the S lines operate out of at the time).[12][13][14] WMATA added extra buses to the S2 and S4 with standard 40 foot buses in order to revive the crowding along 16th Street. Northern garage was later closed in 2019 and the entire S line was shifted over to Montgomery garage with some S1, S2, and S4 trips operated by Bladensburg garage resuming articulated buses on the line.[15][16]
When the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit Center at Silver Spring station opened, routes S2 and S4 were rerouted from their terminus along Wayne Avenue to the new transit center. The S2 and S4 were assigned to Bus Bay 103 on level 1.[17][18]
In 2017, WMATA proposed to eliminate all S2 trips beginning at Northern bus garage in order to simplify the line. Also, WMATA proposed to extend all route S4 service to Federal Triangle during the weekends instead of it terminating at Franklin Square. This was due to the following:
Performance measures goes as follows:[19]
Performance Measure | Routes S2, S4 | Routes S9 | WMATA Guideline | Pass/Fail |
---|---|---|---|---|
Average Weekday Riders | 13,258 | 3,913 | 432 | Pass |
Cost Recovery | 38.79% | 39.76% | 16.6% | Pass |
Subsidy per Rider | $1.85 | $1.77 | $4.81 | Pass |
Riders per Trip | 36.9 | 37.0 | 10.7 | Pass |
Riders per Revenue Mile | 4.8 | 4.8 | 1.3 | Pass |
On June 25, 2017, S2 trips along 14th Street were eliminated and route S4 eliminated all weekend short trips to Franklin Square. Both routes now run the full route between Silver Spring station and Federal Triangle.[20]
In 2019, WMATA proposed to eliminate the S4 and replace the route with the S9 which will be rerouted along 16th Street instead of diverting onto Alaska and Eastern Avenues NW and add service to bus stops at 16th Street & Kalmia Road NW, 16th Street & Portal Drive NW and 16th Street & Eastern Avenue NW.[21][22] This was due to the following according to WMATA:[22]
Route S2 will still operate along Alaska and Eastern Avenues while the S9 will remain along 16th Street instead of it diverting along the S2 route.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Routes S2 and S4 began operating on its Saturday supplemental schedule beginning on March 16, 2020.[23] It however began operating on its Sunday service on March 18, 2020.[24] Weekend service on Route S2 was then suspended and the S4 was also reduced to operate every 30 minutes.[25]
Due to the opening of Black Lives Matter Plaza, routes S2 and S4 detoured along 15th Street NW at I Street resuming route on 16th Street NW at K Street going to Silver Spring and detoured along K Street NW at 16th Street resuming route on 11th Street NW at H Street going to Federal Triangle.[26] The reroute became permanent on October 5, 2020 after the DC Council made Black Lives Matter Plaza permanent. All service on 16th Street between H and K Streets was eliminated.[27]
On August 23, 2020, all route S4 service was eliminated and replaced by route S9 which added daily service and remained along 16th Street. Routes S2 and S9 handled most of the discontinued S4 service but route S2 service was slightly decreased to supplement route S9.[28]
On May 29, 2022, all late night route S2 service was extended to terminate at L'Enfant Plaza station via Pennsylvania Avenue, Constitution Avenue, and 7th Street.[29]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.