METRO PROPOSES M-4 BUS ROUTE EXTENSION

June, 2000 -- The state of public transportation in the Palisades area has been the cause of great concern among bus riders.
At the February PCA meeting, citizens had an opportunity to discuss these problems with two representatives from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority: bus operations specialist David F. Erion and Douglas Stalworth of the Office of Mass Transit.
Regular riders lamented the unreliability of the D6 bus line whose customary tardiness has been further hampered by repair work being done to the Q Street Bridge since last fall. The D5 commuter bus has also become increasingly unreliable, it was reported at this meeting.
Messrs. Erion and Stalworth were attentive to the complaints of those in attendance and agreed to research the feasibility of finding ways to improve service and, most importantly, make other areas of the city more accessible to Palisades residents by extending the reach of the M4 bus.
Mr. Erion has been kind enough to keep me informed of Metro's progress since February.
As far as the D6 bus is concerned, service should improve after the Q Street Bridge work is completed in July. He advised me that work on the P Street Bridge is not scheduled until 2001 and that this work will not require the bridge be closed to traffic.
Metro has, however, proposed extending the route of the M4 bus. At present, the M4 route begins at Sibley Hospital and runs to Tenleytown during weekdays.
Members of the PCA had hoped the M4 could be extended at least to the Safeway Supermarket on MacArthur Boulevard and, in an ideal scenario, provide weekend service to bus riders in need of getting to the Tenleytown area.
Mr. Erion indicated that budget restraints are preventing Metro from: 1) adding more M4 buses to the route to increase service; 2) extending the M4 to Safeway; and 3) adding weekend service.
But all is not lost: for no additional cost, Metro is willing to extend the M4 to Arizona in order to make connections to the D6 easier. In other words, the M4, under this proposed arrangement, would make a left turn onto MacArthur, another left turn onto Arizona, and then a right turn back onto Longborough to head back to Tenleytown.
This adjustment, of course, would not be considered without approval from residents living along the proposed Arizona route who might be concerned about bus traffic and noise/vibration problems.
Mr. Erion wanted to assure residents that the M4 route uses smaller, lighter weight buses-not the usual clattering behemoths favored by the D6 and other major routes.
I have ridden the M4 and can attest to this: the buses are very compact in size and can almost classify as extra-large passenger vans. (The reason why we can't have these smaller buses on the D6 route is because of the volume of passengers regularly using the line.)
So that's the proposal for the M4. If residents agree to this extended route, I will notify Mr. Erion and Metro can have it implemented. But we need to make sure everyone is comfortable with the arrangement first, so please let us know your thoughts.
Those with additional bus questions, may contact me at: Max_Alvarez@hotmail.com.
Or you can write to the Palisades News at P.O. Box 40603, Palisades Station,Wash., DC, 20016 or e-mail us at ourand@msn.com.
--Max Alvarez, PCA traffic committee