The District Heights–Suitland Line, designated Route V12, is a daily bus route operated by the

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA ), commonly referred to as Metro, is a tri-jurisdictional government agency that operates transit service in the Washington metropolitan area. WMATA was created by the United States Con ...

between the Addison Road station of the

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...

Silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

Lines of the

Washington Metro The Washington Metro (or simply Metro), formally the Metrorail,Google Books search/preview

and

Suitland station Suitland is an island platformed Washington Metro station in Suitland, Maryland, United States. The station was opened on January 13, 2001, and is operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). Providing service for t ...

of the

Green Line Green Line may refer to: Places Military and political * Green Line (France), the German occupation line in France during World War II * Green Line (Israel), the 1949 armistice line established between Israel and its neighbours ** City Line ( ...

of the Washington Metro. The line operates every 30–40 minutes on weekdays and 60 minutes on weekends. V12 trips are roughly 35 minutes long.

Background

Route V12 operates daily between Addison Road station and

connecting Capitol Heights, Coral Hills, Walker Mill,

District Heights District Heights is an incorporated municipality in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, located near Maryland Route 4. Per the 2020 census, the population was 5,959. For more information, see the separate articles on Forestville and ...

Suitland Suitland is an unincorporated community and census designated place (CDP) in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, approximately one mile (1.6 km) southeast of Washington, D.C. As of the 2020 census, its population was 25,839. Prio ...

neighborhoods to both stations. Route V12 currently operates out of Landover division.

History

Route V12 was created as a brand new Metrobus route by WMATA on December 3, 1978 to replace the former B12 Metrobus route that was discontinued. Unlike the B12 which operated between

Federal Triangle The Federal Triangle is a triangular area in Washington, D.C. formed by 15th Street NW, Constitution Avenue NW, Pennsylvania Avenue NW, and E Street NW. Federal Triangle is occupied by 10 large city and federal office buildings, all of which are ...

in Downtown Washington D.C. (11th Street NW and E Street NW) & the Penn Mar Shopping Center, V12 would operate as part of the Pennsylvania Avenue-Maryland Line, between the newly opened

Potomac Avenue station Potomac Avenue is an island-platformed Washington Metro station bordering the Barney Circle, Capitol Hill and Hill East neighborhoods of Southeast Washington, D.C., United States. The station was opened on July 1, 1977, and is operated by the W ...

& Penn Mar Shopping Center, via Potomac Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue, and Donnell Drive. The B12 former routing between the intersection of Potomac Avenue SE & Pennsylvania Avenue SE and Federal Triangle was replaced by the Pennsylvania Avenue Line (routes 32, 34, and 36).

1981 Changes

On January 4, 1981 two months after Addison Road station opened, route V12 was truncated to only operate between Potomac Avenue and Addison Road stations. The segment along Pennsylvania Avenue between Silver Hill Road and Penn Mar Shopping Center was replaced by the existing K12 and K19, and new routes V14, and V15. Route V11 was also discontinued on the same day. As a result of the change in V12's routing, V12 was renamed the Addison Road-Potomac Avenue Line. New routes V14 and V15 would operate along the former V12 routing between Addison Road station and Penn Mar Shopping Center via the Coral Hills,

, and Forestville neighborhoods, while also operating through Capitol Heights.

2001 Changes

On January 13, 2001 when

opened, the V12's routing was truncated even further to only operate between the Addison Road and

stations. V12's routing between Addison Road and Potomac Avenue stations, was replaced by a new route V11 which would only operate on early Saturday morning trips prior to Metro's opening. As a result of these route changes, the Addison Road–Potomac Avenue Line, was renamed the District Heights–Suitland Line.

2007 Changes

On June 24, 2007, route V11 was discontinued as both the

& Orange Line trains began operating during the earlier times on Saturday mornings.

2014 Proposed Changes

In 2014, it was proposed for the P12 and V12 to swap routings between Addison Road station and the intersection of Addison Road and Walker Mill Road which will provide a more direct route for the P12 as the V12 is focused to become a neighborhood focused route. This was because swapping P12 and V12 routing on Wheeler Road and Shady Glen Drive will provide a more direct route for the P12 as the V12 is already designed to be a more neighborhood-focused service.

2015 Changes

On June 21, 2015 as part of Metro's "Better Bus Service" initiative, routes P12 and V12 swapped their routing between the intersection of Addison Road and Walker Mill Road and Addison Road station. Route P12 would operate along Addison Road while route V12 would operate along Shady Glen Drive, Walker Mill Road, and Central Avenue. Route P12 became a more direct route while route V12 a neighborhood-focused route.

2020 Proposed changes

On September 26, 2020, WMATA proposed to eliminate all route V12 Sunday service due to low federal funding. Route V12 has not operated on Sundays since March 15, 2020 due to Metro's response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. However on March 14, 2021, route V12 Sunday service was restored.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:District Heights-Suitland Line

V12 V12 or V-12 may refer to: Aircraft * Mil V-12, a Soviet heavy lift helicopter * Pilatus OV-12, a planned American military utility aircraft * Rockwell XFV-12, an American experimental aircraft project * Škoda-Kauba V12, a Czechoslovak experim ...