The Benning Road Line, designated Route X1, X3 is a weekday peak hour only 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

Minnesota Avenue station Minnesota Avenue is an island-platformed Washington Metro station in the Central Northeast/Mahaning Heights neighborhood of Northeast Washington, D.C., United States. The station was opened on November 20, 1978, and is operated by the Washing ...

of the Orange Line of the

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

and

Foggy Bottom–GWU station Foggy Bottom–GWU Kennedy Center is an island platformed Washington Metro station serving The George Washington University campus in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C., United States. The station was opened on July 1, 1977, and ...

of the Orange,

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 ...

, and Silver Lines of the Washington Metro (X1) or

Duke Ellington Bridge The Duke Ellington Bridge, named after American jazz pianist Duke Ellington, carries Calvert Street NW over Rock Creek in Washington, D.C., United States. It connects 18th Street NW in Adams Morgan with Connecticut Avenue NW in Woodley Park, ju ...

Adams Morgan Adams Morgan is a neighborhood in Northwest Washington, D.C., centered at the intersection of 18th Street NW and Columbia Road, about 1.5 miles (2.54 km) north of the White House. Notable establishments in the neighborhood include the ...

(X3). The line operates every 10–31 minutes during weekday peak hours in the peak direction only. X1 trips are roughly 41 minutes while X3 trips are roughly 45 minutes. All service along the X1 and X3 lines is currently suspended.

Background

Routes X1 and X3 operate every 15–25 minutes during the weekday rush hours only in the peak direction from

to either

. During the school days, X3 trips begin at

KIPP The Knowledge is Power Program, commonly known as KIPP, is a network of free open-enrollment college-preparatory schools in low income communities throughout the United States. KIPP is America's largest network of charter schools. The head of ...

DC College Prep school going to Minnesota Avenue. The line mostly provides service from Northeast to Downtown DC without having to take the train. Routes X1 and X3 operate out of Shepherd Parkway and Southern Avenue divisions while some X3 trips are operated by Bladensburg division.

History

Early days

The line originally consists of routes X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6, and X7 all operating under former streetcar lines. Afterwards the DC Transit company took over operating buses along H Street and

Benning Road Benning Road is a major traveled street in Washington, D.C., and Prince George's County, Maryland. The street's western terminus is at the "Starburst intersection" in the northeast quadrant of the city at Bladensburg Road, Florida Avenue, Maryla ...

. Then WMATA took over DC Transit on December 4, 1973 and incorporated the X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6, X7, X8, and X9. Route X1 operated between

and Potomac Park via

Washington Union Station Washington Union Station is a major train station, transportation hub, and leisure destination in Washington, D.C. Designed by Daniel Burnham and opened in 1907, it is Amtrak's headquarters, the railroad's second-busiest station, and North Ameri ...

, Louisiana Avenue, and

Constitution Avenue Constitution Avenue is a major east–west street in the northwest and northeast quadrants of the city of Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was originally known as B Street, and its western section was greatly lengthened and widened betw ...

. Route X2 operated between Minnesota Avenue and Union station. Route X3 operated between Minnesota Avenue and

McLean Gardens McLean Gardens is a residential neighborhood in Northwest Washington, District of Columbia, United States, bounded by Rodman Street NW to the north, Idaho Avenue to the south, Wisconsin Avenue to the east, and 39th Street NW to the west. McLea ...

. Route X4 was a new route introduced on November 24, 1978 operating between Minnesota Avenue and Lafayette Square. Route X5 was designated as "Owl Trips" operating between

Seat Pleasant, Maryland Seat Pleasant is an incorporated city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, located immediately east of Washington. Per the 2020 census, the population was 4,522. Two state highways pass through the community — Maryland routes 704 ...

and Lafayette Square. Route X6 would operate between Lafayette Square and

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

. All these routes mostly operate along

and H Street. In the 1980s, route X5 and X7 were discontinued and replaced by routes X1, X2, X3, X4, and X6. No major changes were made to route. In the 1990s, routes X3, X4, and X6 were discontinued and replaced by routes X1, and X2. Route X2 was also split from the Benning Road Line and was formed into the Benning Road-H Street Line operating on the former X4 and X6 routing between

and Lafayette Square. Routes X1 and X3 were unaffected by any changes and continue to operate on its same routing.

Changes

On June 25, 2000, route X3 was reincarnated to operate alongside the X1 between

and

during the weekday peak-hours. On December 19, 2010, route X1 was extended from Potomac Park to

via 23rd Street. In 2012, routes 96 and X3 were extended from

to Tenleytown–AU station adding additional service along

Wisconsin Avenue Wisconsin Avenue is a major thoroughfare in Washington, D.C., and its Maryland suburbs. The southern terminus begins in Georgetown just north of the Potomac River, at an intersection with K Street under the elevated Whitehurst Freeway. The se ...

NW from McLean Gardens due to a long-term detour route in 2012 to accommodate construction of Cathedral Commons. In 2015 during WMATA's FY2017 budget, WMATA proposed to shorten route X3 at

due to low ridership between both Duke Ellington Bridge and Tenleytown–AU station since route X3 operates parallel to routes 30N, 30S, 31, 33, 96, H2, H3, and H4. On June 26, 2016, route X3 was shortened from Tenleytown–AU station to

due to low ridership between the two points. Alternative service is provided by route 96. During WMATA's FY2021 budget, it was proposed to eliminate routes X1 and X3 completely due to low ridership. The X3 trip from

DC College Prep school would still operate however. Replacement service would be provided by an extended route X8 to

during the weekday peak-hours for X1 while routes X2, X9, and

DC Streetcar The DC Streetcar is a surface streetcar network in Washington, D.C. , it consists of only one line: a segment running in mixed traffic along H Street and Benning Road in the city's Northeast quadrant. The streetcars are the first to run in th ...

covers most of X1 and X3 routing along H Street and

. Routes 90, 92, and 96 also operates on most of X3's routing as well. WMATA proposed the elimination due to the availability of alternative service, including proposed extension of some route X8 weekday peak trips to Potomac Park and Foggy Bottom. According to performance measures, it goes as the following: According to WMATA, 501 riders (42%) would still be able to make exact same trips on other services, 666 riders (56%) would require one additional transfer to complete current trip, and 22 riders (2%) may have to walk an additional 0.2 miles to a bus stop. The impacts of service proposal on the current riders by route segment are as follows according to WMATA: WMATA would later back out the proposal on April 2, 2020 due to customer pushback. On March 16, 2020, all route X1 and X3 service was suspended in 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 ...

and WMATA switching to a supplemental schedule during the weekdays. The proposed elimination was brought back up on September 26, 2020 due to low federal funding. Routes X1 and X3 has not operated since March 13, 2020 due to Metro's response to the

. On March 14, 2021, route X3's school trip to

College Prep was restored that will operate between the school and Minnesota Avenue station. The full route remained suspended however.

References

Notes

{{reflist, group="R3 -" X1