The Ivy City–Fort Totten Line, designated Route E2, was 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 public transit agency that operates transit services in the Washington metropolitan area. WMATA provides rapid transit servic ...

between

Fort Totten station Fort Totten station is a Washington Metro station in northeastern Washington, D.C. It is one of the four major transfer points on the Metrorail system. It acts as a transfer point between the Green and Red Lines. It is the last station on th ...

of the

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

and Green Lines of the

Washington Metro The Washington Metro, often abbreviated as the Metro and formally the Metrorail, is a rapid transit system serving the Washington metropolitan area of the United States. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority ...

and

Ivy City Ivy City is a small neighborhood in Northeast Washington, D.C., in the United States. About half the neighborhood is industrial or formerly industrial, dominated by warehouses. The Ivy City Yard, a railroad coach yard and maintenance facility f ...

(Okie & 16th Streets NE). The line ran every 20–30 minutes during weekdays, 30 minutes on Saturdays, and 60 minutes on Sundays. Trips took roughly 20 minutes to complete.

Background

Route E2 operated daily between

and

connecting passengers along South Dakota Avenue NE and 18th Street NE. Route E2 operated out of Bladensburg division at all times. It used to operate out of Western during the weekends until September 2021, and daily until June 2015.

E2 stops

History

Route E2, E3, E4, E5, and E8 all operated as part of the Military Road–Crosstown Line through the years starting from

Friendship Heights station Friendship Heights station is a Washington Metro station on the Red Line straddling the border of Washington, D.C., and Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. The station was opened on August 25, 1984, and is operated by the Washington ...

. Route E4 originally operated up to University City Apartments in

Lewisdale, Maryland Lewisdale is an unincorporated community in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. For statistical purposes, it is considered part of the Chillum census-designated place (CDP). Lewisdale is a neighborhood contained between the Northwes ...

but was shorten to

Riggs Park Riggs Park is a residential neighborhood in Ward 4 of Northeast Washington, D.C. It is part of the greater Lamond-Riggs community (comprising the Lamond neighborood to the north, and Riggs Park to the south). Riggs Park is bounded by South Dakota ...

in the 1970s. Routes E2, E3, and E4 terminated at Friendship Heights while E5 and E8 were shorten to Friendship Heights in 1984. During the years, the E5 and E8 were discontinued and route E6 operated as part of the Chevy Chase Line. Prior to 2015, route E2 would operate between Friendship Heights station and

(Okie & 16th Streets NE), route E4 would operate between Friendship Heights and Riggs Park (Eastern Ave & Jamaica St NE) on weekdays only, and route E3 would operate on weekends only between Friendship Heights and Ivy City via Riggs Park as a combination to route E2 and E4. During the weekends as well, route E2 would operate between Friendship Heights and

only. Beginning on September 24, 2006, route E3 midday service was eliminated and replaced by full route E2 and route E4. Route E4 and the full route E2 now operated during all days during the weekdays while the E3 only operated during the weekends. Route E2 kept its short trips between Friendship Heights and Fort Totten which only operated during times when the E3 operated. In 2012, WMATA proposed to eliminate routes E3 and E4 and shorten route E2 between

and

. Service between Fort Totten and

would be replaced by an extended route D4 and F6 reroute. According to WMATA, this was to reduce running time and improve on-time performance, provide a level of service along the different portions of the line east and west of Fort Totten commensurate with the significantly different passenger demand on the two portions, and allow for a more even frequency of service on the western portion of the line where the greatest demand occurs. In 2014, WMATA proposed to split the E2 and E4 into two separate routes. Route E2 will operate its current routing between

and

having the

and Fort Totten section replaced by route E4 short trips. This will improve reliability of service on route E2 and E4 by operating shorter routes and create a better balance of capacity and demand throughout the line. WMATA will also have timed transfers at Fort Totten to minimize wait time. On June 21, 2015, route E2 and E4 were split into two different bus lines. Route E2 was renamed into the Ivy City–Fort Totten Line and has the same routing between

and

while route E4 remained as the

Military Road–Crosstown Line The Military Road–Crosstown Line, designated Route E4, was a daily bus route operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority between the Friendship Heights station of the Red Line of the Washington Metro and Fort Totten station o ...

replacing route E2 between

and Fort Totten also adding weekend service. These changes also replaced route E3 entirely. Route E2 will have frequencies between Ivy City and Fort Totten every 20–30 minutes during the weekdays, every 48 minutes on Saturdays, and every 60 minutes on Sundays. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, all route E2 service was reduced to operate on its Saturday schedule beginning on March 16, 2020. However beginning on March 18, 2020, route E2 was further reduced to operate on its Sunday schedule on March 18, 2020. All weekend service was also suspended on March 21, 2020. On June 28, 2020, route E2 service was reduced even further operating every 60 minutes only between 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. during the weekdays only. On August 23, 2020, additional service was added to the E2 but weekend service remained suspended. On September 26, 2020, WMATA proposed to eliminate all route E2 weekend service and reduce the frequency during the weekdays due to low federal funding in response to the

. However on March 14, 2021, route E2 weekend service was restored. As part of WMATA's Better Bus Redesign beginning on June 29, 2025, Route E2 service was changed to operate via Riggs Park, mimicking the former E3 between Ivy City and Fort Totten, and being extended to

Washington Union Station Washington Union Station, known locally as 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 second-busiest station and North ...

via K Street, essentially partially combining the D4 in the process. The E2 was also renamed into the C71.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ivy City-Fort Totten Line 2015 establishments in Washington, D.C. E2