The Kenilworth Avenue Line, designated Route R12, is a bus route that operates Monday to Saturday that is 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

Greenbelt station Greenbelt station is a Washington Metro and MARC station in Prince George's County, Maryland. The station is the northeastern terminus of both the Green and Yellow lines of the Washington Metro. MARC commuter rail trains on the Camden Line also ...

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

and Deanwood station of the Orange Line of the Washington Metro. The line operates every 30 minutes during peak hours and 60 minutes other times. Trips are roughly 45 minutes.

Background

Route R12 operates Monday through Saturday from

and Deanwood station mostly along Kenilworth Avenue. The route provides service along Kenilworth Avenue and smaller communities to various Metrorail stations. Route R12 currently operates out of Landover division.

Route R12 stops

History

Route R12 was created as a brand new express streetcar route around 1963 operating as an express streetcar route all the way between

Farragut Square Farragut Square is a city square in Washington, D.C.'s Ward 2. It is bordered by K Street NW to the north, I Street NW to the south, on the east and west by segments of 17th Street NW, and interrupts Connecticut Avenue NW. It is the sister par ...

in Downtown D.C. &

Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...

Greenbelt A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which hav ...

weekdays only, and 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 ...

and

Beltway Plaza Mall The Beltway Plaza mall is located in Greenbelt, Maryland. It was developed by Sidney J. Brown and First National Realty, opening on October 17, 1963. It was originally composed of a massive S. Klein department store separated by a large parking ...

on Saturdays as part of the "Kenilworth Avenue Express" Streetcar Line, with routes R11 & R15 operating between Farrugut Square & Springhill Lake Apartment Complex peak hours only, and routes R13 & R14 operating between

Southwest D.C. Southwest (SW or S.W.) is the southwestern Quadrants of Washington, D.C., quadrant of Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and is located south of the National Mall and west of South Capitol Street. It is the smallest quadrant of th ...

& the Macke Industrial Park Complex. In 1973, all routes were converted into Metrobus Routes when WMATA took over all of the streetcar companies that operated throughout the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area and merged them all into its "Metrobus" System keeping their exact same routing as their streetcar lines. Following the opening of

Stadium–Armory station Stadium–Armory is a Washington Metro station located in Southeast, Washington, D.C. The station was opened on July 1, 1977, and is operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). Stadium–Armory serves the Blue, Orang ...

, routes R11, R12, & R15 were shorten to terminate their routes at the Stadium Armory on July 18, 1977 with all routes discontinuing service to

. Routes R11 and R15 will also operate during early Saturday morning trips before the first Blue Line train operated. Routes R13 and R14 were discontinued on July 18, 1977 being replaced by the R11, R12, and R15 On September 26, 1977, early Saturday morning service on routes R11 & R15's were discontinued, due to new

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 Orange Line service being introduced during earlier times on Saturday mornings. Weekday peak hour service was not changed. On December 3, 1978, shortly after Deanwood station opened, R12 was truncated even further to only operate up to Deanwood station discontinuing service to

. Route R11 and R15 were rerouted to operate as a brand new express route between

(R11)/Greenbelt Center (R15) and

New Carrollton station New Carrollton station is a joint Washington Metro, MARC, and Amtrak station just outside the city limits of New Carrollton, Prince George's County, Maryland located at the eastern end of the Metro's Orange Line. The station will also serve as ...

, running primarily along via Greenbelt Road, Cherrywood Lane, Kenilworth Avenue, the Capital Beltway, and

John Hanson Highway U.S. Route 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching just over from Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlantic Ocean to West Sacramento, California. In the U.S. state of Maryland, US 50 exists in two sections. T ...

. As a result of these changes, R11 & R15 were split their own separate line as the, "Greenbelt-New Carrollton Express Line" while R12 remained a part of its own line, which was renamed the, "Kenilworth Avenue Line". On January 4, 1981 when

Addison Road station Addison Road–Seat Pleasant is a rapid-transit railway station on the Washington Metro's Blue and Silver Lines. It is operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, who opened it in 1980. It was the eastern end of the Blue Li ...

opened, R12 was extended from Deanwood station to Addison Road station via Minnesota Avenue NE, and route P12's former routing on Addison Road, Palmer Highway, Addison Road, Seat Pleasant Drive, Hill Road, and Central Avenue when P12 discontinue service to Deanwood. On the other hand, during the time this particular change took place, R12 was truncated to only operate up to the

, discontinuing service to

. Route R12 was renamed the " Kenilworth Avenue–Addison Road" Line as of result. On December 11, 1993, when both

College Park–University of Maryland station College Park–University of Maryland station is a Washington Metro station in Prince George's County, Maryland on the Green Line and Yellow Line. It also serves MARC's Camden Line, though only select trains stop at the station. The stati ...

opened, R12 was rerouted to operate between Deanwood & New Carrollton stations, via the segment of its route between the Deanwood station and intersection of Keniworth Avenue and River Road. Route R12 would run along River Road to serve College Park station, before returning onto River Road to rejoin Kenilworth Avenue. R12 would then operate on the same exact routing it had been operating on between the intersection of Kenilworth Avenue & River Road and Beltway Plaza, and run along Cherrywood Lane to serve Greenbelt station. Then R12 would operate past the Capital Office Park & Greenbelt Federal Courthouse, before turning onto Kenilworth Avenue, and then operating the rest of the way to the

, Route R12 was renamed the, "Kenilworth Avenue-New Carrollton Line". Also routes R11 & R15 were discontinued and was replaced by the R12 which operates on a combination of both former routes between Greenbelt & the New Carrollton station, essentially replacing both of those Metrobus Routes in their entirety. The segment of R12's former route between the Deanwood &

, was replaced by both routes V14 & V15, which were extended from Addison Road to operate between Deanwood station & Penn Mar Shopping Center, via R12's former routing. Bus service in

Greenbelt, Maryland Greenbelt is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and a suburb of Washington, D.C. At the 2020 census, the population was 24,921. Greenbelt is the first and the largest of the three experimental and controversial New Deal ...

were controversial over the last few years due to lack of services. The proposal was mentioned as part of Metro's systemwide bus and rail cuts proposed during a budget crisis in spring of 2010. The Metro Board then took all service cuts off the table before approving the budget for this fiscal year. Alterations to Greenbelts bus service came back up at the request of the City and Prince George's County. At the time of the proposal, the R12 was suffering bus bunching and scheduling problems due to its long route. Proposals were set for route R12 including shortening the section to

with the Greenbelt to New Carrollton portion to be replaced by a new route T14 operating between Goddard Corporate Park and Beltway Plaza along the old R12 routing in Old Greenbelt. This however would lead to a reduction of service and a loss of a direct route from route R12 routing to New Carrollton station. Other proposals were a route G12 would run on route R12's routing in Old Greenbelt running between

and

in May and discontinue service into Franklin Park and the Beltway Plaza loop being replaced by route G14 and G16. In September 2010, it was proposed for route R12 to still terminate at Greenbelt station and split the Greenbelt to New Carrollton station portion to route G12 but route R12 would serve Franklin Park instead of route G14 and G16 and serve the Beltway Plaza loop. On December 19, 2010, R12 was shorten to only operate between Deanwood station &

. The rest of its route between Greenbelt and

, was replaced by a new route G12 under the request of the city of Greenbelt to break R12's super lengthy route into two separate routes and in order to improve service reliability, adherence to schedule times, and avoid duplication with the already existing Prince George's County TheBus Routes & other Metrobus Routes. Route R12 was rerouted inside Franklin Park and the Springhill Lake Complex. Buses previously operated along Edmonston Road, Springhill Drive, Springhill Lane, Breezewood Drive, and backtrack to

via Cherrywood Lane and Greenbelt Road before running again on Cherrywood Lane to Greenbelt station going northbound and from Greenbelt to Beltway Plaza to Springhill Lake Complex going southbound under the same path. The route was change to operate along Greenbelt Road, Beltway Plaza, Cherrywood Lane, Breezewood Drive, Edmonston Road, Springhill Drive, and back along Cherrywood Lane to Greenbelt station Northbound. The route would operate vice versa going from Greenbelt station, Springhill Lake Complex, and Beltway Plaza going southbound. Service along Springhill Lane was replaced by TheBus route 16. Route R12 was also rerouted to operate along Campus drive to/from

instead of backtracking along River Road in order to add Metrobus service to the parks and recreational centers along Campus drive. Route R12 would only operate along River Road one way in both directions. Route R11 was also reincarnated back into service to operate parallel to R12 operating during weekday early mornings, skipping R12's diversion into the Springhill Lake Apartment Complex and

Beltway Plaza The Beltway Plaza mall is located in Greenbelt, Maryland. It was developed by Sidney J. Brown and First National Realty, opening on October 17, 1963. It was originally composed of a massive S. Klein department store separated by a large parking ...

On August 23, 2015, the R11 was eventually permanently discontinued and replaced by more frequent route R12 service. These services would not enter

. Beginning on September 1, 2019 for nine months, the College Park Metrobus loop was temporarily closed for construction of the Purple line at College Park station having all stops located along River Road. As of a result, route R12's bus stops were moved onto River Road in order to serve the station. There were no detours that affected route R12. During the

Coronavirus disease 2019 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

pandemic, the R12 was relegated to operate on its Saturday supplemental schedule beginning on March 16, 2020. However beginning on March 18, 2020, the route was further reduced to operate on its regular Saturday schedule with the supplemental trips not operating and having no Saturday service when WMATA implemented its modified Sunday schedule and regular Sunday service during the weekends. Additional service was brought back on August 23, 2020, however Saturday service remained suspended. On September 26, 2020, WMATA proposed to eliminate all route R12 Saturday service and reduce weekday service to only every 60 minutes due to low federal funding. However on March 14, 2021, all route R12 Saturday service was restored.{{cite web , title=Metrobus Service Changes Beginning March 14, 2021 {{! WMATA , url=https://www.wmata.com/service/status/details/metrobus-service-changes-march-2021.cfm , website=www.wmata.com , access-date=11 March 2021

References

R12