The Benning Heights–M Street Line, designated Route V1, was 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 public transit agency that operates transit services in the Washington metropolitan area. WMATA provides rapid transit servic ...

between the neighborhood of

Benning Heights Benning Heights is a residential neighborhood located in northeast Washington, D.C. It is bounded by East Capitol Street to the south, Brooks Street NE to the north, 44th Street NE and Benning Road NE to the west, and Division Avenue NE to the e ...

and Smithsonian station of the

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

, and Silver 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 ...

. The line ran only every 20–30 minutes in the weekday peak-hour direction. Trips took roughly 55 minutes.

Background

Route V1 provided service between the neighborhood of

, located in

northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—eac ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and Smithsonian station, mostly running along M Street,

Pennsylvania Avenue Pennsylvania Avenue is a primarily diagonal street in Washington, D.C. that connects the United States Capitol with the White House and then crosses northwest Washington, D.C. to Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown. Traveling through So ...

, and Minnesota Avenue in the weekday peak-hour direction only. This route provided Benning Heights residents easy access to

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

without having to take the train. Route V1 operated out of Southern Avenue division.

History

Route V1 originally operated as part of the Pan Am Parking Lot/Vienna Shuttle Line between Vienna/Fairfax–GMU station and Pan Am Shopping Center until January 22, 2001 when it was discontinued due to the new garage on the south side of Vienna/Fairfax-GMU station opened on January 18, 2001. The current Benning Heights–M Street Line was created as the Minnesota Ave-M St Line on December 28, 1991 under routes V7, V8, and V9. These routes replace the former route V4 from

Minnesota Avenue station Minnesota Avenue station 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 V4 was discontinued while a new V6 was introduced to operate alongside V7, V8 & V9 at their inception. Route V6 would operate between Deanwood station and Half & O Streets SW. Route V6 mostly operated along Kenilworth Avenue Service Road, Minnesota Avenue NE, M Street,

and then terminated at Half & O Streets SW. Route V7 would operate on weekdays only between Deanwood station and the Bureau of Engraving at Smithsonian station following most of V6 routing except running more along 7th Street SW then turned on D street, 12th street, and C street to terminate at Smithsonian station along 14th Street and Independence Avenue. Route V7 will end at

Navy Yard–Ballpark station Navy Yard–Ballpark station (also known by its former name, Navy Yard) is a Washington Metro station in Washington, D.C., on the Green Line. The station is located in the Navy Yard/Near Southeast neighborhood of Southeast, with entrances on M ...

during late night service on weekdays and early morning and late nights on weekends. Route V8 would operate on weekends only following the same route as the V7 from Deanwood station but would be remain straight along 7th street and be extended to Archives station. Route V9 would operate between

(H Street & Benning Road SE) and Bureau of Engraving at Smithsonian station along route V7 routing during weekday peak-hours in the peak direction only. Route V9 would operate along H street, Alabama Avenue, and Ridge Road before joining route V7 and V8 routing up to Potomac Avenue.

Changes

In 1996, route V6 was discontinued after the Half & O Streets SW portion of the route was eliminated in favor of route 70's increased frequency in the area. Service was also further replaced by routes V7, V8, and V9. On June 25, 2000, route V8 service along Half & O Streets SW was discontinued south of M Street. Service was replaced by route 70 and 71. During WMATA's FY2014 budget, a series of proposals were mentioned for routes V7, V8, and V9. One option was proposed to extend route V7 and V8 to

Walter E. Washington Convention Center The Walter E. Washington Convention Center is a convention center located in Washington, D.C., owned and operated by the city's convention arm, Events DC. Designed in a joint venture by the Atlanta-based architecture firm Tvsdesign, Washington ...

and divert onto M Street SW via Delaware Avenue SW, Canal Street SW, P Street SW, 4th Street SW, M Street SW, and 6th Street SW to serve Navy Yard in order to replace route 74 which was proposed to be discontinued. However, routes V7 and V8 will discontinue service between

and Deanwood station having it replaced by a proposed route U2 extension from

. WMATA reasons that there was low ridership on routes in Southwest and the reroutes would provide a better balance of capacity and demand. The second option was to shorten route V9 from Smithsonian station to

Potomac Avenue station Potomac Avenue station is an island-platformed Washington Metro station in the Hill East neighborhood of Washington, D.C., U.S.. The station was opened on July 1, 1977, and is operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (W ...

having it replaced by route V7. On March 30, 2014, route V9 was shorten to

with service to Smithsonian station replaced by route V7. WMATA launched a study on its current U and V lines in April 2014 in order to improve and simplify the lines. Under the study, it goes as the following to routes U2, V7, V8, and V9: * Route U2 will have daily service at all times between

Capitol Heights station Capitol Heights station is an island-platformed Washington Metro station in Capitol Heights, Maryland, United States. The station was opened on November 22, 1980, and is operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). P ...

and

Anacostia station Anacostia station is a Washington Metro station in Washington, D.C., on the Green Line. The station is located in the Anacostia neighborhood of Southeast Washington, with entrances at Shannon Place and Howard Road near Martin Luther King ...

via the current U8 route between Capitol Heights station and

via Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue, then via the current U2 route to Anacostia station. * Routes V7, V8 will have daily service at all times between Capitol Heights station and

via the current U8 route between Capitol Heights station and Minnesota Avenue station, then via the current V7 and V8 routing to Navy Yard Ballpark station. The routing between Deanwood Station and Minnesota Avenue stations will be replaced by a proposed route U4 re-route. Service to Bureau of Engraving and Smithsonian station will be replaced by a re-extended route V9. * Route V9 will be re-extended back to the Bureau of Engraving via the current V9 route between Benning Heights and Navy Yard Ballpark station, then via the current V7 route to Bureau of Engraving in order to replace route V7 and V8. The reason for the changes was to enhance connectivity between points of regional demand, create a better balance of capacity and demand lines serving the Minnesota Avenue, and reduce or eliminate service with low productivity on the line. According to WMATA. there will be approximately 700 of 5,300 weekday passenger trips (13%), 750 of 3,200 Saturday passenger trips (23%) and 600 of 2,900 Sunday passenger trips (21%) that will be affected by shortening routes V7 and V8 at Navy Yard Station if the changes occur. Weekday passengers affected may be less due to the proposed extension of route V9. The final report was later released in March 2015. On June 21, 2015, routes V7 and V8 were discontinued and replaced by new routes V2 and V4 which were a combination of routes U2, U8, V7, and V8 running between

and

(V2)/

(V4) running on U8's routing between Capitol Heights and Deanwood, then on U2, V7, and V8 routing to Anacostia/Navy Yark-Ballpark. Route V9 was renamed Route V1 which was re-extended back to the Bureau of Engraving along the former V7 routing between Navy Yard-Ballpark and Bureau of Engraving. The line was also renamed the Benning Heights–M Street Line as the route no longer serves

. On June 26, 2016, eastbound V1 trips were extended to H Street and Benning Road SE. During WMATA's FY2021 budget, it was proposed to eliminate route V1 due to declining ridership with alternative service provided by routes 54, P6, U5, U6, and V8. According to performance measures from WMATA, it goes as the following: However WMATA later backed out the elimination on March 31, 2020. All route V1 service was suspended beginning on March 16, 2020 due to Metro's response to 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 ...

. On September 26, 2020, WMATA proposed to eliminate all V1 service due to low federal funds. The proposal went through and by September 5, 2021, the route was eliminated

Reincarnation of routes V7 and V8

After a series of proposals in 2017, routes V7 and V8 were reincarnated into the Benning Heights–Alabama Avenue Line on June 24, 2018. Route U8 was renamed route V8 operating between

and

(H & 46th Streets SE) daily while route V7 would operate between

and

Congress Heights station Congress Heights station is an island-platformed Washington Metro station situated in the Congress Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C., United States. Opened on January 13, 2001, the station is operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area ...

operating along Southern and Alabama Avenues during weekday peak-hours only.

References

{{clear V1