The District Heights–Suitland Line, designated Route V12, 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 the

Addison Road station Addison Road station is a rapid transit station on the Washington Metro's Silver and Blue Lines. It is operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, who opened it in 1980. It was the eastern end of the Blue Line until 2004. T ...

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 ...

Silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

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

Suitland station Suitland station 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). The station is lo ...

of the Green Line of the Washington Metro. The line operated every 30–40 minutes on weekdays and 60 minutes on weekends. V12 trips were roughly 35 minutes long.

Background

Route V12 operated daily between

and

connecting Capitol Heights, Coral Hills, Walker Mill, District Heights,

Suitland Suitland is a suburb of Washington, D.C., approximately one mile (1.6 km) southeast of Washington, D.C. Suitland is a census designated place (CDP), as of the 2020 census, its population was 25,839. Prior to 2010, it was part of the Suitland ...

neighborhoods to both stations, supplementing Route P12. Route V12 operated 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 Federal Triangle is a Triangle, triangular area in Washington, D.C., formed by 15th Street NW, Constitution Avenue, Constitution Avenue NW, Pennsylvania Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue NW, and E Street NW. Federal Triangle is occupied by 10 large c ...

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 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 ...

& 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). On January 4, 1981 two months after

opened, route V12 was truncated to only operate between Potomac Avenue and Addison Road stations. The segment along

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 ...

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, District Heights, and Forestville neighborhoods, while also operating through Capitol Heights. 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. On June 24, 2007, route V11 was discontinued as both the

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

. 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 allowing route V12 to be a neighborhood-focused route. 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 ...

, the line was reduced to operate on its Saturday supplemental schedule beginning on March 16, 2020. Beginning on March 18, 2020, the line was further reduced to operate on its Sunday schedule. Weekend service was also suspended beginning on March 21, 2020. The line its full schedule between Monday through Saturday beginning on August 23, 2020, but Sunday service remained suspended. 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

. However on March 14, 2021, route V12 Sunday service was restored. As part of WMATA's Better Bus Redesign taking place on June 29, 2025, the V12 was merged with the F14. The line remained the same between

and Central Avenue, but the route no longer serves

and instead operates to Garrett A. Morgan Boulevard, Morgan Boulevard station, and

Northwest Stadium Northwest Stadium is an American football stadium in Landover, Maryland, U.S., located east of Washington, D.C.. It is the home stadium of the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). From 2004 until 2010, it had the NFL's ...

before following the F14 routing to

New Carrollton station New Carrollton station is a joint Washington Metro, MARC Train, MARC, and Amtrak station just outside the city limits of New Carrollton, Maryland, New Carrollton, Prince George's County, Maryland, Prince George's County, Maryland located at the ...

. The line was renamed into the P61.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:District Heights-Suitland Line V12