February 22, 2016  |  Judayah Murray

Residents of Mount Pleasant, D.C. are infuriated with proposed changes to the neighborhood’s public transit. Effective in the next three to four years, the S-line bus will remove eight bus stops: five stops South and three stops North, along 16th Street in Ward 1, Washington, D.C. The goal is shave off 1.3 minutes of travel time and widen the street lanes, both in response to rush hour traffic.

The streets that will be affected by this change are V Street, Q Street, Newton Street, L Street and Lamont Street.

Several attendees said these stops are central hubs to elementary schools, a nursing home, museums, a movie theatre, and several churches.

According to Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s Weekly Ridership Statistics, of the 235,736 people that ride buses in Washington D.C., 19,395 of those riders use the S-line on a weekly basis. About 8% of riders could be affected.

Carole Frankel, one of the more vocal advocates against this change, voiced her concerns at the local 1D Advisory Neighborhood Commissions meeting on February 22.

“What’s going to happen to the people who take these buses?” she said, “and why aren’t notices posted?”

Another audience member of the ANC meeting, Elinor Hart, questioned why the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) had not posted flyers at the bus stop locations that will be terminated to alert its riders of the future change.

Joyce Coates, a representative from Canaan Baptist Church was shocked by the news. She said that a lot of the members of her church use that bus to get to and from worshipping services. She doubts any of them were aware of this change to be administered.

The initiative is being protested by a group of concerned members of the community who have begun a petition online to “Save the 16th buses”. Of the 500 people needed, 450 have signed so far. An update was posted to the server about three months ago that stated 104 have also signed a paper petition that was turned into the DDOT meeting on January 21.