Benning Road–H Street Limited Line
The Benning Road–H Street Limited Line, designated Route X9, is a limited stop MetroExtra bus route operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority between Capitol Heights station, which is served by the Blue and Silver lines of the Washington Metro, and Metro Center station, which is served by the Red, Blue, Orange, and Silver lines of the Washington Metro. The line operates every 15-16 minutes at all times on weekdays only. Trips are roughly 50 minutes long. During weekday midday, Route X9 is shortened to operate to Minnesota Avenue station. This line provides additional service along the H Street corridor supplementing routes X1, X2 and X3.
X9 | |||
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Benning Road–H Street Limited Line | |||
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Overview | |||
System | Metrobus | ||
Operator | Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority | ||
Garage | Bladensburg (Full time) Shepherd Parkway (Select Peak Hour trips) | ||
Livery | MetroExtra | ||
Status | In Service | ||
Began service | December 19, 2010 | ||
Route | |||
Locale | Northwest, Northeast, Capitol Heights, Maryland | ||
Communities served | Prince George's County, Northwest, Northeast | ||
Landmarks served | Capitol Heights station, Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue N.E., Minnesota Avenue station, Benning Road, Hechinger Mall, H Street, Washington Union Station, Government Publishing Office, Gallery Place station, Metro Center station | ||
Start | Capitol Heights station Minnesota Avenue station | ||
Via | H Street, Benning Road | ||
End | Metro Center station | ||
Service | |||
Level | Weekday service only | ||
Frequency | 15-16 minutes | ||
Operates | 6:15 AM–6:40 PM | ||
Transfers | SmarTrip only | ||
Timetable | Benning Road-H Street Limited Line | ||
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Background
Route X9 operates on weekdays only between Capitol Heights station and Metro Center station with midday trips being shortened to Minnesota Avenue station. This route provides additional service to routes X1 and X2 along H Street and Benning Road while providing additional service to routes V2 and V4 along Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue. Route X9 operates out of Bladensburg division but has some trips operating out of Shepherd Parkway during peak hours.
Current Stops
Bus stop | Direction | Connections |
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Washington, D.C. | ||
Capitol Heights Station Bus Bay D |
Eastbound terminal, Westbound station |
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Dix Street NE / 62nd Street NE | Bidirectional | ![]() |
58th Street NE / Foote Street NE | Bidirectional | ![]() |
Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue NE / Division Avenue NE | Bidirectional | ![]() |
Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue NE / 49th Avenue NE | Bidirectional | ![]() |
Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue NE / 44th Avenue NE | Bidirectional | ![]() |
Minnesota Avenue Station | Bidirectional | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Minnesota Avenue NE / Benning Road NE | Bidirectional | ![]() |
Benning Road NE / 19th Street NE | Bidirectional | ![]() |
Benning Road NE / 16th Street NE | Westbound | ![]() |
Benning Road NE / 15th Street NE | Eastbound | ![]() |
H Street NE / 14th Street NE | Bidirectional | ![]() |
H Street NE / 8th Street NE | Bidirectional | ![]() |
H Street NE / Union Station Garage | Bidirectional | ![]() at Union Station ![]() at Union Station ![]() ![]() Georgetown–Union Station Congress Heights – Union Station National Mall ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() at Union Station |
H Street NW / North Capitol Street NW | Bidirectional | ![]() |
H Street NW / 7th Street NW (Gallery Place station) | Bidirectional | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
H Street NW / 9th Street NW | Eastbound | ![]() |
H Street NW / 11th Street NW | Westbound | ![]() |
H Street NW / 13th Street NW | Westbound | ![]() |
New York Avenue NW / 12th Street NW | Eastbound station Westbound terminal |
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History
Route X9 originally operated as part of the East Capitol Street Express Line which operated alongside the Benning Road Line with routes X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6, and X7.[1] Route X9 originally operated between Capitol Heights station and Federal Triangle but was discontinued in the late 1980s and replaced by the Benning Road Line.
Reincarnation into service
In 2010, WMATA released a study along the H Street and Benning Road corridor. As ridership increases along the corridor and consistent delays on the DC Streetcar, WMATA proposed a brand new route X9 to operate between Capitol Heights station and Metro Center station. This was to reduce crowding during the weekday peak-hours and to replace route X3.[2][3][4]
On December 19, 2010, route X9 was introduce as a new express bus route to primarily operate along H Street, Benning Road and Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue. This new route will operate during the weekday peak-hours between Capitol Heights station and Metro Center station. The new X9 will supplement route U2 between Capitol Heights and Minnesota Avenue station and route X2 between Minnesota Avenue and Metro Center.[5][6]
Conversion to MetroExtra
In June 2012, WMATA announced that the "express" brand for Metro will be renamed into "MetroExtra. Route X9 was slowly converted into the MetroExtra brand in the fall of 2012. There were no major changes to the routing.[7]
2017 Proposed Changes
On September 26, 2017, as part of WMATA's FY2018 budget, WMATA proposed to add midday service to route X9. This proposed was in part to customer demand and requests and jurisdictional coordination and responds to requests by the District Department of Transportation. Route X9 will provides additional limited-stop capacity to accommodate new riders in the Benning Road-H Street corridor during the weekday midday to help route X2 and provide a weekday midday transfer-free ride throughout the entire corridor on proposed Route X9 between downtown DC and Capitol Heights station. This proposal was also recommended in the 2010 Benning Road-H Street Lines Service Evaluation Study.[8][9]
2018 Service Changes
On June 24, 2018, route X9 was given new weekday midday service which will operate every 15 minutes between Minnesota Avenue station and Metro Center station. Differences in the routing was route X9 will enter the Minnesota Avenue bus bays during the midday hours while during weekday peak-hours, the route would serve the on-street bus stop at Minnesota Avenue.[10][11]
References
- "New Subway Stops Bring Metrobus Service Changes". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
- Alpert, David. "WMATA plans new X9, Virginia and Greenbelt bus changes". Greater Greater Washington. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
- "DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PROPOSED BUS SERVICE CHANGES FISCAL YEAR 2011" (PDF). Retrieved May 12, 2020.
- "X1-X2-X3 Metrobus Benning Road/H Street Line Study" (PDF). Retrieved May 12, 2020.
- Tetu, Michelle. "X9 Express Metrobus Launches". NBC4 Washington. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
- "District of Columbia to get new, limited-stop Metrobus route". www.wmata.com. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
- "Metro News Release". wmata.com. Archived from the original on May 12, 2020. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
- "DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA" (PDF). Retrieved May 12, 2020.
- "Planned Transit Improvements for Wards 7 and 8" (PDF). DC Circulator. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
- "Metrobus Service Changes, June 24 | WMATA". www.wmata.com. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
- "Big Bus Changes: X2, X9, Circulator". Big Bus Changes. Retrieved May 9, 2020.