DC Circulator
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A DC Circulator bus at Union Station in August 2006.
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| Founded | 2005 |
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| Service area | Downtown, Washington, D.C. |
| Service type | Downtown circulator |
| Routes | |
| Fleet | 67 |
| Daily ridership | 18,800 (Q2 2016) |
| Annual ridership | 4.8 million |
| Fuel type | Diesel, Diesel-electric Hybrid |
| Operator | First Transit |
| Partners |
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| Website | dccirculator |
The DC Circulator is a bus system in Washington, D.C. The District of Columbia Department of Transportation, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, and DC Surface Transit operate the service in a public-private partnership with First Transit.
The DC Circulator buses are similar to shuttle buses since they operate on a predictable fixed route and schedule, and run between the city's main attractions and some of the more popular neighborhoods for visitors. The service began in 2005, and passengers increased as the routes grew from two to five. But ridership peaked in 2011, and has decreased since then. The top month was July 2011, with 546,000 riders; the busiest month in 2014 was also July, with 470,000 riders. The subsidy per rider is unusually high; in 2014, it ranged from $2.78 in July to $3.50 in December.
The concept of a separate downtown bus was included in a 1997 report by the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC). The report called for "a simple, inexpensive, and easily navigable surface transit system that complements Metrobus and Metrorail." The next year, representatives of the Commission, the District of Columbia Department of Transportation, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, and the Downtown D.C. business improvement district met to plan what would become the Circulator.
Out of these meetings DC Surface Transit, Inc. was formed as a non-profit organization administered by the NCPC, the Washington Convention and Sports Authority, as well as the Downtown, Georgetown, and Golden Triangle business improvement groups. After selecting First Transit as the system operator, the DC Circulator started service in July 2005 with two routes: one along K Street from Union Station to Georgetown, and a second from the Walter E. Washington Convention Center to the Southwest Waterfront.
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