Bus riders beg to save Ride On routes

Potomac residents want to keep route between Potomac Community Center and Grosvenor Metro station

But a vocal opposition came forward to protest eliminating Route 37 that runs every 20 minutes between Grosvenor Station and the Potomac Community Center during weekday rush hours.

Potomac resident Joanne Casey said that when she moved from Chevy Chase to Potomac, she ‘‘specifically made sure I was near a bus stop.”

During a tearful testimony, Casey said she cared about her fellow bus riders. ‘‘I hope that my county, home to me for all of my life, cares, too.”

The route changes are among county cuts proposed to chip away at a $400 million budget shortfall for fiscal year 2009.

The savings from Ride On route cuts would amount to $1.6 million in annual savings, according to transit officials.

Other downcounty routes that would be discontinued:

*Route 7 between Wheaton Station and Kensington that runs weekday rush hours, eliminated

*Route 30 between NIH-Medical Center and Bethesda Station, discontinued on Saturdays only

*Route 36 between Bethesda Station and Connelly School of the Holy Child in Potomac, discontinued on Saturdays only

*Routes 34 and 42 would be merged to create one route running every day between Bethesda Station and NIH-Medical Center Station.

Additional county routes that would be cut:

*Germantown’s Route 98, a loop from Germantown Transit Center to points west including Wisteria and Wanegarden Drives, discontinued on Sundays

*Route 90 between Damascus and Shady Grove Metrorail station, discontinued on Saturdays

*Route 124, the Shady Grove Express between Park and Ride Lot 124 and Shady Grove Metrorail station which runs during weekday rush hours, eliminated

*Route 127, serving the Takoma Park and Rockville campuses of Montgomery College, the Universities of Maryland at Shady Grove, and the Silver Spring Metrorail station and Traville Transit Center, discontinued on weekdays

County transit staff used numbers of riders per hour of bus operation to pick out routes with low performance. To find the number of riders, staff tallied the number of passengers recorded during a full year on each of the routes.

The Ride On system averages 30 riders per hour. Route 37 averages 10 riders per hour, or 190 per day. Route 7 averages nine riders per hour, 70 per day.

Route 37 is ‘‘a lifeline” for students, senior citizens and domestic workers as well as people who do not drive, said Margaret Young of Potomac during the hearing.

Young argued that it is unfair of the county to offer free bus service to senior citizens — who have ridden free since January — while taking away service from other riders.

Others testifying reminded transit officials that Route 37 service was expanded three years ago due to increased demand. They wondered how a crowded bus could suddenly become a ‘‘low performer.”

County Councilman Roger Berliner (D-Dist. 1) of Potomac sent a letter Feb. 4 to County Executive Isiah Leggett urging him to keep the Ride On route. Berliner said ‘‘dozens of constituents” rely on the bus. He suggested reducing the route’s frequency instead of cutting it altogether.

Speakers at last week’s hearing argued that bus drivers often wave passengers onto the bus without collecting fares, so riders don’t always get recorded.

Casey said that on Feb. 2, she watched a Route 37 driver wave 22 riders onto the bus.

The public comment period for the proposed cuts ended Tuesday.