Mayor Muriel Bowser wasn’t the only Wilson Building denizen unhappy with the District’s snow response Tuesday. After hearing complaints about buses bogged down in the snow ditching their passengers, Council transportation committee chair Mary Cheh wants answers.
In an open letter to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and the District’s Department of Public Works and Department of Transportation, the Ward 3 Councilmember asks what’s done to keep major bus routes open during a storm.
“This raises questions whether and to what extent priority is given to the bus-route streets and if there is adequate coordination between DPW, DDOT, and WMATA,” Cheh writes. “Hearing from stranded residents and commuters left with no options was extremely upsetting.”
DPW and DDOT didn’t respond to LL’s requests for comment, but WMATA spokesman Dan Stessel writes via email that the agency will “provide the safest, best bus service possible given conditions.”
Emphasis, presumably, on “conditions.”
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Photo by Darrow Montgomery