“Ridership on the X2 Metrobus line has jumped 14% after Metro changed the way the line is managed.”

“Dear PoPville,

As a dedicated X2 rider for 4 years, the X2 has changed a lot – and the rise of the “bus bunching” last year was noticeable and aggravating. I’m glad WMATA is dedicating more resources to handling this busy route.

Though, while the frequency of buses has increased 6am-7pm on weekdays – there is still a persistent gap in service from 7pm-7:30/45 – which after a long day is never fun.

And on weekends, forget the X2 entirely.”

From WMATA’s post Metrobus X2 Continues to Gain Riders:

“So to improve reliability, we made some changes in December 2014:

To meet demand, we increased the frequency of buses to an even 8 minutes all day long – 6:00am-7:00pm on weekdays.
We deployed a team of dedicated supervisors on the street (at Minnesota Avenue and Lafayette Square) and at the Bus Operations Control Center to ensure even spacing between buses on weekdays. The X2 is now a “headway-managed” route on weekdays, meaning our primary goal is to maintain buses evenly every 8 minutes throughout the day.
We adjusted the scheduled running times by about 15% for all trips.

The results have been impressive: ridership has jumped 14% from 12,700/day in October 2014 to 13,800 in February, overcrowding (particularly during the midday) has been virtually eliminated, and on-time performance has grown to 83% – a remarkable achievement for a heavily congested urban corridor.”