Thanks to Derek for sending: “DC Circulator being used as a parking lot shuttle at Stowe ski area!”
Back in August a “Circulator Bus spotted in Boston!!” so they really seem to be digging New England these days.
God Speed, God Speed old friend.
An ode from a reader:
“I loved – and loved to hate – the Circulator. Since 2015, I’ve lived along two stops (and worked at another) on the L’Enfant – Eastern Market (once Union Station) route. It was always quirky. For example, the tracking tool was invariably wrong. The impossible to use Nextbus app would often say it was coming in 10 minutes… then show up either in two, twenty, or never at all. Many of the buses also looked like they hadn’t been cleaned in eons. BUT, the service was cheap (even free for a time) and made getting to Barracks Row a breeze.
I have to recount one time that I’ll never forget. It was a sweltering August day some years ago and my spouse and I were riding Circulator to work. We boarded at 4th and Penn Ave SE. Just after we paid and turned left, we were hit by the strongest, wettest fart smell ever. Three blocks later at Eastern Market Metro, while a bunch of people alighted, a passenger from the back came forward and said to the driver, “a man just took a dump in the back of the bus.” The driver shouted back “oh MANNNNNN,” and then radioed to Circulator HQ, “someone just took a dump on my bus!”
I looked at my husband and asked him, “do we stay on, or do we ride it out?” He gave me these sad eyes and said, “it’s really hot.” So I knew we’d be sticking it out to Navy Yard.
By the time we were halfway (the corner of 8th St and M St SE), a lady and her young daughter boarded. The driver shouted, “DON’T GO TO THE BACK!” Panicked, she looked at me. I didn’t want to scar the child, so in this slightly goofy voice I said to her, “umm, ma’am, a man went to the bathroom in the back.” She didn’t seem convinced or swayed, so I lowered my voiced and whispered, “number two,” while holding up two fingers. She nodded and smirked, and sat down across from us.
We made it to Navy Yard, but it was the longest 10 minutes I’ve ever spent on DC transit.
I also had a friend who was onboard when a fight happened and one of the people involved (who had a baby in a stroller) got maced. Everyone burst off, also at Eastern Market Metro. She can tell her tale…”