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    Button to press for your stop (it looks like this) 4.7.19
    Gail R.

    I was attending an event in Georgetown and wanted to find a way to get there without doing a lot of walking. I decided to look up the website for the DC Circulator and found there was a bus going from Dupont Circle and passing through the heart of Georgetown. The bus I caught was the Dupont Circle - Georgetown - Rossyln one. Their website provided the stops, so I knew where to catch the bus at. As I got out of the Dupont Circle Metro (south exit), I walked maybe a block and a half to the stop on 19th Street, but before N Street (each bus bay they stop at has the DC Circulator red sign along with a stop number). Their website stated the bus comes every 10 minutes and so by the time I got to the bus bay, the bus had arrived within 5 minutes. This was on a weekend. We left that stop (19th Street and N) about 8 minutes after it arrived. When I was at the bus bay, I had noticed a number on the DC Circulator Sign and so I noted that stop # down. I got curious and decided to look up the stop number online and used a future stop as a cross reference and it gave me an indication on when the bus would arrive. You can also check their website for something called NextRide to see the next available times for the bus (they provide it in minutes - example 3, 13, 23) that the bus will be at your location. I had a map with me to see the different stops they made, so I knew when to get off - just press the yellow button (you will see it next to one of the windows or elsewhere on the bus) and it will alert the driver that you want to get off at the next stop. When it was time to head back home, I used the NextRide piece (under Rider Tools) from the website and it let me know when the next bus would arrive - I also saw where the bus pick up spot was located as well (they do have several stops in Georgetown). I do like that the cost to ride is now free. The only thing I though was strange was that if you ride in the last seats of the bus (in the back), the two corner seats are facing 2 other seats so close to each other - meaning if you sit in any one of those seats, you have to really know each other as the space between folks back there is so tight (almost like sitting on top of the person in front of you - as they face you) - weird.

    Bill T.

    I used the DC Circulator to get to and from Union Station to my hotel near the convention center and it wasn't bad. On the pro side, when I used it, it was free. Otherwise, it costs a dollar, which is still a great deal. Also, I just missed one as I was heading back to the train but another one came in less than five minutes. On the downside, I had to wait 20 minutes for a bus when I took it on Friday at rush hour, which isn't awful but for something that is supposed to run every 10 minutes, it's not great. The real problem (if you're picking it up at Union Station) is that the signage is almost non-existent. On the website, it says to go where the buses are at Union Station, but if you've been there, you know it is a major bus depot. There is clear signage for all of the other lines but for the Circulator, I found one tiny sign in the middle of the garage. I'm used to using public transit so I kind of guessed it would be closer to H Street and that's where I got the bus, but for less savvy bus riders, I can see them wandering around in circles looking for it. My recommendation, just add some signs and arrows to let people know where to go.

    New bus, free wifi, and FREE. What more to ask for?
    Rosanna C.

    I usually take the National Mall route. This is a very busy route. On peak days, the traffic is so bad that the bus cannot move. The National Mall route takes you to all of the museums and monuments around the National Mall with a stop right next to the Smithsonian Metro. It used to cost $1 per trip on the circulator. Mayor Bowser just announced recently that it is free. With the convenient stops around the city and free service, yes it is a 5 star. Sometimes the bus is delayed due to traffic. I cannot make any deduction since it is a free service. Tip - Download the circulator map on the phone so you can plan your stops even inside the Metro. It is helpful to have offline maps of the Metro system, DC circulator and an offline map of DC downtown on the phone. Google maps lets you download offline maps to the device.

    The guide map
    Porsche C.

    Wait, Wait, WAIT! Did you just say it cost ONE DOLLAR to get around the National Mall? Serious, $1? Okay, I'm SOLD! The DC Circulator is the perfect way to get around to see most of the museums around the National Mall. For $1.00 for adults and .50 cents for seniors, locals/tourist can enjoy visiting 15 different stops that include the Union Station, National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, Washington Monument, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial, just to name a few. You can essentially "hop on and hop off" for up to 2 hours. The system has several different loops around the City in addition to the National Mall. Here are 5 reasons why YOU should take the DC Circulator: 1. One Dollar Fare; now tell me, which other states can beat that? 2. The bus runs every 10 minutes; Yup, you heard me right, no long waits for the bus to come. 3. It offers FREE onboard WI-FI. Now, you know THAT will certainly come in handy! 4. Getting low on battery? No worries! The Circulator offers USB Chargers on the go! 5. Also, it's an Electric Bus! But wait! It gets better!! Let me explain the Payment options: You can pay with cash or coins, OR, the SmarTrip Card, which is a rechargeable Card used to pay for fares on the Metrorail and Metrobus. You can buy and load the SmarTrip card at any of the Metrorail stations. Children under the age of 5 and free with a paying adult. DC students including elementary and high school are free with a DC One Card. Overall, this is one of the BEST alternative transportation routes when getting around in DC! DC's traffic is insane! But the DC Circulator us an effective and efficient way to travel through the major area of Washington, DC! I would strongly recommend.

    Handicapped seating.
    Kate B.

    When the Circulator was making its mark in DC, I was such a fan. Clean buses. Cheap fares. Felt safe. Routes fit my needs for the most part. Now fast forward. It advertises that buses come every 10 minutes. Ummm.... that has not been my experience AT ALL. The tracker says a bus will arrive in 1 minute. Oftentimes 22 minutes later and still no bus. By their accounts and their tracker, I should have had my pick of more than one bus. I am not sure what the cause is for this discrepancy. Is it the drivers reporting they are at a particular location when, in fact, they are off on break in a different part of time? I think I can speak with some authority since I get off work at the same time. I wish I received a refund for every minute I have wasted standing out in the freezing cold when the buses are awol. If I were grading on schedule reliability alone, I would give the DC Circulator 1 star. The rates will be increasing. I wonder if their reliability will improve. Time will tell... 4/14/18 I lowered it to one star because of their failure to arrive or sometimes even stop. Apparently the only consistent thing about their company is that they run late. Who cares if their customers have to get to work? They don't. My boss, on the other hand, does care.

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    2 years ago

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    1 year ago

    This service has been discontinued. Do not plan on using it. Check out alternate WMATA bus or metro options.

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    3 years ago

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    2 years ago

    Service to Union Station from Georgetown is unreliable. I don't recommend if you're able to take other transportation.

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    5 years ago

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    8 years ago

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    10 years ago

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    19 years ago

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    12 years ago

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    8 years ago

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    9 years ago

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    16 years ago

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    5 years ago

    Wonderful service while exploring DC. Get a map, not all bus stops are circulator stops even on their routes. Very frequent service.

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    8 years ago

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    9 years ago

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    4 years ago

    Insane! Bus stops and waits for 5min at stops. Better to use Capital Bikeshare unless you're in a wheelchair.

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    7 years ago

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    Page 1 of 4

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    Review Highlights - DC Circulator

    Like the previous reviewers, the Metrobus routes are quite confusing to me, so much that I've never actually tried riding a Metrobus.

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    Amtrak Booking - Main entrance

    Amtrak Booking

    (660 reviews)

    NoMa

    First time on a long-distance Amtrak ride, from Chicago to NYC, when my flight was canceled. This…read morewas on regular coach seats; roomettes were sold out. The trip was quite reasonable: it got the job done and the comfort level was better than expected, despite a full train. Most passengers were considerate (except for one family that played a TV show loudly on a cellphone; an annoyance that reflected more poorly on them than bothered people sitting more than two rows away). I also liked it that my car at least had a faucet for dispensing drinking water, and a good supply of cups. On a long trip, staying hydrated is important. (I am not sure if all cars had water dispensers though.) My only complaint is the bathrooms -- they got increasingly dirty over the trip. Towards the last quarter of the trip, one of the bathrooms became unusable because it looked like someone peed on the floor. I don't think he (or they, if it was cumulative) did it on purpose; the toilets are very small, and on a rolling train, it's easy to miss. Fortunately they were other bathrooms that remained, not clean, but at least usable (for gents). Oh, even though the ride is called "Lakeview", you only saw a lake (Lake Erie) for about 1 minute. The rest of the trip was land on both sides, except for crossing rivers. No big deal; most of trip was night anyway.

    Acela was completely filthy on both legs of our roundtrip. On the way back, the toilet didn't even…read moreflush. It was worse than you regular train. The bathrooms were filthy, the windows were filthy, and the train compartments were filthy. Why do have someone collecting trash during the trip when it would be better to have someone regular clean the train compartments?

    Yellow Cab Co of DC - untitled

    Yellow Cab Co of DC

    (251 reviews)

    I booked a ride to and from my home and destination both ways. The ride to my destination was OK…read morebut when I called for me return ride, whomever the character was who took my call said I had not booked a return ride! No matter what I said the only answer I can was that I had no return ride even though I'd paid for one. I took Metro home. A couple of weeks later I get a letter in the mail from Yellow Cab. A refund of my return ride I never got. I won't be calling for rides with this outfit for a very long time, if ever.

    I only went looking for an alternative to uber & Lyft to save money during rush hour. My kid goes…read moreto school about a 15min drive from home, but no one is able to pick him up and he's too young to take the multiple busses it would take to get home. I used the YC mobile app & web app twice to get him a ride. Both times it said the driver would arrive in 4 mins--guess that's their default--but actually arrived in 15+ mins. When you book, they just tell you the ride is confirmed, but don't give you any information about the driver or how long it'll take for a few good long minutes. After a loooong wait, it says your driver is 4 mins away. The last time I booked with them, I watched the car on the app that had confirmed just sit, not move an inch, for probably 5 minutes solid. Geographically he was super close. Then for about 8 minutes he just inched along until he did finally reach the neighborhood. BUT, he whizzed right by the school and went down the street and just sat there. I called the service number 3 times-- it's just an automated machine. You can request to speak to the driver. Each of the three times I selected it, hoping to let him know that the school was behind him, it ring once and then hung up. After waiting for 16 minutes total for a car that was in the beginning had been like a 6-minute drive away, I cancelled the ride and ordered an uber for $8 more, which arrived in precisely 4 minutes.

    Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority - When I first saw photos of Metro stations taken from above, I thought this vault would be grand, but it's smaller and used at many stations

    Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority

    (487 reviews)

    One ride with a transfer and and setting foot in three key stations should be enough for a review…read moreof Washington D.C.'s Metro system (operated by WMATA in concert with a bus system). I guessed that this rapid rail system was inaugurated after the Bay Area's BART and before Atlanta's MARTA. That was the case, with it being inaugurated in the bicentennial year while BART kicked off in 1972 and MARTA in 1979. Some people are weird about using public transit. If the entire route might be very sketchy, I can see why one might avoid it. However, if transiting between major business and governmental hubs, and especially during daylight hours, I don't understand why someone would not use it. My Washington D.C. Metro trip was on the cheap, augmenting an earlier cheap experience that same day. In coming in from Virginia's Hampton Roads area into the nation's capital on Amtrak, grandiose Union Station is the place one gets off the train. Parts of Union Station are not sufficiently modernized, so struggle some, go the distance, and find the entrance to the Metro station located there. WMATA has single ride and day passes. Like BART and MARTA, cards with magnetic strips are needed to get in and out of your first and last station. The trains are punctual and surprisingly clean. The rolling stock definitely looks like that of the BART or MARTA era, except that the sides are slightly tapered upward, which gives them a sleeker look. Having always gone into the District with a rented car or someone else's, hunting for street parking was what is was all about! But that was a while ago and the District keeps getting busier. While I appreciate the grandeur of D.C., it's not my kind of town. That said, I've seen many photos of Washington's Metro, with most of them focused on the subway station at Union Station. I thought that this was a unique design and looked like it might be of the scale of Atlanta's Peachtree Center station. It is anything but that, being a lot "cozier" in scale, and that same template is used in many of their subway stations. But it's not a bad design, because, in addition to doing its job, manages to look '70s and space age at the same time. In addition to electronic boards telling you which trains are due, a unique feature is the lighting in the pavement that signals when a train is coming in and how to board it. The system's layout looks serpentine. I'm sure there's a logic to that. It might have to do with two rivers merging in this area and streets that are rarely gridded in the larger area. In Atlanta, there are many narrow winding streets; however, they superimposed a cruciform layout for their rapid transit system while, in the D.C. area, they did not. That means more that more familiarization is needed, which would require using it regularly. Most tourists won't get to that level that easily. There are 6 lines, all of which come into D.C., and then continue to service adjacent Virginia and Maryland. One thing that might make it more understandable is that 3 of the lines seem to share a trunk through an important swath of the District. In other cities, the main subway station is often under the main train station. Here, Union Station is but a stop on one line, with Metro Center and L'Enfant Plaza being the most important (transfer) stations. Still, the Metro goes to almost all of the historic landmarks and sites, key governmental buildings, and a number of colleges, one of which - the University of Maryland - is outside the District yet in its service area. Not that I had time, as I was headed to DCA Airport, but I noticed that Metro trains do not go to Georgetown, which might have to do with the topography and many green spaces in the Northwest quadrant of the District. The closest Metro station is at Dupont Circle and, from there, one can take a bus, a taxi, or a rideshare. If not oppressively humid or wintry, the remainder is walkable. I might have given WMATA 3 stars because of the ongoing delays in opening the Silver line to Dulles Airport (IAD), the large international hub airport for the metropolitan area. Much like how Denver's mega airport had teething problems with their then new baggage conveying system, the signaling and control system on newer stations was among the last things to create hiccups and they had to postpone acceptance of the project and opening up the Dulles Airport station, which had been sitting there looking ready to go. With the Silver line now open to IAD and beyond, and the ease of getting the DCA, I'll go with 4 stars. It might be fun to use the system to explore some key sites in D.C. and its surroundings, but that would depend on if and when I'm in that area again.

    I like riding the metro. As someone who grew up near DC and moved to NoVA the Metro has been a…read moreconvenience for me in terms of getting around DC so I don't have to deal with hectic drivers or traffic. I've been riding this public transit nt entire life. However the last five weeks have been such a headache from WMATA's customer service that it's really made me consider if I need to just suck it up and drive into DC or take the bus. I used the SmartTrip app to reload my MetroCard and for over a MONTH the funds have been "pending". I called WMATA customer service, I emailed them multiple times, and even reached out to their official Reddit account. And I've been ignored, invalidated, gaslit a couple times, and some instances I've been disrespected by staff that clearly didn't want to be at work. I've always come with a level head but firm tone given how many times I've contacted WMATA and they have not resolved my issue. I'm irate and feel very disrespected and expected more from WMATA. As of 04/17 this issue still hasn't been resolved.

    DC Streetcar - Tram Impala

    DC Streetcar

    (17 reviews)

    Shaw

    Since I was hanging around the H Street Corridor, I thought it'd be a good opportunity to ride the…read moreDC Streetcar. If you are somewhat knowledgeable in riding buses & trolleys, you will get acclimated pretty quickly. The H/Benning Line has eight stops traveling east & west. The H Street platforms are located on both sides of the street & the Benning Road platform on the center median. I started at the 1st stop - H/Union Station, once the streetcar arrived, I pressed the round 'open' button & hopped on. There are about 30 seats or so, a few standing areas & stop request cords readily accessible. The 411: *Streetcars are scheduled within a 10-15 minute range with the expectation to be at each stop no more than 15 minutes apart. *There's a Streetcar Tracker where you can view information in real-time, which is available via the website & smart phone apps. *For the cyclists you can bring your bikes aboard during non-peak hours & if space is available. There are no racks & you are responsible for holding your bike upright while riding. *As of now, its free to ride the DCS. Eventually (no timetable) that will change & & ticket stations will be present at each stop. *Future lines are in the works - Anacostia, North-South Corridor & Union Station to G-Town to name a few. *All Streetcars & stops are equipped to accommodate individuals with disabilities. *Streetcars operates Monday-Thursday 6A-12A, Friday 6A-2A, Saturday 8A-2A & Sunday/Holidays 8A-10P. Due to the nice weather, I elected to walk out of Union Station to N. Capitol & back up to H Street. Yet for a shorter distance, you can exit Union Station on the top level where the bus terminal is located to catch the 1st stop. A fun & for now free way to move around the H Street area if you become tired or lazy. =)

    The DC Streetcar runs all along H Street, from Oakland Ave NE/ Bening Road NE to Union Station. The…read morestreetcar will come by your stop every 15 minutes and runs through 12 am Monday- Thursday. On Friday & Saturday, it runs until 2 am and Sunday and holidays, it runs until 10 pm. Very convenient and happy that the DC Streetcar is still currently free. My husband and I road this streetcar numerous of times this past week since one of the stops is right across the street from our vacation rental. It was helpful taking the streetcar to Union Station, especially with the air conditioning blasting when entering. Being that it is hot and humid visiting DC in July, that a/c was incredibly appreciative and also great to have a little from the sun too. There are so many great restaurants and businesses all along H street, I am glad the city has this provided for residents and visitors a like to take advantage of this free service. Check out this web link to see what great places you can check out the next time you are on this part of town (https://www.dcstreetcar.com/riding/guide-to-h-benning/).

    DC Circulator - publictransport - Updated May 2026

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