Michael Neibauer, The Examiner
2008-06-18 07:00:00.0
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WASHINGTON -

Say goodbye to the Chinatown Bus and hello to L’Enfant Coach.

Responding to the exploding popularity of inexpensive bus rides between Washington, New York and other destinations, the District plans to funnel all buses that load and unload passengers on city streets into a single “intercity bus zone” in Southwest. The myriad bus services, a staple of the downtown for years, will face fines up to $1,500 for loading

outside of that zone, which can accommodate only two buses at a time.

The D.C. Department of Transportation claims that the various Chinatown buses, DC2NY and BoltBus, among others, are congesting streets, disrupting transit and causing a safety hazard for pedestrians. With fares as low as $15 each way and modern amenities such as wireless Internet, the buses have proliferated as gas prices have skyrocketed.

“In some instances, this activity poses safety concerns to the general public and to the bus customers themselves,” Karyn LeBlanc, DDOT spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.

Under a soon-to-debut one-year pilot program, intercity buses will be routed to a curb lane on northbound 10th Street Southwest, just south of D Street beneath the L’Enfant Promenade. The regulations require that all buses obtain a DDOT permit to load there — the application for which must include a proposed schedule, plan for queuing passengers and a $100 fee.

Word of the zone came as a shock to Asi Ohana, co-owner of DC2NY, whose company had not been informed of the changes.

“If they’re going to move us they’re going to move us,” Ohana said. “But it’s going to be pretty exhausting to D.C. residents who use our service. We’re just providing a very good service. But what can I do?”

Residents and riders also were perplexed.

Max Brown, a Chinatown resident, said the buses “add to the vitality of the neighborhood,” so long as they’re not idling for long periods or dropping off passengers at 3 a.m. Terry Lynch, executive director of the Downtown Cluster of Congregations, feared a single zone may “create more chaos and difficulty for those seeking affordable travel.”

“You’ll probably continue to see renegade pickups and drop-offs,” Lynch said.

The permit applications should be available “sometime this week,” LeBlanc said. The new rules do not apply to bus services like Greyhound that queue in a depot or in a private parking lot.

mneibauer@dcexaminer.com