The Benning Road Line, designated Route X1, X3 was a weekday peak hour only bus route operated by the

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA ), commonly referred to as Metro, is a tri-jurisdictional public transit agency that operates transit services in the Washington metropolitan area. WMATA provides rapid transit servic ...

between

Minnesota Avenue station Minnesota Avenue station is an island-platformed Washington Metro station in the Central Northeast/Mahaning Heights neighborhood of Northeast Washington, D.C., United States. The station was opened on November 20, 1978, and is operated by ...

of the Orange Line of the

Washington Metro The Washington Metro, often abbreviated as the Metro and formally the Metrorail, is a rapid transit system serving the Washington metropolitan area of the United States. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority ...

and

Foggy Bottom–GWU station Foggy Bottom–GWU station is a Washington Metro station in the Foggy Bottom, Washington, D.C., Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C., United States. The island-platformed station was opened on July 1, 1977, and is operated by the Washin ...

of the Orange,

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

, and Silver Lines of the Washington Metro (X1) or Duke Ellington Bridge in

Adams Morgan Adams Morgan (abbreviated as AdMo) is a Neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in the city’s Northwest (Washington, D.C.), Northwest quadrant. Adams Morgan is noted as a historic hub for Counterculture of ...

(X3). The line operates every 10–31 minutes during weekday peak hours in the peak direction only. X1 trips are roughly 41 minutes while X3 trips are roughly 45 minutes. All service along the X1 and X3 lines were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic and later discontinued by September 5, 2021. The X3 school trip from

KIPP The Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) is a network of tuition-free, open-enrollment college-preparatory public charter schools serving students in historically underserved communities across the United States. Founded in 1994 by Mike Feinber ...

College Prep remained in service until the 2024-25 school year.

Background

Routes X1 and X3 operate every 15–25 minutes during the weekday rush hours only in the peak direction from

to either

or Duke Ellington Bridge. During the school days, X3 trips begin at

DC College Prep school going to Minnesota Avenue. The line mostly provides service from Northeast to Downtown DC without having to take the train. Routes X1 and X3 operate out of Shepherd Parkway and Southern Avenue divisions while some X3 trips are operated by Bladensburg division.

History

Early days

The line originally consists of routes X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6, and X7 all operating under former streetcar lines. Afterwards the DC Transit company took over operating buses along H Street and

Benning Road Benning Road is a major traveled street in Washington, D.C., and Prince George's County, Maryland. The street's western terminus is at the "Starburst intersection" in the Northeast, Washington, D.C., northeast quadrant of the city at Bladensbur ...

. Then WMATA took over DC Transit on December 4, 1973 and incorporated the X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6, X7, X8, and X9. Route X1 operated between

and Potomac Park via

Washington Union Station Washington Union Station, known locally as Union Station, is a major train station, transportation hub, and leisure destination in Washington, D.C. Designed by Daniel Burnham and opened in 1907, it is Amtrak's second-busiest station and North ...

, Louisiana Avenue, and

Constitution Avenue Constitution Avenue is a major east–west street in the Northwest, Washington, D.C., northwest and Northeast, Washington, D.C., northeast quadrants of the city of Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was originally known as B Street, and ...

. Route X2 operated between Minnesota Avenue and Union station. Route X3 operated between Minnesota Avenue and McLean Gardens. Route X4 was a new route introduced on November 24, 1978 operating between Minnesota Avenue and Lafayette Square. Route X5 was designated as "Owl Trips" operating between

Seat Pleasant, Maryland Seat Pleasant is an incorporated city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, located immediately east of Washington D.C.. Per the 2020 census, the population was 4,522. Two state highways pass through the community — Maryland ro ...

and Lafayette Square. Route X6 would operate between Lafayette Square and

Mayfair Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...

. All these routes mostly operate along

and H Street. In the 1980s, route X5 and X7 were discontinued and replaced by routes X1, X2, X3, X4, and X6. No major changes were made to route. In the 1990s, routes X3, X4, and X6 were discontinued and replaced by routes X1, and X2. Route X2 was also split from the Benning Road Line and was formed into the Benning Road-H Street Line operating on the former X4 and X6 routing between

and Lafayette Square. Routes X1 and X3 were unaffected by any changes and continue to operate on its same routing.

Changes

On June 25, 2000, route X3 was reincarnated to operate alongside the X1 between

and McLean Gardens during the weekday peak-hours. On December 19, 2010, route X1 was extended from Potomac Park to

via 23rd Street. In 2012, routes 96 and X3 were extended from McLean Gardens to

Tenleytown–AU station Tenleytown–AU station is a subway station on the Red Line of the Washington Metro in Washington, D.C. Located in the Upper Northwest neighborhood, it is the last station on the Red Line heading outbound wholly within the District of Columbia ...

adding additional service along

Wisconsin Avenue Wisconsin Avenue is a major thoroughfare in Washington, D.C., and its Maryland suburbs. The southern terminus begins in Georgetown just north of the Potomac River, at an intersection with K Street under the elevated Whitehurst Freeway. Wisco ...

NW from McLean Gardens due to a long-term detour route in 2012 to accommodate construction of Cathedral Commons. In 2015 during WMATA's FY2017 budget, WMATA proposed to shorten route X3 at Duke Ellington Bridge due to low ridership between both Duke Ellington Bridge and

since route X3 operates parallel to routes 30N, 30S, 31, 33, 96, H2, H3, and H4. On June 26, 2016, route X3 was shortened from

to Duke Ellington Bridge due to low ridership between the two points. Alternative service is provided by route 96. During WMATA's FY2021 budget, it was proposed to eliminate routes X1 and X3 completely due to low ridership. The X3 trip from

DC College Prep school would still operate however. Replacement service would be provided by an extended route X8 to

during the weekday peak-hours for X1 while routes X2, X9, and

DC Streetcar The DC Streetcar is a surface streetcar network in Washington, D.C. that consists of a single line running in mixed traffic along H Street and Benning Road in the city's Northeast quadrant. The streetcars are the first to run in the Distri ...

covers most of X1 and X3 routing along H Street and

. Routes 90, 92, and 96 also operates on most of X3's routing as well. WMATA proposed the elimination due to the availability of alternative service, including proposed extension of some route X8 weekday peak trips to Potomac Park and Foggy Bottom. According to performance measures, it goes as the following: According to WMATA, 501 riders (42%) would still be able to make exact same trips on other services, 666 riders (56%) would require one additional transfer to complete current trip, and 22 riders (2%) may have to walk an additional 0.2 miles to a bus stop. The impacts of service proposal on the current riders by route segment are as follows according to WMATA: WMATA would later back out the proposal on April 2, 2020 due to customer pushback. On March 16, 2020, all route X1 and X3 service was suspended in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and WMATA switching to a supplemental schedule during the weekdays. The proposed elimination was brought back up on September 26, 2020 due to low federal funding. Routes X1 and X3 has not operated since March 13, 2020 due to Metro's response to the

. On March 14, 2021, route X3's school trip to

College Prep was restored and will operate between the school and Minnesota Avenue station. The full route remained suspended, however. By September 5, 2021, Routes X1 and the full X3 route were eliminated. Route X3's school trip to KIPP remained in service, running during every school year when school was in session until the final day of the 2024-2025 year (June 13, 2025) before being fully discontinued as part of WMATA's Better Bus Network Redesign on June 29, 2025.

References

Notes

{{reflist, group="R3 -" X1