Bethesda Circulator Problems

The Bethesda 8 has recently been renamed the Bethesda Circulator. However, this valuable, free service run by the Bethesda Urban Partnership (BUP), has a few problems:

1. Not on time. The buses are supposed to run about every eight minutes but they frequently get bunched up and it isn't uncommon to wait 15 minutes. If you really want people to ride the bus from one part of Bethesda to another, the service needs to be more reliable.

2. Buses not clearly labeled. In the past, one of the buses was dressed up like a trolley while the other was frequently an ordinary Ride-On bus. While one of the buses still looks like a trolley, the other doesn't look like a public bus and has only two small signs on 8.5 x 11 inch paper indicating that it is the Bethesda Circulator. The leather seats in this bus are very comfortable and the driver was a very friendly woman on the day I rode it. However, you need to know it's a bus in order to ride it.

3. Stops not clearly labeled. The whimsical benches dot Bethesda but many stops lack any other sign that it is supposed to be a bus stop. BUP, which is funded by the public through a share of revenue from Bethesda parking meters, is reluctant to fork out funds for new signs. Not a smart decision on where to cut the budget to say the least.