Returning to the Hilltop from spring break, students get off the Rosslyn Metro stop and gather at the GUTS bus station a block away. After waiting in vain, and grudgingly accepting that GUTS was not running, we choose between two bad options: lugging their bags across the Key Bridge or opening up our wallets to a cab driver, who will charge $1.50 for each extra passenger and an additional $2.00 for large luggage.
GUTS buses are invaluable, helping to compensate for Georgetown’s lack of a Metro station. Yet, when students need them most – when coming back from vacations, burdened by luggage and the stress of traveling, the buses are strangely absent. The University should run Rosslyn GUTS buses on those Sundays when many students return from major breaks, such as following Thanksgiving and spring Break.
On Sundays, the Dupont circle shuttle runs from 12:00-4:00 p.m. while the Rosslyn loop doesn’t operate at all. We understand that it costs money to increase service. Yet the cost of running buses just on the major return-travel days is modest when compared to the benefits for students returning to the Hilltop. A Rosslyn shuttle makes the most sense—it’s a convenient return spot for Hoyas. Reagan National Airport is only a few Metro stops from Rosslyn on the blue line. There is a shuttle between Dulles Airport and the Rosslyn Metro. Some bus services that run between New York and Washington also stop at Rosslyn. If the University really wants to get it right, it should also expand the Dupont Circle GUTS hours on return-days—many Hoyas take trains to Union Station, which is on the red line just like Dupont.
It seems that the Rosslyn service would only be absolutely necessary on just two days of the academic year: the Sunday after turkey day and the Sunday after spring break. GUTS buses run on Easter Monday, when most students will be coming back to campus. And the second semester starts on a Wednesday.
The Voice and Georgetown students don’t often waste time complaining about not having a Metro stop in our neighborhood. To an extent, we have accepted a Metro-less reality. But why is it that we keep having to beg the University for the basic shuttle service it promised us when we enrolled? It should not be viewed as a breakthrough success for the Student Association to successfully lobby the University for expanded weekend service, as it did last spring. Get it right, Georgetown, so that the Voice can stop writing editorials about bus schedules.
