Greenbelt–Twinbrook Line


The Greenbelt–Twinbrook Line, designated Route C2 or Route C4, are daily bus routes operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority between Greenbelt station or Prince George's Plaza station of the Green Line and Wheaton station or Twinbrook station of the Red Line of the Washington Metro. Both lines operate every 20–30 minutes during peak hours and 24–30 minutes at other times on weekdays and Saturdays, and 30–40 minutes on Sundays. Trips would take roughly 60-70 minutes for both routes. On Sundays however, the C2 is shortened to operate between Takoma Langley Crossroads Transit Center and Greenbelt Station, which takes 30 minutes. Both lines connect northern Prince George's County to Montgomery County via the University Boulevard East/West corridor.

Background

Routes C2 and C4 mostly provide service along University Boulevard operating between Montgomery County and Prince George's County via Takoma Park connecting riders between the two. Routes C2 and C4 get their buses out of Montgomery division.

History

Origination of the Line

C2 was created as a new route on February 4, 1973, to replace the segment of the former J8 streetcar line between Wheaton Plaza & Montgomery Mall when the J8 became a Metrobus Route and was truncated to only operate between the Wheaton Plaza & Beltway Plaza. Routes C2 & J8 operated as part of the "Beltway Plaza–Montgomery Mall Line" until February 19, 1978. when they were both merged into route C2. Route C2 operated between Montgomery Mall & Beltway Plaza, via Prince George's Plaza Mall & University of Maryland, College Park.
Route C6 originally operated between White Oak to Montgomery College and then between White Oak and Twinbrook until replaced by various routes.

1984 Service Changes

On December 15, 1984, route C2 was truncated to terminate at the newly opened Twinbrook station only discontinuing service to Montgomery Mall. During this same time, route C4 began revenue service to operate alongside with the C2 operating between Twinbrook and Langley Park. The line was renamed as the "Greenbelt-Twinbrook Line" as of result.

1990 Service Changes

On September 22, 1990, route C2 was truncated even further to only operate up to Wheaton station while route C4 was diverted to serve Wheaton station. Route C2 would now only operate between Wheaton station and Beltway Plaza.

1993 Service Changes

On December 11, 1993, route C2 was extended from Beltway Plaza Mall to Greenbelt Center via Greenbelt station when the Green Line northern portion was opened replacing route F6 service between University Of Maryland and Beltway Plaza which was rerouted to serve New Carrollton station along with route F4. But Route C2 will discontinue service via Prince Georges Plaza and University Of Maryland operating on a direct route along Campus Drive.
Route C4 was extended from Langley Park to Prince George's Plaza station, along route C2's original routing from intersection of University Boulevard East in Langley Park & the Prince George's Plaza Mall, via Riggs Road, and East West Highway.

2001 Service Changes

On January 13, 2001, route C4 was rerouted along Toledo Terrace and Belcrest Road to serve the apartment complexes behind The Mall at Prince Georges. The line would serve the mall bus bays from Belcrest Road.

2003 Service Changes

On May 15, 2003, the original bus bays inside Prince Georges Plaza mall, were demolished in order to build a new Target store. Routes C4 along with routes 86, F4, F6, F8, R2, R3, R4 and TheBus 13, 14, 18 have stopped entering and looping inside around the mall.

2010 Proposal Route Changing

In 2010, WMATA proposed to completely discontinue the C4 and to replace it with the C8 and J5.
Under the proposal, the J5 would discontinue service along the Capital Beltway and Grosvenor–Strathmore station and will serve the former C4 stops via Parklawn Drive, Randolph Road, Veirs Mill Road, Wheaton Station, and Georgia Avenue. Service to Prince George's Plaza station would be provided by the C8 which was proposed to discontinue service to College Park–University of Maryland station and University of Maryland. However a major problem in the proposal was the C8 was proposed to only operate on Weekday Peak Hour services only while the J5 only operated during Peak Hours. With the discontinuation of the C4 and the changes made on the C8 and J5, it would not only lose direct service from Prince George's Plaza to Twinbrook, it would also mean residents would have a lack of bus service where the C4 operated since the C8 and J5 would only operate during rush hours only.
The proposal however did not go through. The J5 was also discontinued on June 25, 2017 meaning if the proposals went through and the J5 was discontinued, it would mean a bigger loss for the residents between Wheaton station and Twinbrook station and would only have Ride On service to accompany them.
Also Route C2 was proposed to be shorten to Greenbelt station discontinuing service to Greenbelt Center being replaced by a new route T12, T14, and existing T16 or routes G12, G14, and G16. This was a result of Greenbelt bus service lacking much service.

December 19, 2010 Changes

On December 19, 2010, route C2 was truncated from the Greenbelt Center to only operate up to Greenbelt Metro Station at the request of the city of Greenbelt being replaced by new routes G13, G14, and G16, in order to reduce duplicatifon as much as possible with other routes and as a method of circumventing the transportation budget shortfall in Prince George's County, MD. Route C2 also discontinue the Beltway Plaza Loop as well being replaced by routes G14, and G16.

March 27, 2016 Changes

On March 27, 2016, new Sunday Service was added to the C2 operating between Greenbelt station and Langley Park only replacing Route 81 service.

December 22, 2016 Changes

On December 22, 2016, the C2 and C4 were rerouted, along with several other Metrobus, Ride On buses, Shuttle UM and TheBus Routes, to make a turn from University Boulevard into the newly opened Takoma Langley Crossroads Transit Center.

Incidents