A month or so back I talked briefly about the new shuttle service being rolled out by the H Street NE businesses. The aim of this service is to get potential Atlas District (just throwing that in to annoy people) patrons in from more Metro-accessible locales (Gallery Place and Minnesota Ave) without having to rely on the always packed and frequently stopping X2. 
Well, I’m happy to report that Katie and my first trip on said shuttle went extremely smoothly. It showed up at the Gallery Place stop on time to the minute and got us out to 13th and H in like seven minutes total. And for free! So I’d say the shuttle is a terrific way to go.
Of course, this was a weekday and the shuttle wasn’t exactly packed. It was just us, three of our friends, and two other people, and we all got off at the same stop. Presumably the trip wouldn’t be as fast with more people making more stops. Still, this isn’t a Metro bus, so it’s never going to be stopping every block.
The other issue is that the shuttle itself is basically a large-ish painted van, so I’m wondering if it fills up on Friday and Saturday nights. Next time we take it on a more popular evening, we’ll report back with the intel. In the meantime, you can find the schedule and stops here.
Photo from Atlas Performing Arts Center.
Just wish the ran it later on weeknights, seeing as how it’s holy hell impossible to catch a cab on H. If the point is to get people from NW out to NE, give them a ride back ’till the bars close, not ’till the metro closes! Much easier to haul a cab or hop on a bus once in Chinatown.
Last Friday around 6:45 pm-ish some friends and I caught this shuttle to go out to Sticky Rice.
Likes:
- Shuttle was easy to spot right off the metro.
- Very clean and friendly service.
- Not crowded at all.
- FREE!
Dislikes:
- Had no clue what kind of schedule this shuttle runs on and we felt lucky to have caught it just minutes after getting off the metro.
- Didn’t know where the shuttle stopped on H Street, nor did we know when or where it picked up.
Overall it was a good experience and I am likely to try it again!