The D.C. Circulator is set to end service for good on Dec. 31. The Bowser administration announced in July that, due to budget cuts and lingering ridership declines from COVID-19, the Circulator would begin phasing out routes on Oct. 1.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 (ATU Local 689) represents more than 15,000 transportation workers in the Washington, D.C., metro area, including 360 Circulator drivers. Many drivers have already lost their jobs, while others face impending layoffs.

Matthew Girardi, the political and communications director for ATU Local 689, said the announcement was a complete surprise to many.

“We got a few hours notice before the public did,” Girardi said. “So, just complete blindsiding, which I think was by design.”

Traditionally, the mayor submits a budget plan in April, when speculation about phasing out the Circulator began. Girardi said the union requested a clear plan to transition Circulator staff to positions with the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority (WMATA) but was open to the proposal.

“[the] answer to us was [that] we're going to get you a plan by the end of the week,” Girardi said. “The end of the week became next week. Next week became the end of next week, the week after that then became the end of the month.”

While WMATA has agreed to hire those formerly operating Circulator busses, there are no current plans in place to recognize the time drivers have put in working at Circulator. Robert White has worked with Circulator since 2009, and will now be transferring to WMATA with no seniority transfer. 

“I’ve worked here seventeen or eighteen years, and now I have to go through training again, work nights, work weekends, basically start all over,” White said.

In late October, the D.C. Council overrode Bowser's veto and passed the  D.C. Circulator Transition Emergency Amendment Act of 2024. The bill allocates funds from selling Circulator assets to support laid-off workers.

Girardi said it was difficult to secure more for operators because the Circulator is owned by French third-party RATP Dev, which had no say in the decision to end service. The company had even signed a contract extension earlier this year to continue operations for five more years, according to Girardi.

Despite changes to this contract, Bowser’s administration told Circulator drivers that they would soon be made D.C. Department of Transportation (DDOT) employees to ease the transition. However, White said that never happened. 

“Mayor Bowser told us she was going to make us DDOT employees like it shows on the side of our bus, and she lied,” White said.

Girardi also believes that the mayor did not want to work with the union on a severance package because of past circumstances. In 2022, Circulator drivers went on strike for three days to demand better wages and working conditions, which were eventually met. 

“I don't think that, from our interactions with her and her administration, this is a mayor who genuinely cares about these operators and workers,” Girardi said. “I think it's very much a vindictive response to the fact that they went on strike back in 2022.”

The Circulator will run its final route on Dec. 31. ATU Local 689, which also represents WMATA workers, said supporting displaced drivers remains a priority.

“We want to ensure that these folks are empowered, that they're taken care of,” Girardi said. What that looks like come January first is highly dependent on whether or not we're all able to come together and get a deal for wages and where those folks are and how they're able to stay in touch.”