The Town of Chevy Chase is considering a shuttle service that would make it easier for residents going to or coming from downtown Bethesda to avoid traffic.
The Town of Chevy Chase Council discussed the idea in its meeting last week. Town manager Todd Hoffman said the concept is still in a conceptual stage, with a final determination on whether to establish the service still ahead.
The Council will likely discuss it again at its December meeting and if it decides to go ahead, a public hearing would be held.
“We’re still trying to gather data and trying to gauge if we did it, how long a contract it would be,” Hoffman said. “Maybe it would just be a short-term test to see if people really use it.”
The Town will also look at results from a recent community survey that asked residents whether they’d use a shuttle service to and from downtown Bethesda.
The Bethesda Urban Partnership, the county-funded nonprofit in charge of maintaining and marketing Bethesda, took over operation of a similar shuttle service within downtown Bethesda in 2006 and a few years ago upgraded it with new vehicles to start the Bethesda Circulator.
It includes stops in Woodmont Triangle, the Bethesda Metro station and Bethesda Row, a north-to-south route that does not cross Wisconsin Avenue.
One of the closest Circulator stops to the Town of Chevy Chase is in Bethesda Row, at the intersection of Woodmont and Bethesda Avenues, which requires a walk through the Capital Crescent Trail tunnel to Elm Street Park.
