WASHINGTON (7News) — On Tuesday morning, Metro unveiled what the transportation agency hopes will be its final proposal for a bus system overhaul that will take effect next summer.

The renovation will include major changes to many routes and the removal of more than 500 bus stops.

Dubbed the “Better Bus System,” the plan Metro unveiled also involves renaming routes in a way that Metro officials believe makes more sense than the current haphazard naming system, which stems from consolidation. of four companies in the 1970s.

Metro first unveiled major proposed changes to many bus routes in the spring.

Since then, the transit agency says it has received tens of thousands of comments on the proposals and has now made changes to its proposals based on those comments.

For example, Metro says it received numerous complaints that its proposal did not provide bus service to Massachusetts Avenue SE in an area west of the Anacostia River, so Metro made changes to a route to be called C51 in order to provide such service. Route C51 will run all the way from Tenleytown to Union Station and Anacostia.

In another case, Metro added a bus stop that it had initially proposed removing. Metro had planned to remove a bus stop at 23rd Street South and Grant Street in Crystal City, but after hearing from people in the area who felt it was a mistake, Metro changed its mind and added the stop back on what is today the route 10A. , but what will be known as route A1.

SEE ALSO |Road closures for Kamala Harris’ election night watch party at Howard U.

Under Metro’s proposal, all bus routes will be renamed based on the primary geographic area they serve:

• For routes in DC, routes going downtown will start with a D and “crosstown” routes will start with a C
• Routes in Montgomery County will begin with M
• Routes in Prince George’s County will begin with P
• Routes in Arlington and Alexandria will begin with A
• Routes in Fairfax County and the cities of Falls Church and Fairfax will begin with an F.

The new names will begin with those letters, followed by a number. An X will be added to the end of route names that have limited stops.

Some of the new names may take some getting used to. For example, the well-known route X2 will become route D20 and route X9 will become route D2X.

Metro says that as part of the Better Bus Network, it is proposing 11 more “frequent service routes” that operate every 12 to 20 minutes seven days a week. It is also focusing on routes going to destinations such as hospitals, supermarkets, shopping centers and entertainment areas. Additionally, in an effort to speed up bus service, Metro is proposing the elimination of 510 bus stops, representing approximately five percent of all stops that currently exist.

Metro’s board of directors is expected to discuss the final proposed changes on Thursday and then vote on them later this month. The changes are expected to take effect next summer.

To see the final proposals for different bus routes, you can go to Wmata.com/betterbus.

Metro officials say they redesigned the bus network using resources the transportation agency already has and did not rely on increased funding.

Transit agency officials say that if funding is increased in the future, they hope to make other changes to the bus network, such as adding 24-hour bus service to local airports.