North Capitol Street Line

The North Capitol Street Line, designated as Route 80 is a daily bus route that is operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority between Fort Totten station  of the Red and Green lines of the Washington Metro and McPherson Square station of the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines of the Washington Metro. With late night and early morning trips extending to Foggy Bottom-GWU station of the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines of the Washington Metro. The line operates every 12 minutes during the day and every 20 minutes at night.

Background
Route 80 operates between Fort Totten station and McPherson Square station with late night and early morning trips extending to Foggy Bottom station providing service along North Capitol Street. The route is one of the most popular routes, with having 4,594 average weekday ridership in 2023.

Current stops


History
Route 80 began service in 1872 as the North Capitol Steet and College Park Line as a horsecar service.

The line was a mix of its current and the College Park Line, Operated along North Capitol Street and in College Park, Maryland via Brentwood.

After electric streetcars operated by the Metropolitan Railroad took over the city, the line was acquired in 1902 by the Washington Railway and Electric Company, which merged to become the Capital Traction Company in the 1930s, and operated as DC Transit after 1956. Just two years later on September 7, 1958, Routes 80 and 82 were abandoned, the first streetcar lines to be abandoned.

After DC Streetcars, Route 80 service on the North Capitol Street Streetcar Line, alongside 81 between Brookland & Potomac Park. it was later extended to Riggs Road NE, via 12th Street NE and South Dakota Avenue NE during the early 1970's although both routes were eventually truncated to the Fort Totten Metro Station on February 19, 1978, shortly after it opened.

Route 81 operated as a part of the Line until 1996/1997 when it became a part of the College Park Line, operating between Rhode Island Avenue-Brentwood station and Cherry Hill via Greenbelt station.

As of September 5, 2021, the line stopped serving Kennedy Center and service was replaced by routes 42 and 43.

Early morning and late night service was extended to Foggy Bottom station on June 25, 2023.

As of December 17, 2023, the route now operates 24/7.

In WMATA's FY2025, they proposed terminating the route at Union Station instead of going to McPherson Square or Foggy Bottom-GWU, eliminating service on service along H Street, I Street, K Street, 15th Street, 13th Street, Pennsylvania Avenue, and Massachusetts Avenue. It would also be proposed Route 80 would be moved into the 20-minute Frequent Service Network, rather than the 12-minute Frequent Service Network. Service would operate every 20 minutes or better from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day of the week.