By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
As the D.C. Circulator’s impending shutdown grows near, circulator employees and unions are taking to the streets to voice their concerns about how the shutdown has been handled.
“We’re going to get some answers,” said Darryl Hairston, D.C. Circulator supervisor, at a rally on Aug. 29.
Initially, circulator employees were assured that a five-year contract, finalized last year, would supply job security through 2028. However, after Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) suddenly cut Circulator funding from this year’s budget, workers were left scrambling to figure out what they were going to do.
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Glynda Dansby, a D.C. Circulator dispatcher, attends an Aug. 29 rally demanding better support from Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and city agencies amid the impending circulator shutdown.
(AFRO Photo/Tashi McQueen)
The AFRO reached out to the mayor’s office and the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) for comment, but did not receive a timely response.
The impact of the sudden change grew when the Circulator shutdown moved up from March 2025 to December 2024.
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“I went out on sick leave. I returned on July 19 and on July 29 I received a letter saying I’ll be one of the people being laid off on Sept. 30,” said Natarsha Guest, a D.C. Circulator employee. “How are we supposed to rearrange our lives in 60 days and start over?”
Employees are demanding the city and RATP Dev, Circulator operator, ensure all D.C. Circulator employees retain their current pay rates if transitioned into the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). Workers also want a five-year financial plan to support Circulator employees and a seat at the table during shutdown discussions.
Unions, including the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 689, have joined the call for better employee support and the absorption of the Circulator routes.
Since the announcement of the Circulator shutdown on July 29, the union has been vocal about the need for a transition plan, urging the mayor and DDOT to transition the services to WMATA.
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DDOT has previously indicated that RATP Dev has had discussions with workers about their employment options since the announcement. Workers say those offers just aren’t enough.
“It be a tremendous pay cut for us because we have to start off from the beginning,” said Glynda Dansby, a D.C. Circulator dispatcher and supervisor. “Even if the Circulator has to leave, bring us in wherever we go, at our pay or close to it.”
Guest said some employees could lose around $10 to $12 an hour due to their positions not being directly absorbed into WMATA.
“If we’ve already been established at the job that we’ve had…why do we have to go back now and try to do two or three jobs to make ends meet?” questioned Dansby.
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Though circulator employees have not yet gotten the responses they are looking for from the mayor’s office and DDOT, workers have received support from the D.C. Council.
“The employees who work for the D.C. Circulator have every right to demand better from D.C. government on how the end of the Circulator has been handled,” said Erik Salmi, deputy chief of staff for D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen (D-Ward 6). “DDOT has known this was a likely outcome for more than a year as budget constraints and improved WMATA operations made the end of the D.C. Circulator an attractive cut for the mayor. There are staff who have faithfully served D.C. residents for many years at the Circulator, and they don’t feel they are getting the support they deserve at this challenging time in their careers.”
As the official phasedown begins on Oct. 1, workers and unions show no sign of slowing down.
Phase one will include ending the Rosslyn-Dupont Circle route, altering bus arrival times to every 20 minutes instead of every 10 minutes and ending late-night service on the Woodley Park-Adams Morgan and Georgetown-Union Station routes.
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By Dec. 31, all Circulator operations and employment will end.
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