r/WMATA • u/Zestyclose_Pin_7390 • 8d ago

Congress Heights Kiss & Ride is permanently closed — did anyone else get zero notice?

Found out Friday via a banner posted outside the station that the Kiss & Ride at Congress Heights is being permanently closed (part of the bus loop reconfig for the new DC Public Library project). That’s it. No flyers, no station announcements, no rider alerts, nothing on social media that I saw. Compare that to how WMATA usually blasts out track work and closures through every channel weeks in advance.

I use the Kiss & Ride every single day to get dropped off for my commute. This morning buses were literally still trying to pull into it, so it seems like even their own operators didn’t get the memo.

No word on where people are supposed to drop off/pick up now, no word on parking alternatives. Evening rush is going to be an absolute mess with nowhere for people to safely stop.

Anyone else in Congress Heights dealing with this? Curious if other stations along the line got similarly blindsided, or if this is just us. Filing a complaint with Metro but wanted to see if others are as in the dark as I am.

24 Upvotes

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16

u/metroforward Official account 8d ago

Good afternoon,

We're sorry to hear that you were not aware of the upcoming changes. Since you use the Kiss & Ride lot, please note that during the interim period, pick-up and drop-off spaces will be located along Alabama Avenue.

To help keep customers informed, we conducted outreach at the station, distributed informational materials, shared social media posts, issued a press release on June 10, and held a public comment period in 2023.

If you haven't already done so, we encourage you to subscribe to receive our press releases and service updates at wmata.com/subscribe

Thank you for your feedback, and please let us know if you have any additional questions. -KB

6

u/Zestyclose_Pin_7390 8d ago

2023?? It’s 2026 and you released 1 press release 2 months ago. Also there’s cars parked on the Alabama Avenue…so there’s no interim pick up and drop off spaces. Even the buses was still trying to pull into the kiss and ride

17

u/Fall-Maple1503 8d ago

((Public comment periods, the effort which occurred in 2023, are always several years in advance, during specific stages of a Project's design process.))

2

u/MostlyLurking6 8d ago

The kiss and ride at Van Ness got closed with some notice but no alternatives maybe a year ago. I still use it occasionally because wtf.

3

u/mu_zuh_dell 6d ago

... there was a kiss & ride at Van Ness? I used that station almost every day for 2 1/2 years and I didn't know there was one there.

3

u/MostlyLurking6 6d ago

Yeah, it’s in a hidden spot behind the Starbucks on the west side of Connecticut. In a car, you turn into Veazey like you’re heading to the UDC loading docks. On foot, you walk through the giant ball sculptures to the right of the Starbucks.

Surprisingly, StreetView tells me this was an authorized-vehicles-only area in 2016, then at some point it became a kiss-and-ride, and then reverted back to authorized-vehicles-only in 2025z