Welcome to another week in D.C.! The temperatures are dropping and the Commanders, our local football team, have won their first two games for the first time since 2011. It’s definitely shaping up to be a decent fall in the city.

Now, let’s catch up on the news you may have missed while you were busy planning your leaf-peeping tour of the Eastern United States.

Step Back, Names Changing

Let’s face it, the alpha-numeric names of D.C.’s many bus lines can be quite confusing. Whether you’ve lived in the region your whole life, just moved here, or are visiting for a weekend, trying to navigate the bus system can often leave you scratching your head or worse, lost.

Thankfully, changes to bus line names could be on the horizon. Metro, the city’s public transportation agency, has launched a survey to gather opinions from riders on potential changes to the names of bus routes. The proposed changes include renaming routes based on the roads they travel along, labeling routes as D, M, or V depending on the jurisdiction they serve, and introducing different displays for express routes. The survey will be open until September 28, and Metro plans to use the results to select a new naming convention for the bus network in the future. So, if you’ve ever wondered why the H8 bus doesn’t actually travel on H Street, now is your chance to have your voice heard.

In other Metro news, automatic door operations are set to return to the Red Line next month. Automatic doors allow passengers to enter and exit the train much more quickly than manual operation, potentially saving precious minutes on every ride. However, Metro operators will still conduct visual checks to ensure the doors are clear before departing from stations. Overall, this change is expected to improve the efficiency and reliability of the Red Line.

Not Cool at School

As we enter several weeks into the new school year, D.C. public school facilities are still dealing with maintenance issues. While HVAC systems were initially tested when the summer heat persisted longer than expected, school staff and families are now reporting additional problems ranging from rodent infestations to malfunctioning elevators. The Department of General Services, responsible for school building repairs, claims that they are doing better with repairs compared to last year when an audit revealed significant delays in responding to maintenance requests. However, this news may not be comforting for those spending their days in buildings plagued by moldy smells and other issues.

Shootings Continue

Unfortunately, this past week brought more distressing instances of gun violence in D.C. On Sunday, a man was shot and killed on Brentwood Road NE, and just a few hours earlier, a 13-year-old boy was shot in the leg on Ivory Walters Lane SE. Thankfully, the teenager is in stable condition and expected to recover. However, these incidents add to the alarming statistic that D.C. has already recorded 191 homicides in 2023, marking a 29 percent increase compared to the previous year.

That’s all the news we have for this week in D.C. Stay tuned for more updates and remember to stay safe out there.

—Caroline Jones (tips? [email protected])