Category: Mass Transit

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) wants to know how well the Baltimore region conducts its transportation planning process. If you’re interested in how transportation investment decisions are made in the Baltimore region, you should plan to attend a public hearing with the U.S. DOT on Tuesday, June 24th. The meeting, which is part of the quadrennial federal certification process of the Baltimore region’s metropolitan planning organization (MPO), will take place from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. at 2700 Lighthouse Point East (2700 block of Boston Street), Suite 310, in the Canton area of southeast Baltimore City.

As the local MPO, the Baltimore Regional Transportation Board (BRTB) is responsible for several key products as part of a continuing, comprehensive and coordinated (3-C) process. These products include a long-range transportation plan, a short-range program or implementation plan, an annual work program, air quality assessments, and a congestion management process. The BRTB undertakes this work in coordination with state agencies and other partners. An important part of the planning process is providing for public participation.

The meeting on June 24th will not address specific projects, but the overall transportation planning process. The U.S. DOT (Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration) is interested in knowing:

* Are you provided with the opportunity to participate in the transportation planning and programming process?
* Do you receive information about transportation issues early enough in the process so staff and the MPO can utilize your suggestions or recommendations?
* Do you have reasonable access to the technical and policy information that is used to develop the Long Range Transportation Plan and Transportation Improvement Plan?
* Do you receive adequate notice of transportation planning and programming activities?
* Do you have adequate time to comment on key decision points in the process?
* Do you feel your comments are taken into consideration by staff and the MPO?
* What are the positive aspects of the transportation planning process?
* What suggestions do you have for improving the process?
Continue reading “U.S. DOT Wants Your Take on the Baltimore Region’s Transportation Planning Process”

Maryland PIRG
Continue reading “CALLING FOR BETTER TRANSIT”

One Less Car OPPOSES new Senate effort to cut much needed transportation funding

Some state Senators are floating a proposal in the Budget & Taxation Committee to take $150 million per year from the Transportation Trust Fund and transfer it to the state’s General Fund. This move would do great damage to numerous transit and bike/ped projects.

The rationale behind this effort appears to be to balance out potential tax increases directed at very high-income earners. If accepted, this move would have a severe impact on the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT), and the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA), in particular. Local transportation programs like Ride On in Montgomery County, The Bus in Prince George’s County, and Howard Transit in Howard County would also be potentially affected. Major new projects like the Red Line and Green Line in Baltimore City, and the Purple Line and Corridor Cities Transitway in Montgomery County could also be adversely affected, as well. Bicycle and pedestrian projects may also feel the pinch.

Please send an email to Budget and Taxation Committee Chairman, Ulysses S. Currie and tell him you OPPOSE any raiding of the Transportation Trust Fund. If you would like to see a complete list of Budget and Taxation Committee members, please click here: https://www.msa.md.gov/msa/mdmanual/05sen/html/com/01bud.html

New York City is finally on the BRT bandwagon.

Mayor Bloomberg announced "Select Bus Service" along the BX 12 line last week, a plan that many policy-minded readers might know by a different name: Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). Yes, after years of hard-nosed advocacy by Transportation Alternatives, the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign and a growing chorus of advocates like "Communities United for Transportation Equity," the City and the Bloomberg Administration finally got on the BRT bus.

Expect prepaid fares, signal priority at intersections, colored "bus only" lanes, entrances in the front and rear of the vehicle, as well as fewer stops along this flagship BRT route that runs on 207th Street in Northern Manhattan and on Fordham Road and Pelham Parkway in the Bronx. If all of these measures are made a reality, well-maintained and strictly enforced, New York City will see its first ever surface subway, a bus line capable of quickly moving a train’s worth of people for a fraction of the cost.
Continue reading “NYC Got on the Bus”

If your town does not yet have Google Transit available, you might want to think about pushing your city/town to make it happen. There are a number of reasons why getting Google Transit in your town might have a strong side benefit to our
Continue reading “The Google Transit Earth Day Challenge”

Form One Less Car:
HB 1185 – MTA Efficiency and Performance Standards – SUPPORT

Currently the State of Maryland dictates that 40% of all Maryland Transit Administration operating funds must come from what is collected in fares on buses, light rail, Baltimore Metro and MARC. To meet this rather high farebox recovery measure (most metro areas have lower farebox recovery standards or none at all), fares are often raised and services are routinely cut. This is a vicious circle.

HB 1185 repeals the farebox recovery requirement in current law and replaces it with a host of more appropriate and nationally accepted transit performance measures (i.e. operating expenses per revenue vehicle mile, operating expenses per passenger trip, and passenger trips per revenue vehicle mile).

Passage of this bill will allow MTA to better implement services that have lower farebox recovery rates – such as neighborhood shuttles and bus service to growing suburban employment locations – that would otherwise have a beneficial impact for the traveling public, the environment, and the economy.

HB 1185 is also supported by the Citizens Planning & Housing Association, the Central Maryland Transportation Alliance, the Annapolis Regional Transportation Management Association and the Action Committee for Transit of Montgomery County.
Continue reading “Montgomery & Balto City Support HB 1185 to end onerous farebox recovery standards at MTA”

DOT: Transit Account Raided to Fill Highway Trust Fund Gap
PROGRAMS FUNDED BELOW SAFETEA-LU "GUARANTEES"

The Department of Transportation was among the hardest hit in the proposed FY2009 budget. The budget calls for DOT to receive $57.1 billion for FY2009, which is about a 10 percent cut from current funding levels. The rationale for the decrease is lower-than-anticipated gas tax receipts flowing into the trust fund. To address the projected shortfall, the budget cuts highway funding by more than 4 percent and would allow money to be moved from the mass transit account to help maintain the highway trust fund.

The administration estimates that it will need to take about $3.3 billion from the mass transit account in FY2009. According to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the deficit could reach $12 billion unless action is taken to shore up the trust fund.

The proposed budget would fall short of the funding levels authorized in the 2005 transportation authorization legislation (SAFETEA- LU). Nonetheless, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said that the department would spend the authorized levels over the life of the law. The administration is also asking Congress for $175 million for a program to combat highway congestion.

Amtrak is again slated for a major cut in funding. Last year Congress provided $1.35 billion for Amtrak. This budget asks for $800 million, an amount insufficient to continue current levels of service.
Continue reading “Due to people driving less the feds divert money from mass transit to more road projects???”

MTA is making February Count

The MTA is making a splash this month. They have:

* Added new service to MARC’s Penn Line,
* Added off-peek and weekend trains to the light rail system,
* Are making bus service modifications and adding a new line to the bus system,
* Are going eco-friendly with the anouncement its intent to purchase 30 hybrid deisel/electric buses,
* And have installed a "Next Train Arrival Systems" at Charles Center Metro Station.
Continue reading “MARYLAND TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION SHAKES IT UP”

Senate Bill 644 – Establishing a Baltimore Regional Transportation Authority Study Task Force to consider specified transportation-related issues, and to study and make recommendations regarding the creation of an independent transportation authority for a specified region; providing for the membership of the Task Force; requiring the Task Force to report to the Governor and the General Assembly by a specified date; etc.

There seems to be growing sentiment for such a Study Task Force to be created. Remember that this bill does not create a Baltimore Regional Transportation Authority. What it does is call for studying the idea of creating such an Authority (to take over from the MTA some or all of the Baltimore Region’s transportation planning, funding, operating and maintaining duties).
Continue reading “Baltimore Regional Transportation Authority Study Task Force – Upcoming Hearing”

This article sounds a lot like here.


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Almost 20 separate north-south bus routes in Manhattan require close to two hours to complete their 10-mile journey. You can take Amtrak 110 miles from New York to Philadelphia and enjoy an authentic Philly Cheese steak in about 90 minutes.

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Despite the dismal statistics, any effort to boost the quality and popularity of mass transit in New York City must include buses. Improving bus service remains far easier, faster and more cost efficient to than improving the subway system.

“Unlike subway lines, when talking about buses these are not items that need huge multimillion dollar capital output,” said New York City Councilmember John Liu, chairman of the Transportation Committee. “We’re talking months, not years or decades. It is common sense.”

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In 2001, the city [Bogot
Continue reading “Speeding New York’s Buses”