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| Bike Parking at Train Stations Around the World |
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Take a look at this cool article.
Ever see
train stations with this much bike parking in
the USA?
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MTA’s Trip
Planner is up and running! Just type in
your starting point and destination and
you’ll get information on the quickest
transit route there
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The Consolidated Transportation Program is
Maryland’s six-year capital budget for
transportation projects. If it’s not in the
CTP it probably won’t get built. Learn more
about the CTP and the public input process here
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| Purple Line Hearings set for November |
The Purple Line is a major transit project
that will be connecting Bethesda to the New
Carrollton Metro. Find out about the schedule
for public hearings on the Purple Line here.
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Everyone,
The Intercounty Connector (ICC) is an 18.8
mile toll road currently under construction
in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.
This enormous highway project will cost
Marylanders more than $3 billion
dollars to
build and will destroy thousands of acres of
forest, farm land and wetlands. It’s
construction will also lead to hundreds of
people losing their homes.
Exactly why Marylanders need this road is not
entirely clear. The concept that traffic
congestion
can only be alleviated by more highway
construction is a 1950’s era belief that has
– for some strange reason – continued to
flourish among our business leaders and in
the halls of power in Annapolis. Maybe they
forgot that the Baltimore and D.C. beltways,
I-270, I-83 and just about every other major
road project in the state was supposed to
make traffic jams a thing of the past. They
told us that more roads would mean less time
stuck in our cars. Were they right?
Even more wrongheaded is the claim from the
state’s business leaders that the ICC will
bring greater
economic growth to Central Maryland. This is
a flawed
assumption at best and fails to recognize the
enormous
environmental and social ills that come from
putting more cars on our roads.
What makes the ICC even more of a risky
gambit is our state’s current financial
situation. Due to a major projected budget
shortfall, Governor O’Malley cut $1.1
billion from transit and road projects and
$300 million more from education, public safety,
health and environmental protection. The MTA
system alone is slated
to see dramatic cuts to commuter bus and rail
service (see next article). But for some
reason Maryland keeps
throwing millions in taxpayer dollars at the
ICC.
In FY 2009, the Governor plans to take $65
million from
the General Fund (which should fund
schools, health, safety and other needs), and $30
million from the Transportation Trust Fund,
and put it towards the ICC. This money should
instead be used to shore up the MTA.
Although the State has already begun to clear cut
forests and bulldoze houses for the ICC,
the Governor and the Maryland General
Assembly
can still cancel this destructive, wasteful
project and liberate billions
in funding and debt capacity to invest in
real transportation alternatives.
If you think Maryland has better priorities
than building destructive highways, tell
Governor O’Malley. You can send him an email
here.
Or you could call his office at 1-800-811-8336
If you would like to tell you local state
delegate or state senator how you feel,
please send them an email as well. You can
find your state representatives in Annapolis
here.
Thank You!
Richard Chambers, Executive Director
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MTA Cuts Could Slash Commuter Service in Baltimore & D.C. Areas
At a time when record numbers of Marylanders
are turning to buses and trains to avoid high
energy costs, the State of Maryland has
decided to make dramatic cuts to it’s already
strained mass transit system.
Included on the chopping block is ending all
commuter bus service on the #310 & #311 from
Columbia to Baltimore, the #412 from Bel Air
to Baltimore and the #921 from Annapolis to
New Carrollton Metro. Other commuter bus and
MARC rail routes would see either decreased
service or total elimination.
To see a complete list of proposed cuts click
here
Without effective mass transit Maryland
cannot become a healthier, wealthier and more
sustainable place to live. These proposed
cuts are draconian and will certainly lead to
more traffic, more stress and more pollution.
Hearings will soon be held for the public to
give its input on the cuts. The hearings
schedule can be found here.
TELL THE GOVERNOR TO STOP THE CUTS TO MTA!
Contact his office via email here
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Your Input Needed for Baltimore Bicycle Map
One Less Car is in the process of developing
a Baltimore Bicycle Map. Our hope is that
some of you will be able to help us.
Take a look at a draft of the map here
and give us your view on our proposed
routes. Tell us about your route to work or
school. Do you have a better way to go?
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Public Hearings on Baltimore’s Red Line Coming Up
The Maryland Transit Administration in
conjunction with the Federal Transit
Administration will hold four public hearings
regarding the Red Line Corridor Transit Study
– a proposed 14 mile east-west transit system
that would serve Baltimore from Woodlawn in
the west to Johns Hopkins Bayview Campus in
the east.
The project aims to increase transit mobility
and accessibility, improve connections to
existing transit systems, and stimulate
community revitalization and economic
development. The hearings will be on the
following dates:
Thursday, November 6th, 4PM – 9PM,
Lithuanian Hall, 851 Hollins Street,
Baltimore, 21201
Saturday, November 8th, 10AM – 3PM,
Edmondson-Westside High School, 501 N. Athol
Avenue, Baltimore, 21229
Wednesday, November 12th, 4PM – 9PM, UAW
Hall, 1010 Oldham Street, Baltimore, 21224
Thursday, November 13th, 4PM – 9PM,
Woodlawn High School, 1801 Woodlawn Drive,
Baltimore, 21229
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Checklist of Maryland’s Bike Problems
Below is a list of some of the reasons why
the League
of American Bicyclists ranked Maryland a
lowly 35th in their annual ranking of
bike-friendly states. One Less Car
strongly encourages you to read over
the list and demand that the Maryland
Department of Transportation address these
issues. We believe that this checklist should
serve as a workplan for MDOT staff as they
move forward on improving bike accessibility.
No 3ft or greater safe passing law
Existence of a discriminatory mandatory
bike lane law
No Complete Streets or Bicycle and
Pedestrian Accommodation policy (Note: the
state has language encouraging bike/ped
accommodations, but no plan for ensuring that
these accommodations are actually built)
No Mountain Biking Plan
No CO2 Reduction Plan that includes
bicycle usage
No policy requiring bike parking at state
owned facilities
No system in place to determine
percentage of state highways that have paved
shoulders
No dedicated state funding source for
bicycling projects or programs
No questions regarding the
responsibilities of motorists towards
cyclists on driver’s test
Bicycle safety is not addressed in
Highway Safety Plan
No education of officers on cyclist
rights & responsibilities through academy or
continuing education
Information on cyclists rights and
responsibilities not made available to
traffic judges
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OLC Executive Director Speaking Engagements for November
- November 7th, Eastern
Shore Land Conservancy Annual Planning
Conference, Chesapeake College, Panel
Discussion on “Where are our Eastern Shore
Roads Taking Us”?
- November 13th, Corridor
Transportation Corporation Transportation
Summit, BWI Marriott, “Building a
Constituency for Transit”
- November 20th, Meeting of the Howard
County Transportation Advocates, Bain Center
in Columbia, “Advocating for Better
Transportation in Howard County”
- November 21st, Annual
Conference of the Maryland-Delaware Chapter
of the American Planning Association,
Loews Annapolis, “Transportation Alternatives
= Better Communities”
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