RAPID BUS TO

NOWHERE IN

BETHESDA

County's Already-Flawed BRT Plan is

Pushing Reality Envelope after Planning Board

Staff Proposes Changes

You've heard of the Bridge to Nowhere. Are you now ready to board the Rapid Bus to Nowhere?

Montgomery County Planning Board staff have proposed a number of significant changes to the county's Bus Rapid Transit proposal.

One that really jumps out: the staff is calling for an additional route that would run between Montgomery Mall and the American Legion bridge. And what, may we ask, are riders supposed to do after they are dropped off at the bridge?

In a time of tight budgets, these sorts of ideas - not to mention the existing plan - are simply not affordable. We're now told that the county's devastating energy tax will probably not "sunset" as scheduled in 2012. We're told that the government would have no way to make up the amount generated by that tax.

So how can we afford a $2.5 billion BRT network, and $170,000,000 a year to operate it in perpetuity?

The BRT proposal is packed with unproven theories, low-lowball cost estimates, grossly over-estimated ridership, and an outsize and unworkable plan to realize it. This BRT initiative needs something not yet applied to it: a critique.

BRT could be very effective in areas of the county currently underserved by transit. The designs proposed could work along corridors like Rt. 185 and Rt. 29, as long as the placement of the lines do not allow for massive town center construction (a.k.a. sprawl).

They also would have to retain the same number of traffic lanes for automobiles.

And because the ideas are unproven, and ridership questionable, a slow rollout of one or two pilot lines is in order. Gauge the results. If the county's wildly-optimistic numbers prove correct, add more.

Surprisingly, no one is calling for a cautious approach to a promising transit concept.

In fact, in the few articles and TV reports about BRT since the beginning, I have not seen a single quote from a critic or even a skeptic of the proposal. The result is the suggestion that "the debate is over," and the only question left is, "how to we pay for it?"

May I submit a few more questions?

1. Why would we build BRT lines parallel to the Metro Red Line? This is a duplicative service. And if automobile commuters are currently refusing to use Metro, why in the world would they board a mode of transit even slower than Metro?

We cannot afford the luxury or absurdity of duplicative rapid transit on 355 or Georgia Avenue. Metro is short on funds. If we have mystery funds to build BRT, or a magical new means to generate them through taxes (as proposed by Council President Roger Berliner and the Transit Task Force), wouldn't that revenue be more effectively spent on increasing capacity on the Red Line between Walter Reed and Shady Grove?

If such money is out there, Richard Sarles would be very interested in speaking with the county!
Metro is a great resource we already have, and a potentially-great system when running at its best. Why would we steal riders and financial resources from it for BRT?

Again, this is why we should concentrate on areas without Metro service; these residents pay for Metro, but don't get the benefit of it. It is certainly rare elsewhere in the country for BRT to run parallel to rail transit. In fact, BRT is implemented for the very reason that it is an affordable alternative to rail for cash-strapped jurisdictions.

2. How would the automatic green light given to BRT at intersections not slow auto traffic, and completely upset the synchronization of stoplights during rush hour? I'm not saying it can't be done, only that they've yet to explain how they'll do it.

3. Where does BRT fit on Georgia Avenue in Wheaton, for example? Widening the road would put vehicles literally at doorsteps of houses along the road.

4. How could we potentially have only 4 travel lanes for cars on 355 and 97, should widening not occur, without grinding traffic to a halt?

5. How do we ensure that the Olney Town Center (old-style definition) and Aspen Hill Shopping Center do not become massive, mixed-use sprawl developments? Will a BRT station automatically qualify properties nearby for high-density growth? (My prediction: Yes, and that is why developers are strongly backing the BRT project).

6. How can we afford BRT and that potential explosive development when we not only have low revenues, but also have other higher-priority projects?

The Purple Line, Corridor Cities Transitway and Baltimore Red Line are very important projects competing for limited funds.

We also have several road projects that - while few wish to admit it - must be built to handle development the county has already approved in White Flint, Science City, Clarksburg and Damascus:

An I-370 Potomac River bridge, the Rockville Freeway (which connects White Flint with the ICC near Indian Spring Country Club, providing a link between growing employment and housing centers in White Flint, Burtonsville, White Oak, and Columbia), and the M-83 Midcounty Highway Extended on the Master Plan alignment to Clarksburg.

To name a few. Montgomery Mall itself should one day be on a Metro line. And it should come into the mall, just like Prince Georges Plaza. And we could save money collaborating with the District on streetcar service, as I have proposed in the past, and which Councilmember Hans Riemer has also supported.

Again, I personally think there is a lot of potential to have successful BRT routes in certain areas of the county. And some of these projects work together: For example, the Planning Board staff is calling for a BRT route between White Flint and Aspen Hill. Well, they've just described the only such direct road - the Rockville Freeway. This is yet another reason why the Rockville Freeway - delayed for over 50 years - needs to be built.

If we're serious about having a modern, world-class transit and highway system in Montgomery County, we need to start asking these and other questions. And soon.

If not, this runaway bus may end up as a massive drain - much as the ICC has been - on funding for Metro, the Purple Line, the Rockville Freeway, and other critical projects we need, if all of this planned growth is to occur with the quality of life county residents expect and deserve.