STRANGE
BUT
TRUE!
Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive
The saga of the Emperor's new bus (a.k.a. Montgomery County Bus Rapid Transit) took another bizarre turn yesterday. A statement regarding a recent - but, strangely, unpublicized - visit by transportation officials from the province of Henan in Communist China, included a reference to the BRT project.
While the 18 officials from Zhengzhou were here to "learn about" planning and transit, the statement went on to say that they "shared insights about their own bus rapid transit system."
So to set the scorecard straight, Chinese officials have had more opportunity to weigh in on the BRT project than the taxpayers of Montgomery County.
How ironic, as China is the only country in the world to successfully accomplish what county politicians have claimed is their goal: "get people out of their cars." Oh, and they just happened to force people to do it. For example, one day half of the people are allowed to drive into work, and the next day, the other half can drive.
Is having Communist officials advising you on an already-controversial project good PR? Mmm... not so much.
This is the latest public relations disaster to befall the BRT "juggernaut." First, the finished plan was presented and endorsed by several elected officials - without a single public hearing on the matter. Then, when citizens like myself started pointing out that some downtown Bethesda residents could pay $1000 a year or more in BRT taxes, irate taxpayers turned out to a belated afterthought of a public hearing (again, after the plan had been finished).
Without those massive taxes, BRT was suddenly with no source of funding. Primary BRT advocate Marc Elrich then demanded the business community pay for the system. If they didn't, Elrich warned ominously, businesspeople would "get their worst nightmare." Unfortunately, he declined to specify what that "nightmare" would be.
And the county's own master planner said the BRT system won't work, and won't have the ridership.
With a terrible concept being made worse by gaffe after gaffe, it's time to retire the downright nutty BRT plan, and get to work on building our decades-delayed master plan highways.
As the Chinese officials may have told them, Beijing has not just one Outer Beltway, but five!
Ask their advice.
4 comments:
The problem is not a lack of being able to comment on the BRT plan, it's just the lack of making those opportunities publicly known. The Chinese representatives words would have no more standing than any letter sent by a citizen on the subject at any time since the first announcement of the proposed system.
And sure, the BRT system as fully designed is expensive and won't be fully utilized, but the entire system is not a dimwitted plan, and is far more sustainable and 21st century thinking than spending billions of dollars on new highway miles, just to have more congestion, declining air and water quality and a system made for vehicles powered on ever increasing gas prices). All things need compromise including some expansion of roadways and an improved bus system through government investment.
The lack of opportunity to comment on the BRT plan is a problem. By my count, we've had one actual public hearing, at the height of summer vacation season. And one "Q and A" session that by default favors the people running the meeting.
A letter is ineffective, and pro-developer politicians know that. That's why they favor charettes and letters, as they prevent citizens from being able to influence other citizens in a freewheeling public setting. This idea of "let's deal with this offline" has become a talking point in Rockville, where some are seeking to do away with the Citizens Forum at council meetings. "Put it in writing." Yes, then you don't have to be embarrassed about a bus that takes 50 minutes to go 15 miles.
I think a streetcar or BRT would make sense in the Rt. 29 corridor. But the BRT system proposed is an unqualified disaster. We would literally be better off doing nothing than spending 2+ billion on that. The developers are the driver behind BRT. Let them pay for it.
I don't believe building cities in the country via BRT is sustainable growth, and funding it on the backs of downtown Silver Spring and Bethesda residents to subsidize BRT riders in those new sprawl cities is not Smart Growth.
I agree we need compromise, such as finishing our highway and subway systems. But our council is taking a 1960s approach, not a 21st century one. Buses are not the future. While anachronistic politicians are trying to protect their profitable status quo, the future is blowing right past them. Uber is a terrifying development for politicians who benefit from overregulation of taxicabs, for example. Google is perfecting automated vehicles, which combined with zero emission cars, will make highways the truly 21st century travel mode. We have a long way to go, but the private sector is starting to creep up on failing transit systems politicians would rather profit from than fix.
If this debacle continues further, I would support putting this to the voters via referendum.
There is a brand new study, which you may have heard about, that confirms the county planner's finding that MoCo simply does not have the ridership for a BRT system.
Strangely, it goes on to recommend BRT for 355, which is a complete waste of money when Metro already runs along that corridor.
On the merits of the BRT proposal, the plan is just about dead at this point. But with so much developer money at stake, expect BRT to stay on the table regardless of the facts or public opposition.
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