Open House #1 will be held Wednesday, June 26, 2019 from 6:00-8:00 PM at the Activity Center at Bohrer Park, located at 506 S. Frederick Avenue in Gaithersburg. The second Open House will be held the next evening, Thursday, June 27 from 6:00-8:00 PM in the Wisconsin Multipurpose Room at the B-CC Regional Services Center, located at 4805 Edgemoor Lane in downtown Bethesda.
You'll notice several key factoids are not emphasized to the public about this particular BRT proposal.
First, if dedicated lanes are utilized, the vehicle capacity of already-jammed MD 355 will be slashed by 33%. If you know that BRT advocates' most-optimistic number for the percent of people who will "get out of their cars" (as the globalists like to say) is only 16% in the best-case scenario, in a "flash" you can quickly calculate that the BRT will have the effect of severely-worsening rush hour traffic - and increasing exhaust emissions from additional idling in traffic jams.
Second, speaking of fumes, these buses run on diesel fuel. Unlike the futuristic subways on wheels depicted in glossy promotional materials you paid for, the buses look just like Metrobuses. That was exposed in one of the most cringeworthy PR disasters of the BRT push, when the actual bus was displayed at the County Fair, and it looked like a junky Metrobus.
Third, the 355 route - like Route 29 and Georgia Avenue BRT lines - will require demolition of thousands of residential and commercial properties between Clarksburg and Bethesda. Watch this very closely, and keep track if all of the same activists who are raging against 37 potential home demolitions for Beltway Express Lanes yell and scream about thousands of demolitions for BRT. I expect to see heartfelt columns from John Kelly denouncing the greedy developers and their puppets on the County Council and Planning Board, and extensive local news coverage of anti-highway folks jumping up and down and lighting their hair on fire to stop BRT! And like the anti-Express Lane and anti-M83-Highway campaigns, shadow-funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, of course.
In the fine print, you'll notice the County is "still studying" the "property impacts" of BRT. LOL.
Fourth, the only thing the Flash does fast is eat up taxpayer money. 355 "Flash" will take a turtle-like 87.2 minutes to travel the 21.8 miles from Clarksburg to the Bethesda Metro station. And then you're not even at work, because you still have to transfer to Metro to reach where the actual jobs are in the District or Northern Virginia. Better pack a Red Bull, my friend.
It's a simple fact that only transit projects that can beat automobile travel times will get ridership, meaning "Flash" is dead-on-arrival. This, of course, is why the War-On-Cars County Council is trying everything to increase auto commuting times, proposing nuclear options ranging from changing the speed limit to 25 MPH along 355, reducing the width of lanes to 10' and seizing one lane in each direction for the bus.
But that still won't create ridership, or "get people out of their cars." Why? Because increasing your auto commute by another 34 minutes still won't take as long as the average one-way transit commute of two hours. So you'll just end up with empty buses running past heavier traffic congestion and thicker clouds of exhaust from idling vehicles. Heckuva job, Brownie!
Why would County officials press ahead anyway, knowing all this? Because BRT isn't meant to improve travel or be a success. It's simply meant to allow urban-density development along all the routes it travels, by magically qualifying them for "transit-oriented development" by being on a "rapid transit line." The Council's developer sugar daddies couldn't be more pleased.
Finally, there's no demand for bus service on 355. I'm the only journalist to conduct spot checks on the $1 million Ride On Extra service between Shady Grove and Medical Center Metro stations. I've yet to find any significant ridership even during rush hour on this line. During peak evening rush hour, I counted one person riding the Ride On Extra in each direction on 355 at Edmonston Drive. During another peak evening rush hour, a Ride On Extra departed Shady Grove Metro station with no passengers on board.
This is a boondoggle of astronomical proportions. For a fraction of the cost of BRT, we could build the M-83 Highway, the long-delayed new Potomac River crossing, the Rockville Freeway between Montrose Road and the ICC, and the equally-long-delayed Georgia Avenue-Norbeck Road interchange. Each one of the aforementioned highways would carry more commuters each day than the entire $10 billion BRT network. And the Potomac River crossing, like I-270 and Beltway Express Lanes, could be built at virtually no cost to taxpayers by private firms that would earn back their investment through tolls on those new lanes and roadways.
In an economically-moribund county where the government's debt - if it were a government department - would be the third-largest department in the County government, highways make the most sense: moving the most people for the lowest cost of any mode of transportation.
21 comments:
Most of the time I think Dyer is a complete ass clown, but this is one issue I agree with him on 100%.
I agree with Dyer too. This BRT is a huge waste. Can you imagine the idiocy of having a dedicated bus lane along 355, as the Red Line metro train whizzes by about 50 feet next to it?
Instead, add more bus service from Shady Grove Metro station to Clarksburg, if the current service is insufficient. Use regular buses driving on regular lanes. This can be up and running in a matter of weeks, for a tiny fraction of the cost of BRT.
Hyperbole aside, I concur.
Robert Dyer is using the Moses Cemetery deads to dig the tunnels. That way he won't be charged with depraved-heart murder. Though his heart is kind of depraved anyway.
I'm not convinced that BRT is needed along Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda. What we really need is Short-Bus Lanes on Little Falls Parkway.
Please give a citation or some facts to confirm that the BRT will cost $10 billion dollars and "will require demolition of thousands of residential and commercial properties between Clarksburg and Bethesda".
It will be interesting to see which alternative is selected. https://www.ridetheflash.com/355-alternatives/
BRT on 29 was estimated to cost $67 million. Let's make it an even $100 million. That leaves $9.9 billion dollars to build the rest of BRT in Montgomery County.
What 4:48 said. Please cite your sources on this 10 billion. I’d like to have something to point to what telling people about it. Of course I’ll give you credit.
The Riemer Express
You seem to imply that thousands of houses and businesses will have to be demolished on the 355 route because something similar has happened on the BRT 29 route that is already under construction. How many houses and businesses were demolished for that BRT route?
Considering that BRT on 29 will run in curb lanes or in regular traffic, I don't see how any properties might be demolished.
@4:48 PM You overestimated the costs of the BRT 29. It's only $31 million with $10 million funded by a TIGER grant.
https://mygreenmontgomery.org/2018/groundbreaking-the-county-breaks-ground-on-marylands-first-bus-rapid-transit-line/
You're a journalist? You're definitely the one in the trenchcoat. That aside, yes, it don't take a "journalist" to see that this absurd now that the stupid Purple Line is underway. Governor Ehrlich was right on the priorities at least. Meaning that Rapid Bus should at least be explored over the real boondoggle that no one will ever ride, Purple Line.
8:50: Yes, I am a journalist, and the only one to actually ever investigate and expose wrongdoing in Montgomery County government.
I do not even own a trenchcoat, so, nice try.
It's Bob Ehrlich's world, and Democrats just run it. Ehrlich tried to get casinos, BRT, a reorganization of the Baltimore bus system, and the ICC, to name a few.
Democrats fought each of those efforts. Once Ehrlich was voted out thanks to George W(arcrimes). Bush in 2006, Democrats immediately flip-flopped and embraced all of those.
They then presided over and managed the establishment of each of those Ehrlich initiatives.
Ehrlich was the visionary who set the table for the Maryland we live in today. And unlike Hogan, he actually supported his own party and down-ticket Republican candidates.
Ehrlich looks better by the year.
4:48/5:53: Source for $10 billion was Larry Cole of the Montgomery County planning department. They then reduced the size of the BRT network by half, and clearly stated that smaller system would cost $5 billion.
Cole was given a "good talking-to" behind closed doors for his cost estimates, and initial analysis that there was no ridership demand for BRT. He quickly changed his tune after that closed-door meeting.
They've been falsely reducing the amount ever since, especially after their ITA gambit failed twice.
"In December 2011, Ehrlich's 2010 campaign manager, Paul E. Schurick, was convicted of four counts of fraud and conspiracy concerning a scheme to suppress the black vote using 112,000 fraudulent robocalls, which discouraged voters from going to the polls. Political consultant Julius Hensen was also convicted on one count."
8:50: Ehrlich was never charged or convicted of anything.
So...BRT was a good thing when Ehrlich proposed it, but bad when the Montgomery County Democrats proposed it?
9:41: No, I opposed it in both cases.
But it's entertaining now to watch the old videotapes of the County Council raging against BRT last decade, and demanding Ehrlich give them light rail for Purple Line and CCT upcounty. Today, they are the biggest proponents of BRT in the world.
Hysterical.
Of course not all trips are intended to be from end to end, so many folks using BRT just ride on pieces of the line.
Have you ever been on a high quality BRT system? It is quite different from typical city or county buses. Level boarding at multiple doors, just like light and heavy rail. No awkward ticket paying at the front door monitored by the driver. You pay in advance before boarding. Covered waiting areas, some even have infrared heaters. Power outlets by the seats and WiFi on board.
I’m not sure BRT is the right answer on 355, but in many areas it does make some sense. Much less development incentives occur near BRT stations compared to more dedicated and larger capacity light, commuter or heavy rail. Often times, BRT systems (called BRT light) are degraded with very little dedicated lanes or que jumping at cross streets, and indeed can be slow compared to a properly designed BRT system. BRT is easily scalable, by adding more buses, or even cantinary powered electric buses, that are very much like rubber tired streetcars.
I think that duplicating the Red Line on the southern end seems odd. I would think the best idea might be a very simple and high quality system that starts at Shady Grove and heads only northwest, and put in a nice multi-modal transit center and make sure that BRT and Red Line arrivals and departures are properly timed to reduce waiting. Essentially make the 355 BRT a seamless extension of the Metrorail system. Side by side platforms where you simple exit and walk from one mode to another to continue on your journey, not unlike switching from the Red Line to other lines on the Metro.
Saith Dyer: "It's entertaining now to watch the old videotapes of the County Council raging against BRT last decade, and demanding Ehrlich give them light rail for Purple Line and CCT upcounty."
You have "old videotapes of the County Council" and you watch them regularly?
You're funny.
Saith Dyer: "the futuristic subways on wheels depicted in glossy promotional materials you paid for"
ALL subway trains run on wheels. Perhaps you meant to say "tires"? Or "on the road"?
The BRT runs along 355 because of the distance between Metro stations. It is generally agreed that the average person has a "walkshed" of about half a mile, or a 10 minute walk. From Bethesda on up, the Metro stations along 355 are a mile or more apart, which means if someone wants to go to a place in between the stations, it might be just outside the distance they're willing to walk. (Especially considering the sidewalk conditions along much of the Pike.)
The RideOn Extra bus has been traversing part of the route for the past year, and has good ridership numbers, so there is clearly a demand. If they extend the service down to Bethesda, I'd even take it. I don't mind Metro at all, but it is nice to avoid the long escalator at Bethesda. Plus the bus has WiFi, which means my service never cuts out, unlike when the trains run below ground.
The County Executive's preferred alternative for BRT is to have a single dedicated center lane that will switch direction for morning and evening rush hours. The bus going opposite traffic would just use regular lanes. I don't agree with the Executive on much, but that does seem to make sense - a single reversible lane would not have the same impact or cost of dedicated curb lanes.
Oops, meant to add to my first paragraph - so the BRT will have stops in between the Metro stations, filling those gaps and making it more possible for people to get to their destination via walking instead of driving.
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