Photo by John H Gray on Flickr.

In today’s must-read, Michael Dresser takes a look at how the Maryland gubernatorial candidates differ on transportation issues.

Ehrlich wants to undo O’Malley’s decision to move forward with light rail on the Red and Purple lines and go with buses instead. Ehrlich campaigns on strengthening MARC service, while O’Malley has funded it at a higher level than Ehrlich did when he was in office.

O’Malley would allocate about 50% 33% of transportation money on transit, while Ehrlich would spend 28% 22%. And though both oppose increases to the state gas tax, which has stayed flat since the early 1990’s, O’Malley supports indexing it to inflation.

The Greater Washington Board of Trade also endorsed O’Malley after supporting Ehrlich in the last two elections. They cited the Purple Line as a major reason. The Greater Baltimore Committee, Baltimore’s equivalent business association, doesn’t endorse candidates, but is very supportive of the Red Line.