Buses are unsung heroes in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, but inequities remain

Public bus systems are a key part of transit equity. For people who cannot afford a car or can’t drive, they offer affordable transportation to jobs, schools, grocery stores, medical appointments, and a full range of other services. For society, buses help reduce congestion, air pollution, and greenhouse-gas emissions.

Though champions at leveling the transportation playing field, bus systems must constantly be evaluated to ensure they are providing the extensive and frequent service that riders need.

Because regional buses are largely funded locally, equitable service between counties is elusive. Therefore, these assessments are often built around access to money, priorities of system managers, and advocacy efforts by residents.

In addition to Metrobuses, Maryland residents in DC’s suburbs rely on RideOn in Montgomery County and TheBus in Prince George’s County. TheBus costs passengers $1 per trip, while RideOn has a $2 fare (although that’s currently suspended due to the pandemic).

With 79 different routes, Montgomery County has one of the best bus systems in the country and has received awards from the National Association of Counties (NACA) for the past four years. “Establishing a transit system with high frequency and an extended span of service has been a county priority for over 45 years,” according to Emily DeTitta, strategic communications manager for RideOn.

From my experience, Montgomery County’s transit system offers an enhanced lifestyle for those who live near major transit hubs such as the Silver Spring, Bethesda, and Rockville Metro stations.

A bus such as RideOn 48, which I take semi-regularly, begins service between Rockville and Wheaton Metro stations at 5:05 am and finishes at 11:45 pm. Pre-pandemic, it arrived every 20 to 25 minutes. Current wait times are about 10 minutes longer. The 55 bus, with a much higher ridership along Route 355, begins at 4:15 am and ends around midnight. Buses are as close as 12 minutes apart at peak hours during the pandemic.

In contrast, TheBus’s 28 routes in Prince George’s mainly operate between 6:00 am and 6:30 pm, generally arriving every half hour. Paulette Jones, a public information officer for Prince George’s County’s Public Works & Transportation Department, said TheBus’ hours “are developed with the commuter, the choice rider, and the non-choice rider in mind.”

Prince George’s limited evening and weekend service, particularly lacking on Sundays, hurts service workers who often work irregular hours for low wages. At a public meeting in 2018, weekend service was “the first priority of over three-quarters of the people.”

While TheBus has added Saturday service since then, it’s not enough for a county that houses two of the top ten service class tracts in the region, according to a 2013 study. This contributes to a phenomenon in which “the service class is pushed to the metro’s far corners.” Since housing is too expensive in areas where service workers actually work, it would seem incumbent on other jurisdictions to provide better transit.

A by-the-numbers look at the region’s bus systems

Montgomery County, which has a larger tax base, has a $132 million operating budget for RideOn FY 2021, while Prince George’s operating budget for TheBus is $41,152,400.

Still, Montgomery County puts a larger proportion of its money into local bus service. Comparing tax-and-fees revenue, suggested to me by DW Rowlands, is one way of assessing this. In FY 2019-20, taxes and fees were 4.02 billion for Montgomery County, while in FY 2019 they were $2.03 billion for Prince George’s. With twice as much money, Montgomery County provides more than three times the funding.

The counties’ passenger data also differs. In 2019, Ride On had 20.6 million annual unlinked trips — eight times the 2.57 million trips for TheBus, according to data from the National Transit Database. Additionally, RideOn had 1.06 million annual vehicle revenue hours, more than four times Prince George’s .23 million. And RideOn’s 19.4 passengers per hour versus 11.2 for Prince George’s means that the average RideOn Bus carried about 73% more passengers.

These outcomes may be attributed to RideOn’s greater frequency, longer hours, and denser network.

Cross-county connections help fill gaps

Run by the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority, Metro buses help equalize transit between the counties. WMATA has 13 lines operating between Prince George’s County and the border with or to Montgomery County, according to WMATA spokesperson, Sherri Ly. The C2 and C4 routes “typically have the highest ridership between the counties providing service between Greenbelt and Twinbrook.”

Additionally, RideOn and TheBus have some buses that operate across county borders. “Ride On operates 5 routes with some bus stops in Prince George’s County, generally along New Hampshire Ave. and University Boulevard,” said DeTitta. The Takoma Langley Crossroads Transit Center is “a key node for travel between counties,” she added.

TheBus’s Route 18 also provides access to Montgomery County at the transit center, with connections to six WMATA and 5 Ride On routes. Current buses do move people adequately, but to really increase ridership, a swift, extensive network is needed.

Passenger experiences point to social costs of inadequate transit

Monica Mische is a professor at Montgomery College and lives in Prince George’s County. For almost 21 years, she and her family have enjoyed riding TheBus, depending on it and Metro to run errands and get to appointments. “My mom, who’s a senior citizen, could take the bus for free… my kids could take it for free, students could take it for free,” said Mische, describing TheBus as “efficient, economical, [and] it almost always came on time.”

Unfortunately, the pandemic suspended Route 11, forcing her to take Uber and Lyft often. This type of change can be crippling for low to middle-income families.

Mische wishes more express buses would run to major hubs such as Silver Spring and Bethesda. Montgomery County’s planned bus rapid transit (BRT) network could help. For instance, an express bus to Wheaton, along with the planned Veirs Mill BRT line, would allow a swift two-bus journey.

She also suggests that more frequent transit could have huge social benefits. “What might be a 15 minute ride by car may take an hour and 20 minutes” for someone that depends on buses. “And if they’re a working parent or they’re caring for a loved one, it takes away from their family time.”

Chip Clemmer, a musician and transit activist who lives in College Park, agrees. “I’d like to see buses run frequently enough where you wouldn’t need to consult a timetable.” The closest bus route to his home runs the #17 bus that comes every 30 to 45 minutes between 5:30 am to 6 pm, he said. “It would be nice if it ran every 15 minutes and picked up passengers at the College Park Metro station disembarking from the last train to Greenbelt.”

Getting to bus stops can also be a hazard. On Route 1 at Erie Street, for instance, bus stops are across the street from one another. “In order to get across Route 1 with 4 lanes of traffic and a center turn lane, you have to go another long block north … to get to a crosswalk and a light,” Clemmer said. “If you go the other direction, you have to go almost a half a mile.” His solution: a crosswalk with a flashing pedestrian button.

As more people move into the county, bus service will become more critical. “If you look at the infill construction that is going on along Route 1 in PG, it’s filling up,” said Clemmer. “Public transportation needs to be at least as convenient as driving, if not better.”

The future of local bus service: tech upgrades, electric buses, and more

Prince George’s County is, in fact, striving to improve its service. Technology upgrades such as free Wi-Fi, free onboard charging, and digital message boards, began in 2019, Jones said. The county also plans to replace aging diesel vehicles with battery electric buses and install charging infrastructure.

County officials are also studying Bus Rapid Transit, and may implement one line in conjunction with Montgomery County — the New Hampshire BRT line, said DeTitta, although the project is in its very early phase.

While Montgomery County’s pilot program for flexible, on-demand buses was hampered by the COVID-19 crisis, other plans are still in place. To jumpstart its climate change initiative, it just received its first four electric buses, with 20 more in the procurement process. “We have committed to a zero-emissions bus fleet by 2035 and have already begun the transition,” said DeTitta.

As previously mentioned, Montgomery County has also moved toward an extensive Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) network, Flash, with the first line currently operating on Route 29. The rest of the system is currently unfunded.

Its biggest plan to date: overhauling the entire bus system; “We are beginning a Reimagining RideOn Study this fall that will assess the entire route structure in Montgomery County, including MetroBus and connections to adjacent jurisdictions,” said DeTitta.

As local jurisdictions rethink their bus services and connections, it’s crucial that they cooperate. A region-wide initiative, the Bus Transformation Project, provides a blueprint for coordination among DC and the surrounding counties. “Metro is working with our regional partners to create a more equitable bus network that connects bus customers throughout the region,” said Ly.

Such steps are needed for buses to fully realize their possibility as agents of 21st Century equity and green living.