More bus lanes, better connections, and expanded service are a part of a new Maryland transit plan

Even amid all the chaos and disruption, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused to transit in the Baltimore area, the important work of actually improving it still continues. Late last month, the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) released the first draft of their much-anticipated Central Maryland Regional Transit Plan (RTP).

Right now, Baltimore has a growing senior population, jobs that are burgeoning outside of the Baltimore Beltway, an increased need for paratransit services, and large swaths of the transit network that aren’t well connected or matched to where its denizens live or work. The RTP could offer the city and its residents an opportunity to create a transit system that provides more reliable, expanded, and increased service throughout the Central Maryland region.

Despite being the first major transit plan for Baltimore City and the surrounding counties since the MTA’s 2002 Regional Rail Plan, the 2020 RTP doesn’t have any one signature feature like this map which would have added over 60 miles of rail to the Greater Baltimore area.

But what it lacks in fully formed lines, it more than makes up for with smaller, more systematic goals which have the potential to change Baltimore transit just as thoroughly.

The plan’s highlights include universal real-time passenger information, a completely electrified bus system with 85% on-time performance, 10 new miles of bus lanes, 2-3 “transit corridors” ready-made for bus rapid transit (BRT) or light rail in the short term, and as many as 30 such corridors in the long run.

Here are a few more things which stand out in the “rough draft” of the 2020 Central Maryland RTP:

Baltimore residents want more reliability from their public transit

Increasing the reliability of public transit was a theme which popped up repeatedly throughout the initial public comment process for the RTP. So, it’s no surprise many of the plan’s initiatives seem to be designed with that particular goal in mind.

Supporting the construction of a new B&P (Baltimore and Potomac) Tunnel in Baltimore to relieve bottlenecks Amtrak and MARC (Maryland Area Rail Commuter) trains currently face, building a fourth track between Odenton in Anne Arundel County and Halethorpe in southern Baltimore County on the Penn Line, constructing 10 miles of new bus lanes throughout Baltimore, and even adding transit signal priority and realigning the tracks on Howard Street in Downtown Baltimore are among the suggestions featured in the RTP.

The plan also suggests expanding service hours for Baltimore’s LightRailLink system, including Sunday service. Currently, Sunday Light Rail trains make their first stops in either direction shortly before 10 am, a full 5 ½ hours later than any other day of the week. There is also the possible reintroduction of limited-stop or “QuickBus” service, one of the more popular features eliminated by the MTA in its 2017 CityLink overhaul of Baltimore’s bus system.

A plan to expand infrastructure

In addition to adding signal priority, bus lanes, and new tracks and tunnels, the ideas the MTA’s planners offer up here include eliminating all “at-grade” pedestrian crossings where MARC trains currently directly meet intersecting roads, setting a target of transitioning to a majority of zero-emission vehicles in its fleets by 2045, and adding level boarding on all its vehicles as the existing ones are gradually phased out.

New corridors, new networks, new stations?

At least as it currently stands, the 2020 RTP is deliberately vague on the specifics of any new transit routes and even more so on their potential mode choices. The only specific new station mentioned is a proposal revived from previous plans to build an infill station at Texas, a small community in the Cockeysville area of Baltimore County between the existing Timonium Fairgrounds and Warren Road stops. Even that is highly dependent on previously skeptical local property owners embracing the idea.

What the RTP does have is 30 “Corridors”, areas and paths planners have identified throughout Central Maryland which it believes have or could have enough ridership to “support all-day high frequency transit.”

10 of those corridors, such as BWI Airport to Columbia Town Center in Howard County, are labeled “Mid-Term Opportunity Corridors” because they only currently have “moderate” transit demand, and 10 more, including Annapolis to Union Station, are labeled “Long-Term Opportunity Corridors” and were included because the areas they cover are expected to experience an increase in the demand for transit over the next 25 years.

But it’s the 10 “Early Opportunity Corridors” which seem likely to hold the most significance in the plan. It’s these corridors, according to Ben Groff, a partner at the Tidemore Group, a Baltimore-based public affairs firm, and Joe McAndrew, the Director of Transportation Policy at the Greater Washington Partnership, which will likely prove the most important parts of the RTP, at least in the short term.

That’s because it’s these areas and routes which already have the strongest transit demand and in some cases, even already existing service. That service just needs to be improved or supplemented by better infrastructure.

And with the MTA and Baltimore Metropolitan Council set to select two or three of these corridors for feasibility studies this fall, it’s the Early Opportunity Corridors, such as the one between the West Baltimore MARC station and Johns Hopkins Bayview Hospital in East Baltimore, which are most likely to turn into specific lines and show significant improvement the fastest.

Public comment will be a crucial part of the RTP process

One of the most important features in this first edition of the Central Maryland Transit Plan, which the MTA has released, is the space it gives throughout the document for Marylanders to weigh in on every page.

Pretty much every aspect of the plan can be commented on and probably should, at least according to Groff, but he cited the “Five Year Implementation Plan” listed near the end of the RTP as one of the most important parts to give feedback on.

“I think comments are probably most practically useful about the 5-year implementation plan, because this is the stuff we can expect to see start moving immediately,” Groff said. “know people will be making comments on the metrics and some of the specific goals and that’s always a healthy dialogue. Honestly, I wouldn’t say any part of the plan is not important to comment on, but if you asked me where I thought people could have the most impact, it’s on the implementation side of things. Especially considering that the legislation (which mandated the creation of the RTP) requires the Commission to conduct this process every 5 years.”

The comment period for the Central Maryland Regional Transit Plan closes on June 18. The MTA will maintain a “Progress Dashboard” on its website to track how well it accomplishes the plan’s objectives and the final version of the plan is set to be released this October.