Red Line meetings produce a focus on bus rapid transit

Listen to this article

While some have said that a proposal from Maryland Gov. Wes Moore for a Red Line bus network wouldn’t be well received in Baltimore, the state’s transit administrator says she has noticed that people have misconceptions about the idea.

People who recently attended a series of open house meetings the Maryland Transit Administration hosted in Baltimore City and Baltimore County came with questions about bus rapid transit — one of two transit options the Moore administration is considering for the revamped Red Line project.

The Red Line is expected to be either bus rapid transit or light rail transit, and it likely won’t combine the two modes.

MTA Administrator Holly Arnold said the open house meetings highlighted a need to educate the public about the difference between bus rapid transit and the dedicated bus lanes currently in place in the Baltimore region.

She said community members also conveyed a sense of urgency at the meetings.

“Overall, the feedback has been very positive with participants wanting to have ‘shovels in the ground’ as soon as possible,” Arnold said in a statement.

Community organizers have voiced skepticism about the state’s plans for the Red Line and were dubious about the need for more public feedback on a project that began in 2002.

Jonathan Sacks, executive director of HUB West Baltimore Community Development Corp, has said that, if Moore announces in a year from now that the Red Line will be an expanded bus service, “that’s not going to be received well in West Baltimore.”

While not nursing doubts about the Moore administration’s vision for the Red Line, Greater Baltimore Committee President and CEO Mark Anthony Thomas said that a rapid bus route proposal could prompt a “lack of enthusiasm.”

The Federal Transit Administration defines bus rapid transit as more than simply an expansion of a city bus network; it includes dedicated lanes, busways, traffic signal priority, off-board fare collection, elevated platforms and “enhanced” stops and stations.

Over the last decade, bus rapid transit has become more prominent across the country as city congestion has increased and elected officials have sought affordable transit options, according to the Federal Transit Administration. Bus rapid transit is often seen as more reliable, convenient and faster than regular bus services, which can be prone to traffic delays and lines to pay before boarding.

Arnold said her administration will compile the feedback people provided at the open house meetings and share it with the public, likely in October or November.

The MTA is expected to have specifics of what different Red Line proposals would look and feel like in peoples’ neighborhoods around that time, too.

“As we return to the public in the fall and winter with results of our analyses, we’ll be prepared to talk about these differences in detail, using data, to compare on the basis of transit service quality, expected costs, construction timelines, expected traffic and parking changes,” spokesperson Veronica Battisti wrote in an email.

The MTA is expected to seek public feedback on its Red Line proposals.

State officials have also met recently with local and regional business leaders.

Thomas — the GBC president and CEO — said he conveyed in a meeting with Moore, Arnold, Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld and the Greater Washington Partnership, a GBC partner, that the Red Line should align with broader economic and housing development in the city.

He said the Red Line should be “a two-way street,” connecting underserved communities to jobs across the city and increasing the flow of people into less developed areas to generate business.

“There’s an opportunity to use the expansion to better bring people into these communities,” Thomas said in an interview.

Thomas said he expects the state to have an iterative proposal process, one that will include multiple project ideas and numerous opportunities for input before a final solution is reached.

“That’s the thing with these projects,” Thomas said, “there’s no immediate right answer.”

Thomas said he foresees the Moore administration having a “slate of options,” but by when he’s not sure. His sense is that it’ll be before the start of the legislative session in January.