Category Archives: MD

CVS to sell Metro Smartrip Cards

As of the 23rd of December you will be able to buy a SmarTrip card from 190 CVS locations in the DC, MD, and Washington area. The cards will be available for $10 which include $5 which can be used for fares for Bus and Metro Trips as well as Metro parking. You can also purchase the cards at Metro Stations and select Giant Stores.

You can add value to the card at either a fare machine at a Metro station or using the fare box on a Metrobus. I am assuming that you can also add money to you card using the fareboxes on the regional buses that accept SmarTrip.

Should we have rapid bus lanes?

Greater Greater Washington has an article up on why we should add rapid transit bus lanes.

WMATA believes that the future of Greater Washington’s transportation rests on priority bus corridors throughout the region, like the MetroExtra (#79) bus from Silver Spring to downtown DC. With Metrorail running out of capacity by 2030 and serious core expansion costing billions, Metro sees rapid buses as the best chance for a real capacity boost.

This has been adopted in many countries include the UK where I grew up, and if the DC area can move away from a car focused transport policy, then rapid bus lanes might actually become a reality.

High speed rail link between DC and Baltimore

Seems I am not the only person that thinks that we should have a high speed rail link between DC and Baltimore. I didn’t realize that Baltimore and DC were seriously considering building a Maglev high speed rail link between the two.

The project was chosen in 2001 as one of two finalist for the future development of a magnetic levitation technology rail link. If the 40 miles are completed it would take 18 minutes to travel between the cities.

The Baltimore Business journal is reporting that $15 million may become available from the Federal Government to continue working on the BW Maglev project, however it is not clear that Maryland and DC have money spare to match the funds being released.

Maryland Proposing a network of interconnected trails

On a more positive note Maryland is proposing a series of interconnected dual use trails through out the state. Wash Cycle has the scoop

This summer, Maryland started a plan that would establish a safe, accessible and fully interconnected network of “dual-use” trails across Maryland.

Read more about the trails at the Baltimore Sun and the Maryland DOT sites

Maryland cuts public transit routes

The Baltimore Sun is reporting on MTA’s plans to cut some routes on commuter buses, and MARC trains.

The Maryland Transit Administration is proposing to eliminate six commuter bus routes, reduce the number of rides on others and cut back on its increasingly popular MARC train service as a result of severe revenue shortfalls, the O’Malley administration announced today.

Was it only last year that MARC were talking about introducing weekend services

Its a shame that MTA doesn’t really understand how to build a sustainable public transit system. They have all the right bits, MARC, MTA Buses, Light Rail but they don’t link well together.

I wish that the DC/VA/MD Olympics bid had been come reality as it would have enabled the DC Baltimore area to build a high speed rail link between the cities. I have seen the benefit of linking major cities with frequent high speed rail and there is no reason why DC and Baltimore couldn’t see similar gains from such a service.

DC Metro affected by AIG Collapse

It seems that DC Metro may have been affected by the collapse of AIG. StreetBlog looks at the affect of AIG on transit leasing, they quote the Philly Inquirer

The trouble stems from leasing arrangements made years ago between transit agencies and lenders in which the banks bought transit equipment and facilities, such as railcars and stations, and leased them back to the agencies.

The transit agencies got much-needed cash, and the banks got tax benefits. In 2003, the tax benefits from those kinds of transactions were prohibited by the IRS.

AIG served as the insurer of many of those deals. The collapse of AIG downgraded its credit rating, allowing the lenders to demand full payment from the transit agencies if the agencies did not quickly find other insurers.

The Washington Post says the Washington Metro needs to pay back 43 Million.

In Metro’s case, the regional transit agency could face up to $400 million in payments, the system’s chief financial officer, Carol Kissal, said in an interview yesterday. One bank, KBC Group of Belgium, has told Metro that it needs to pay $43 million by next week. Metro officials confirmed the details but declined to name the bank.

This is a sad time when public transit is at a all time high.

Metro Buses Late 25% of the time

Ever wonder where your bus is? The Washington Post is has a story on a new system that WMATA was put in place that allows them to track how buses are doing.

For the first time in its history, Metro has figured out how late its buses are. They are off schedule more than 25 percent of the time, and some of the worst performing routes are late more than 50 percent of the time.

At least they know where the problems are

Other measures include coordination with regional transportation departments to set aside more dedicated bus lanes and traffic signal technology to help get buses through traffic, he said. There is a dedicated bus lane for the heavily used 70 and 79 routes from Silver Spring to downtown D.C., but other vehicles are often double-parked in the lane, he said.

Enforcing and ticketing cars parked in bus stops and bus lanes is a must to make Public Transportation work. I would also be in favor of reducing the number of bus stop on busy streets. They should should also look at how large the area for bus stops are. I frequently see buses loading and unloading from the main traffic lane instead of pulling into a bus stop.

Take another look at buses for commuting

The Washington Post has article on using buses as an alternative to driving.

Buses may lack the hipness of subways or light rail, but they are the best hope for accommodating large numbers of new riders quickly and affordably. To harness the increased demand for mass transit, officials are turning to new ways of delivering and marketing their bus service.

When looking at public transit we need identify the major routes, then use local connections, walking, biking, and local buses to feed into those major routes. Washington has metro area already has the metro which act as major trunks, we should be looking for the gaps and filling them with express buses, bus rapid transit, light rail etc. The Washington area does best when linking buses to the metro, we need to do more with rapid bus links to make interconnected journeys possible.

It sounds likes WMATA’s Catoe gets it and is already working to this goal.

Expanding and improving Washington’s bus service is critical to shift some of the pressure off the rail system, which is packed during rush hour and has little room to add longer or more frequent trains. Catoe has proposed an extensive network of express buses that would use shoulders or bus-only lanes to help meet the region’s immediate transportation needs.