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July 29, 2004
BTA Sets Yellow Line Workshop for October 15 The short term goals of the Baltimore Transit Alliance include enhanced bus service in the Yellow Line rail corridor from downtown to Towson along Charles Street and York Road. Several bus lines operate on Charles and parallel streets today, but we would like to see these organized into a coherent "family" of services that would benefit both Mid-Town and Charles Village residents, as well as unite the institutions and activity centers in the Towson area. To prepare a consensus service plan to present to the MTA, BTA will conduct a workshop on October 15, 2004 from 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM at 111 S. Calvert Street, Suite 1700. All members of BTA's Board of Advisors and GBC members are invited to attend. If you or a representative of your organization would like to participate please contact me at 410-727-2820 or henryk@gbc.org.
MTA has proposed to cut parts of three bus lines in the downtown area in September. The 64 line would only travel to Centre instead of 20th Street; the 10 line would travel to Franklin instead of State Center; and the 31 would travel to Pratt Street instead of Lafayette Avenue. While the service reductions would save operating funds by eliminating lightly used portion of the routes, it would also reduce north-south service through downtown and eliminate direct transfers from these lines to many others. BTA wrote to Administrator Robert Smith expressing support for bus system restructuring but raised concerns that these changes are not presented as part of a larger plan to improve service.
TEA-21 Reauthorization Likely Deferred Until Fall In order for the Red and Green lines to be eligible for federal funds they must be included in the reauthorization of TEA-21 which expired last September. Reauthorization has been delayed by substantial differences between the bill proposed by the Bush Administration and versions passed by the House and Senate. Since June 3 members of the House/Senate Conference Committee on the TEA-21 Reauthorization bill have conducted a series of meetings to reach a compromise on their respective versions of the bill. Conferees have struggled throughout the process with the Administration's insistence that funding under the bill be no higher than $256 billion over six years. While the two sides appear to be closer to agreement on an overall funding level, many obstacles remain. On July 22 Congress passed its fifth short-term TEA-21 extension to keep federal transit and highway programs running until September 30. As in previous extensions, the bill continues funding for the programs at FY 2004 levels and makes no programmatic changes. According to the American Public Transportation Association, some staff and Members are skeptical that a bill will get done this year. See www.apta.com/government_affairs/positions/washrep.
Las Vegas Opens Monorail and Optically Guided BRT Route After months of delays, Las Vegas' privately financed monorail opened on July 15. The four-mile route serves seven stations along the casino strip. A one-way trips takes 15 minutes, considerably faster than the 45-minute driving time. The $650 million project was built by a non-profit company created for that purpose. Capital and operating costs are covered by tax-exempt revenue bonds and contributions from adjacent casinos. See www.lvmonorail.com. Two weeks earlier the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada inaugurated a seven-mile bus rapid transit (BRT) route between downtown and Nellis Air Force Base. The BRT line uses the technologically advanced Civis bus which can hold 120 passengers who board through four doors at specially designed "stations." The bus can "dock" precisely at stations using an optical guidance system that follows a line painted on the street. Travel times are reduced compared to regular bus service in the corridor due to dedicated lanes, limited stops and traffic signal pre-emption. See www.rtcsouthernnevada.com/max.
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