In light of these challenges, the Maryland General Assembly mandated the creation of the Central Maryland Regional Transit Plan Commission as part of the Maryland Metro/Transit Funding Act, passed in April 2018. The Commission will help the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) prepare a Central Maryland Regional Transit Plan by October 1, 2020.⁶ The Plan will define goals for Baltimore-area public transportation and identify options for meeting those goals with a combination of existing and new public transportation assets. The Central Maryland Regional Transit Plan presents a unique opportunity to establish a world-class vision for the future of Baltimore’s public transportation and develop actionable strategies that will improve and expand service. The Plan, with support from the Commission, should focus on critical regional goals, including enhancing consumer benefits; improving the state of good repair and safety of the existing system; enhancing connections between the bus, light rail, subway, and commuter trains; and expanding the frequency and improving the reliability of service to underserved, low-income, and high no-vehicle areas in the region.

While the plan is being developed, MTA, the city, and the counties can make near-term improvements by moving forward ready-to-go projects. These could include:

• Expanding service frequency and improving reliability for CityLink and LocalLink buses—particularly those that are overcrowded, serve major job centers, or fall far below MTA’s goals for on-time performance
• Transforming North Avenue with continuous bus lanes and bike and pedestrian infrastructure
• Establishing priority transit corridors through MOUs between MTA and local jurisdictions and delivering cost-effective bus priority improvements such as dedicated space, transit signal priority, bus bulbs, and enhanced fare payment options
• Developing a master plan to induce affordable and market rate mixed-use transit-oriented development on state-owned properties near transit stations, including the West Baltimore Maryland Area Regional Commuter (MARC) station
• Working with employers, piloting additional microtransit programs to fill gaps in the fixed-route network, along the lines of the pilot being developed for the BWI/Arundel Mills area

Benefits

A high-performing public transportation system in the Baltimore metro area will help the region achieve its goals for economic growth and equitable access to opportunity. Improved access to jobs throughout the region will enable more workers to participate in the regional economy and expand the pool from which employers can recruit talent. Seamless connections between transportation options such as subway, light rail, bus, and bikeshare will encourage more people to use these options—helping to mitigate congestion on major corridors. A well-functioning, fast, and frequent transit system can also encourage economic development and job creation in struggling and disadvantaged areas.

Barriers

As detailed in other sections of this Blueprint, Baltimore’s bus and rail systems are among the few transit systems in the country that are operated by a state agency rather than a regional authority or city department. Moreover, the Baltimore metro area encompasses multiple counties as well as a central city—each with different expectations for public transportation service and expansion. This situation can present a barrier to progress if state goals differ from those of the Baltimore metro area—or counties disagree with one another or with the city about public transportation needs.

Next moves

The Central Maryland Regional Transit Plan and supporting Commission should establish a bold transit vision and actionable plan that will improve economic outcomes and access to essential destinations for all consumers in the region. At the same time, MTA, the city, and the counties should continue to make near-term improvements that can markedly improve the performance of the existing system.

Next moves are:

• MTA, in partnership with the Central Maryland Regional Transit Plan Commission, should create the region’s first comprehensive long-range transit plan in more than a quarter century. The plan should improve reliability and state of good repair for the existing transit system and prioritize investments to further expand and better connect people to jobs and essential destinations, including by improving rapid transit options in key east-west corridors such as Route 40
• MTA, Baltimore city, and the area’s counties should deliver on ready-to-go projects while the plan is being developed, including projects to expand service frequency and reliability for the BaltimoreLink system
• MTA should increase transparency and public reporting of real-time performance metrics for its bus and rail systems, including on-time performance by route and time of day

Costs

In the near term, costs to deliver these improvements are modest—ranging from a few hundred thousand dollars to several million. Some of these costs will be offset by increased fare revenue or additional property tax revenue from new development. In the long term, the Central Maryland Regional Transit Plan will likely include major capital projects that will cost hundreds of millions of dollars or more.

Unlike Richmond and Baltimore, the Washington metro area has never had a comprehensive bus system re-design or strategy. Many bus routes are decades old and, while some continue to have high ridership, others may need to be adjusted to serve today’s needs. County- and city-provided bus services have grown tremendously in the past few decades, but parts of the region still remain underserved. A comprehensive, regionwide effort to optimize bus routes, schedules, and marketing to better match demand could improve travel for current bus riders and attract additional riders without significantly increasing costs.

WMATA has initiated a regionwide strategy to deploy faster service on 24 high-ridership corridors, known as the Priority Corridor Network (PCN). County transit agencies are exploring similar services on some of their high-demand routes. However, implementation has been slow, due in part to the fact that the Washington area’s roads have many different owners—each with its own policies regarding transit signal priority, bus-on-shoulder, dedicated bus lanes, and other bus priority treatments. A strategy that spans the entire Washington metro area would create a clear understanding of when such treatments are warranted (for example, through adoption of an MOU on goals or standards for bus service) and the process for implementing them.

With 18 transit operators, several bikeshare and rideshare companies, and multiple jurisdictions, implementing common policies and technologies has been challenging. For example, SmarTrip cards are accepted on WMATA and local buses, but not on Virginia Railway Express (VRE) or Maryland Area Regional Commuter (MARC) commuter rail. VRE riders can board Fairfax Connector buses for free at a VRE station, but cannot board VRE for free when returning to the station by bus. Importantly, there is no single website that provides fare and transfer information for all transit services in the area, though WMATA’s and other trip planning websites include some fare information. As WMATA and other local agencies explore mobile trip payment options, the need for a coordinated approach becomes even more important.

Benefits

Other regions have successfully used tools such as bus route redesigns and bus priority treatments to turn their transit systems around. For example, Seattle used a combination of dedicated bus lanes, priority movement for buses at key intersections, higher frequency on the most popular routes, and faster fare payment to make its buses faster, more reliable, more accessible, and easier to use. As a result, Seattle’s bus ridership has continued to grow—up 16 percent since 2010⁶—while most other bus systems are shedding riders.

International peers are far ahead of U.S. transit agencies when it comes to regional coordination. Eighty-five percent of all Germans and 100 percent of all Austrians are served by regional public transportation associations (called Verkehrsverbund), which integrate services, fares, and ticketing for all public transportation options—bus, subway, and commuter rail—in that region.⁷ The associations also coordinate public transport planning, schedules, marketing, and customer information.

By working together, the various public transportation agencies across a region can offer higher-quality service and attractive fares, which have resulted in growing ridership and declining use of private vehicles. In Hamburg—a metro area with roughly the same population served as WMATA—the public transportation association coordinates 29 public transportation operators and has successfully grown ridership across the metro area by 72 percent from 1990 to 2015, to more than 750 million trips annually—nearly twice as many trips as WMATA provided in 2015.⁸

Barriers

Comprehensive changes to bus routes, schedules, fare policies, road treatments, and regional transit integration take time, commitment, and coordination by multiple parties, including significant public outreach to gain community input about goals and priorities. Such efforts have taken several years in other regions and required consistent political leadership to make the bus route optimization and integration of services a priority—something that has not been present in the Washington metro area thus far. Political leadership will also be required to make a new coordinating body effective.

Next moves

A coordinated, comprehensive optimization of bus service in the Washington area—coupled with targeted roadway treatments such as bus-only lanes and transit signal priority—will generate increased ridership, contribute new fare revenues, and make operations more efficient (which is a priority given the cap on increases in the operating budget attached to the new dedicated funding). Further coordination by a new entity to implement fare policy changes and technological improvements across all public transportation providers in the Washington metro area will help remove existing barriers to public transportation use and give consumers a seamless array of mobility options.

The next moves are:

• The region’s transit providers—Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG), Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT), District Department of Transportation (DDOT), Virginia Department of Rail & Public Transportation (DRPT), and Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) should establish a new Public Transportation Coordinating Committee with responsibility for coordinating and standardizing fare policies, schedules, marketing, new technology integration, customer information, and planning across all public transportation systems in the Washington metro area
• WMATA should coordinate with local jurisdictions and MDOT, DDOT, and VDOT to harmonize bus service across all providers in the Washington metro area
• Local jurisdictions, MDOT, DDOT, VDOT, WMATA and other transit providers should establish regional policies for bus priority treatments
• County and city governments should quickly complete ready-to-go bus improvement projects, such as the District’s 16th Street and Downtown West bus priority projects and Montgomery County’s Bus Rapid Transit project on US 29

Costs

Other regions that have implemented a comprehensive bus redesign have been able to do so without significant impact to their operating budgets. Similarly, establishing a new coordinating body should be within most agencies’ existing budget capacity. As these actions can be expected to increase ridership, the additional fare revenue they generate will help offset their modest budgetary impact.

The City of Richmond and Henrico County recently invested in historic transit improvements, including the Pulse BRT, a 7.6-mile route from Rocketts Landing in the city of Richmond to Willow Lawn in Henrico County. At the same time, the city of Richmond launched the Greater Richmond Reroute, a comprehensive redesign of the city’s bus network, to enhance connections and service. A few months later, Henrico County made its largest investment in more than a quarter century, expanding frequencies and hours of service on three important routes. Infrastructure improvements and bus priority treatments along high-ridership corridors will not only maximize the benefits of the Pulse; they will also lay the groundwork for increased ridership and future BRT lines.

The Richmond metro area has completed planning efforts to identify needed transit improvements. The Greater RVA Transit Vision Plan—completed by the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) and the Richmond Regional Transportation Planning Organization—lays out a tiered network of BRT, express, and local bus routes that would increase ridership by 107 percent by 2040.⁵ Henrico County also invested in an analysis of its transit routes.⁶ These plans provide a road map for improving transit in the region, but lack a clear implementation strategy.

Benefits

Quality rapid transit connections can be a leading driver for economic development—as witnessed in Cleveland, with the Health Line BRT project. The Health Line opened in 2008 at a cost of $200 million and connects downtown to Case Western University and University Circle—two leading activity centers in the state—with seven miles of dedicated bus lanes and frequent, 24-hour bus service.⁷ Since its opening, the project has attracted over $6 billion of investment and rejuvenated the corridor, which previously included many areas suffering from multi-generation decline.⁸

Lack of accessible and reliable transportation can also hold back the region’s economic potential and present a significant barrier to finding and holding a job—and to upward economic mobility. More frequent and reliable public transportation in the Richmond area will improve access to essential destinations—opening up a wider range of employment and educational opportunities for residents.

Transit use in the Richmond metro area has been below average compared to other U.S. cities with similar populations. This underperformance is a reflection of the small amount of service provided and the reality that the area’s residents must get by without access to vital public transportation options. While the recent route redesign, new Pulse BRT, and expanded service in Henrico County are positive steps forward—and should make transit a more competitive option for consumers in Richmond—a number of Richmond’s southern peers are moving ahead with more expansive transit plans (e.g., Durham and Charlotte are both planning major transit improvements). Richmond should continue to advance transit expansion and improvements in order to remain competitive with its neighbors and contribute to the continuing growth of the Capital Region.

Barriers

As outlined in other sections of this Blueprint, the Richmond area lacks the ability to tax itself to help pay for the costs of expanding public transportation. Moreover, county leaders have little experience to draw from when it comes to public transportation, so pursuit of collaborative initiatives and educational efforts will be important.

Next moves

Expanded transit service in the Richmond metro area will require concerted leadership from GRTC and city and county officials. Funding must be identified—and long-term changes to governance structures may be required to ensure appropriate oversight.

The next moves are:

• GRTC should work with leaders in Chesterfield County to identify appropriate corridors for fixed-route service and develop a path toward implementation
• GRTC should work with the counties and city to implement the network envisioned in the Greater RVA Transit Vision Plan, including faster, more frequent, and more reliable service on key east-west and north-south corridors such as the Jefferson Davis Highway/Route 1 corridor connecting Ashland to Chester
• The City of Richmond should develop a new multimodal transportation plan, with specific bus prioritization strategies

Costs

Expanding transit service comes with additional capital and operating costs, though the exact cost will depend on the number of new or expanded routes as well as revenue received from ridership levels. The Richmond metro area does not have a regional funding mechanism to pay for transit service. As a result, until a regional source is secured, each jurisdiction would need to increase annual operating and capital investments to support new service.