Thread by @GrowingEastMoCo

I am so damn frustrated from advocating for a dedicated bus lane on US 29 for over five years and seeing no results. We are so far behind the rest of the world when it comes to transit

See what Mexico has accomplished by converting car lanes to bus & bike lanes.

https://twitter.com/soc4austin/status/1522106953056636929

Short 🧵 on the Montgomery County Executive race and lack of dedicated bus lanes on US 29.

My story starts in April 2017: @SeanJEmerson and I visited the @MoCoCouncilMD in Rockville to pitch the idea of adding a bus lane on US 29. We even brought a scale model!

We knew that Montgomery County was not going to convert existing car lanes to bus lanes (too much backlash anticipated)

So instead we proposed narrowing the existing six lanes and squeezing a bus lane into the median. We still got backlash nonetheless!

ggwash.org/view/66620/mon…

Despite that opposition, all the council members, were supportive of the concept.

In fact, Elrich went a step further to explain that he envisioned a similar concept when he first championed his ambitious plan for a BRT network back in 2013!

archive.mymcmedia.org/marc-elrich-st…

During Elrich's 3.5 years as County Executive, this is what his Dept of Transportation has proposed instead: taking one of the existing lanes, and making it Bus/HOV 2+

Top: existing conditions
Middle: our recommendation
Bottom: DOT recommendation

Figure is mine, not DOT

You can see the full draft report here, and see for yourself what DOT is proposing
montgomerycountymd.gov/dot-dte/projec…

The report claims that travel times for all users (single occupancy cars, HOV, and bus riders) will be faster with their 6-lane configuration than with our 7-lane option

I convinced the East County Advisory Board to draft a letter to Elrich, asking him to provide the dedicated bus lanes he promised years ago. He didn't reply, so we had to send a second letter.

montgomerycountymd.gov/Eastcounty/Res…

Elrich to date had not replied to the letter. When I pressed him on the issue last time he attended our meeting, his response was basically, "we can't do dedicated bus lanes because the engineers say it won't work as well as HOV lanes"

A complete backpedaling of his vision

Based on what I've seen over the past 4 years, I'm absolutely deflated at the lack of progress.

I am skeptical that another four years of Elrich will result in true dedicated bus lanes on US 29. Which is really disappointing because he was a champion for BRT a decade ago...

I wonder if Elrich's challengers have a different vision for the future of transit on US 29. Let's see...

The @DavidTBlair website doesn't mention BRT but his response to questionnaires mentions he wants to fund "fully dedicated bus lanes". That's good to hear!

However, without a track record, it's hard to tell if Blair would be willing to push hard for meaningful transit improvements. I wouldn't be surprised if he has not taken the bus in the past 5 years except for photo ops (i welcome anyone to correct me)

@hansriemer has been a consistent supporter of better BRT. In fact, he was one of the first council members to support our plan dedicated lanes on US 29.

Also, to my knowledge, @hansriemer is the only candidate for County Executive that has participated in the @actfortransit #transitchallenge. More politicians should take the bus to learn first-hand what it's like and how it could be improved.

https://twitter.com/hansriemer/status/1138880802119401474?t=-k2o7eLvyYIa03jSvcp1fg&s=19

Elrich claims to support dedicated bus lanes, but until I see real plans for adding them on US 29 OR I witness him direct the county Dept of Transportation to trash the HOV idea and stick with bus-only lanes, I will remain skeptical.

My Joker moment: spending 5 years advocating for a BRT project that a politician claims was originally his idea. Politician gets elected and is in charge of DOT. Politician backtracks. Instead of a bus lane, DOT offers an HOV lane and says it's faster for buses. Why do I do this?

Sorry for the rambling and disorganized thread!

I just really wish more people in East County knew that there is a relatively straightforward solution to tremendously ease our commutes, and it is feasible. However we need new leadership to deliver it. Local elections matter.