News & Notices

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 16, 2010
CONTACT: Steven Kania, 202-962-3249

GUARANTEED RIDE HOME PROGRAM WILL EXPAND TO BALTIMORE REGION, ST. MARY’S COUNTY

Additional Funding from Maryland Drives Expansion of the Commuter Connections Service

Washington, D.C. – At today’s Transportation Planning Board meeting, COG staff reported that Commuter Connections’ Guaranteed Ride Home program will expand to include the Baltimore metropolitan region and St. Mary’s County, Maryland. This significant expansion comes at the request of the Maryland Department of Transportation, which will provide additional funding to Commuter Connections starting on July 1, 2010.

By CLAIRE LOUDER, For The Capital Newspaper
Published 06/15/10

The excitement of BRAC expansion is finally becoming real to residents of Anne Arundel County, particularly west county, as we move closer to the February occupancy of DISA's headquarters building. But the issue that has yet to be adequately addressed - nor can it with current resources - is the transportation network necessary for BRAC employees to reach Fort George G. Meade without significant backups.

Fort Meade traffic plans get boost

Funding found for free ride-home program, Route 175 work

By RYAN JUSTIN FOX, Capital Newspaper, Staff Writer

Published 06/06/10

State and county officials this week rolled out plans for a guaranteed free ride-home program for federal employees coming to Fort George G. Meade next year and fixes for dilapidated roads just outside the post that will start this summer. The plans should alleviate some of the massive traffic congestion expected to hit the Fort Meade region next year when more than 5,000 new federal employees move to the installation through the federal Base Realignment and Closure process.

Get rid of the stinking buses? Never!

Capital Mobility

By Dave Humphreys, Writer, Capital Newspaper
Published 6/5/10

Those who know me understand my "sign and can of paint" philosophy but sometimes things aren't that simple. I'd like to apply some deeper thinking to the current transit and budget related problems reported upon and editorialized in The Capital. Bus transit operations are one of several important mobility functions performed by a municipal Department of Transportation. Unfortunately, Annapolis lacks a real DOT and has mobility related functions spread out over multiple departments with no one in charge and no one thinking comprehensively about transportation issues.

MDOT Transporation Secretary - Q&A

Transportation: Q&A with Beverley K. Swaim-Staley, Md. Dept. of Transportation Secretary

Corridor Inc.
May 2010 edition
By Tom LoBianco - Corridor Inc. writer
Beverley K. Swaim-Staley was officially confirmed as Maryland’s Secretary of Transportation earlier this year. She inherited a transportation system that is one of the most comprehensive in the nation — including operations for air, land and sea — after former Secretary John Porcari joined the Obama Administration. She also inherited a system beset by funding troubles, caused largely by the recession, and facing pressure to fund new megaprojects throughout the region. She spoke with Corridor Inc. about those challenges.

Corridor Inc.
May 2010 edition
By Tom LoBianco - Corridor Inc. writer
When lawmakers left the 2007 special session, they touted huge increases in transportation funding they said would start to put a dent in the massive backlog of projects, which remained unpaid for. When state lawmakers left the 2010 session, they had gutted a fund to support local road projects and the hundreds of millions of dollars that had been promised for transportation just a few years earlier but had never materialized.

Annapolis Transit - under review

Our Say: Scrutiny of city's transportation costs is long overdue Capital Newspaper Editorial Published 05/27/10 It shouldn't have taken the worst budget crisis in memory to prompt a full review of Annapolis' inefficient and money-losing transit system. But sometimes a crisis is the only thing that can overcome officials' fondness for the status quo.
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City of Annapolis - transportation changes

City mulls $1.5M in transit savings

Proposes raising bus fares, using new parking meters

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Published 05/26/10

Annapolis is looking for ways to cut $1.5 million out of a deficit-plagued transit system that costs taxpayers $2 million a year to operate. Chief Administrative Officer Doug Smith detailed actions yesterday that would change not only how people use buses in the city, but also how they park their cars.

Annapolis bikes to work for a day

Annual rally encourages commuters to get out of their cars

By SHANTEE WOODARDS, Capital Newspaper, Staff Writer

Published 05/22/10

Jane Shey was so impressed with her commuting options in Belgium, that she sold her car when she returned to Admiral Heights in Annapolis. She continues to spend part of the year in Europe, as she pursues her doctorate degree in environmental policy. Abroad, the streets are filled with bicycle commuters - from women with children in baskets to men in business suits with their briefcases dangling from the side, she said. Not so here, so Shey is looking to form a social group of like-minded commuters.

Shey was among the bikers who converged on City Dock on Friday morning to promote biking as a viable form of transportation.

Bike to Work Day

Bike to Work Day 2010: hundreds opt for bicycles, give up cars

The Money Times - Jaspreet Virk - ‎May 22, 2010‎

Promoting both fitness, and bicycle as an alternative for commuting to work, hundreds in the nation, celebrated 'Bike to Work Day' Friday. The event, held every year on the third Friday of May, saw fewer cars, and more bikes, as Americans traveled to and fro from work.

Commuting's new old-fashioned way

Bike commuting: How to make it happen

By Robert Thomson

Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 23, 2010

Local governments can support this increasingly popular form of commuting by creating the infrastructure that makes it safer and more convenient. The District has opened a bike center at Union Station, where cyclists can park and get assistance. It recently opened a 1.5-mile section of what eventually will be the eight-mile Metropolitan Branch Trail, a paved route running near the eastern side of the Red Line between Silver Spring and Union Station. And it is carving out a network of bike lanes along downtown streets.

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