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Urban
planner calls county transit 'pitiful'
Capital
Newspaper
By Andrew Childers, Staff Writer
October 17, 2007
An urban
planner deemed the county's public transit system "pitiful"
while speaking to the Severn River Association last night, but
he did offer some glimmers of hope. "It's sort of pitiful Anne
Arundel County doesn't have a lot of transit, no countywide,"
said Klaus Philipsen, president of ArchPlan Inc. in Baltimore.
"That shouldn't be so."
Rapid transit
bus networks have alleviated some congestion in major urban
centers such as Los Angeles and Baltimore, but they also can
link smaller communities such as Annapolis with larger city
hubs, Mr. Philipsen said. The key is interlocking modes of transportation,
he said. But other changes, such as equipping buses with technology
to ensure they get green lights at intersections or building
dedicated bus lanes also can make public transportation a more
attractive alternative to cars, he said. City Transportation
Director Danielle Matland said Annapolis has considered several
new transit initiatives, including light-priority technology
for buses or creating on-call bus routes, but has run into money
problems. The city's transportation network costs $4 million
to operate and Annapolis already has been forced to jettison
bus routes to Kent Island and south county after federal subsidies
were slashed. The county eventually picked up the south county
run.
Alderman
Sam Shropshire, D-Ward 7, who recently attended a streetcar
conference in Denver, said he envisions not only street cars
travelling downtown, but also a rail network connecting Westfield
Annapolis mall to BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport. "There is a
desire in the City Council to do something different," he said.
"Do something permanent." And the Baltimore Metropolitan Council's
30-year plan for regional transportation met with lackluster
response recently, almost unanimously criticized by politicians
and residents for its emphasis on roads rather than expanded
transit options. Mr. Shropshire said the plan focused on "a
heck of a lot more lanes, which we don't need."
Commuter
buses already ferry about 1,200 workers to Baltimore and Washington
daily, said Heather McColl, Annapolis Regional Transportation
Management Association executive director. ARTMA also is "courting"
flex-car providers to the city. As part of a flex-car service,
members could rent a car when they need one, paying only $7
to $9 an hour for the service. "If you're paying by the hour,
you're probably going to use that car differently than when
you've got that fixed expense sitting in your garage," Mrs.
McColl said.
While Annapolis'
relatively small population is unlikely to support a rapid-transit
system downtown, smaller jurisdictions have been breeding grounds
for innovative transit developments, Mr. Philipsen said. "The
small cities like Annapolis are usually the leaders," he said.
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