December 13, 2024

Paul Wiedefeld, Secretary
Maryland Department of Transportation
7201 Corporate Center Drive
Hanover, MD 21076

Randy Clarke, General Manager
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
300th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20024

Marc Elrich, County Executive
Executive Office Building
101 Monroe Street, 2nd Floor
Rockville, MD 20850

Kate Stewart, Council President and District 4 Councilmember
Council Office Building
100 Maryland Avenue, 6th Floor
Rockville, MD 20850

Chris Conklin, Director
Montgomery County Department of Transportation
101 Monroe Street, 10th Floor 
Rockville, MD 20850 

RE: MD 97 (Georgia Ave) Wayne Ave to Urbana Dr Bus Lane Pilot

Dear Secretary Wiedefeld, GM Clarke, County Executive Elrich, Council President Stewart, and Director Conklin:

The undersigned organizations representing the Montgomery County Better Buses Coalition are writing regarding the MD-97 (Georgia Ave.) dedicated bus lane proposal. We are encouraged by the success of the pilot project and ask you to make the dedicated lanes permanent.

Dedicated bus lanes are a cost-effective way to improve speed, reliability, and frequency for transit riders. Analysis by MDOT bears this out, finding that the pilot lanes have indeed improved speed and reliability for bus riders through this corridor with minimal impacts for drivers.

We believe that these lanes set a positive example for our state and county, demonstrating how we can take meaningful and relatively short-term steps toward providing high-quality, sustainable modes of transportation for all people. 

Ultimately, targeted measures like dedicated bus lanes that make transit trips easier, more comfortable, and more predictable will help us encourage more people to take transit and improve reliability and performance for all riders.

In addition to making the dedicated lanes through this corridor permanent, we ask you to consider the following measures:

• Red lane markings and additional signage to provide greater clarity for drivers and encourage compliance: Although anecdotal, many of us noticed greater compliance with the dedicated lanes after the white painted lines were made thicker this summer. Clear visual cues like these thicker lane lines, red lane markings, and signage with additional guidance to drivers (for example, regarding right turns using the bus lane) can reduce driver confusion and frustration and increase compliance.
• Greater frequency: In WMATA’s Better Bus engagement, more frequent service was a priority for current and potential riders alike. While riders generally consider “frequent” service to be every 15 minutes or more often, the Metrobus Q2/Q4 and Y2/Y7/Y8 lines generally run only every 20-30 minutes. Greater frequency would encourage new riders, provide better service to existing riders, and demonstrate that the lanes are being used efficiently for maximum public benefit.
• Automated enforcement w/ bus-mounted cameras: A single car or delivery truck can block and slow dozens of riders. We recommend taking advantage of new enabling legislation in Maryland and the success of WMATA’s Clear Lane pilot in DC, to install and use bus-mounted cameras to assist with enforcement of bus lanes. Dedicated bus lanes can reduce delays and increase predictability for drivers by placing buses making stops in a separate lane and preventing weaving of cars in and out of the travel lanes. Enforcement can help ensure drivers realize these benefits.
• Transit signal priority and signal retiming: The pilot allowed MDOT to identify delays at Randolph and Georgia, and there are also some hold-ups at other intersections through this corridor. We support signal retiming to address these persistent delays (while also ensuring safe pedestrian crossing times), and strongly encourage installation of transit signal priority to reduce bus delays.

The combination of much more frequent service, clearly marked red bus lanes, enforcement and signal priority will increase bus ridership and illustrate the value of frequent fast transit service. The results can be communicated to the driving public to show the benefit for all users including those who may need to rely on driving.

Thank you for seeking to make the dedicated bus lanes permanent and for considering our recommendations for further improvement. A key recommendation of the Bus Transformation Project and DMV Moves is to provide a network of dedicated bus lanes. Each time we effectively implement these lanes, starting with the most heavily used corridors, we illustrate the benefits of dedicated lanes and frequent, reliable transit. Therefore, we urge you to make the Georgia Ave. dedicated bus lanes permanent.

Sincerely,

Members of the Montgomery County Better Buses Coalition

Affordable Housing Conference of Montgomery County
CASA
Coalition for Smarter Growth
Community Development Network of Maryland
Gaithersburg HELP
Habitat for Humanity Metro Maryland
League of Women Voters of Montgomery County
Manna Food Center
Montgomery County Food Council
Transit Alternative to Midcounty Highway Extended (TAME) Coalition
Washington Area Bicyclists Association

CC: William Pines, Administrator, State Highway Administration, MDOT
Evan Glass, Transportation & Enviro. Committee Chair, Montgomery County Council
Natali Fani-González, District 6 Councilmember, Montgomery County CouncilD18, D19, and D20 State Representatives

Photo credit: BeyondDC