Category: Resources
CSG Comments on Montgomery’s Resolution to Approve FY21 Transportation Fees, Charges, and Fares
Resolution to Approve FY21 Transportation Fees, Charges, and Fares
Testimony for April 30, 2020
Jane Lyons, Maryland Advocacy Manager
President Katz and Councilmembers, thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony on the Resolution to Approve FY21 Transportation Fees, Charges, and Fares. Please accept these comments on behalf of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, the leading organization in the D.C. region advocating for walkable, inclusive, transit-oriented communities.
Firstly, we would like to thank the county for suspending Ride On fares thus far during the novel coronavirus crisis. This action has protected transit workers and riders. Transit continues to be an essential public service right now, ensuring that our front-line workers are able to get to work and that those without private vehicles are still able to get food, prescriptions, and other necessary goods.
Therefore, we urge the county to continue Ride On fare suspension throughout the duration of the public health emergency. Fare revenue this quarter is already nearly half of the budgeted fare revenue, and even under normal circumstances is less than 10 percent of total revenue in the Mass Transit Fund.
We also urge you to begin thinking about transit after COVID-19. There is an opportunity to “reopen” the county’s transportation network in a way that increases our climate resiliency, furthers racial and socioeconomic justice, and aids in our economic recovery. These functions cannot be achieved without transit. We don’t have to go back to the same congestion, dangerous roadways, and air pollution.
Further, once the immediate public health threat has been addressed, we will need to rebuild trust in public transit so that ridership may recover. To do that, transit must be attractive, easy, frequent, and safe. We urge you to consider:
- Suspending Ride On fares in perpetuity;
- Redesigning the Montgomery Ride On and WMATA bus network through a public process to improve service in a budget neutral way;
- Expanding public employees’ telework allowances;
- Rebalancing road space to prioritize walking, biking, and transit; and
- Increasing routine bus cleaning.
Thank you for your consideration.
RELEASE: Broad Alliance Tells White House: Transit Workers Need Better Protection From COVID-19
For immediate release
April 22, 2020
Ben Fried, TransitCenter: 347 675-5592
David Roscow, ATU: 202 487-4990
Dozens of unions, business groups, economic justice organizations, and local transit advocates from across the nation wrote today to Vice President Mike Pence and Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, demanding better federal coordination to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) for transit workers.
As of this week, the coronavirus has claimed the lives of nearly 100 transit workers in the United States.
The victims include Scott Ryan, 41, a bus operator at Community Transit in Snohomish County, Washington; Patrick Patoir, 57, an MTA worker in New York for 33 years; Jason Hargrove, 50, a Detroit bus operator; Eugenia Weathers, a school bus driver in Lexington, Kentucky; and Michael Hill, a conductor and 30-year SEPTA veteran in Philadelphia.
The federal government can and must take stronger steps to prevent such loss of life.
Bus and train operators, maintenance workers, and cleaning staff at transit agencies around the country are putting their lives on the line as they enable essential travel for millions of Americans, ensuring the continued provision of food, medical care, and other basic goods and services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Without strong federal coordination to procure PPE for transit workers, they face needless risks on the job.
Based on guidance from infectious disease experts, the organizations demand the White House coordinate provision of N95 masks and other protective gear for frontline transit workers whose duties put them in close proximity to passengers, or require exposure to hazardous disinfectants. The groups also urge the CDC to issue stronger guidance for transit agencies, including recommendations on how to ventilate transit vehicles to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
These measures must be put in place to protect the transit workforce, which in turn will strengthen the overall effort to control the pandemic and minimize the spread of COVID-19. Nearly 3 million Americans classified as essential workers typically commute on transit, according to a TransitCenter analysis of U.S. Census data.
Protective gear for transit workers will have a strong multiplier effect, since reducing risk will increase the availability of the transit workforce, leading to greater provision of transit service, less crowding on transit vehicles, and lower rates of transmission among transit riders and thus the general population.
The alliance signing on to the letter reflects the broad public interest in protecting transit workers, encompassing labor, business, transportation, economic justice, environmental, and community-based organizations from dozens of states.
Supply chain issues affect every industry seeking protective gear. However, the need for transit workers is so urgent, and the consequences of further delay so dire, that federal action must be pursued as soon as possible. These protections will save the lives of transit workers, as well as the lives of nurses, doctors, food distribution workers, and other essential workers who rely on transit.
“Transit workers deserve every protection the government can muster,” said TransitCenter Executive Director David Bragdon. “Better coordination and provision of equipment will protect the health of hundreds of thousands of transit workers, and keep millions of other workers safe on their way to essential jobs.”
“More than 300 of the transit agencies where our members work have failed to implement critical changes needed to keep their workers and riders safe, even as a second wave of this deadly virus sweeps across the continent,” said ATU International President John Costa. “We are proud to carry emergency service, healthcare, grocery, and retail workers, and those who need care. But, as ATU International President, I cannot in good conscience encourage my members to go into the line of fire without the armor and provisions they need.”
Thoughts about where we live on this Earth Day
Where we live and how we design our communities matters
Today we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day, when millions of people took to the streets to demand better stewardship of the planet that is our home. While we may not be able to gather in the same way on this day, we can reflect on actions we can take.
Just as natural systems on our Earth are interconnected, so too are land use, housing, transportation, and our environment. Reliance on cars is the single largest source of carbon emissions in the U.S. and a major contributor to respiratory illnesses, however, by designing our communities to reduce reliance on vehicles we can create a safer, healthier world.
That’s why CSG has campaigned for walkable, transit-oriented communities. We recently released a presentation and fact sheet summarizing the benefits of transit-oriented communities for fighting climate change.
Amid the COVID-19 crisis, people are rediscovering the value of walking and bicycling, and the need for parks, greenways, and safe streets for our quality of life. Dedicating more space for bicycling and walking on our streets will allow for better physical distancing and reduce air pollution and carbon emissions.
Just as we need to focus on stopping future pandemics with science, preparation, and global cooperation, we will need to do the same if we are going to address the existential threat of climate change. We are social creatures and our walkable cities, towns, and urban neighborhoods offer important social, economic, and environmental benefits that we will continue to depend upon as a society.
So, thank you for supporting CSG and more sustainable communities. We wish you the best on this Earth Day and hope that you and your families are safe and healthy.
All the best,
Stewart, Cheryl, Jane, Sonya, Emily and Alina
Photo credit: Jane Lyons
CSG Comments on Thrive 2050 Draft Vision and Goals
April 15, 2020
Montgomery Planning Board
8787 Georgia Avenue
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Re: Montgomery Thrive 2050 Draft Vision and Goals
Dear Chair Anderson and Planning Commisioners:
Thank you for the opportunity to provide written comments on the draft vision and goals for Thrive Montgomery 2050. We understand that this is a challenging time due to the coronavirus crisis. The Planning Department’s quick shift to virtual meetings, community engagement, and public testimony is commendable, and we are pleased to see the department’s work plan continue on. We hope that this is an opportunity for the department to experiment with more inclusive, transparent community engagement strategies, which can then be incorporated into outreach going forward.
The Coalition for Smarter Growth strongly supports the draft vision and goals. The concept – a web of complete, mixed-use communities connected by vibrant transit and green corridors – is strong and builds off of the revolutionary “wedges and corridors” idea. We especially support the strong language around housing, including on ensuring affordability, diversifying the housing stock, and considering housing a right. We are also pleased with the vision of a county no longer developed around the automobile.
One significant critique of the draft is the language used in reference to transportation. We need to be firm about our commitment to public transit, walking, and biking as the future of transportation in Montgomery County. In recent years, the term “multi-modal” has come to be used as an excuse for continuing car-centric planning standards. If we’re going to significantly alter mode share over the next 30 years, it’s not enough to be multi-modal – we must be transit first.
As a component of our advocacy for Thrive, we have worked with the community to organize Montgomery for All, a grassroots group committed to ensuring that Thrive paves the way for an equitable, sustainable, prosperous future grounded in the principles of smart growth. We have created a platform with ten goals that we would like to see fully included and built upon in Thrive. Many of our goals are included in this draft, but could be stated more explicitly and expanded upon. Please see our specific feedback below, which addresses these concerns:
Thrive 2050 Vision:
• Convenient: We urge you to be stronger and more specific in the goals. “Most” or “many” does not create a bold vision for the future and can be ignored.
• Healthy: If we can set a goal that every resident lives within a 15 minute walk to a park, then we should also be able to set the same goal for the other components of complete communities, especially healthy food and frequent transit.
1. Complete Communities:
• Goal #1: The idea that makes the concept of “complete communities” work is a time constraint on how long it takes to access certain amenities without a car. This has been done by all other communities which have adopted this planning goal, including Paris (15 minutes), Portland (20 minutes), and Copenhagen (5 minutes). We recommend that Thrive adopt 20 minutes as a goal for accessing the required amenities of a complete community. This should become a guiding principle for all future master plans.
• Goal #4: Equal treatment does not necessarily mean equal outcomes or opportunity. The focus should be on equal outcomes, such as socioeconomic mobility and quality of life measurements, rather than on equal treatment.
2. Connectedness:
• Goal #2: We commend the goal of making government planning and decision-making processes accessible, transparent, and easy for all to understand and participate in. In addition, we’d like to see this goal explicitly state the importance of government actively going out into the community for engagement on major actions, rather than expecting the community to come to government.
3. Diverse Economies:
• Goal #5: One of Montgomery for All’s goals is to minimize the displacement of small businesses. Thus, we would like this goal to include the protection of small businesses in addition to identifying and removing barriers to establishment and expansion.
4. Safe and Efficient Travel:
• Vision:
o The vision should state that in 2050 heavy reliance on private vehicle “has shifted” rather than “is shifting.” It is essential to shift well before 2050 if the county is to meet its net-zero greenhouse gas emission goals by 2035.
o The frequency of transit is not mentioned in this vision. We know that the two major factors that drive transit use are frequency and reliability.
o We would like to see more about how to county envisions micromobility, autonomous vehicles, and ridesharing playing into the transportation system in 2050. These technologies, especially autonomous vehicles, have both potential positive and negative impacts. Thrive is the place to start thinking through how the county will manage those impacts.
o We urge that the vision include language stating that no new highways will be built, especially during our climate emergency or in the current and likely longer-term challenging budgetary environment.
• Goals:
o Goal #1: In addition to shifting mode share, we should also establish goals to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Both goals should be specific and measurable.
o Goal #4: “Multiple travel options” is often repeated throughout this document. However, we would argue that this vision is no different that our current transportation system. Residents may have the option to choose between a private vehicle and local bus service, but because of planning and policy decisions, the private vehicle options is much more attractive than Ride On. Well before 2050, public transit, walking, and biking not only need to be a competitive choices, but also need to be the modes of choice.
5. Affordability and Attainability:
• Goal #1: The safety of housing should also be a goal, in addition to type, size, affordability, and location.
• Goal #2: We would like to see stronger language than “most new housing,” and not only should new housing be in mixed-use locations, but locations that are complete communities.
• Goal #3: If the county is going to consider housing a right, then we need to set bolder goals than continuing our existing programs. Housing as a right should fundamentally alter how the county approaches housing.
6. Healthy and Sustainable Environment:
• Vision:
o By 2050, all vehicles owned and operated by the county should be zero-emissions. Similarly, biking, walking, and public transit should be the most common modes of travel.
o We would like to see more about net-zero energy buildings in the vision statement. Will all new buildings be net-zero? Were we able to retrofit existing buildings in an equitable way?
• Goals: We believe that more than three goals are necessary, given the complexity, ambition, and number of topics addressed in the vision statement.
7. Diverse and Adaptable Growth:
• Vision: We support the vision that regulatory mechanisms to support development should be nimble, focused on design excellence, and achieve measurable, equitable outcomes. However, we’d like to see equity in diverse and adaptable growth explored further and defined in this context.
• Goal #3: We strongly support this goal and ask that the adequate public facilities ordinance, capital improvements program, taxes and fees, and review and permitting processes all be reviewed and considered when developing policies and actions for Thrive.
8. Culture and Design: No comments.
Sincerely,
Jane Lyons
Maryland Advocacy Manager
Coalition for Smarter Growth