Couching anti-transit rhetoric in other terms

According to the Gazette, in "Kane says money not in the budget right now for light rail," Republican Lt. Governor candidate Mary Kane of Montgomery County says that the State of Maryland doesn't have the money for light rail in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties.

She may be right. But the issue is one of priorities, including the rate of the gas tax in Maryland. Maryland's gasoline tax stands at 23.5 cents per gallon, which ranks 26th highest nationally.

Sure, as she points out, the State needs to improve the Maryland commuter rail service, not to mention WMATA. But the problems with those services are independent of the need to improve east-west transit service in PG and Montgomery counties.

And it's not like Gov. Ehrlich was focused on improving MARC or WMATA when he was governor.

From the article:

"As [former] Governor Ehrlich said — and I support him wholeheartedly — you've got to be honest with everyone. We cannot afford a Purple Line," Kane, Ehrlich's running mate, said in a telephone interview Thursday. "We need to look at things we can do. And a rapid bus transit system is something we can do."

Generally, I am not a fan of bus rapid transit, because I think that for the most part, choice riders will not ride buses. Maybe I am wrong. New York Magazine has an article about how bus rapid transit will be the next best thing in New York City--better even than cycletracks! See "Can the MTA Revolutionize the City's Bus System?."

I think that if all mobility services paid their full cost, it would be possible for rapid bus services to be competitive, at least under 8 miles in distance, but with big subsidies for the automobile, I think even with all the bells and whistles, it will be difficult to get people to ride buses in the U.S. As it is, existing bus rapid transit services don't have ridership numbers that are all that compelling. Generally, light rail lines have significantly higher ridership. When you add the land use/economic development aspects, fixed rail transit makes more sense.