Transit Times, vol. 30, no. 3, July 2016

PAGE 1

Next Meetings

• Tuesday, July 12, 7:30-9pm

Speaker Program: McLean Quinn, VP of EYA

for land acquisition and development, on “What

Makes it Hard to Build Housing Near Transit?”

• Tuesday, August 9, 7:30-9pm

Speaker Program TBD

• Tuesday, September 13, 7:30-9pm

Speaker Program TBD

ACT’s monthly meetings are held the second

Tuesday of each month, at the Silver Spring Civic

Center, One Veterans Place. Meetings begin at

7:30pm. The Silver Spring Civic Center faces the

Fenton Street and Ellsworth Avenue. It is an eight-

minute walk north from the Silver Spring Metro

Station. Many bus routes can take you to and from

the meeting. Ride-On #15 and #19 stop at the cor-

ner of Wayne Ave. & Fenton St.; Metrobus routes

Z6 and Z8 and Ride-On routes #9 and #12 stop

along Colesville Road; Ride-On #16, #17, and #20

pass by on Fenton St. If coming by car, plentiful

evening parking is available at the Wayne Avenue

garage and is (despite ACT’s advocacy against

subsidies for drivers) free after 7 pm.

The newsletter of the Action Committee for Transit of Montgomery County, Maryland.

Inside This Issue

MD Public Works Approves Purple Line 2

On Aprl 6, the State of Maryland’s Board of Pub-

lic Works approved a $5.6 billion contract for a

public-private partnership

President’s Letter 2

The last few months have been anything but dull

for transit activists in this area.

Reflections on the Purple Line 3

Bipartisanship helped the Purple Line campaign

as the project won the support of the business

community and of Gov. Hogan.

Rockville Comprehensive Master Plan 4

Competing visions for growth have significantly

impacted development in Rockville over the last

10 years.

“Transit Maps of the World,” 3rd Edition 5

The only comprehensive collection of urban rail

transit (i.e., elevated, subway, light rail, and street-

car) maps was compiled by British author Mark

Ovenden into a book

Transit Times

Join us in working for more and better transit. Whether you want to help us leaflet at Metro and MARC

stations, work for pedestrian and bicycle safety or testify at public hearings, or volunteer in some other

way—we would love to work with you. Contact ACT Staff at admin@actfortransit.org.

If you have not yet renewed your ACT membership, please do so now. When you renew your member-

ship for our special 30th anniversary year, please consider increasing your donation to $30, $60, $90 or

$300—in commemoration of this milestone year.

We Need YOU!

Transit Times, vol. 30, no. 3, July 2016

PAGE 2

The last few months have been anything but dull

for transit activists in this area.

The Maryland Board of Public Works approved

the Purple Line’s contract in early April, marking

another milestone as we get closer and closer to

construction. In the meantime, preliminary utility

work for the Purple Line has begun in downtown

Bethesda.

Years of deferred maintenance and repairs are be-

ing dealt with by WMATA’s “Safetrack” mainte-

nance surges. It goes without saying that Metrorail

is key to keeping this area moving. ACT, as well

as many other transit groups, have called on area

departments of transportation to create bus-only

lanes. ACT has specifically urged bus-only lanes

on major arteries and on Metros “bus bridges” to

allow the region’s commuters to make it through

this difficult time. To date, the region’s depart-

ments of transportation have yet to take substan-

tive action. We will continue to press them.

Our Vision Zero campaign for pedestrian and

bicycle safety has continued with two very inter-

esting events. The first took place in a community

center on Route 198 in Burtonsville, a state route

with no sidewalks and where children must be

bused to the nearby elementary school - all of 0.6

mile away from their home.

The next event took place in the Long Branch

neighborhood of Takoma Park. ACT volunteers,

joined by Montgomery County Planning Board

Member Natali Fani-Gonzalez, spoke to area

residents crossing at Flower Avenue and Piney

Branch Road about how that intersection could be

safer and more comfortable for pedestrians. Jour-

nalists from Telemundo and Channel 7 News were

there to see our folks in action.

ACT’s event in Takoma Park took on particular

significance because, just three days before, a

Gaithersburg high school student had been killed

on Route 355. Santos Escobar-Villatoro had been

riding his bicycle on the sidewalk. His bike hit

an advertising sign and he was thrown into the

road and struck by a car. All it would have taken

to prevent his death was a four-foot (grass) buffer

between the sidewalk and the road.

Preventing this sort of needless death by simple

changes in road design is exactly what Vision

Zero is all about.

Sincerely,

Ronit Aviva Dancis

President’s Letter

On April 6, the State of Maryland’s Board of

Public Works approved a $5.6 billion contract for

a public-private partnership (P3) to design, build,

operate, and maintain (DBOM) the 16.2-mile

Purple Line light rail project between Bethesda

and New Carrollton. The Board of Public Works

— comprised of Gov. Larry Hogan (R), State

Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp (D) and Comptroller

Peter Franchot (D) — unanimously approved the

36-year contract after 40 minutes of discussion.

The contract consisted of 876 pages and is be-

lieved to be the most expensive contract that the

State of Maryland has ever signed. The public-

private partnership is one of the largest in the U.S.

for transportation. The approval by the Board of

Public Works is the last Maryland state-required

action before the Federal government takes action.

Approval of the contract for the Purple Line

signifies that the Maryland State Department of

Transportation (MDOT) can now finalize a Full

Funding Grant Agreement with the Federal Tran-

sit Administration (FTA). The FFGA is for $900

million in “New Starts” funds. The FFGA, which

is expected in mid-July, is almost assured, as the

FTA has already recommended the funding. It

would be the final hurdle before construction can

begin. The contract is expected to reach financial

close by June 2. It has attracted national attention

because it makes the Purple Line one of the first

U.S. transit projects to include private financing.

Maryland Board of Public

Works Approves Purple Line

by Quon Kwan

Transit Times, vol. 30, no. 3, July 2016

PAGE 3

The DBOM P3 contractor selected from the four

semi-finalists for the Purple Line project is Purple

Line Transit Partners, which is led by Texas-based

Fluor Corp., the French investment firm, Me-

ridiam, and Star America, a New York firm, which

invests in public infrastructure projects. All three

firms specialize in public-private partnerships.

Among the projects in which the three firms have

been involved are as follows: Fluor Corp. was

the managing partner on building the $3.3 billion

electric commuter rail project between Denver’s

Union Station and Denver International Airport

(also a P3 project) as well as a partner in build-

ing the $1 billion Exposition light rail line Phase

1 in Los Angeles. Meridiam worked under a $903

million contract for a tunnel at the Port of Miami.

Star America was involved in a $430 million by-

pass around Portsmouth, Ohio.

After the Board of Public works approval, MDOT

on the same day granted Purple Line Transit Part-

ners “limited notice to proceed.” This allows $12

million of pre-construction work, such as, comple-

tion of the design and execution of both survey

work and soil borings. Full notice to proceed with

construction will be granted after the FFGA is

signed. Ground-breaking for the Purple Line is

scheduled to begin in November or December this

year, which will start in Prince George’s County

with re-location of utility, water, and sewer lines.

Trains are expected to begin by spring 2022 op-

erating in revenue service along the entire line at

one time rather than phased-in segments staggered

over time.

Reflections on the Purple Line,

its National Importance, and

our Retiring Senator

by Ross Capon

“Of the new FFGA [Full Funding Grant Agree-

ment] projects in the [President’s] budget request,

the Committee recommendation includes not less

than … $125 million for the project in Maryland

...” ~ Senate Appropriations Committee’s report

on its FY 2017 transportation/housing bill

The quote above is another indication that the

16.2-mile Purple Line is on the road to reality.

Thirty years ago, who knew that a seeming “no-

brainer” like repurposing the B&O’s Bethesda-

Silver Spring line would take so long. Fortunately,

expansion of the plan to include Prince George’s

County—a form of “make no small plans”—

helped grow support to the necessary critical

mass.

The tenaciousness of the Appropriations Com-

mittee’s top Democrat, retiring Barbara Mikulski

(D-MD), bodes well for inclusion of that money

when 2017 funding is finally enacted. Sen. Rich-

ard Shelby (R-AL), who has traded chairmanship

and ranking member roles with Mikulski over the

years put it this way: “I don’t believe anybody

up here is more effective than Barbara Mikulski.

I hope the people of Maryland understand that.

I’ve enjoyed working with Barbara because if you

don’t work with her she’ll fight you.” It is possible

that Mikulski’s fierce support for Amtrak over the

years helps explain why Shelby has moderated his

antipathy to the railroad.

Maryland’s senior senator got a bipartisan, stand-

ing ovation at the April 21 committee session

where—for the last time with Mikulski as a mem-

ber—the Committee passed transportation/hous-

ing and commerce/justice/science spending bills.

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) gave a warm

tribute to Mikulski’s work which Shelby heart-

ily endorsed. Mikulski spoke of her early Senate

years when I had a “great Republican chairman

[Jake Garn (UT)], an astronaut senator who taught

me that friendship leads to bipartisanship.”

Bipartisanship helped the Purple Line campaign

as the project won the support of the business

community and of Gov. Hogan. Now, the key role

played by the private sector is helping to broaden

support for the project, especially among Republi-

cans. This also gives our Purple Line national sig-

nificance as only the second transit public-private

partnership. Serendipitously, the first such proj-

ect—rail transit linking Denver to its airport—just

began revenue service on April 22.

Transit Times, vol. 30, no. 3, July 2016

PAGE 4

The Rockville Comprehensive

Master Plan: Common Ground

Despite Competing Visions?

By Jennifer Hosey

For those who have followed politics in this

mid-county municipality, growth issues have

dominated city elections. Competing visions for

growth have significantly impacted development

in Rockville over the last 10 years. However, it is

invigorating to recognize critical areas of common

ground on transit and walkability.

While there is competing sentiment as to whether

walkability should be part of a pro-growth urban-

ist vision or whether walkability should be part

of a low growth suburbanist vision, community

leaders universally voiced that walkability on

Route 355 should be a priority in the new Com-

prehensive Master Plan. There was also near uni-

versal support for a circulator, a dedicated funding

source for WMATA, etc. I suppose it is the politi-

cian in me that gets excited by unexpected allies,

even if those allies support only a few projects in

common rather than an entire citywide vision.

In recent years, most controversial was an effec-

tive moratorium on new residential development

using the Adequate Public Facility Standards

(APFS) for schools. It was enacted in 2005 and

loosened in 2015. Nevertheless, community

leaders on both sides of that issue form a natural

consensus on certain aspects of transit and walk-

ability.

Independent of my role as an ACT board member,

I have been participating in Rockville’s Compre-

hensive Master Plan community forums as a mil-

lennial homeowner/resident enjoying urban life in

the Rockville Town Center. Community leaders at

the Comprehensive Master Plan forums have been

exchanging ideas on designing the city’s future

for the year 2040. Breakout groups cover different

elements of the Comprehensive Master Plan and

of course, I chose transportation. In the breakout

group, both city planners and community leaders

with different viewpoints engaged in a vigorous

yet constructive dialectic.

There was universal agreement on the need for

buffer zones on Rockville Pike (Maryland Route

355) by both pro-growth and anti-growth partici-

pants. We agreed that it feels so dangerous, that

most people would rather drive than walk just

a couple of blocks. Four feet of buffer protects

pedestrians and bicyclists on the sidewalk from

cars that jump curbs, etc. It creates a strategically

walkable environment in terms of actual safety

and in terms of creating a feeling of safety.

A more in depth discussion of buffer zones and

the role it plays in the Vision Zero campaign is

part of the letter by ACT President Ronit Dancis.

Another point of agreement among participants

The American Public Transportation Association’s

April 14 monthly briefing was devoted to Mary-

land Transit Administration Administrator & CEO

Paul Comfort’s explanation of the Purple Line

contract. It provides six years design & construc-

tion and 30 years operation & maintenance. Rev-

enue service begins in spring 2022, and the project

must have a minimum of three years life beyond

the length of the contract. Comfort said the win-

ning team is the same group that did the Denver

rail project, “so we get the same people and the

benefit of lessons learned” in Colorado. See www.

purplelinemd.com/en/p3.

Shannon Hines, Senate Banking Committee ma-

jority staff—in a June 9 Capitol Hill talk to the an-

nual transportation forum of the conservative Free

Congress Foundation—said, “We’re encouraged

by the Purple Line.” Her boss, Richard Shelby (R-

AL) has been pushing transit public-private part-

nerships for years with a view to expedited federal

approval for projects requiring just 25% federal

funding.

Note: If Congress resorts to a continuing resolu-

tion to begin FY 2017, the Purple Line is likely to

get the same amount of federal funding ($100 mil-

lion) as this year. Election results potentially could

reverse that later.

Transit Times, vol. 30, no. 3, July 2016

PAGE 5

with different visions was the proposed Rockville

circulator. Currently, Rockville does not run its

own bus service, but the circulator, envisioned by

planners, would employ medium sized vehicles

that would travel along well designed routes. With

30,000 additional jobs projected for Rockville be-

tween now and 2040, an expansion of transit op-

tions could be a strategic economic development

move. City planners particularly sought our differ-

ent ideas on how to design routes from scratch.

As one possible option, I shared with them the

name of a texting app that can process an unlim-

ited number of public comment texts. During my

Vision Zero meetings, a transportation consultant

at Fehr & Peers mentioned that it had been used in

Pennsylvania to solicit input on how to improve

existing transit by posting the texting number

on buses. It cost very little to use this service.

Nowadays, people from all income levels, even

those with the lowest, have smartphones. The city

planners seemed to like my suggestion that such a

texting app for the public input process be used on

existing Metrobus, RideOn, Metro Stations, bus

shelters, Rockville public buildings, etc. because

people who would be interested in a circulator are

probably already using transit or public services

from the county and region. From their input,

some circulator routes could be designed.

The Rockville Pike tunnel that would allow for

BRT above is a hot topic of discussion. It is an

interesting idea with a variation first proposed in

a 2001 master plan. I live in the Americana in the

high rise closest to the Rockville Metro Station

and the proposed tunnel would run in front of my

building. For the time being, I will refrain from

discussing the proposed tunnel because it could

considerably affect my property value…

“Transit Maps of the World”

by Quon Kwan

The Transit Times issue of January 2009 (vol.

23, no. 1) reported that the first and only com-

prehensive collection of urban rail transit (i.e.,

elevated, subway, light rail, and streetcar) maps

was compiled by British author Mark Ovenden

into a book and published by Penguin Random

House as “Transit Maps of the World.” The book

has been updated and released as the third edition,

published in November 2015. It is now expanded

with 36 more pages, 250 city maps revised from

previous editions, and listings given from almost a

thousand systems.

The book appeared twice in New York Times book

reviews. The first time was in the review pub-

lished on November 23, 2007, written by Wil-

liam Grimes. He writes, “Why should anyone

study, transfixed, the route guide to the Budapest

subway? Perhaps because it distills the romance

of travel to a concentrated essence, a roll call of

distant place names: Porte de Clignancourt, Uh-

landstrasse, Mayakovskaya. In “Algiers” Charles

Boyer looks deep into Hedy Lamarr’s eyes and

tells her that she reminds him of the Paris subway.

Were more romantic words ever spoken?”

The second time, the book was alluded to in the

New York Times book review published on March

5, 2010, written by Stephen Heller. This is what

Heller said about the book, “Finally, what makes

a map funny? Let’s cite an example. My favor-

ite is the urban rail map that shows how you can

get from Oslo to Pyongyang “without changing

trains.” (That map, incidentally, served as a pro-

motion piece for Ovenden’s “Transit Maps of the

World.”)

Unfortunately, certain maps in the book are al-

ready out of date, but that is the nature of the pub-

lishing business: Terry Richards, who reviewed

the book in the October 23, 2015 issue of The

Oregonian made three observations: The book’s

map of Portland, Oregon Tri-Met system missed

the September 2015 opening of the Orange line

and the street car extension. Second, the imminent

opening of the Sound Transit light rail stations at

Capitol Hill and the University of Washington in

Seattle did not even get dashed lines, even though

they open in 2016. Third, a surprise in the book is

a 1.2-mile streetcar line in Whitehorse, Yukon Ter-

ritory, Canada.

Transit Times, vol. 30, no. 3, July 2016

PAGE 6

Editorial Remarks

Your Transit Times editor is Quon Kwan. Cutoff

date for receiving materials for the next publication

is September 9. Send your materials to Quon at:

qykwan@gmail.com or call him at: (h) 301-460-7454

ACT Officers/Staff:

President: Ronit Dancis

V. Pres (legislative): Jim Clarke

V. Pres (social media): Sean Emerson

V. Pres (land use & housing shortage): Dan Reed

Secretary: Vaughn Stewart

Treasurer: Nick Brand

Board Member (MARC): Ben Shnider

Board Member: Jennifer Hosey

Non-Voting ex officio board members:

Ralph Bennett: Purple Line Now!

Ben Ross: Programs

Miriam Schoenbaum: Upcounty

Webmaster: Jeri Roth

Staff: Cindy Snow & Kathy Jentz

admin@actfortransit.org / 240-308-1209

Action Committee for Transit, Inc.

P.O. Box 7074, Silver Spring, MD 20907

Transit Times

Action Committee for Transit, Inc.

P.O. Box 7074

Silver Spring, MD 20907

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