Don't Cut MARC Train Service in West Virginia
I'm testifying on behalf of the Action Committee for Transit. ACT is a community advocacy group that supports more and better transit in Montgomery County, Maryland, in addition to better infrastructure to make walking and biking safe. While we support the Maryland DOT's efforts to increase West Virginia's contribution to MARC service, we oppose the proposed cuts..
To justify the cuts, MDOT says, "The State of Maryland cannot continue to absorb the cost of transit services provided outside of the State at the expense of Maryland taxpayers." That is a lie. Maryland can absorb the $2.3 million at issue; the Hogan administration chooses not to. We note that MDOT does not object to road services provided to non-Maryland drivers at Maryland taxpayer expense, such as the proposed $77 million project to widen just 3.5 miles of I-81 in Hagerstown..
What's more, if MDOT thinks there aren't enough West Virginia riders now, with 3 round trips per day, just wait until train service is down to 1 round trip per day. Who could ride under those conditions? Instead, the former train riders will drive on Maryland roads. That might be a feature, not a bug, for the Hogan administration, but Maryland taxpayers will pay the price: more cars, more traffic, more road maintenance, less parking at Maryland MARC stations, worse air and water, more greenhouse gases, more climate change.
And finally, if these West Virginia trains go, they’re gone. In 2008, with my 2-year-old daughter on my hip, I testified against the proposal to cut the sole mid-afternoon Brunswick Line train from 5 days a week to Fridays only. It's now 2019, my daughter is in 8th grade, that train is still Fridays only, and the Hogan administration has closed off the possibility of restoring it by giving the Monday-through-Thursday time slot back to CSX..
Climate change is here, and we need more trains, not fewer. Governor Hogan has said, "For the sake of our future and the future of our children, it is time to put aside partisan interest and get to work." OK, Governor, let's do that. Withdraw this harmful and unnecessary proposal and get to work on funding and building all-day, two-way, seven-day MARC.