Next Action Steps for Repealing the Farebox Recovery Mandate

Over the last couple of weeks, you wrote to your delegates in the House to tell them to repeal the farebox recovery mandate.

The farebox recovery mandate is a state rule that says 35% of the total operating costs for MTA's Baltimore area services must be recovered from fares and other revenues. This forces MTA to be regressive, it stifles ingenuity in route planning and service delivery, and it prevents forward thinking conversations around public transport from occurring. 

Thanks to your action on the House side, this issue is now coming up for vote in the Senate, and we once again are calling on you to take action. The vote should take place today, so send your email now!
 

Tell your Senator to vote yes on SB 484 using the form below!

→ Read more about the farebox recovery mandate. 

BCDOT Revises Bike Lane Snow Removal Policy On Eve of Storm

The Snow Removal Policy conflicts with the existing Complete Streets Policy

After business hours this evening before a major snow event, BCDOT updated their policy on clearing snow from bike lanes, contradicting their own existing complete streets policy and putting the safety of people who ride bikes dead last.

In public meetings and in discussions with Bikemore prior to the issuance of this memo, BCDOT stated that standard snow removal equipment would be used to clear the Maryland Avenue cycle track at the same time the vehicular travel lanes would be cleared, and that specialty equipment was on call to remove snow in narrower protected facilities like Roland Avenue and the Jones Falls Trail. BCDOT's previous commitment was to have all protected bicycle facilities cleared within 24 hours of final snow fall. 

The new policy gives BCDOT broad leeway, stating that protected lanes may not be cleared for up to 48 hours after the last vehicular travel lane in the city is plowed.

Sidewalks, bike facilities, and bus stops on major roads should be cleared ahead of lower traffic roads. Making transit and bike travel safe and accessible can cut down on dangerous car travel while maintaining access to jobs and critical healthcare for those who do not have access to a car. 

Many other cities prioritize snow removal on sidewalks, bus stops, and in bicycle and transit lanes because they recognize safety of vulnerable road users must come before convenience of private automobile use. 

Toronto begins multiple round mechanical sidewalk clearing in high volume pedestrian areas after 3 inches of snow has fallen. The city commits to complete plowing of all priority bike lanes and cycle tacks on arterial roads within 6-8 hours, and full snow removal to bare pavement within 48-72 hours. 

This last minute policy change is yet another example of BCDOT's Director prioritizing the movement of cars over the safety and movement of people. It's why we launched our #DirectDOT campaign to call for new leadership, and why we're working hard to pass a progressive Complete Streets Ordinance.

Plan4Health & Greenway Trails Coalition Update

In the Fall of 2015, the Baltimore Greenway Trails Coalition was formed. Funded in part by a grant administered by the American Planning Association, Baltimore became one of 20 cities to be recognized across the country through their competitive Plan4Health Grant.

The grant has provided capacity building funds to help us do critical coalition building work — to create a collective vision for a 30 mile, multipurpose trail loop around all of Baltimore. The funding has supported staff positions at Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, Bikemore, and CPHA, technical assistance from national experts in public health and planning, and programming in the Greater Mondawmin area. As our grant funding comes to a close we wanted to both reflect on all that we’ve learned over this 18 month process and what we hope to accomplish moving forward.

The Value of Having a Vision for Trails

The vision for the Baltimore Greenway Trails Network--on street facilities and new trails to fill gaps in our existing recreation trail system that includes the Gwynns Falls, Jones Falls, Herring Run, and Middle Branch trails — is one we see championed in master plans across many different agencies and stakeholder groups.

From the New Auchentoroly Terrace Community Association to the Baltimore City Office of Sustainability — plans have been created that aspire to provide better connections to our park system, improved access to recreation, and increased opportunities for folks to choose biking and walking as their primary form of transportation.

This process laid bare how our communities most in need of increased access and opportunity are often asked repeatedly to be part of a planning process that has no real path toward implementation. Neighbors we have worked with have been asking for things like more traffic calming, better crosswalks, and more trails for decades. This tendency for community planners to inflict community engagement fatigue on our neighbors has to end. We must strive for resources that can be invested in tangible improvements, rooted in the community’s vision.

That is one of the true strengths of the Baltimore Greenway Trails process. It’s a marriage of many existing plans — ones that did countless hours of outreach — and provides a clear path toward construction. Neighbors have become critical partners in refining the plan and helping to create awareness, but it was clear from the beginning that to spend neighbors’ time or grant resources on demonstrating need is wasteful and tokenizing.

Despite sections of the trail being years off from construction, having a clear vision has also allowed us to influence planning decisions that are taking place today. Because of our work along the 33rd Street corridor, we were able to negotiate with Johns Hopkins University to ensure that private dollars being used to reconstruct a block of 33rd street between Charles and St. Paul incorporated many elements of future design plans. The improved block design not only provides state of the art accommodations for people who walk and bike, but improves safety for all users by reconfiguring turn lanes and straightening out travel lanes.

Better Engagement

One of our goals through this coalition building phase was to create improved ways to engage stakeholders in the project. We did that through maintaining an active presence at the Druid Hill Farmers Market:

Supporting artist Graham Coreil-Allen to create a demonstration project:

And creating open houses for folks to have early input into the design process:

This was in addition to ten coalition meetings that drew attendees from across city agencies, anchor institutions, the private sector, and neighborhood groups.

Next Steps

As we move from the coalition building phase into the implementation phase, Bikemore’s role in the Baltimore Greenway Trails Network will evolve. We will be supporting Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s efforts to engage neighborhoods in planning sessions, as well as advocating for continued resources and political support to make this vision become reality.

Rails-to-Trails was able to leverage Plan4Health dollars into an award from France Merrick that will support the creation of 30% designs for all the on street gaps that currently exist in the plan. From there, the City has agreed to use these designs to submit for capital grants, such as Maryland State Bikeways dollars to go toward construction.

Neighborhood engagement is ongoing. If you’re interested in having input into facilities planned for 33rd Street and the Gwynn Falls Parkway, you can participate in the following scheduled events:

Repeal the Farebox Recovery Mandate!

As transportation advocates, it is sometimes necessary to zoom out on an issue and look to understand why Baltimore City has not seen the level of transportation investment of our peer cities. 

Repealing the fare box recovery mandate is the first wall people who care about progressive transportation reform must knock down in order to further the debate on how and where we make investments in public transport. 

So whether you ride a bike or take a bus, we urge you to contact your lawmakers and tell them to support HB0271, which will repeal MTA's farebox recovery mandate.

Tell your legislators to vote YES on repealing the farebox recovery mandate:

More On Repealing the Farebox Recovery Mandate

The farebox recovery mandate is a state rule that says 35% of the total operating costs for MTA's Baltimore area services must be recovered from fares and other revenues. This mandate only applies to MTA's services in Baltimore, not other jurisdictions. This mandate on public transport service in the Baltimore area is just one of three aggressive mandates nationwide, and it is the highest mandate in the country. 

The MTA has never met the farebox recovery mandate. But since they're legally mandated to try, they have had to focus on cost cutting instead of service improvements that could bring additional revenue and ridership. This forces MTA to be regressive, it stifles ingenuity in route planning and service delivery, and it prevents forward thinking conversations around public transport from occurring. 

If we want to advance the dialogue in our city and state around progressive transportation funding and safe, reliable access for all road users, we have to start by addressing this major barrier. 

Thank you to Delegate Brooke Lierman for introducing HB0271. Co-sponsors include Delegates Anderson, Barron, Beidle, Branch, Clippinger, Ebersole, Glenn, Hayes, Hettleman, Korman, Lafferty, R. Lewis, McCray, Oaks, Robinson, and M. Washington. 

Other advocates for this bill include: Get Maryland Moving, the Central Maryland Transportation Alliance, the Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition, the Baltimore Community Foundation, and the Baltimore Sun Editorial Board. 

Thank You Caitlin Doolin

Bike and Pedestrian Planner Caitlin Doolin with the Baltimore Sustainability Turtle, former BCDOT Director William Johnson, and Bikemore Board Chair Yair Flicker.

Biking in Baltimore has improved dramatically over the past few years. Miles of new infrastructure, the launch of bike share, and an energetic new wave of elected officials and advocates that believe in Complete Streets have signaled a sea change in how we think about and plan for transportation.

As advocates, our role is often to push the city to do more. But we would be remiss if we did not recognize that it has been the talent and dedication of key staff at Baltimore City’s Department of Transportation that has enabled our vision of a bike friendly Baltimore to begin to take hold.

Perhaps no one deserves more credit than Caitlin Doolin, our City’s Bike and Pedestrian planner. Today marks Caitlin’s last day with the city. She is moving to Charlotte, NC to begin a new chapter with her fiancé. Over the past two years of her employment, she has taken her role within the Department of Transportation to new heights. We are grateful both for her leadership and service.

Liz Cornish and Caitlin Doolin at the Baltimore Bike Share Launch.

During Caitlin’s tenure she managed the planning, design and implementation for over $9 million in capital projects over two years. Due to her talent and diligence in securing state and federal transportation funding, she dramatically increased our capacity for active transportation improvements, securing $3.6 million in new funding for Baltimore City. She led the planning process that delivered critical documents such as the 2015 Bike Master Plan and the 2017 Separated Bike Network Plan that propose 80 miles of new facilities over the next five years. In under three years, Baltimore has gone from 1 mile of protected bike infrastructure to 9 miles. When the Downtown Bike Network is completed this spring, Baltimore will rank among the top ten cities in the United States for miles of protected bike lanes.

For her work in supervising the planning and launch of the largest electric-assist bike share fleet in North America, Caitlin, along with her supervisor Veronica McBeth, was awarded the 2016 WTS Innovative Transportation Award.

Caitlin Doolin at the Maryland Avenue bike parade.

Caitlin’s passion for Baltimore and for bicycling has been a critical force in ensuring our advocacy efforts take root. We are also grateful for our relationships with other key staff at the Department of Transportation who remain steadfast partners and supporters. So while Caitlin’s absence will be felt, we are confident that both our partners that remain and whomever is selected to fill her role will continue to help us advance projects that make it safer, more comfortable, and more fun to ride a bike in Baltimore.

We are also lucky that Caitlin has accepted a position with Kittleson and Associates that will allow her to work from Charlotte and continue to visit Baltimore on occasion. We can’t wait to ride bikes together on those visits and marvel at how her hard work has planted seeds that will continue to grow long after her time here.

Thank you Caitlin! Happy (bike)Trails!