One of the longest running challenges for any transit agency is how to effectively get riders from their front doors to the nearest transit stop. Too often, transit riders have encountered numerous challenges while attempting to reach the closest bus stop, light rail platform or subway station. Disconnected sidewalks, poor crosswalks, inadequate bike facilities and a lack of modern car-sharing options can create real hurdles for riders.
At the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA), we have launched BaltimoreLink: a $135 million comprehensive transit improvement plan that is re-imagining how people get to jobs, entertainment and life’s opportunities in the Baltimore area. Using current and projected population and job trends, ridership patterns and route performance data, we are undertaking a transit system redesign that will better connect our local bus, light rail, metro subway, commuter bus and MARC train services. An important component of the plan includes significant investments to address first and last mile challenges and identifies a variety of ways to improve how we can better connect our riders to MTA services.
We start by improving the pedestrian experience with better wayfinding and signage around stops and stations. We are working closely with local jurisdictions to improve crosswalks and sidewalks around key transfer facilities, which are essential to make passenger trips safer and more enjoyable. Perhaps most importantly, we are replacing all 6,500 of our bus stop signs with new, easy-to-read route information that will help guide our riders to their destinations.
Biking is a healthy alternative to bridge the gap between home and the nearest transit stop and a key part of the BaltimoreLink program. We are working with the Baltimore City Department of Transportation on its newly awarded bikes hare program and will soon have bike share docks at 10 of our light rail and metro subway stations in downtown Baltimore. We are also currently working to bolster the amount of bicycle parking options by installing bike racks at all of our 83 MTA rail stations throughout the state, as well as promoting proper bike-locking techniques through signage on our bike racks.
We want to be sure our fleet is bike-friendly too, which is why MTA passengers are able to bring their bicycles on all of our light rail and metro subway vehicles. We have bike racks on 100 percent of our local bus fleet. Not only are folding bicycles allowed on all MARC commuter trains, but we have retrofitted many of our train cars with bike racks that serve all MARC Penn Line weekend trains between Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
In addition to walking and biking, we want to be sure that modern car-sharing services are also an option for our riders. MTA is partnering with Baltimore City and private property owners to establish Zipcar facilities at our rail stations. In addition, MTA is also actively developing a microtransit pilot program to make mass transit more appealing to our tech-savvy riders. This flexible service will complement existing services where we might have overcrowding, or provide trips where we simply don’t have the resources to serve a particular geographic area.
When it comes to the first and last mile, we at the MTA are breaking down the barriers that exist by allowing our customers to easily access their closest transit stop. This is only one part of the BaltimoreLink plan designed to provide our customers with safe, efficient and reliable transit, with world-class customer service.
Paul Comfort, Administrator and CEO, Maryland Transit Administration, Baltimore, Md.
