Maryland passes gas tax increase - good news for Purple & Red Line

[afigg]

The Maryland legislature has passed a bill to increase the gas tax. It is certain to be signed by the Governor. Washington Post article on the passage, although the article also covers other bills and does not get into the implications. MD has been facing a serious transportation funding shortfall for years with the gas excise tax not having been increased in 20 years, but kicked the can down the road before. This year, facing the prospect of no funding available for any new road or transit projects by 2017 and with Virginia having raised taxes for transportation, they finally acted with by adding an wholesale gas tax which will increase in steps over the next 3 years.

The relevance to transit and to Amtrak is that the new revenue will provide funding to advance the light rail Purple Line and Baltimore Red Line projects. For those not familiar with the projects, the Purple Line will run from the Amtrak/MARC, DC Metro stations at New Carrolton to College Park to Silver Spring to Bethesda. When the Purple Line opens (sometime after 2020), it should make New Carrolton a busier stop with direct connections to the huge University of Maryland campus in College Park and the MD DC suburbs.

The Baltimore Red Line will run east-west through Baltimore, providing a direct connection from the MARC West Baltimore stop on the NEC to downtown Baltimore and the Inner harbor. It will also provide direct connections to the subway Green Line and the light rail line in Baltimore, giving Baltimore a connected rail transit system.

With two new light rail lines in the works that direct connect to the NEC, aka the MARC Penn Line, I would expect that with the additional revenue to draw on, that MD will also be looking to expand MARC Penn Line service to 7 days a week. Which means more state funding for NEC upgrade projects such as the BWI Airport station rebuild, 4th track from West Baltimore to New Carrolton, the B&P tunnel and Susquehanna bridge replacements.

 

[Ryan]

The amount of whining and complaining about this in Maryland has been epic, but I'm glad that it's finally passed. Like everything else, people want and want and want, but think the money should just come out of thin air.

The bill also helps stop the raiding of transportation money for other projects - hopefully between the two of them MARC service can really flourish. MARC has long had plans for weekend expansion, so hopefully this will be something that they can work out quickly, I was down in DC this weekend and would have loved to been able to take the MARC.

 

[afigg]

The amount of whining and complaining about this in Maryland has been epic, but I'm glad that it's finally passed. Like everything else, people want and want and want, but think the money should just come out of thin air.
The bill also helps stop the raiding of transportation money for other projects - hopefully between the two of them MARC service can really flourish. MARC has long had plans for weekend expansion, so hopefully this will be something that they can work out quickly, I was down in DC this weekend and would have loved to been able to take the MARC.

Yes, the amount of complaints and the over the top rhetoric about raising the gas tax, possibly by 20 cents, over the next 3+ years has been excessive. If someone buys 500 gallons a year for their car, at the current prices, say $3.80, they are spending $1,900 a year on gas. An extra $100 over the course of a year is going to be that big a deal? Compared to the cost of buying the car, maintenance, insurance, new tires, batteries, etc over the lifespan of the car? For an extra $100, they get better road maintenance, fewer potholes, road improvement projects, and more transit options if they live near DC and Baltimore & want to save on gas entirely.

Will be interesting to see what happens in PA and MA because they are also facing serious transportation funding shortfalls. Gas tax increase in PA would mean more capital funding for SEPTA. In MA, the T, MBTA, and the Inland Route would see a lot more funding. Last I saw it looks like VT will be raising gas taxes, NH may be blocked by the state Senate.

As for MARC, I doubt if there will any "quick" expansions to 7 day a week service on the Penn Line. Amtrak may want some NEC projects funded, started, or completed first. Even if MARC gets extra funding early on and Amtrak is willing to go along, it could take several years of planning, negotiating, logistics work to go to 7 day a week service. Meanwhile there is at least a decent frequency of Amtrak service between WAS and BAL on weekends, albeit not inexpensive on short notice.

 

[Ryan]

I *believe* that as a part of the MARC Growth and Investment plan* (which I can't believe is over 5 years old at this point) there were already negotiations and tentative agreements with Amtrak that fell through when the finding from the state didn't happen. Obviously things have changed in the interim, but if the funding appears I'm hopeful that things could happen quickly.

True that Amtrak service is available, but MARC service would be 1/3 the price, plus parking here in Odenton is free (as opposed to $9/day in the BWI garage).

* http://mta.maryland.gov/sites/default/files/marcplanfull.pdf

 

[Ryan]

Looks like the weekend MARC service may be a reality!

http://odenton.patch.com/articles/marc-weekend-service-coming-to-odenton

The MARC Penn Line could add weekend service to Odenton under provisions outlined in the transportation packaged approved by Maryland lawmakers.
Sen. Jim Rosapepe (D-21) said the Maryland Legislature gave its support for expanded MARC service during the 2013 legislative session. The plan calls for the MARC Penn Line to offer Saturday and Sunday service to Odenton, Rosapepe said.

The senator spoke Tuesday at a meeting of the West Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce in Gambrills.

Rosapepe said it was unclear when weekend service would be put in place, but that he's received indications it could go into effect by early next year. Details on frequency of trains and impacted stations have not yet been determined.

As always the comments are entertaining...

 

[battalion51]

It's still amazing to me that MARC and VRE don't run weekend service, and there is a definite train culture in that area. Smash cut to South Florida and you've got 15 round trips on the weekends with hourly service (save the last train home). I'd think that you could easily support hourly service on the Penn Line between WAS and BAL. I wouldn't think service to Perryville would provide a lot of ROI, but you never know.

 

[afigg]

Looks like the weekend MARC service may be a reality!
http://odenton.patch.com/articles/marc-weekend-service-coming-to-odenton

Maybe there will be weekend MARC service on the Penn Line sooner than I thought. However, I noticed the State Senator did not mention a start-up date. For one, the gas tax increases are spread over 3 years, so the additional revenue stream is going to increase in increments. Given lead time for adding more personnel to run the trains, adjusting the NEC schedules, could take a while to start weekend service.

GGW had a MARC news post several days ago: MARC makes improvements, plans even more. The Halethorpe station now has a high level platform on one side and is expected to be complete by June. That will leave West Baltimore as the only low level station between WAS and BAL. West Baltimore is getting expanded parking, but a rebuild of the station could be waiting on finalization of the Red Line design. With the additional revenue and funding, we should see progress resume on the plans for Penn, Brunswick, Camden line upgrades, but MARC will be competing with the Purple and Baltimore Red Line projects for funds.

If/when they do start weekend service on the Penn Line, I would expect they would start with a light schedule. Weekend service is going to have significant operating losses in the first few years, so a staggered expansion is likely. I think weekend service passenger levels will be pretty light until the light rail Red Line is running. And the Purple Line as well. Which could be 2021 or 2022 if the projects don't slip much.

 

[Ryan]

The articles says that it could start as early as next year.

I think that it'll be a hit, I know that I'll be on it pretty frequently.

 

[afigg]

The articles says that it could start as early as next year.
I think that it'll be a hit, I know that I'll be on it pretty frequently.

My bad. You are correct, the article does say he has received indications as early as next year Somehow I missed that. I might have been distracted by the comments which repeat the arguments over subsidized train services, roads, yada, yada.

I think people will take the weekend Penn Line, but I expect passenger loads will be light in the first years in large part because of the limited / poorly connected rail transit system in Baltimore. The Charm City Circulator buses will take people downtown from Baltimore Penn Station, but I don't know how many people in DC or outside of the city know about it.

 

[fairviewroad]

BWI airport help keep Penn Line weekend traffic numbers up.

 

[battalion51]

I think it's like everything else, if you put it out there, advertise it's there, and make it affordable, people will use it. For example, Tri-Rail runs a fare zone system during the week when the system is at peak demand and you can maximize revenue. On the weekends when your primary demographic shifts to more families and folks going out for pleasure they switch to a day pass that's good all day for a flat fare. I would think MARC would benefit from making a similar move to encourage folks to get off of 95/295 and on to the rails.

 

[afigg]

It's still amazing to me that MARC and VRE don't run weekend service, and there is a definite train culture in that area. Smash cut to South Florida and you've got 15 round trips on the weekends with hourly service (save the last train home). I'd think that you could easily support hourly service on the Penn Line between WAS and BAL. I wouldn't think service to Perryville would provide a lot of ROI, but you never know.

There are a number of factors in play with regards to weekend MARC and VRE service. A major one is that VRE and MARC, except for the Penn Line, operate on active NS and CSX freight lines. NS and CSX are willing to work around weekday peak hour commuter traffic, but a 7 day a week regional rail system would require a lot more capacity and additional tracks. For VRE, that means replacing or supplementing the Long Bridge across the Potomac River and expanding to 4 tracks in Arlington & Alexandria for starters. There are long term plans for MARC and VRE, but it will take cooperation from CSX and NS and considerable funds.

Another factor is the DC Metrorail system. It is a 106 mile long system which is a hybrid intercity transit and commuter heavy rail rapid transit system. The outer stations with the large parking garages provide the functionality of a commuter rail station for trips to the metro core in the evenings and on weekends. The DC Metro is expanding by 23 miles with the Silver Line which will run to Tysons Corner, Reston, Herndon, and well outside the urban core to Dulles Airport and Ashburn. The 11.5 miles of Phase 1 is approaching completion. I saw a 2 car test train running on 3rd rail power on the Phase 1 Silver Line several weeks ago. Bids were unsealed last Friday for the primary construction contract for Phase 2 to Dulles & Ashburn. When the Silver Line is completed by 2018, DC Metro will be a 129 mile system with 98 stations (assuming the Potomac Yards infill station is completed).

MARC and VRE fill in the weekday commuter system outside of the DC Metro areas, but Amtrak provides varying levels of weekend service on several of those lines. All of the above means not that much immediate pressure for 7 day VRE and MARC service

Baltimore has the more limited rail transit system. Back in the late 1960s - early 70s, there were plans for a 71 mile rapid transit system, similar in concept to the DC Metro. Unfortunately budget cuts, politics, racial issues, meant that Baltimore ended up with only one 15.5 mile subway line from Owings Mills to John Hopkins Medical center. In the 90s, the state under Governor William Donald Shaffer managed to build a 30 mile north-south light rail line, but it runs mostly along former industrial railroad ROWs, missing many of the population centers. It runs in the street to the west of the city business center. Baltimore Penn Station is off on a stub line of the LRT. The 2 lines don't connect except for a ~1 block apart "connection" at Lexington Center. Only the MARC Penn Line (aka the NEC) and the Camden line which ends at, tada, Camden Yards, serve Baltimore. And neither go downtown.

Baltimore has plans to build a true transit system, mostly light rail, not heavy, but they have spent the past decade trying to get the light rail Red Line to advance. I see the Red Line as the critical project because it will connect to the current subway line downtown via an underground passageway and connect to the MARC Penn Line at West Baltimore and Bayview (future planned station). It will provide the foundation for a integrated transit system in Baltimore for evening and weekend MARC service to connect to. But the Red Line has a 2021 projected start of service date which is optimistic IMHO.

 

[battalion51]

While there is plenty of Amtrak service, they're also not stopping at stations like Odenton, Bowie, Lorton, Woodbridge, and others. Additionally, it is not to Amtrak's advantage to sacrifice a large number of seats to folks going WAS-ALX or WAS-BAL when they could be getting a longer fare from someone going WAS-RVR, or WAS-PHL, or WAS-NYP, etc. The same is true in Chicagoland where there is overlap between Metra and Amtrak. You could take Amtrak, but it's not in Amtrak's best financial interests.

 

[Ryan]

Absolutely - anything north of Seabrook on the Penn line (which is the only line we're talking about for weekend service, so the freight concerns aren't valid) is outside of WMATA's area. In the time it takes me to drive to New Carrollton or Greenbelt, I can already be downtown on a train from Odenton a mile and a half from my house.

Add in the free parking, and the fact that the fare is about the same, and it's a sure winner.

 

[Anderson]

There's 2x daily Amtrak trains stopping at Woodbridge on weekdays and weekends. But I'll agree...at the very least, adding another Regional or two on weekends (and dumping some more stops onto 66/67...though I'd do that all along the NEC simply to make some decent use of the pad in the schedule) would make sense to me.

 

[Tracktwentynine]

I have 2 main issues* with using Amtrak on the weekend. (1) If I need to go up to Baltimore or something, Amtrak is significantly more expensive than MARC would be. And (2) the trains are reserved. For a weekend trip, things might need to be more flexible. Like, maybe I want to spend a little more time in the city to have dinner with friends. Well, gotta rebook on Amtrak, and - oh great the fare's in a higher bucket.

For casual intra-regional trips, people need to have flexibility. The MARC fare from Washington to Baltimore is $7 whether I book 12 months in advance or 30 seconds in advance. And I can take any train I feel like taking, not the particular one I reserved.

I hope that we will soon see 7-day a week all-day service on the Penn Line. I also hope that MTA replaces the later trains that were cancelled in 2008 (cutting an hour off the span of service on the Penn Line). I would also like to see midday service on the Camden Line and reverse-commute service on the Brunswick Line.

But we also need more frequent weekday trains, too. I'm not a regular MARC commuter, but I do occasionally use the service. And I've been on several crush-loaded Penn Line trains. One of my colleagues used to live in Severn and the primary reason he wouldn't use MARC was because he didn't appreciate the sardine-can experience.

*Note: The aforementioned issue about local stopping generally doesn't apply to me because I live near New Carrollton, where Regionals stop.

 

[Anderson]

I'd like to echo your sentiments on MARC with the VRE. On the Fredericksburg Line, there's workable Amtrak coverage (though it tends to be lousy if you want to head home after a casual Friday dinner, for example); on the Manassas Line? Sorry, but the Cardinal, Crescent, and a Regional (walk into a bar and blame CSX...) don't quite cut it. Reverse commute options also...really don't exist. You've basically got 66/67 on the Fredericksburg Line, and that's it.

Edit: I've got to admit that I'm intrigued by the idea of extending the Green Line, too. Has there been any talk of actually doing that?

Also, on the scope of the DC Metro: In the 15-20 year plans, it seems that they want to extend one line to Woodbridge and another to Lorton on the VA side, and there's the longer-distance BRT project along the I-270 corridor (though I can't help but wonder if simply boosting the heck out of the MARC service out to Frederick wouldn't do just as well, if not better). Of course, that brings up the need to seriously work on integrating the transit agencies in the DC area more.

 

[Ryan]

The problem with extending service to Frederick is that you have to go out of your way to Point of Rocks, and it's ssssllllloooooowwwwwwww.......

(aside from the capacity issues between DC and PofR)

 

[afigg]

Edit: I've got to admit that I'm intrigued by the idea of extending the Green Line, too. Has there been any talk of actually doing that?
Also, on the scope of the DC Metro: In the 15-20 year plans, it seems that they want to extend one line to Woodbridge and another to Lorton on the VA side, and there's the longer-distance BRT project along the I-270 corridor (though I can't help but wonder if simply boosting the heck out of the MARC service out to Frederick wouldn't do just as well, if not better). Of course, that brings up the need to seriously work on integrating the transit agencies in the DC area more.

There have been preliminary studies on extending almost all the Metro lines, the traffic analysis summary findings can be found in viewgraphs presentations from 2010 to 2012 to the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on the www.planitmetro.com website. The more prominent extensions in the early rounds included extending the Orange Line to Centreville on the Virginia end and to Bowie on the other end, Blue Line to Dale City, Green Line to BWI and to White Plains on the southern end. IIRC, extending the Red Line a stop or 2 beyond Silver Spring got good ridership numbers. They even modeled extending the Silver Line to Leesburg. The various traffic level analysis were done assuming the Silver Line, Purple Line, core DC streetcar system, Columbia Pike & Crystal City streetcar/transitways are completed/

The possible extensions that made it into the Metro Momentum Strategic plan were extending the Orange Line to Bowie, to Centreville, and the Blue Line to Potomac Mills. But the strategic plan puts the priority into expanding the core capacity first before extending the current lines with the possible Blue Line re-route to Georgetown and along M Street to Union Station, seperated Yellow line under 10th St. the interline connectors at Rosslyn, and just north of the Pentagon station.

There is going to be a tug of war between the suburban Virginia politicians who think extending the Orange Line westward along I-66 and the Blue Line southward should be the next big Metro expansion project and the planners who think that that the core capacity crunch with interline connectors, a new Blue Line route, a possible new separated Yellow Line under 10th street should be tackled before extending the lines much further in Virginia. Who pays for new routes through the DC core will be a tough challenge. Extending the Orange Line to Bowie probably could be done with the current system & planned station upgrades as much of the peak traffic from Bowie would get off by L'Enfant Plaza, so it would not overload the system.

Don't know why extending the Green Line northward did not make it pass the analysis. If CSX is not going to allow regional rail level service on the Camden Line, maybe extending the Green Line alongside the ROW (IF, this is a big IF, there is room) to Laurel MD would be a worthwhile extension.

A search for "TAG meeting" on the planitmetro.com website does a good job of turning up the links to the Tag meeting #1 to #9 presentations which cover a HUGE range of Metro expansion and revised system options that were considered. As for cooperation between the transit agencies, I would say there is a pretty good level of cooperation between them already, even as they pursue their own projects and interests.

 

[benjibear]

Extending the green line to BWI would interesting as you could link Baltimore and Washinton with Subway/Light Rail.

 

[Anderson]

That's a lot of why it gets suggested. The other key is that it would take a good deal of BWI business off of Amtrak/MARC (and indeed increase that business, in all likelihood, due to the times available), linking all three of DC's airports to the Metro system.

 

[Tracktwentynine]

Extending the green line to BWI would interesting as you could link Baltimore and Washinton with Subway/Light Rail.

Spending billions* to extend the Green Line is not the right investment choice. Especially considering the lack of density in northern Prince George's and western Anne Arundel. Running empty trains every 6 minutes on a line that costs billions (and a trip that would probably take longer than the B30 express bus connection does today) doesn't make much sense.

The better choice would be to invest in upgrades to the Penn Line so that we could have frequent, fast trains between Washington and Baltimore. I envision something like Philadelphia's Regional Rail, except that MARC's trains are capable of 125 mph, and wouldn't need to serve as much of a role in urban circulation in either Baltimore or Washington.

If the Penn Line ran every 20 minutes all day, we wouldn't need to worry about extending the Green Line. And we could make that happen for a lot cheaper.

*Note: The Silver Line to Tysons/Dulles will cost over $6 billion for 23 miles.

 

[Anderson]

Extending the green line to BWI would interesting as you could link Baltimore and Washinton with Subway/Light Rail.

Spending billions* to extend the Green Line is not the right investment choice. Especially considering the lack of density in northern Prince George's and western Anne Arundel. Running empty trains every 6 minutes on a line that costs billions (and a trip that would probably take longer than the B30 express bus connection does today) doesn't make much sense.

The better choice would be to invest in upgrades to the Penn Line so that we could have frequent, fast trains between Washington and Baltimore. I envision something like Philadelphia's Regional Rail, except that MARC's trains are capable of 125 mph, and wouldn't need to serve as much of a role in urban circulation in either Baltimore or Washington.

If the Penn Line ran every 20 minutes all day, we wouldn't need to worry about extending the Green Line. And we could make that happen for a lot cheaper.

*Note: The Silver Line to Tysons/Dulles will cost over $6 billion for 23 miles.

I'm just wondering, but how much would it take to run the Penn Line at 20-minute frequencies for most or all of the day WAS-BAL? I don't mind that idea, if for no other reason than you'd probably get a natural migration of WAS-BWI (and BAL-BWI) traffic from Amtrak to MARC, likely clearing at least some room for longer-haul riders.

 

[Ryan]

Unsurprisingly, I agree completely with T29.

I would think that you would only need more equipment to handle that kind of volume. You have it now during the rush hour peaks, I'm not sure if 3 tracks could handle that at the same time in both directions though. A 4th track would be an expensive affair to be sure.

 

[benjibear]

I beleive light rail runs every 20-30 minutes to BWI from Baltimore. It probably be more bennificial to utilize existing infrastructure and increase frequency and add Saturday/Sunday to MARC. Maybe just have survice between BWI and New Carolton to transfer to the Metro there.