Tucker:             Welcome to The County, where we examine issues important to Baltimore County, Maryland, explore our vibrant communities, and introduce you to some of the best people and places the county has to offer. I'm your host, Tucker Cavanagh. Today, we're talking about transportation in Baltimore County.

Johnny O.:          I would say there are two significant challenges relative to getting around in Baltimore County.

Tucker:             County Executive, Johnny Olszewski, is reenvisioning how we approach the transportation challenges the county residents face.

Johnny O.:          One is just the traffic and physically getting around, so people who are in cars and vehicles, for example. Both the quality of the ride, the road surfacing issues, but also just traffic generally, and understanding that, especially on the west side of the beltway, some of the backups and delays that people are experiencing, that impacts their ability to get to childcare, or their child's little league game or work.

Johnny O.:          Then for other people, this last mile connectivity. Where there is transit, where transit options exist, whether it's a bus or the Metro out in Owings Mills, we find that people, once they all are off a stop, there's a distance and a gap between the terminus of that ride and their actual employment, or those other needs, work, school, childcare.

Johnny O.:          There are two, I would say, parallel issues and challenges that we're trying to tackle both. I think that they're interrelated to the extent that we have a more integrated transportation system. We're both alleviating that congestion, but also addressing actually getting people to the places they want to go.

Tucker:             The ease with which people can get around has a major impact on quality of life. The county is now home to more than 830,000 residents. As the county has grown, so too has traffic around the region.

Tucker:             The county has also become significantly more diverse, and more people than ever rely on public transportation, but getting around on public transit isn't always efficient. Say you live in Middle River and work at Amazon, or Under Armour at Tradepoint Atlantic, the complex that now sits in Sparrows Point where the Bethlehem Steel mill once stood. By car, your commute would take somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes, but if you ride the bus, it will take you an hour and a half to two hours. We recently spoke to some riders about their experiences.

Tucker:             What do you do?

Speaker 3:          I do overnight stocking at Walmart, and I work at GBMC during the day.

Tucker:             How long would you say it takes to get to work and home after?

Speaker 3:          On the bus here, it probably takes about 18 minutes to get to my house from Walmart and home. I catch it going to Towson, and it takes me about maybe an hour and a half.

Tucker:             Is that just one bus or you got to take ...

Speaker 3:          No, I take two different buses going to Towson.

Tucker:             This rider's experience is not unique. If you ride the bus, accessing job opportunities in different parts of the county can be a real challenge. Mary Manzoni is the Manager of Career Solutions with the county's Department of Economic and Workforce Development. Her work focuses on helping people connect with career opportunities.

Mary Manzoni:       Well actually, in Baltimore County, for anyone to get to work, sometimes they could be on a bus for two hours, getting from one side of the county to the other side of the county. We recently just completed our Summer Youth Employment Program, and we had a handful of youth who could not participate because of transportation. They just couldn't get to their jobs. We had one young gentleman who actually had a job, and he had to walk a mile from where the bus dropped him off to his employer site.

Tucker:             I spoke to another rider who struggles with getting to work on time because of the long commute.

Speaker 5:          Sometimes they are on time, but other than that, they late. I'm going to be late for work, especially the 62. I'm late for work just about every day waiting for this bus. I catch the bus from Har`ford Road and 25th, to downtown, catch the Orange Line all the way out here.

Speaker 5:          I got to get up at 5:30 in the morning to be to work by 8:00. It takes me like a hour, 45 minutes to get to work.

Tucker:             Where do you work at?

Speaker 5:          The Arc, Dundalk. I depend on transportation. They get me back and forth to work.

Tucker:             Are folks at work, at The Arc, are they pretty understanding that it could take longer each day?

Speaker 5:          Yeah, they pretty understanding because they know I travel on the bus, and I do get there, I try my best to get there, but I'm also a driver. I got to pull out my lot by 8:10.

Tucker:             You got a schedule to keep too

Speaker 5:          I have a schedule to keep too.

Tucker:             There's folks depending on you.

Speaker 5:          Depending on me because I got to pick my clients up and bring them back to the center. They depending on me to be there to pull out at 8:10. If I pull out later than that, then I'm late picking them up, and getting back to the center.

Tucker:             That just throws everything else off.

Speaker 5:          It throws everything else off.

Tucker:             The bus system that serves Baltimore County and the entire region is operated by the Maryland Transit Administration, or MTA. Other transit options that serve the county, like the Metro and light rail are also operated by the MTA.

Tucker:             Many residents were disappointed when Governor Hogan canceled plans for the Red Line project, which would have connected the region east to west. Recognizing a need for greater connectivity and availability of transit options, the county executive is looking at ways the county can fill in the gaps.

Johnny O.:          People would be surprised to learn how many people in Baltimore County rely upon public transportation to get to and from work, play, childcare, school. We know that to the extent we expand those opportunities it will be utilized. We're seeing incredible growth and transformation at Tradepoint Atlantic, and they're struggling to get employees to that site, many of whom are Baltimore County residents.

Johnny O.:          Making it easier for both our people, but also our businesses is a critical challenge. Many of those workers are using buses and other public transportation. We're trying to make it really easy to connect employers to work, and work to employers.

Tucker:             Olszewski is talking about better serving county residents with transit options, but he's also talking about a new way of thinking about transit and transportation in Baltimore County.

Johnny O.:          Metro Center and Owings Mills is Baltimore County's only official transit oriented development at this point. I like to think about transit oriented development from a even more global perspective, where we just find ways to integrate transportation connectivity to all that we do, and all the investments we're making. While Metro Center is a wildly successful project by all accounts, we're also thinking about how do we take better advantage of the incredible investments being made in Towson, for example.

Johnny O.:          There we are pulling together the six largest institutions with employee bases, and we're working to create and stand up a Towson Circulator project. We think that will be successful connecting people to work and play. We're also investing a million dollars. It's the first ever capital investment for bike lanes and pedestrian access.

Johnny O.:          We know that making our communities more walkable, more bikeable speaks to that thinking about transportation as an integrated part of the development process, so that people can get around, and that we're pushing back against traffic congestion, we're making it easier for people to access services. Those are all quality of life things that I believe in the long-term will serve us well.

Tucker:             Historically, Baltimore County has not placed a great deal of emphasis on investing in transportation options other than roads, but as Olszewski suggested there are a lot of ways the county can provide more options for people who can't or don't want to travel by personal vehicle. There has long been talk of exploring a circulator option for the Towson area, and Olszewski included funds in his first budget to begin planning for a pilot. The hope is that the pilot could also expand to other commercial corridors in the county.

Tucker:             The circulator was among the recommendations made by Olszewski's transition team earlier this year to help the county reenvision how it approaches transportation. They also recommended adding capacity within local government to more strategically plan transportation networks and options. One of the first steps Olszewski took toward accomplishing that goal was to hire Sam Snead, the Lead Transportation Planner within the Department of Public Works.

Sam Snead:          I lead all transportation planning efforts related to transit, roadways, freight, and I coordinate with our Regional Planning Commissions in our State Transportation Department.

Tucker:             Sam is exploring a number of innovative approaches that could provide more options for people who need that last mile connectivity the county executive was talking about

Sam Snead:          Some of the more traditional lean-on circulator option that would provide first and last mile service within certain commercial quarters.

Sam Snead:          Another is microtransit. It's very innovative in that it's a smaller vehicle. Each passenger is able to have their own door. It can be hailed by app, or phone, or physical hail, and it operates in a two to three mile radius, rather than your traditional fixed route line.

Sam Snead:          Another innovation to consider is adding mobility hubs at the 18 commercial revitalization districts where you tie in microtransit, as well as dockless vehicles so that people can make that first and last mile trip.

Tucker:             Of course, the county can't just throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. Innovations have to be backed by data that show they're necessary.

Johnny O.:          I would say that everything that we're doing in this administration is about data-driven governance. We know that that line heading to Sparrows Point, is one of the more highly utilized. I think it justifies continuation, potential expansion, and I think it also feeds against the narrative that some people say about not having many people in Baltimore County who use public transportation, so using that data to tell the story of why it's needed.

Johnny O.:          Part of why I think that that line in particular is so successful because it does terminate at the actual employment centers. Knowing that it can take two hours to get from Middle River to Tradepoint, is an important data point, because we know that that negatively impacts the quality of life for our residents and our employees.

Tucker:             In the spirit of gathering data, the county executive has released an online survey to gather input from residents about how they travel around the county, whether they feel the options available to them are effective and efficient, and what they would like to see in the future. Baltimore County can't solve the transportation challenges residents face alone, the state also plays a key role.

Tucker:             Each year, the state releases its Consolidated Transportation Program, which is essentially a six year plan for how the state will invest capital dollars in transportation. Olszewski has asked for a number of key investments this year.

Johnny O.:          We are grateful for what the state has done to date, but we need the state to be a better partner. I will say that it was devastating when the governor chose to cancel the Red Line. That would have been a really meaningful and significant east-west connection, not just for Baltimore County residents, but for the entire Baltimore metropolitan area. It would've connected MARC, and the light rail, and various other transit options that would have really exploded our potential to move people around. That billion dollars of investments from the state perspective, not counting the federal dollars lost, we're seeing the impact of that. We're seeing the traffic congestion, we're seeing the lack of accessibility. While not trying to dwell on that, we're now trying to proceed.

Johnny O.:          In Baltimore County, as we continue to prioritize, for example, the Dolfield exchange off of 795, we've been told now for over a decade it's a project that's on hold and we're hopeful that the Department of Transportation finally steps forward to fund that kind of project, as well as working with us to find more meaningful east-west connections across Baltimore County.

Johnny O.:          We are actively supporting, for example, the regional transit planning process being led by the MTA, but we're hopeful that as part of that, that we're seeing the investments both in road infrastructure in the county, but also thinking more robustly about how do we move people through transit, that's something long overdue.

Tucker:             No matter what investments the state makes, it's clear that the county is changing the way it approaches transportation challenges.

Johnny O.:          Prior to taking office, I would say that my experience has been that Baltimore County has been very much a let's build roads and maybe do some sidewalks. There has not been a multimodal comprehensive approach to our transportation policy.

Johnny O.:          In less than a year, in partnership with our Department of Public Works that we're now beefing up and making more of a real Department of Public Works with a transportation focus, we're thinking multimodal, we are thinking about walking, and biking, and sidewalks, and traffic safety. We're also thinking about how we connect with the region on mass transit. Of course, we're still investing in roads. Even this most recent budget put in record funding for road resurfacing, because it really has to be a comprehensive approach, and that's what we're trying to move towards, compared to where we've been.

Tucker:             We'd like to thank you for listening to this episode of The County. This episode was produced by Dori Henry and myself, with support from Media Services at the Baltimore County Public Library. The Baltimore County Transportation survey can be found at our website, baltimorecountymd.gov.

Tucker:             Do you have your own transit story or big transportation idea? Share it with us at ideas@baltimorecountymd.gov. Tune in again for more news from The County.