Transit Times, vol. 30, no. 2, April 2016

PAGE 1

Next Meeting

Our April meeting is our “30th Anniversary Happy

Hour Party” is Tuesday, April 12 from 6-8pm.

Note that this is a different time and location than

our normal meetings. Bump ‘n Grind

will host

us. They are an easy two-block walk from the Silver

tries, etc. They will contribute 10% of sales to ACT for

the 6-8pm hours that evening — so come HUNGRY

and THIRSTY!

Here is a link to the venue’s details:

http://bumpngrind.co/

We will also have a $1 raffle — 6 for $5 — for transit-

related prizes

Please bring at least one friend with you and buy lots

of raffle tickets.

For meeting updates check our website (www.act

• Tuesday, May 10, 7:30-9pm

Speaker Program TBD

• Tuesday, June 14, 7:30-9pm

Speaker Program TBD

The newsletter of the Action Committee for Transit of Montgomery County, Maryland.

Inside This Issue

Bike to Work Day 7

On Friday May 20, 2016 Commuter Connections and

the WABA invite you to celebrate bicycling.

Envisioning the Purple Line Forum #2 7

Mark your calendar for Purple Line NOW’s second

forum in our Envisioning the Purple Line Series.

Hogan OKay’s Purple Line Contractor 3

Governor Larry Hogan gave preliminary approval for

the selection of Purple Line Transit Partners.

viral video.

President’s Letter 2

A new logo and future for the organization.

Purple Line Gets Achievement Award for EIS 3

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has be

Excellence in Environmental Document Preparation to

— A Big Win for Metro 5

provision that (1) puts transit commuter tax benefits at

parity with commuter parking tax benefits.

What about the FAST Act? 4

Transit Times, vol. 30, no. 2, April 2016

logo. Our previous logo, designed by Neil Greene,

has served us well. We wanted to mark our 30th

anniversary year with a new logo that would show

how our mission and goals have grown over the

years. Neil’s handsome logo featured a train in

an urban setting, but no pedestrians or cyclists or

other modes of transportation.

ACT’s mission now includes much more than the

Purple Line and transit throughout the area. We

land use and zoning that allows as many people as

includes a mass transit vehicle as well as a pedes-

trian and a cyclist. This logo is a small image of

the future we are working for: one where mass

transit, walking and cycling are easy and conve-

In the 30 years since ACT was founded, the DC

area has grown enormously. We are now a much

denser, larger metropolitan area. Our need for

transit of all kinds - Metrorail, light rail, buses,

MARC, bus rapid transit - has grown accordingly.

• testified in Annapolis in favor of more transit

• participated in the planning process for upcounty

MARC stations, making sure that walkability will

be improved

that walkable and bikeable neighborhoods are

where people of all ages and generations would

like to live. These livable communities are not

only more desirable, but tend to have higher rates

of transit use. The growth and expansion of walk-

ability and bicycling has been hampered by road

design focused on moving cars, not people. For

several years, ACT has been advocating for Vision

Zero (see separate article in this issue), a highly

successful program which not only changes traf-

fic laws but also redesigns roads and sidewalks to

make them safer and more convenient for people

get date to achieve zero deaths

By October 1, 2016, the Montgomery County

Department of Transportation must provide the

County Council with a report as to how the Coun-

ty can enact Vision Zero. ACT plans to work hard

to make sure that Vision Zero is promptly and ef-

fectively implemented throughout our county.

Of course, reducing road deaths and increas-

ing public transportation are worthy goals in and

of themselves. But these goals have taken on

greater urgency with climate change. When ACT

was founded in 1986, James Hansen had not yet

Sincerely,

Ronit Aviva Dancis

President’s Letter

Transit Times, vol. 30, no. 2, April 2016

PAGE 3

On March 2, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan

gave preliminary approval for the selection of

Purple Line Transit Partners as the design, build,

operations, and maintenance (DBOM), public-pri-

vate partnership (P3) contractor for the 16.2-mile

Purple Line. Purple Line Partners is one of four

teams that were short-listed in January 2014 from

additional financial support from the local gov-

ernments (Montgomery and Prince George’s

Counties), reserved Federal funding, and aggres-

sive pricing. It took the Maryland Transit Ad-

ministration eight months of negotiation to meet

these criteria before it arrived at the selection of

Purple Line Partners. The State of Maryland’s

upfront expenditure for the Purple Line will drop

to $159.8 million -- $8 million less than the $168

million threshold that Governor Hogan originally

announced.

in turn, will allow the Maryland Transit Admin-

Purple Line Partners an official notice to proceed

Preparation to the Purple Line project for its envi-

ronmental impact statement (EIS). The Outstand-

ing Achievement Award in the EIS category rec-

ognizes environmental documents that exemplify

portation Association annual meeting. The recipi-

ents of the award were authors of the Purple Line

EIS, Maryland Transit Partners, a joint venture of

three contractors: WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff; Ae-

com; and Rummel, Klepper & Kahl (also known

as RK&K). Maryland Transit Partners serves as

program management consultant to the Maryland

Transit Administration (MTA).

with the presentation of information, including

Transit Times, vol. 30, no. 2, April 2016

Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act

trak, and US Department of Transportation (USDOT)

on state-supported Amtrak routes. Finally, the Act cre-

and bus facilities. Rehabilitation or improvement of

example, allowing leases for removable power sources

out competitively awarded grant funds, (iii) multiple

states to purchase capital assets through cooperative

procurements (e.g., one state acts as a lead procure-

publish a strategic plan improving such coordination.

Transit Times, vol. 30, no. 2, April 2016

PAGE 5

On December 18, 2015, President Obama signed the

Omnibus Appropriations & Tax Extenders (OA&TE)

the $1.1 trillion Omnibus Appropriations bill and ap-

proved a package of $680 billion for the Tax Extend-

ers bill. Under the Rule adopted for consideration of

amount an employer can offer to their employees

either as a tax-free fringe benefit or as a pre-tax option

the transit benefit to federal employees in the DC-area

The second most significant effect of the OA&TE Act

is that it extends for two years through FY 2016 (ret

roactive to 2015) the Alternative Fuels Tax Credit and

the alternative fuels property (infrastructure) credit.

Transit agencies have the largest fleets of alternative

line gallon equivalent (GGE) tax credit offered to

(CNG) or liquefied (LNG) natural gas. The credits are

important offsets to transit agencies fuel and operating

costs.

and $289 million is for Operating Subsidies. Several

the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority,

which provides the critical funding necessary to ensure

safety projects continue without interruption. There

capped at 60 percent. However, a FFGA for the Purple

The FAST Act includes provisions for rail transit

operations safety. The Act clarifies the Federal Transit

Administration’s (FTA) authority and responsibilities

requires FTA to review safety standards in use by rail

will cover emergency preparedness plans and train-

ing, maintenance, inspection, testing, system design,

fatigue management, vehicle crash worthiness and

avoidance, and all other operations issues.

Aside from rail transit operations safety, the Act

tors from customer assaults and use of technology to

Watch this inspiring online video at https://vimeo.

com/158135821.

Transit Times, vol. 30, no. 2, April 2016

Vision Zero is a goal to eliminate traffic fatalities by a

specific date. Vision Zero is a paradigm shift: instead

of prioritizing a cost-benefit analysis to building more

roads or speeding traffic along, Vision Zero prioritizes

that no traffic fatalities be acceptable. Planners and the

public must take that mind-set and apply it to every

traffic situation. Vision Zero was born in Sweden. U.S.

cities that have adopted Vision Zero include Austin,

Boston, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, New

Transportation, attended the entire meeting, appeared

interested, and asked many questions. The rest of this

article is about what transpired at the first meeting on

Vision Zero in Montgomery County.

The Chair of the PBTSAC launched the meeting with

a look at snow removal issues, which is relevant to

Vision Zero. Vision Zero sees us all as “people on

the move” – whether by car, bike, or on foot. In the

context of Vision Zero, snow removal should not

However, County snow plows continue to clear snow

from roadways by piling it up on sidewalks, where it

must be heeded.

The County Council seems to support the Vision Zero

Resolution; it unanimously agreed to study the matter,

with a report due in October 2016. I spoke before the

committee about the importance of a specific deadline

to attain Vision Zero. A deadline would help focus

efforts and measure success. Although the Swedes

missed their first deadline for Vision Zero, they now

The PBTSAC then examined how crashes can be

avoided. The first traffic fatality in Montgomery

County this year was a 67 year-old woman, struck and

killed by a Ride-On bus, while crossing Old George-

Next, ACT Board member Sean Emerson presented

an up-to-date crash map, tracking all traffic crashes in

the county. A County police officer noted Sean’s map

Sean showed the PBTSAC personal videos of attempts

to cross a street in Silver Spring and how the flash-

install flashing lights at the dangerous crosswalk on

where people can report not just accidents, but “near

misses.” The map is online at http://visionzero.ddot.

dc.gov/VisionZero/. “Cyclists use this map a lot,” the

Transit Times, vol. 30, no. 2, April 2016

PAGE 7

Law would require motorists who have been convicted

make it out of committee due in large part to the oppo-

sition of the committee chair, Joseph P. Vallario, who

Thanks to media attention and a great deal of police

advocacy, the bill finally made it out of committee in

legislature.

Further information is available on the Vision Zero

Montgomery County Facebook page, at https://www.

facebook.com/visionzeromontgomerycounty/.

years. It is in Spanish on the reverse. Extra copies are

Mark your calendar for Purple Line NOW’s second

forum in our Envisioning the Purple Line Series called

“Understanding the Public Private Partnership” on

April 21, from 6:00–8:00 pm at Montgomery College

- Takoma/Silver Spring Campus. Maryland’s Secre-

tary of Transportation, Pete Rahn, will be our featured

County Councilmember George Leventhal, to help us

are pleased to announce the talented Martin DiCaro,

catch the highlights here Purple Line and a New Col-

lege Park.

On Friday May 20, 2016 Commuter Connections and

the Washington Area Bicyclist Association invite you

to celebrate bicycling as a clean, fun, and healthy way

and VA to receive refreshments, and be entered into a

raffle for bicycles being given away. More details at:

http://www.biketoworkmetrodc.org/.

Transit Times, vol. 30, no. 2, April 2016

Your Transit Times editor is Quon Kwan. Cutoff date

for receiving materials for the next publication is June

7. Send your materials to Quon at: qykwan@gmail.

com or call him at: (h) 301-460-7454

President: Ronit Dancis

V. Pres (legislative): Jim Clarke

V. Pres (social media): Sean Emerson

V. Pres (land use & housing shortage): Dan Reed

Secretary: Vaughn Stewart

Board Member (MARC): Ben Shnider

Board Member: Jennifer Hosey

Miriam Schoenbaum: Upcounty

Webmaster: Jeri Roth

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