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hello. i'm sandy arnette. on this editionof "commuter connections," we'll take a look at excitingnew bus service for our region. ravens football is back. we'll show you the best wayto all this season's action. mta has electric vehiclecharging stations. we'll show you. and a look at a federal, state,and local partnership with the aim of improvingtransit and the community,
all here on this editionof "commuter connections." welcome to"commuter connections." as part of governorlarry hogan's plan to improvebus service in our region, mta soon will launchtwo new bus routes to transport commutersand bridge the gap for travel between baltimore and columbiaand baltimore and aberdeen. these new services willmake travel easier for manywho commute each day. mta deputy director ofplanning and programming,danyell diggs, joins us with more.
welcome to the show,danyell. thank you, sandy.thanks for having me. you're very welcome. now, we're talkingtoday about reversecommute service. um, this isa new service thatmta is offering. tell usa little bit about this whole conceptof reverse commute. sure. the intent of reverse commuteis to provide connections
to regional job centers. and so, in effort to ensurehigh-quality transportation throughout mta service area, we want to make sure thatwe look at reverse commuting to various job centers. ok. so how doesthis all fitinto the plan, the baltimorelinkplan that governorlarry hogan announcedback in octoberof last year? the baltimorelink plan,as you know,is a total rebranding,
total overhaul ofthe core transit system. um, one of the things--one of the goalsof baltimorelink, in addition to ensuringhigh-quality serviceand reliability, is to align the networkwith emerging andexisting job centers. so when we look atreverse commute, that totallyaddresses the goal. ok. so just tomake sure i'm clear, how did the wholeconcept of reversecommute come to be? well, we've heard fromvarious stakeholdersand partners.
uh, we workedparticularly withabg--apg, which is aberdeenproving ground. they did a surveyback in 2014, and there wasoverwhelming response of, "we need connectionsand commuter--commuting options to and from,um, aberdeen." um, they are looking athiring a lot of scientists, engineers whoactually want to live in a metropolitan arealike baltimore city.
oh, ok. and so it's importantfor us to providethat opportunity. they have overa thousand employees that live in and aroundbaltimore city. and so,from that feedback, we thought it was importantand critical to providereverse commute. ok. makesa lot of sense, and they do havequite a few peoplethat work there. so tell mea little bit--
i understand thereare two new routes. yes.um, what are they? and, you know,tell me a little bit about wherethey'll go. sure. so i'll startwith the 320. the 320 isan existing service. um, it--it's growingrapidly, so much so that we'veadded an additional trip,an a.m. and a p.m. trip. and the 320 travelsfrom baltimore,
through jessup, elkridge,all the way to columbia. um, and so that--that'll be implementedsoon, september 1. the next reverse commutewe're looking at is the 425, which imentioned, the aberdeen. that starts in baltimore,goes through baltimore county, um, all the way throughharford county, and ends at aberdeenproving ground. oh, wow. ok.and they're rightaround the corner. you saidseptember 1,
so that's gonna bestarting real soon. right. and you all hadpublic hearingsrecently, right, to talk aboutthe new service? absolutely.we had two public hearings. one was august 19. um, that was actuallya public hearingon the base at aberdeenproving ground. the feedback we receivedwas primarily, "could wehave additional stops?"
um, they liked the service,they thought it wasway overdue, but they wanted to haveadditional stops. we had another oneat war memorialon that 22nd of august. um, same type of feedback,that we wanted to havemore stops. and one of the other questionscame up with the last mile, and they wanted to knowabout the bicycles andthe storage space for bicycles. so things of that sort.ok. so you're ableto bring bikes oncommuter buses? well, that question came up,and it's based on--
because the commuter busis a private service, it depends onthe type of service-- the vendor itself. so, for example, 425,the academy will be-- um, have that--has that contract. and so a lot of timesthey could put itin the luggage space. and depending on how crowdedthe actual commuter bus is, you can bring the bikeon the bus. right, becausethey're likechartered buses.
you'd put, like,where you wouldhave your luggage. put it right underthe--because i knowwith the mta-- like,the city buses, they usually havethem on the front. right, right. and not all ofthe vendors, you know,private companies,have that, so... ok. so tell me--i know you mentioned aberdeen provingground.
what otherbusinesses or individualsin the areacan com-- you know, benefitfrom commute-- commuter busservices, especiallyreverse commute? well, in particular,you have your military. um, you have yourcivilian populationas well as contractors. there's a--a lot ofbusinesses along route 40, along the, um, areawhere the commuter busis traveling: paul martin drive,uh, bata boulevard.
there's a lot ofdifferent opportunitiesalong that strip. ok. so tell mequickly, what willbe the fares for the new reversecommute service? so the fares are the same. um, as you know,commuter bus,they have zones. so the fares will rangefor one-way trip, $3.00, up to $5.00,depending on wherethey get off. so for the commuter bus,both the 320 and the 320-- 320 and 425, they havewhat they call zone 1, 2, and 3.
so if you get off at zone 1,it may be $3.00. if you go the entire routeto aberdeen, it'll be $5.00. ok. and withthe new service, you have onestartingseptember 1, and that wasthe 425? 320.320?right. and thenthe other oneoctober 1? correct.and that's the 425? yes.ok.
and if viewers wantany additionalinformation on commuter busservice, wherecan they go? they can find allthis information onwww.mta.maryland.gov. ok, great. and they can go straightto the commuter bus page. ok, danyell,thanks againfor joining us. that's a lot ofgood information, and good luck withthe launch ofthe new service. thanks, sandy.
last month, federal,state, and local officialsgathered in west baltimore for the awarding ofa federal tiger grant, which will be usedto improve transit stops and communities withinthe north avenue corridor, and "mta commuterconnections" was there. narrator: federal, state,and local officials recently gathered atcoppin state universityin baltimore to celebrate the awardof the final piece needed to move the $27 millioninitiative,
known as the north avenuerising project, forward. the project is part ofgovernor larry hogan'stransformative baltimorelink transitimprovement plan. today, with our localand federal partners, we can celebrate the beginning of an efficient, effectivetransportation plan to improve the livesof many residents in this key transit corridor. i can tell youpart of our mission at mdot
is to link peopleto life's opportunities, and this projectis going to support that, along with the restof baltimorelink. narrator: revitalizationalong a 5-mile stretchof north avenue now will includededicated bus lanes, transit signal priority, bike facilities, enhancements to light railand metro subway stations, and improvementsat major bus stops,
sidewalks, streetscaping,and roadway repaving. the north avenue risingwill include a number ofmultimodal investments. there will be improvementsto sidewalks, to crosswalks, focused onpedestrian safety, improved lighting,and newly planted trees to line and beautifythe streets. also, investmentsin key bus stop improvementsalong north avenue will provide our mta customerswith more comfortableconnections with our transit system.
these are just a fewof the exciting thingsthat are in store for the north avenue corridor,and the mta is excitedto be part of all of it. i look forward to workingwith you to continue to havebaltimore's transit system be safe, efficient, reliable,and provide world-classcustomer service. narrator: this finalconsideration comesto maryland in part by a u.s. department oftransportation$10 million tiger grant to the maryland departmentof transportation and the marylandtransit administration. the grant complements$14.7 million in funds
committed by the marylanddepartment of transportation, $1.6 million from the u.s.department of transportation'sfederal highway administration, and a million dollarsfrom baltimore city. sitting on the transportation,there were a number of us who made a decision that wewanted the tiger grants to also be a part ofour transportation bill. we wanted to take it overand move it into that area. and so we did, and that's whywe're able to have this $10 million today
to, uh, to do all the thingsthat we're going to doto north avenue. north avenue isa very important corridor, and with all of the playerscoming together-- the state, the local,and the feds-- and with our private,uh, folks coming in, and at the same time withour colleges and universities, we can make this 5-mile stretcha great stretch. today's event marksthe beginning ofa transformation that's long overduehere in baltimore'snorth avenue corridor.
secretary foxxand the rest of us at dot recognize the real potentialthat transportation has in shaping communitiesaround the country. by connecting the peoplewho live in these communities to the resourcesand opportunities they needto thrive and succeed, we have a real chanceto make an impact and create developmentsthat are inclusive. this projectand projects like this that invest in transportationin our critical, uh, urban areas
are the things that will helpour communities grow. we say we can't--the congressmansays we can't forget about thosethat need transportation. we can't forget about thosethat need a hand up, in general, and those that--that need usas leaders to stand up and be innovative and thoughtfulabout the way that we useour government resources to create better opportunitiesfor those who need themthe most, and that's what thisrepresents to me. narrator: north avenuehad already been identifiedas a key transit corridor in mta's $135 million revision
of the citywide transit network,baltimorelink. mta's second-busiest bus linecarrying 4 million passengersannually runs alongthe north avenue corridor, which is one of the very fewroadways that connect the mta's metro subwayand light rail transit systems. this corridor for thesefuture improvements is home to several importantbaltimore institutions, including coppin stateuniversity and maryland institutecollege of art.
this project, which mtaand baltimore city have workedclosely together on, serves a common goalof revitalizing north avenueto its full potential. coming up next,mta has a winning game plan for getting youto ravens footballat m&t bank stadium. that's just ahead.stay with us. narrator: a "moment in transit." the more than 30-year-oldbaltimore metro subway systemwas partially shut down between the mondawminand milford mill stationsjuly 22 through august 13 to replace and repairmajor rail components ofthe aging system's interlocking.
the metro interlockingis a rail component that allows trains to cross overfrom one track to another. during the period,mta also utilized the time to perform additional neededrail replacement, track maintenance,and station improvements. during the scheduled23-day construction period-- which was necessary to addressthis critical maintenance-- mta minimized inconvenienceto customers by providing local and expressshuttle bus service
to transport customersaround the affected area. during the partial shutdown,service continued fromowings mills to milford mill, and between mondawminand johns hopkins stations. hard work and excellent planningby mta allowed customersto travel throughout the period with as little inconvenienceto travel as possible. because these interchanges,these exchanges, had gottento the end of a useful life, we were having to have some ofour trains actually slow downwhen they were on them. so now that we've madethe repairs,
it'll help us be more on time,because the trainswon't have to slow down. they can go the regular speedas they cross overbetween tracks. we also were able to makesome really nice improvementsto the stations, to the attendant boothswhile those 3 stationswere shut down. so our customers will seea faster experience, less bumpy as they cross over, and also enhanced amenitiesat some of the stations. narrator: the metro interlockingconstruction project was even completeda day ahead of schedule,
so metro customers could returna little earlier to their regular normal commuteson the system. the early wrap-upto construction was a very welcomeand well-received giftto metro customers who now have an enhancedriding experience as a result of these much neededand essential improvements. a "moment in transit." ha ha ha! ha ha!
announcer: they say that whenyou're facing extreme danger, your life flashes before you. [bells chiming] hee hee hee! announcer: if youthink that's sad, consider facing it beforeyou even have enough life to flash before your eyes. car crashes are a leading killerof children one to 13. deaths and injuriescan be prevented
by using the right car seat. visit safercar.gov/the right seat to know what is appropriatefor each age and size. ravens fans fromaround the region will bedescending on m&t bank stadium for all the fun and excitementthe season has to offer, but how are they getting there? the director of the mtaoperations control center,tom drozt, recently joined usat m&t bank stadium with the winning game planfor transit options.
hi, tom. welcome back to"commuterconnections." it's goodto have youback on the show. thanks, sandy.appreciate it.enjoy being here. thank you.thank you. so tell me,when is the first regular-seasonhome gamefor the ravens? the first regular-seasonhome game is sunday,september 11. so you knowi have to ask now.
how do you thinkthe ravens are gonnado this season? do you have anypredictions? you know what?i do. i think it's gonna besuccessful, but i want to go aheadand explain whyi believe that. well, here at the mta,there's 4 goals that we haveand we strive for every day, and that's being safe,reliable, efficient, and delivering world-classcustomer service. so i'm thinking thatif the ravens
can safely protectjoe flacco, if their team memberscan be reliable onevery single play, when they have the ball,if they can be efficientin what they do, they, too, will deliverworld-class customer serviceto their fans. great.i like that analogy.i like that analogy. if they canpull that off, they can havea really greatseason, huh? there's no doubt, yes. so what would yousay--
for those who aregonna be coming over and checking outthe gamethis season, what's the best wayto get over tom&t bank stadium? i would say the best waywould be definitelytaking light rail. light rail brings youright to the hamburg station. uh, it's very easyto have access to the rampsto and from the stadium. we do run extra trainson the ingress and the egress to go ahead and movethose passengers. ok.
also, you can take a bus, and you can also takemetro subway,as well as the marc. so you have a numberof different optionsfor getting here? yeah, definitely. ok.and what's the cost? the cost--a one-way rideis $1.70. not much at all. that's not badat all. so how early canpeople catch transit
to come overto the stadium, or if they justeven want to getdowntown? yes. so, light railon sundays operatesbetween 9:30 a.m. and 10--uh, 10 p.m. oh, ok. so they havequite a bit of time. they can be here,and thenwatch the game, and stillstay aroundfor a while and hang outall day. yes, without a doubt.ok.
so, um, tell me too. now, i know thatyou mentionedthe fare, $1.70, so that's not bad. what are some ofthe other benefits for taking mta overto the game? so--so, definitely,i believe, um, you know, you're able to enjoythe football experience from the timeyou leave your houseuntil the time you get back. and what i mean by thatis that, you know, you don'thave to worry about the driving.
you don't have to worryabout the congestion. you don't have to worry aboutwhere you're gonna parkand those kind of costs, and you can justkind of relax and enjoyyour family and friends in, uh, gettingto and from the game. ok. now, thatsounds great.that sounds great. and i understand,too, that thebaltimore ravens have an operationscontrol center. um, tell mea little bit aboutthat center, you know,what goes on there,
and how does thatassist withmta transit on those game days. they do have a staff memberthat participates in the-- their occ here atthe ravens stadium, and what it does,it allows everybodywho's working the stadium to provide that, uh,world-class customerservice to the fans. it just--it allows the--our staff memberto be available. if there's any requestthat they need from mta, mta is on site,and they can respondback home to our occ
to go ahead and honorthose requests. ok. so i guessa good examplewill be if it's a night game,for instance, andmaybe it goes over, you can communicateif trains will berunning, you know, a little longerin the eveningto get people back to wherethey need to go? definitely. so that person isthe liaison between mtaand the baltimore ravens uh, for what needsto be done.
and a lot of times,it's good to havesomebody on site so we could actuallysee and feelwhat's happening here at the stadium,and we can relay back thatto our control center so we can go aheadand put trains in place, or different supervisorsin place related tothe platforms. oh, ok. sounds good. sounds like it--it's a good workingrelationship just to make surethat customersare in and out and there areno problems.
yes, definitely. it definitely helps thingsmuch run smootherand much quicker. ok. ok, great. now, if anyone needsany information on taking mtato the game, either for thekickoff on sunday,september 11, or for any ofthe ravens games, where can they gofor moreinformation? definitely if they'relooking for informationrelated to transit,
then i would suggestthat they go to the mta websiteand follow the different links that'll get themthe information thatthey're looking for. or even if they went tothe baltimore ravens website, that, in turn, will havea link that'll redirect themback to the mta website so they can get any of theirtransportation information. oh, ok. great.tom, thanks again. i appreciate youjoining uson the show. well, thank you,and go, ravens! go, ravens!that's right!
coming up next,mta is working hardto make the commute a better one for thosewho have electric vehicles. that's just ahead. [baby cooing] [child laughing] girl: look, mom!no hands! students: 9, 8, 7... [bike bell dings] [girl laughing]
[indistinct conversation] professor: quiet.please be seated. [phone ringing] woman: hello? [boing] [film reel spinning] minister: you maykiss the bride. [applause] [man exhaling]
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goodwill: donate stuff,create jobs. mta is working hardto bring safe, efficient, reliable transitwith world-classcustomer service to public transportationin maryland. as part of that effort,mta has installed electricvehicle charging stations at a number of mta facilitiesin our region. this is to assist commuterswho have electric automobiles. mta coordinator patrick mcmahonrecently joined me at the martin state airportmarc station
for a look at these newelectric vehiclecharging stations. hi, patrick.welcome to the show. thank you very much. now, we're here todayto talk about electricvehicle charging stations at mta facilities. tell me, how did that ideacome to be? it started out in 2011,so that was a littlebefore my time at mta. but as i understand,the initial, uh,projects were funded through the stimulusgrant and throughsort of other efforts
to encourage electricvehicle charging. um, and we firststarted out with, uh, locations at bwi airportand the white marshpark and ride. and over the lastseveral years, we've installeda wide variety of electric vehiclecharging stations at rail and buspark and ridecommuter bus stations throughout the state. um, and each timewe're trying to workto implement, uh,
generally programs, uh, programs from otherstate or federalagencies. um, and for the 11--11 locations that we've beenworking on most lately, those were funded bythe maryland energyadministration through a grantfrom them. now, i know we're hereat the martin state airportmarc station, um, where we have the e.v.charging technology in place. where are some of the othertransit facilities that wehave similar technology,
and, um, when didthe service begin? well, actually,these are--there are 11 that were fundedthrough this grant. but there are a totalof 20 locations that mta has installedsince 2011, and then there aretwo other stations. um, at penn station,uh, baltimore city has installed electricvehicle charging. and at the arundel millspark and ride,
a local property ownerthere installed electricvehicle charging there. so there are a totalof--of 22 of our rail and/or commuter buspark and ride locations that have electricvehicle chargingavailable. so tell me a little bit,when someone pulls upand wants to use the e.v. charging station,how does it work? if you just pull into--to a station like hereat martin state, and you look and seewhether theparking spaces in front of theelectrical--electricvehicle charger
are available, um, and there are twoparking spaces at mostof our locations. at west baltimore marc,we have 3 spacesavailable. and at white marshand at penn station--and not at penn station, at bwi, we have5 spaces availableat each of those. and so you'd simplypull into here, you'd tap yourchargepoint card there. and you'll geta chargepoint card if you own an electricvehicle--they'llprobably give it to you
when you purchasethe car. and then that willallow you to releasethis plug, and you can plug thatright into your car. and if you're gonefor 6 to 8 hoursfor a regular work day, you should be able to,uh, come back to afully charged vehicle. how long does it take toactually fully charge a car? it really varies bythe type of car andthe type of charger, but in general,uh, we havelevel 2 chargers, and so they shouldbe able to chargethe vast majority
of electric vehiclesduring the course ofa regular work day. and so we really aretargeting this at, um, at people that areworking a full work day and using mta as theirprimary commute mode. uh-huh. and so theypull in here,they park their car, they charge it duringthe course of the day, and that shouldtake them-- that should fullybe able to chargetheir vehicle
in vast majorityof cars. so when you say level 2,that's for, like,8 hours or more? yeah, roughly--roughly 6 to 8 hours should be able tocharge a--charge a car. ok. so what did it taketo install these? like, what's the cost? how much time, you know,did it take to actuallyget these up and running? um, the charger itselfis--is one of the costs, and so that's--that runs us, i think,$3,000 to $5,000.
the bigger cost isin terms of getting the power fromthe electrical panel over to this location,making sure we have enough electricalcapacity at the panel and bringing the conduitover here. um, there's a lot ofconstruction managementto make sure-- you're dealing withelectricity, you wantto be very safe, and so we do a lot of--a lot of oversightand management to make surethat constructionall goes correctly.
oh, ok. so what's beenthe public reaction? i mean, what feedbackhave you heard? well, i think overallit's been very good. there's stilla very limitednumber of folks that are usingelectric vehicles. i think it's less than-- roughly 1% of allvehicles in marylandare electric vehicles. and so we're parting--we're trying touse this as a way to both supportthe people that haveelectric vehicles
and to encourage peoplewho might not havean electric vehicle to consider it and tosee it as an option and to know that ifyou're riding transit, you can also, uh,use an electric vehicleto get there. and so it's been avery positive response from electric vehicleowners and, i think, from other folkswho've seen that electric vehiclescould fit within their regulartransportation use.
and it's always nicebecause you get parkingright up front, right? uh, it really variesby the location. it depends onwhere the power is. and so--so, here,it's--it's very closeto the platform. at other locations--halethorpe, it'sa little more distant. we've also tried to makesure that we're tryingto limit the ability-- the extent thatwe're taking awayparking spaces from other users. so if someone wantsto get more information,where can they go?
um, there's a coupleof different pieces. one is we have a mapon the mta website, um, that has a mapthat shows where all theelectrical vehicle-- electric vehiclecharging locations areat mta facilities. there's alsoa nonprofit, um, that has a websitecalled marylandev.org, and that has a lot ofinformation about electric vehiclecharging in maryland. oh, ok. wonderful.well, this is good to hear.
thank you so muchfor joining us. great.i appreciate it. thank you. we've come to the end of another"commuter connections" program. thanks for joining us.we'll see you next time. take care.
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