Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett announced today that he has reconvened the County’s Transit Task Force.
In a letter to Task Force Chair Mark Winston, Leggett asked the Task Force to make recommendations relating to how to “… establish a plan for the implementation of as much of the [high quality bus rapid transit] network as is financially and organizationally feasible.”
Leggett has asked that the Task Force use as the starting point for its deliberations the proposal he made last year for State enabling legislation authorizing the County to adopt certain financing measures and form a transit agency to allow development and operation of the transit network.
“Setting up the transportation system for Montgomery’s future is not easy, but is critically important,” said Leggett. “A Bus Rapid Transit system will give County residents more transportation options, help the environment and is absolutely necessary to foster the creation of 100,000 new jobs in the County over the next decade. That means more good jobs and a bigger tax base.”
The Task Force held the first session of this round of meeting on Wednesday, April 22nd.
The Task Force and Working Groups on organizational and financial matters will be meeting weekly between now and September 30th, the date on which Leggett has asked the Task Force to report its findings and recommendations to him and the County Council.
All Task Force meetings are open to the public. Information on the meetings and the Transit Task Force are available at http://www6.montgomerycountymd.gov/Apps/cex/transit2015/.
The Task Force will hold a County-wide public forum on the evening of June 17 with the location to be announced.
The Task Force held its initial round of meetings during 2011 and 2012, at which time the Task Force recommended the development of a network of high quality bus rapid transit corridors (now sometimes referred to as the “RTS network”), to serve the County and neighboring jurisdictions. The County Council adopted a Countywide Transit Corridors Functional Master Plan in December 2013.
