$2.5b in funding will be a problem, transit advocates say
Montgomery County residents could have the beginnings of a new rapid transit system in as few as three years, county lawmakers said Monday.
However, funding for the project — estimated to cost $2.5 billion — will be a hurdle, said Mark Winston, chairman of the county’s Transit Task Force. Expecting federal funding would be “unrealistic,” and “any expectation of large, lump-sum, one-time grants from the [state’s transportation] trust fund are also unrealistic.”
The system would include 23 routes of buses, using dedicated lanes in the county’s major roadways so the buses don’t get stuck in the county’s infamous gridlock. Project organizers say the new bus system would be the county’s version of Metrorail.
Organizers also insist that the project more closely resembles trains than buses.
“We don’t use the ‘b’ word anymore. We just talk about ‘rapid transit’ because it is so unlike buses as we think about buses,” said Councilman Roger Berliner, D-Bethesda and chairman of the council’s Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee. “It is closer to what light rail looks like and feels like, only it is more flexible, less expensive and can be done quickly.”
Without much hope of state or federal funding, county lawmakers are discussing a special taxing district that would encompass all parts of the county served by the new transit system. Though both residential and commercial properties would be taxed, commercial property taxes might cover the project’s capital costs, while residential taxes would cover the operational costs, Berliner said.
This approach to funding is similar to one taken in Northern Virginia, said Councilman Marc Elrich, D-at large and one of the project’s biggest advocates. Special taxing districts paid for the development around Tysons Corner and along Route 28, and Virginia uses transportation taxes to cover its transit projects.
Berliner said he expects to see the first phase of the project, which includes routes along Route 29, Route 355 and the soon-to-be Intercounty Connector, up and running within three to five years. Meanwhile, the task force hopes to see the entire project completed within 10 years, Winston said.
By 2020, the system should have 80 percent of its ridership, Elrich said.
This proposed time line is unrealistic, said Councilwoman Nancy Floreen, D-at large.
“You’re going to have to keep me in the skeptical category,” she said. “Even if we were to agree to tax everybody majorly in the county to make this happen … we can’t even build a maintenance facility for buses,” she added, referring to a project that has been in the works for many years.
