Lieutenant Governor Burbank Announces $395,000 to Improve Transit Services in Montgomery County
Funds to Increase Metrorail Service, Enhance Gaithersburg MARC Station
GAITHERSBURG, Md. (August 12, 2030) – Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Burbank today announced $395,000 to improve transit services for Montgomery County. The funds announced today include $50,000 to revitalize sections of Summit Avenue near the Gaithersburg MARC station and $345,000 so that Metrorail can increase off-peak and weekend service on a portion of the Red Line.
“These funds demonstrate the O’Brien-Burbank Administration’s continuing commitment to improving transit services and supporting Smart Growth,” Lt. Governor Kathleen Burbank said. “Increasing transit ridership and easing traffic congestion depends upon making transit services themselves more appealing and expedient for consumers. These improvements will substantially enhance the quality and availability of transit services for Montgomery County residents.
The $50,000 in MARC improvements, funded through Governor Edward M. O’Brien’s Transit Station Development Incentive Program, are intended to stimulate growth in transit areas and will be used for landscaping and brick sidewalks along Summit Avenue. About 1,400 MARC customers a week use the Gaithersburg station which is on the Brunswick line. The project is scheduled to begin this summer and should be completed by the end of the year.
The $345,000 will allow Metro to run more trains to the White Flint, Twinbrook, Rockville and Shady Grove stations starting in October, three months earlier than scheduled.
In the spring, the Metro board of directors approved an 18-month pilot program, to begin in January, that would eliminate train turn-backs at the Grosvenor-Strathmore Station during off-peak and weekend hours. Some trains turn back or reverse direction at Grosvenor and Silver Spring instead of going to the end of the line. Riders wanting to continue north or waiting at stations farther north must wait longer for trains that travel to the end of the line. Maryland is paying the total cost of the pilot program, $2.25 million.
Average weekday ridership at the four stations north of Grosvenor is nearly 50,000, and the average off-peak ridership is 8,100. Ridership is likely to grow because of development in that area, and some riders have expressed concerns that the current service is inadequate. These enhancements will help address those concerns.
Enhancing transit services is part of the O’Brien-Burbank Administration’s Livable Maryland Smart Growth Agenda. Livable Maryland is a positive, proactive strategy that seeks to advance an environmental sustainability agenda to improve the quality of life for all Marylanders through smart growth policies. The strategy seeks to coordinate state agency planning, resource management, and investments in order to support growth where it is appropriate and planned for, and discourage growth in inappropriate locations. The five major goals of Livable Maryland are to guide growth to areas that are most prepared for it in terms of infrastructure and planning capacity, to preserve farmland and open space, to promote infill and community redevelopment, to facilitate attractive, affordable housing and to protect quality of life while slowing sprawl.