The group charged with improving Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett’s controversial pitch for an independent transit authority will hold a public forum June 17.
The county’s Transit Task Force, the group Leggett revived this spring to examine his proposal, will allow 40 people to speak at the forum for up to three minutes each and will take written comments until July 1.
Earlier this year, after heaps of criticism from civic leaders, Leggett asked state lawmakers to withdraw a state bill that would’ve enabled the creation of the independent transit authority.
Leggett’s rationale is that the authority’s independence from county government would make it more flexible and more able to take on debt when it comes to building the county’s planned bus rapid transit network.
But critics of the proposal, including many who oppose bus rapid transit, said the transit authority as first proposed would’ve been allowed to tax county residents outside the county charter limit. Many also questioned how much oversight the county executive and County Council would have over the authority, which would be run by its own board.
“First, it is really a quasi-independent authority,” read a presentation presented to the Transit Task Force by county officials earlier this year. “It will still be responsible to the [county executive] and County Council. The central problem is that the County needs financial flexibility and innovative ability in order to make these timely investments. Current structures and other constraints unduly limit the County’s ability to do this.”
The Transit Task Force, made up of local elected leaders, regional transportation officials, transit advocates, civic leaders and business representatives, has been charged with examining and perhaps improving the proposal.
Mark Winston, chairman of the task force, said in May that there’s no guarantee the group will support the idea of an independent transit authority. Leggett has given the group a Sept. 30 deadline for recommendations.
"Among other issues the Task Force will want to consider are: (a) whether removing this unique investment in transit development and operation from the constraints of the Charter limits is necessary and appropriate in order to finance the development and operation of the RTS network," Leggett wrote in a letter formally reviving the task force, which a few years ago submitted a report outlining the possible bus rapid transit network.
That network has been slightly more refined since that time, thanks to a countywide master plan dedicated to possible bus rapid transit routes.
The system as proposed would include 10 corridors and more than 80 miles that could cost anywhere from $800 million to $1.5 billion to build.
County officials said in March that studies of a Rockville Pike/Wisconsin Avenue corridor should produce cost estimates, phasing plans and ridership studies by the summer of 2016. Those studies will also include the Route 355 North, U.S. Route 29 and Veirs Mill Road corridors.
Residents and others hoping to speak at the June 17 forum can call 240-777-7165. Written comments will be accepted at the “Contact Us” section of the Transit Task Force’s website.
