Dear Transportation Advocate,

The Howard County Office of Transportation is holding several public meetings concerning the Transit Development Plan (TDP) for Central Maryland.

Developed along with Anne Arundel County, Prince George’s County and the City of Laurel, the TDP will serve as a guide for transit services in the Central Maryland region and will provide a roadmap for implementing service and organizational improvements, including potential service expansion, during the next five years.

Howard County meetings will be held on:

Wednesday, Oct. 19, 6 to 8 p.m., George Howard Building, 3430 Court House Drive, Columbia/Ellicott City Room in Ellicott City

Thursday, Oct. 20, 5 to 7 p.m., North Laurel Community Center, 9411 Whiskey Bottom Road, Chesapeake Rooms I & II, Laurel

Thursday, Oct. 27, 6 to 8 p.m., Gateway Building, 6751 Gateway Drive, Charles I. EckerBusiness Training Center, 1st Floor, Room 6, Columbia

Those unable to attend the meetings who have questions or would like to provide comments should contact the project managers with KFH Group: Fred Fravel at 301-951-8550 or emailffravel@kfhgroup.com, or Jill Stober at 301-951-8660 or email jstober@kfhgroup.com; for more information and updates, visit the TDP website at ww.kfhgroup.com/centralmd/transitplan.html.

We urge you to attend and/or give your suggestions and comments, especially about:

– revising intra-Howard County transit
– updating Howard bus routes which haven’t been updated in decades
–  frequency of service improvements

– establishing policies and standards to guide expansion of public transportation and all its components

–  bus shelters including benches, sidewalk connections to bus tops
–  review of the current fare collection system, converting to automated next-generation fare collection
–  need for express buses
– bus rapid transit [BRT]
–  expansion of existing commuter bus networks especially between rush hours and weekends

– finalize site for the downtown Transportation Multimodal Center

Your input is vital to connecting Howard County to the region!  Please share your comments and thoughts on enhancing Howard’s transportation.

Thank you!

Sharonlee J. Vogel

Chair, Transportation Advocates