Commuter bus riders in Columbia say they feel as if they have been sucker-punched.
Initially heartened by an O'Malley administration that promotes mass transit, many who spoke at a public hearing last week say they were blindsided by the state's plan to eliminate service to Baltimore and trim other routes in Howard County, starting Jan. 12.
Ridership has spiked on the imperiled Routes 310 and 311, and commuters say they feel that by using mass transit, they are doing exactly what Gov. Martin O'Malley has urged to help the environment, reduce congestion and save gas. Others say they have no alternatives and could be forced to leave jobs or drop out of classes at Howard Community College.
"I feel that somebody took the map of Howard County and put Wite-Out over Columbia, as if we don't exist," Arlysse Furlow of Columbia said during a Mass Transit Administration hearing Tuesday. "We vote. We really vote."
About 200 people packed Owen Brown Interfaith Center.
"If we can have gambling, why not a transit system?" Regina Bellina of Hanover asked examiner Simon Taylor.
County transportation planners say that up to 600 residents could lose bus service if the reductions go through. Because of lower gas tax and vehicle titling revenues, the MTA is proposing eliminating the two routes that connect Baltimore and Columbia, and the 320 route that serves the U.S. 1 corridor to Laurel. Other cuts would affect MARC train service and eliminate seven trips on bus route 929 and one trip on route 995 to Washington. No service would be offered on holidays, including the days after Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The only remaining bus to Baltimore would leave from Long Gate Shopping Center in Ellicott City, and commuters said those vehicles are already nearly full.
Route 310 has an average of 235 passengers a day, a nearly 54 percent increase since last year. Route 311 has had a 42 percent increase to 219 passengers a day, according to state figures.
Most speakers said they would voluntarily pay higher fares, though an MTA handout said that option was rejected because of the national economic woes. Fares now cover only 40 percent of the cost of the service.
County Council member Mary Kay Sigaty, a west Columbia Democrat, suggested "looking at an increase in the gas tax," which has not been raised in 15 years, as a way of bolstering faltering state revenue dedicated to transportation. She said her fellow Democratic elected officials urged her not to bring that up.
