Howard Transit

Howard County Executive James N. Robey has announced that Howard Transit will improve its public bus service by expanding and modifying the Yellow Route through Ellicott City and enhancing service on the Brown Route through southeastern Columbia, beginning Monday. The two routes will be restructured to include new stops at Selborne House, Morningside House (formerly Chancellor Gardens), the Long Gate Park-and-Ride and the Howard County Health Department. The Brown Route will be extended to include a stop at Snowden Square, for connections to and from the Red, Red Express and Purple routes.

Howard County must act soon to improve its public transit options, the county's new transportation chief says, arguing that the growing population will be choked with traffic in coming years if people are not provided with better options. John Powell Jr., who took over Howard's transportation department in March, presented his first budget to the County Council last week. In defending the $7.4 million spending plan, Powell discussed the broad transportation issues for the department, created last year.

Howard Transit will raise fares July 1 in an effort to offset rising costs. The base fare will rise from $1 to $1.50. Fares for senior citizens, disabled riders and students will rise from 25 cents to 50 cents. Fares for HT Ride, a service for those who, because of age or disability, cannot use regular bus routes, will rise from $2 to $2.50. Low-income passengers for this service may qualify for reduced fares. The Public Transportation Board voted to raise fares for the first time in its seven-year history at its meeting last month.

Maryland will receive $2 million from the federal government to improve the delivery of transportation services to veterans and their families under a program announced Wednesday in Baltimore by the nation's No. 2 transportation official. John D. Porcari, deputy U.S. transportation secretary, returned to the state where he served two stints as transportation chief to announce that two Maryland groups would each receive a grant to help ensure that veterans receive better information about bus service and other rides available in their communities.

Anna Levin has never considered art her strength. So, when the Harper's Choice Middle School pupil was named one of five winners of the Images of Freedom art contest as part of Black History Month, she was thrilled. "I was so surprised," said the 13-year-old eighth-grader. Sponsored by the Columbia Association, Corridor Transportation Corp. and the Howard County Office of Public Information, the contest also celebrates the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education, the 1954 landmark decision that ended school segregation.

When a Maryland Transit Administration commuter bus that runs from Columbia to Baltimore discontinues all its neighborhood stops in a week, Howard County buses will pick up the slack. County Executive James N. Robey has decided to spend the roughly $42,000 a year needed to send two Howard Transit vehicles to the same general areas where the No. 310 commuter bus has traveled, though with about half as many pickup points. Faced with a budget crunch, the MTA decided this month to eliminate the 20 or so stops in Oakland Mills and Long Reach villages.

Howard County has received eight hybrid buses for its 28-vehicle paratransit fleet, enabling the replacement of 10-year-old vehicles that have about 300,000 miles on them -- double their expected life span and mileage. Howard Transit uses the vehicles to provide by-appointment transportation for handicapped residents. The new hybrid vehicles cost $200,000 each, with three paid for with federal stimulus money and three more with county funds. The other two vehicles were paid for with 80 percent federal money and 10 percent each from the state and the county.

Howard County government offices, courts, animal shelter, library branches and the landfill will be closed in observance of Independence Day, Friday, July 4. There will be no recycling or trash service July 4. Trash will be collected July 5 for Friday and Saturday routes. Recycling and yard waste collection for Friday routes will be collected July 11. Parking meters are free July 4. Howard Transit and Connect-a-Ride will run limited routes July 4 (Howard Transit - Red, Silver, Green, Brown and Orange; and Connect-A-Ride J, K and the Laurel Loop)

Tonight's meeting of the county's Public Transportation Board is the last opportunity for people to comment on Howard Transit's proposed bus routes to provide service to senior facilities in Ellicott City and job sites along the U.S. 1 corridor. The new "silver" and "purple" lines are expected to begin operation early next year or as soon as new buses can be delivered, said Ray Ambrose, transit administrator for Corridor Transportation Corp., an arm of the Baltimore-Washington Chamber of Commerce that operates the Howard bus service.

After 27 years of providing rides for Howard County's poor, the Urban Rural Transportation Alliance closed yesterday - in some ways a victim of its own success. Mary Jo Barranco, president and board chairwoman, said 24 employees lost their jobs, but people who relied on URTA won't be stranded. Howard Transit's medical para-transit service and agencies like the Association of Retarded Citizens should pick up the slack, she said. "We're working to ensure that clients get the care they need," said Susan Rosenbaum, director of the county Department of Citizen Services.

Howard County purchased a 6-acre bus maintenance facility in Savage, and the County Council is scheduled to vote on a request for $6 million in earmarked federal funds to renovate it — part of a series of moves designed to boost the profile of public transportation in the county. The $5 million land deal closed last week, giving the county a facility to store and maintain transit buses serving Howard, Anne Arundel County and Laurel City, county planning and zoning director Marsha McLaughlin told the council Monday night.

Howard County Executive Ken Ulman is moving on three fronts to reorganize the regional bus system known locally as Howard Transit, which also connects to the city of Laurel and to Arundel Mills and BWI Thurgood Marshal Airport. Ulman is studying a citizens committee's recommendations on the subject and wants to hire a new, higher-profile county transit coordinator. Meanwhile, the county is moving to buy a vacant 6-acre bus maintenance facility in Savage to serve as a publicly owned base for the system.

Howard County will add three electric buses that use an advanced technology — the first of its kind in an American public transit system — that lets the vehicles be recharged without plugging them into an outlet. County executive Ken Ulman announced that Howard Transit has received federal funding to acquire the full-size, lightweight buses for use on routes in and around Columbia. The buses use what is called an inductive charger that repowers the bus batteries without a physical connection.

Getting around Howard County on a public bus has been slow since 41-year-old David Bittner was a kid. Back then, he knew that his bicycle was a faster way to get to the town's shopping mall from Owen Brown than the old Rouse Co. Columbus system. Suburbia, after all, wasn't designed for mass transit. Now Bittner, an advocate for an expanded transit bridge over Route 29, is urging a seven-member commission again trying to craft new approaches to suburban public transit to stretch for "new ideas, creative ideas.

The Howard County transportation board voted unanimously Tuesday night to ask county executive Ken Ulman to restore funding for Sunday bus service next fiscal year after hearing impassioned pleas from about 40 desperate Howard Transit riders and one bus driver at a public hearing. Although the budget for fiscal 2011 is already adopted and a second public hearing on transit cuts is scheduled for June 22, board chairwoman Carol Filipczak said the board must act now, without waiting for the next hearing or $1.9 million worth of higher fares and service cuts to take effect July 1. Continuing Sunday service, which provides buses every two hours, would cost $166,000, she said.

With no proposed tax rate increases, unpaid furloughs and no pay raises for county workers, the Howard County Council might find little to cut from County Executive Ken Ulman's fourth budget, which could leave the Healthy Howard health access program as a point of contention again. Ulman's $1.44 billion budget, which includes $824.4 million in locally raised revenue, would still make most homeowners pay more in property tax and Baltimore City water charges, however, and also includes $500,000 for the health access plan for uninsured county residents that has drawn fire from Republican Councilman Greg Fox. "They have not met any of the goals they stated, and restated and restated," Fox said.

Howard County will add three electric buses that use an advanced technology — the first of its kind in an American public transit system — that lets the vehicles be recharged without plugging them into an outlet. County executive Ken Ulman announced that Howard Transit has received federal funding to acquire the full-size, lightweight buses for use on routes in and around Columbia. The buses use what is called an inductive charger that repowers the bus batteries without a physical connection.

Local faith leaders call for immigration reform Several Baltimore-area faith leaders speaking at St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday called for immigration reform, a month after Congress introduced legislation addressing the topic. The Rev. Joe Muth of St. Matthew Roman Catholic Church on Loch Raven Boulevard said he opened an immigration center at his church 10 years ago. He said the center guides people through the legalization procedure and would like to see the federal government adopt a model that would expedite the naturalization process.

Howard County has received eight hybrid buses for its 28-vehicle paratransit fleet, enabling the replacement of 10-year-old vehicles that have about 300,000 miles on them - double their expected life span and mileage. Howard Transit uses the vehicles to provide by-appointment transportation for handicapped residents. The new hybrid vehicles cost $200,000 each, with three paid for with federal stimulus money and three more with county funds. The other two vehicles were paid for with 80 percent federal money and 10 percent each from the state and the county.