In the three weeks since Gov. Hogan killed the nearly $3 billion-dollar light-rail project that would have connected east and west Baltimore, the city has been scrambling to figure out, what next?
Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford summarized what many planners are thinking when he suggested “Bus Rapid Transit.” Rutherford told the Baltimore Business Journal last week, “I think rapid bus is the way to go – at least pilot the idea.”
In simplest terms, “bus rapid transit” is mass transit that runs high-speed buses on dedicated lanes of roads. But the term can mean different things in different settings, so we’ve invited two experts to tell us the key elements of “bus rapid transit,” why it works where it works, and what the potential problems could be.
Joining Sheilah Kast in the studio is Brian O’Malley is President and CEO of the Central Maryland Transportation Alliance. And on the line from the Institute of Transportation and Development Policy in Washington, DC is Jacob Mason. He’s an urban planner and engineer.