How does bike parking on the MARC affect ADA?

Back in May during Bike to Work Week, MDOT and MTA announced that starting on June 1, all MARC trains would accommodate full sized bikes. This means that now the Camden, Penn, and Brunswick lines all have bike parking spots. This is huge news in improving accessibility for regional, multi-modal transit. Previously, only certain trains accommodated bikes and this was only consistent on weekend Penn Line service.

After the announcement, a number of folks have expressed concern about bike parking on the MARC trains taking away ADA spots on some cars. We reached out to the MTA for clarification on this issue and have some follow up details.  

There are four different MARC car styles with bike parking. One type of car is a “bike car” and has 10+ horizontal parking spots. Two types of cars have 2 vertical spots at each end of the car with exterior green lights to signal space availability. And finally, one car where bikes can be secured over folding chairs with bungee cords. These are the same style of the seats that can be used for users with wheelchairs and other accessibility needs.

Each MARC train will have a variation of cars, and therefore a variation of bike parking. It’s likely that people will have multiple options for parking their bike on the train, not just folding chair spots.

On cars with folding chairs, only one of the two entrances will be allowed for bike parking; cyclists should look for a green “Bicycle Entrance” sign adjacent to the car doors to know where to park their bike. The other end will have blue ADA signs to indicate the ADA entrance.

One side of these cars will always have dedicated ADA seating, and the MTA stated that people with disabilities will have priority over bicycles for all spots and people sitting in the folding seats on either end are not required to move for bicycles. 

Obviously conflict between users could still arise and this has the potential to lead to harm. MTA is using the 90% decline in ridership to test the new policy. Ultimately as demand for the MARC increases, they must expand capacity for all types of users and prioritize ADA needs. The MTA should receive more funding for all of its services; including MARC trains, which could all have a dedicated bike parking car to increase accessibility and reduce conflicts.

MTA recently released a video that demonstrates how to park your bike on the various types of MARC train cars, available to watch here. For more details about using bikes with MTA services, visit MTA’s website.

We hope this helps answer some questions.

Bikemore and CMTA Joint Statement on MTA Service Cuts

The pandemic has had a profound impact on public transit in the United States. Nationally transit use has plummeted by as much as 90%. In contrast Baltimore bus ridership dropped only 60% at its lowest point late April 2020. With fare revenues down and other funding sources depleted, transit agencies are forced to make difficult decisions. Tomorrow MTA will announce changes to transit service in greater Baltimore. These cuts will eliminate bus routes and bus stops, and cause less frequent service and reduced hours. Once cuts take effect there is no guarantee they will ever be reversed. Our already insufficient transit system will get worse.

The pandemic has caused significant financial stress to communities demonstrated to be most reliant on public transportation to get to work. Changes to transit service must consider equity, economic stability, and the public health of our most vulnerable communities. We must do all we can to maintain connectivity to the resources people need the most: jobs, health care, and healthy foods.

Essential workers, people with disabilities, and young people rely on public transit. The Central Maryland Transportation Alliance and Bikemore are committed to working with MTA to ensure these schedule changes do not leave our most vulnerable residents behind.

There will be an opportunity for public comment. We encourage those impacted by the changes to make their voices heard. We will be communicating additional information as it becomes available. 

Written August 31, 2020 as a press release.

Action Alert: Send a quick email now!

Email your Senator TODAY to pass HB368 - The Transit Safety and Investment Act!

The Maryland House of Delegates has passed this critical legislation that will provide funding to MTA Maryland to keep trains and buses from breaking down. 

If the State Senate doesn’t pass this legislation by Wednesday, we will need to wait at least another year to increase funding for our transit system.

In the meantime, we can expect reliability of our transit system to decline as buses and trains continue to break more than almost any other transit system in America. 

COVID-19 has made the urgency to take care of our most vulnerable even clearer. Our leadership needs to take action to provide resources to everyone, like a reliable source of transportation. 

You have to tell your Senator TODAY to pass HB368, or it may be too late to save the MTA.

Action Alert: Support the Transit Safety and Investment Act

In 2018, advocates and legislators passed a bill requiring the MTA (Maryland Transit Administration) to figure out the cost of repairs needed to keep Baltimore public transit running.

We got the results this year. It’s bad. The MTA system has a backlog of more than $2 billion in critical needs just to maintain our current infrastructure.

We’re working with advocates across the region and the MTA on a new regional transit plan, setting the stage for improvements over the next 25 years. But none of that will be possible without first fixing what’s broken in our current system.

The Transit Safety and Investment Act will add an additional $132 million a year over the next four years into the MTA to be spent on critical maintenance. This bill was introduced this session by Team 46 Delegate Brooke Lierman and backed by the new Annapolis Transit Caucus.

Governor Hogan has failed Baltimore through a willful neglect of our public transportation system. This bill is an opportunity to begin repairing that damage.

Tell your Senator to get this bill passed now before it’s too late. Without this additional investment, we risk further disruption and reduced reliability of MTA service.

Transit Funding Bill Clears Hurdle

Today the Maryland House of Delegates voted on a metro funding bill that originally provided $150 million in annual funding for the WMATA system in the DC region to begin to fix maintenance issues, improve reliability, and bring sustainability to metro operations.

The Baltimore region's transportation system was not initially included in this bill. 

Along with the WMATA region MetroNow Coalition, Central Maryland Transportation Alliance, and 1000 Friends of Maryland, Bikemore worked behind the scenes to draft amendments including the Maryland Transit Administration, which was facing similar, but less reported challenges, hoping to push for inclusion of increased resources for MTA in this bill. 

That very week, Maryland Transit Administration's very real challenges became clear with the sudden shut down of our metro system due to rail wear.

As a result of our joint advocacy and with support of our Baltimore delegation, our proposed amendments were successfully introduced and passed today. They require:

• A minimum 4.4% increase in MTA operating funds starting July 1, 2019 and continuing for at least the following two years.

• An appropriation beyond current planned capital investments of at least $29.1 million in each of the above three years.

• A maintenance and condition audit of all capital assets (similar to the one undertaken by WMATA that resulted in the $150 allocation in this bill).

• Development of a comprehensive 30 year regional transit plan to replace the 2002 Baltimore Regional Rail Plan and regular updates to that plan.

The legislation is now heading to the Senate, where these same amendments will be introduced by the Baltimore delegation. We will press for passage of the bill including these amendments on the Senate side, so we can send this bill to the governor's desk for signature.