MCDOT

Per MCDOT: The Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) will hold a series of virtual public meetings to present the findings of three separate elementary school walkability studies including Forest Knolls Elementary (Silver Spring), New Hampshire Estate Elementary (Silver Spring), and North Chevy Chase Elementary (Chevy Chase) schools. The meetings will show study findings and discuss the sidewalk and safety needs of students walking and biking to the studied school.

Each of the walkability studies reviewed the condition of existing infrastructure and recommended improvements that may be implemented within the school walkshed to provide safe and accessible routes for students walking and biking to the school. Most of the improvements that could be implemented quickly, such as signing and marking, have been completed. These community meetings will help County staff better understand safety needs and plan future sidewalk and safety improvement projects within the school walkshed.

Per MCDOT: The Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) is partnering with the State to celebrate “Walktober,” a month-long series of activities in October promoting Maryland’s official exercise: walking. Maryland named walking as the official State exercise in 2008.

“Walking improves your physical and mental health, strengthens community ties and reduces environmental impacts,” said County Executive Marc Elrich. “We are committed to making walking and pedestrian mobility easy, safe and accessible throughout Montgomery County. Whether you are using walking as a form of transportation or recreation, I encourage all residents to take advantage of our County’s pedestrian-friendly suburban and urban centers and more than 250 miles of hiking trails to explore Montgomery County and enjoy the fall weather.”

Per Montgomery County: The Montgomery County Department of Transportation Safe Routes to School program, which encourages students who have a safe path and live near their elementary school to walk to school, will join in the national recognition of “Walk and Roll to School Day” on Wednesday, Oct. 4. Most County elementary schools will participate, with a special event starting at 8:15 a.m. that day at Brooke Grove Elementary School in Olney.

The walking groups, led by MCDOT’s Zeal the Safety Zebra and Montgomery County Fire and Rescue’s Sparky the Fire and Rescue Dog, will meet at the front of Brooke Grove Elementary School. The event will commence with fanfare including music, balloons, giveaways, police officers, firefighters and firetrucks. Students will be singing and carrying signs.

Per MCDOT: Due to property repurposing, starting this Friday, Sept. 29, Ride On Bus Routes 17 and 18 will no longer be able to access the Adventist Hospital property in Takoma Park. Both routes will temporarily detour using Flower Ave. to Maplewood Ave. to return to their normal route on Maple Ave. Stops 26950, 26952, 26954, and 26956 will be discontinued. Riders should use alternate stops 22332, 22274, 23854 and 23856. This will become a permanent change with our next service change in January 2024.

Ride On bus fare is only $1 and monthly passes are $22.50 using SmarTrip, cash, or tokens. Seniors age 65 or older, persons with disabilities and youth ages 18 and under all ride free using specialized SmartTrip cards. Riders can plan trips online using the free Ride On Trip Planner App.

Per MCPOT: The Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) announced a virtual open house to be held via Zoom at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 28 to present a first look at the Ride On Reimagined study findings and get community feedback on proposed concept changes to the County transit network. Montgomery County residents are encouraged to register and attend to share their feedback.

The ongoing Ride On Reimagined Study is a full-scale re-assessment of how the Montgomery County public transit network will operate in the County, with the goal of creating a future-focused public transportation system. The study, which began in Feb. 2022, conducted a comprehensive assessment of the current Ride On and Metrobus network, ridership patterns and ongoing projects. To better address community needs, MCDOT sought extensive community feedback through ridership surveys, pop-up events and focus groups comprised of both transit riders and non-riders.

Per Montgomery County: The Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) delivered more than 5 million rides on its Ride On bus transit system from March 2023 through June 2023, the last quarter of the 2023 Fiscal Year. That number represents a 9 percent increase in ridership over the same period of the previous year. The trend toward increased ridership on Ride On buses accelerated over those four months, with June recording a nearly 15 percent increase in total ridership over 2022.

“Higher rates of Ride On ridership benefit everyone by reducing the number of cars, improving traffic congestion, and helping our environment,” said Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich. “I hope to see this trend continue. Increased bus ridership is important toward the County reaching our Climate Action Plan goal of a 100 percent carbon emission reduction by 2035. We have invested significant resources into creating a modern, accessible and customer-focused transit network. We have more exciting plans to come for Ride-On including fully transitioning to a zero-emission bus fleet while continuing to provide our riders increased amenities, improved routes and better on-time performance. If you haven’t tried Ride-On recently, please consider getting on board soon.”