Carroll County transportation plan and changes to TrailBlazer bus routes approved

Changes to Carroll County’s transportation plans, including the altering of some public transit routes, are on the horizon.

The Board of Commissioners on Thursday approved the Transportation Development Plan (TDP), which serves as a five-year vision for transportation projects the county hopes to complete. The commissioners approved the plan 4-0, with Commissioner Eric Bouchat, R-District 4, abstaining.

After taking this vote, the commissioners voted 5-0 to make several changes to the TrailBlazer public bus routes. The most notable differences include eliminating the one-hour lunch break for drivers on the Westminster routes, offering free route deviations to some public libraries and to the Youth Services Bureau, and reducing the Westminster Saturday routes from two to one. The changes are planned to begin Jan. 21, 2020, according to transportation grants manager Stacey Nash.

Complete updated route information is available on the county website under “Carroll Transit System,” which is under “Public Works” in the online directory. Halfway down the webpage is a hyperlink that says “Updated route information” in capital letters.

Transportation plan paints vision

The TDP illustrates the priorities of the county’s Transit Advisory Council, according to Lib Rood of KFH Group, which the county hired earlier this year to compile the TDP. The plan includes proposals such as extended hours for TrailBlazer routes and creating a smartphone app for riders.

The commissioners approving the plan does not require the county to carry out any of the projects, but it allows the county to apply for grant funding from the state and federal governments.

“By approving this plan, it doesn’t commit you to doing these projects in these years," Rood told the commissioners. "This is just a vision for the next five years, and obviously the annual budget process would guide what actually happens in these years.”

Without the TDP, Carroll could not get state and federal grant funding for transportation, according to Nash.

“We definitely won’t get it if it isn’t in our plan," she said.

The commissioners could still seek to complete transportation projects that are not in the TDP, but the county would have to fund it without such grants, Nash said outside the meeting.

Highly ranked priorities in the TDP included creating a smartphone app through which riders could pay for fares and receive real-time transit information, Rood said. Other priorities included extending TrailBlazer hours so buses run from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and building a transit hub to provide shelter for riders.

Commissioner Dennis Frazier, R-District 3, said a service offering limited transportation to Owings Mills Metro Centre would help people who commute there for work.

Commissioner Stephen Wantz, R-District 1, balked at the idea. “This has been hashed and rehashed over the years many, many times, and I’m challenged by the fact that it’s now coming to the surface, that it’s put into a draft plan,” he said.

After the meeting, Wantz said he’s heard citizens object to the idea for fear that people from outside the county could come to Carroll and contribute to crime.

Nash reminded Wantz that just because an idea is proposed in the TDP, that does not mean it will come to fruition. Commissioners would have to plan for any major transportation improvements during the budget process and approve projects individually.

The TDP will be available on the county website once the KFH Group presents the finalized document and it is approved by the Maryland Transit Administration, Nash wrote in an email.

TrailBlazer routes altered

Carroll County last altered its TrailBlazer routes in September 2018, according to Nash, and after a year of operation county staff came to the commissioners with ideas to increase the number of riders, as well as safety and efficiency.

Countywide, TrailBlazer transports about 20 people per route per day, while the Demand Response Service transports about 24 people per route per day, according to Crystal Winebrenner, director of Ride With Us, the nonprofit that operates Carroll Transit System. The Demand Response Service allows riders to schedule a pickup from a specific location and time that is not on the regularly scheduled TrailBlazer routes.

Combining all of the routes, there are about 600 trips made per day, Winebrenner said. One trip refers to when someone gets on a bus, according to Nash.

The purple and black Westminster routes that run on Saturdays will be combined into one route. The purple route that currently runs on Saturdays mostly takes riders to medical facilities that are closed on the weekend, Nash said, so it doesn’t make sense to have those destinations on the weekend route. The facilities that are still open on Saturdays will remain on the new Saturday Westminster route, according to Nash.

Riders on routes that pass by a library will be able to deviate to those locations for free, Nash said. Upon a rider’s request, TrailBlazer buses will deviate to Carroll County Public Library branches in Westminster, Taneytown, North Carroll, and Eldersburg, according to Nash. The Finksburg and Mount Airy branches do not have TrailBlazer stops.

Another free deviation available, for a one-year pilot, will be to the Youth Services Bureau, according to Nash. The bureau requested a stop on the route, Nash said, and if the stop is popular enough it will be considered for a permanent free deviation. Otherwise, riders can deviate to the bureau for an extra dollar, according to Nash.

Several stops are being eliminated due to low ridership, Nash said. Those include:

There were 19 trips made to the South Carroll Senior and Community Center last year, Nash said, compared to 55 trips to the senior center in Taneytown, 187 in North Carroll and 653 in Westminster. Those wishing to visit the South Carroll center can still get there via the Demand Response Service.

Spencer Village Apartments will be back on the South Carroll route. Nash said the stop was previously removed due to lower ridership but the need has since increased.

Nash told the commissioners she and Winebrenner meet biannually to discuss possible route changes, but prefer to propose changes annually so as not to alter the routes so often that it confuses the riders.