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Bus service on tap for North Laurel Community Center

Residents who frequent the North Laurel Community Center, in the 9400 block of Whiskey Bottom Road, will soon have bus service to get back and forth to the facility.

Maynard Nash, director of Central Maryland Regional Transit, told residents at an Oct. 27 meeting at the North Laurel-Savage Multi-Service Center that the C and E Connect-A-Ride bus routes are being revised to accommodate service to the community center, which opened in June.

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"The center is not serviced by any public transportation, but we didn't want to displace any passengers in bringing service to it," Nash said. "We took a hard look at this and plan to eliminate the duplication of service on the C and E routes, so the center can be served."

The duplication Nash referred to will result in some stops being cut on the C and E routes. The C route will no longer have stops on Whiskey Bottom Road, below Glen Ridge Drive to Route 1, and along Route 1 from Whiskey Bottom to Main Street. The E bus, which travels from Laurel Mall to the Columbia mall, will serve those stops.

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In addition, the E route will no longer turn right from Route 1 south onto Main Street, or left from Main Street onto Fourth Street. The E bus will continue down Route 1, turn right at Cherry Lane and right at Fourth Street to the mall stop.

"Not many people were using the E route's Main and Fourth Street stops, but they will now be picked up by the C bus and the route timing won't change," Nash said.

Instead of making a loop back and forth to the mall, the C route will originate at the North Laurel Community Center, travel along Whiskey Bottom, then along All Saints Road, Harvest Way and Pilgrim Avenue to Main Street, where there will be a stop at Fourth and Main Street and another one at Fourth and Montgomery Street, to make up for the Fourth and Main Street cuts on the E route.

The E route will travel from the center on Whiskey Bottom Road to Route 1 south and take up the slack along Route 1 for the stops that were cut on the C route.

Those in attendance for the update on the route changes and service to the center were pleased with the revisions.

"This helps a lot because where the buses stopped before on Whiskey Bottom was an uphill, quarter-mile walk from the center and that was hard for seniors," said Priscilla Pitts, of Savage. "I've missed a couple of buses going up that hill, so it looks good to me."

Matt Madera, the community center's director, is also pleased with CMRT's bus service plans, which he said will greatly benefit senior members.

"This will make it easier for seniors to come to the center because the bus service they use now, of walking up Whiskey Bottom, is a good walk," Madera said. "With the temperatures getting colder, this will be beneficial to them and make it possible for more to come here."

The bus service changes to the C and E routes are scheduled to take place at the end of November. Public comments on the proposed plans are being accepted through Nov. 28.

Written comments can be mailed to Central Maryland Regional Transit, 312 Marshall Ave., Suite 100, Laurel, MD 20707.

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