Prince George’s County is going to take some of the advice we laid out in a series of articles in spring 2018 on ways that The Bus service could be improved. I learned about what’s planned for The Bus, like better signs and service, and updates on other transit projects at the Washington Suburban Transit Commission’s (WSTC) public forum on Tuesday, November 12.

The forum included some members of the board of WSTC, (a bi-county agency that coordinates Metro, Ride-On, and The Bus transit service in Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties), as well as representatives from WMATA, the Maryland Transit Administration (which operates MARC and commuter bus service to the District and is building the Purple Line), and the Prince George’s County Department of Public Works and Transportation (PW&T), which operates The Bus local bus service in the county.

Better signs, and better service too

Back in 2018, Tracy Hadden Loh and I called for improvements to the signs that mark The Bus stops. At the time, we noted:

“Right now, TheBus bus stop signs don’t indicate what routes stop at a given location, unlike Metrobus and RideOn bus stop signs, which indicate the route numbers of buses that serve the stop. This feature is very important for infrequent users, and for passengers who have to travel to unfamiliar areas.”

PW&T announced in its presentation that the bus stop signs are being replaced with new ones that include the numbers and destinations of routes that serve a given stop, along with unique stop IDs to allow riders to more usefully inquire about late buses.

Improved bus stop signs aren’t the only one of our recommendations that it seems the county may be taking.

The county’s Transit Vision Plan report called for some of the other changes we recommended in our series, like Saturday and evening service. At the forum the PW&T representative said that the County Council has allocated some money for implementing the report’s recommendations. More detailed announcements should be expected in January.

There were some other interesting transit project updates beyond The Bus service that were announced as well.

Microtransit and more bikeshare stations

In addition, along with additional Capital Bikeshare stations to open soon in the county, PW&T announced that Prince George’s County is planning a pilot “microtransit” program similar to RideOn Flex which is slated to begin in March 2020. The county is currently in the process of selecting neighborhoods for the pilot.

No new MARC station in Cottage City

Jolene Ivy, the Prince George’s County Councilmember for District 5, raised requests from her constituents for a new MARC station on the Camden Line in Cottage City. (There was once a B&O Railroad station at this location called “Highland”.) This is not a new proposal; a station there is proposed in the 2009 M-NCPPC Port Towns Sector Plan.

Unfortunately, CSX will not currently allow the construction of any new MARC stations on the Camden Line, which it owns, according to the MTA officials at the forum.