The Baltimore Metropolitan Council (BMC) recently released a Baltimore Regional Transit Needs Assessment for a multi-modal transit network that reflects local priorities and supports economic growth. The Assessment was released five days after Governor Hogan announced his transit  plan for Baltimore City, but BMC Board Chair, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, requested the study three months prior.

As reported by the Baltimore Business Journal,

The assessment includes 11 pages of transit recommendations but only mentions the Red Line sparingly. The scuttled light rail project comes up in suggestions that officials consider new transportation projects from Woodlawn to Lexington Market and from southeast Baltimore to a new transit hub — moves that would establish alternative east-west transportation options.

Other recommendations range from setting up a single transit fare card for all of the region’s transportation services to building new MARC stations. Fast-tracking implementation of a Bus Network Improvement Project is also recommended, but that could be a moot point after Hogan’s bus-heavy plan unveiled Tuesday. The Hogan administration said its bus plan includes feedback from that project, known as BNIP.

From a previous blog post on Conduit Street, the Governor’s $135 million plan to revamp the Baltimore region bus system would begin immediately and is expected to be fully implemented by June 2017. The BMC plan is wider ranging and outlines transit projects to be implemented as late as 2040.

The Hogan administration will look at the new findings but keep money on its mind, said Erin Henson, a spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Transportation.

“We will review the report for opportunities to improve our transit proposal with the realization that our plan is fiscally constrained and the report’s recommendations are not,” she said.