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Friday, February 19, 2016
Montgomery County Sentinel: County vote on school buses sets off a backlash in Rockville
ROCKVILLE
– When the Montgomery County Council last week approved funding to
temporarily relocate 100 school buses from the Shady Grove
Transportation Center to the Carver Educational Services Center, it
furthered an existing NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) problem in the city.
While I think that growth by Metro stations isn't a bad idea, I have to question the wisdom behind building what looks to be marketed as an upscale community adjacent to a busy freight and passenger line and across the tracks (and downwind!) from the Waste Transfer Station in the first place. The County leaving MCPS in the lurch in terms of where to park the buses is the cherry on the sundae (leaving only a 2-lane road for all those buses to use to get into and out of the depot might be the sauce. :-/).
A sizeable plot of land by the new animal shelter, just 2.2 miles away according to Google Maps, is being converted into athletic fields while MCPS is left holding the bag for the effort and cost of relocating the depot. Overnight parking of buses in cluster high schools isn't a bad idea but could impact parking availability for athletic events and performances in those schools and would still leave buses in our area of the county without a central location when repair or replacement buses are needed.
The Carver "solution" lot doesn't even really front 355 - which is already handling commuter traffic AND Montgomery College traffic; it opens to Mannakee, which is a much smaller street handling Montgomery College and neighborhood traffic; using it for even half the bus traffic they're proposing has the potential to exacerbate the backups that happen during rush hour and at heavy class times when students & staff are going to and from classes (I've sat through multiple light changes to get in and out of Montgomery College myself even without 100 school buses sharing that road space).
IMO it should be incumbent on Montgomery County Council to be part of the solution instead of unilaterally dumping the problem and its associated costs onto MCPS, leaving them little choice but to pass the buck to communities like Rockville.
While I think that growth by Metro stations isn't a bad idea, I have to question the wisdom behind building what looks to be marketed as an upscale community adjacent to a busy freight and passenger line and across the tracks (and downwind!) from the Waste Transfer Station in the first place. The County leaving MCPS in the lurch in terms of where to park the buses is the cherry on the sundae (leaving only a 2-lane road for all those buses to use to get into and out of the depot might be the sauce. :-/).
ReplyDeleteA sizeable plot of land by the new animal shelter, just 2.2 miles away according to Google Maps, is being converted into athletic fields while MCPS is left holding the bag for the effort and cost of relocating the depot. Overnight parking of buses in cluster high schools isn't a bad idea but could impact parking availability for athletic events and performances in those schools and would still leave buses in our area of the county without a central location when repair or replacement buses are needed.
The Carver "solution" lot doesn't even really front 355 - which is already handling commuter traffic AND Montgomery College traffic; it opens to Mannakee, which is a much smaller street handling Montgomery College and neighborhood traffic; using it for even half the bus traffic they're proposing has the potential to exacerbate the backups that happen during rush hour and at heavy class times when students & staff are going to and from classes (I've sat through multiple light changes to get in and out of Montgomery College myself even without 100 school buses sharing that road space).
IMO it should be incumbent on Montgomery County Council to be part of the solution instead of unilaterally dumping the problem and its associated costs onto MCPS, leaving them little choice but to pass the buck to communities like Rockville.
Additionally: http://www.rockvilleview.com/county-puts-bus-depot-50-feet-from-group-home-for-the-disabled/
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