Is MoCo outdistancing Fairfax County on transportation again? This time its BRT.

Last week, we reported on how the Montgomery County Council was reducing planned density around two planned Purple Line stations to reduce traffic congestion and make more affordable housing available.  Now it turns out that MoCo is also planning bus rapid transit (BRT) as a more cost-effective way than rail to move its residents and employees. 

Here is the money section in an article by Matt Yglesias in Slate:

Montgomery County, an affluent Maryland suburb of D.C. with a strong tradition of anti-sprawl politics, is moving closer to a very ambitious BRT push that if successful should serve as a national model. According to the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy’s rating system, only five existing lines in the United States qualify as true BRT and none of them meet the high-end “gold standard” criteria. The current version of the Montgomery plan would create two gold standard corridors, with dedicated busways running in highway medians just as decent light rail lines do. Adding extra concrete to an existing roadway is substantially cheaper than building brand new tracks, so opting for a BRT option will let the county buy more transit bang for its buck.  

The article provides a fairly good description of the pros and cons of BRT as a cost-effective means of transportation.  Just wish someone in Fairfax County had thought of this before committing us to a $6 billion Metrorail line, half of which will be paid by Dulles Toll Road users.