WASHINGTON – U. S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, issued the following statement in response to Governor Larry Hogan’s (R-Md.) announcement of his updated transportation priorities for Baltimore City.

“Governor Hogan’s decision to help Baltimore’s bus system run more efficiently is welcome news for the people who live, work and play in the city. While I welcome his suggestions to streamline bus service, his announcement is in no way a comprehensive, long-term solution to improving public transportation, reducing traffic or creating new jobs in Baltimore City. Spending $150 million to make buses run on time is a good start but no substitute for the 10 years of planning, $900 million in hard-fought federal funding and the economic growth that Governor Hogan threw away when he killed the Red Line in Baltimore.

“In an op-ed from September, the Governor wrote: ‘Over the next several months, my administration will announce a series of innovative ideas that have the potential to deliver real change.’ I have to ask, is color-coding bus lines and removing lanes from already congested city streets ‘real change’ to the people commuting to and through Baltimore? Making the buses run on time is not innovative, it is what is expected of our transit agencies. I agree with Governor Hogan that public transit should be multimodal and comprehensive, but this new plan falls short on both counts.”

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