Bus, shuttle service targeted for Fort Meade
Hometown Annapolis
Area leaders are discussing the possibility of a local bus and transit network that would link new workers at the expanding Fort George G. Meade to local train stations and Northern Virginia.
Transportation consultants earlier this month outlined to county business leaders plans for several commuting options for Fort Meade when several massive Defense Department agencies move to the west county Army post.
Possibilities include a $5 million-per-year bus transit network or, more likely, an online clearinghouse for Fort Meade commuters.
"These are not immediate solutions to a lot of the traffic problems we will see over there," said Fred Fravel, vice president of KFH Group Inc., the transit consultants who put together the study for the county's BRAC Task Force.
More than 5,000 jobs are slated to be transferred to Fort Meade as a result of the federal military Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC, process. One such operation, the Defense Systems Information Agency currently headquartered in Arlington, Va., will begin its move to the fort early next year.
A new 1-million-square-foot headquarters for DISA is nearing completion inside the post.
Letters will be mailed out later this month to some of the more than 1,300 DISA employees in Arlington asking if they plan to stay with their job when it moves to Fort Meade next year. Close to 70 percent of DISA employees live in Virginia, officials said.
Officials said they aren't sure right now how many employees will be moving with their positions.
Most DISA employees said transportation was the most important factor in determining whether to transfer with their job to Fort Meade, according to a survey conducted by the agency over the summer. The current commute using public transportation would involve multiple transfers and long travel times, according to the BRAC Task Force study.
DISA spokesman Jon Anderson said the agency plans to further survey employees who live in Northern Virginia to see whether there is enough interest in a direct bus route to Fort Meade from Manassass or Woodbridge.
"Based on the results of the survey we will be making contact with some of our local bus companies to see if there is any interest in establishing a route," Anderson said. Anderson said the agency is also looking into a direct route from the Pentagon to Fort Meade.
Even residents inside the fort have suggested a reliable bus or shuttle service on the post as a way of improving quality of life, according to reports from a family symposium there.
Fort Meade currently does not have a public-transportation system that goes into the post, officials said.
Consultants discussed the feasibility of a local bus network that would have routes that connect employees at the fort to several landmarks such as Arundel Mills mall, BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, and the Odenton MARC train station.
The shuttle network also would have a couple routes in Howard County to the Dorsey MARC station and through Columbia.
KFH officials said the system would cost about $5.2 million a year to operate and would require nearly $7 million in capital costs.
Fravel said the county administration has not taken a stance on pushing for the network and doubted there would be any room in the bleeding budget for a new transportation system.
Getting employees who choose to stay in Virginia to the fort could prove even more difficult. There are no direct routes within the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority or the Maryland Transit Authority that connect northern Virginia to central Maryland.
BRAC officials studied the possibility of an online commuting clearinghouse for Fort Meade workers.
The full-service Web site would feature a ride-sharing database, personalized commuting counseling and a guaranteed ride-home program.
