Anonymous wrote:He seems to only support projects that will help his investments and properties or help his cronies take more contracts from the state.

Yes.
Hogan doesn’t support government because he wants to destroy government to cut taxes on the superrich, like all Republicans.


This is the same reason the Koch network and Koch astroturf orgs hate public transit. Because everything that Charles Koch does is about enriching Charles Koch, no matter how nicely he tries to dress it up. And cutting transit makes it easier to cut taxes which enriches Charles Koch. Same thing for the Maryland GOP.

Anonymous wrote:Who exactly will want to use public transportation now???

This is such a 1% attitude. There are many who have no choice. For some, the only way they can afford their commute is with public transportation. For others, there are many who don't have a car. In fact, I know several families that one partner will be converting to public transportation. They have had to cut back due to loss of income and one way has been to sell one of two cars, and not have that car payment or insurance payment. And one will be saving money not having to pay for a parking space for the car on top of that. There are also some who cannot afford parking downtown.

I believe that once things open up, there will be more demand for public transit from people who have to use it, than people avoiding it because they actually have a choice. Not initially. Initially a lot will take the hit to their finances by avoiding it to be safe, but after a few months, I think many will not be able to sustain the additional expenses of driving and will be forced to go back to commuting by transit. I think ultimately, you'll have higher ridership on public transit than before the crisis.

Anonymous wrote:Who exactly will want to use public transportation now???

The same people who were taking public transportation before, for the same reasons.

Who exactly will want to use public transportation now???

He seems to only support projects that will help his investments and properties or help his cronies take more contracts from the state.

Anonymous wrote:Can we not obsess over public transportation until the COVID-19 situation is under control? Thanks.

The need for more public transportation is not going to go away.

Also, right now the PL is a disaster so no need to talk about expansion.

Can we not obsess over public transportation until the COVID-19 situation is under control? Thanks.

Anonymous wrote:Because the MARC project does not primarily benefit MD citizens. It primarily benefits DE and VA residents to get to DC.

Hogan has shown interest in public transportation. He invested a lot in getting the Purple Line established and running. He's probably pulling back now on other projects since he expects to need to spend a lot of money getting the PL up, thanks to the work of the NIMBY Bethesda residents who don't want to lose the land that they coopted from the right of way of the train tracks and who don't want more minorities from PG county coming to their neighborhoods and shopping in their stores or working locally. Due to their lawsuits trying to protect non-endangered lizards and birds, they have cost the project a huge amount in both costs and time and this has caused the current contractors to exercise a clause to leave the contract. It will cost more than the red line project to infuse the PL project with enough resources to cover that gap.

Yes. Specifically, he

1. cut the budget, then
2. allowed it to proceed.

Anonymous wrote:Hogan has done more for public transit than any of the previous governors. He got the Purple Line finally approved, and a dedicated funding stream for Metro. Both are huge leaps.

As PP said, the MARC thing benefits those other states mostly. Let them pay for it.

He keeps telling us that, and people keep not believing it, because it's not true.

Also, so what? There's more he could do. Why isn't he doing it?

Hogan has done more for public transit than any of the previous governors. He got the Purple Line finally approved, and a dedicated funding stream for Metro. Both are huge leaps.

As PP said, the MARC thing benefits those other states mostly. Let them pay for it.

Because the MARC project does not primarily benefit MD citizens. It primarily benefits DE and VA residents to get to DC.

Hogan has shown interest in public transportation. He invested a lot in getting the Purple Line established and running. He's probably pulling back now on other projects since he expects to need to spend a lot of money getting the PL up, thanks to the work of the NIMBY Bethesda residents who don't want to lose the land that they coopted from the right of way of the train tracks and who don't want more minorities from PG county coming to their neighborhoods and shopping in their stores or working locally. Due to their lawsuits trying to protect non-endangered lizards and birds, they have cost the project a huge amount in both costs and time and this has caused the current contractors to exercise a clause to leave the contract. It will cost more than the red line project to infuse the PL project with enough resources to cover that gap.

A guy who kills the Baltimore Red Line project and redistributes the money to rural counties to build roads with, is also going to be a guy who doesn't want to expand MARC.

I could understand his reasoning for stopping the red line (too much $$& and poor design) but why wouldn’t be ok a study to evaluate the expansion of Marc to Delaware and Virginia? Seems like he only wants to invest in highway expansion to get toll $$$