Montgomery County is hoping a federal grant will jump-start its proposed BRT network with a new bus line on the county’s biggest main street, Route 355. If the grant comes through, the new “Ride-On Plus” won’t be full BRT, but will rather be a limited-stop route akin to WMATA’s MetroExtra.

Ride-On Plus route map. Image from Montgomery County.

Last month, Montgomery County submitted a grant request to the federal government for approximately $20 million to add a new bus line along busy Route 355. The line would run from Lakeforest Mall in Gaithersburg south to downtown Bethesda, making stops at key locations along the way in Gaithersburg, Rockville, and North Bethesda.

Buses would come every 10 minutes at peak times, and would only make a total of 9 stops over the course of the 11-mile route. By stopping so infrequently, buses would travel the route significantly faster than existing Ride-On buses.

Although Ride-On Plus will not qualify as bus rapid transit—it won’t have dedicated lanes—it will include some BRT-like upgrades: Traffic signals will stay green a few seconds longer if a bus is about to pass, and bus stops will have premium features like real-time arrival screens.

The grant is a long shot

Unfortunately, Ride-On Plus may never happen. County officials hope a federal TIGER grant will cover $18.5 million out of the project’s total $23 million price tag. But TIGER grants are extremely hard to come by; the federal TIGER budget is $500 million nationwide, and there are usually tens of billions of dollars in requests. Most grant requests never get money.

But if this grant comes through, Ride-On Plus could provide a nice first-step towards an eventual bona fide BRT line, helping to build ridership and make the case that there’s a market for better transit in Montgomery County.

 Cross-posted at Greater Greater Washington.