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The public advocacy group Action Committee for Transit plans to lobby the County Council to come to Ride On's rescue again, as the bus system faces reductions and eliminations in routes and services.

With the county budget shortfall approaching $1 billion, County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) has proposed a series of cuts to Ride On to help close the deficit.

Under the proposal, three weekday routes, 10 Saturday routes and five Sunday routes would be eliminated, and another 16 services would be reduced. Ride On officials selected the routes for elimination and reduction to minimize the impact on riders, said Department of Transportation spokeswoman Esther Bowring.

"The county executive did not want to have to cut services," Bowring said.

County officials said the cuts would save the county more than $2.7 million annually.

Action Committee for Transit is sending letters to County Council members this week asking the governing body to restore funding for Ride On, said Hans Riemer, the group's vice president and a council candidate.

"No one proposes closing a road because it has less traffic," he said.

Closing a route because it does not have as many passengers could cause commuters who rely on Ride On to lose their jobs, Riemer said.

In February, a public hearing in Rockville on the proposed cuts drew more than 300 people, with the vast majority opposed to the reductions.

Last year, council members put Ride On funding in the budget after a similar letter campaign, Riemer said.

Sign needed to direct traffic

A reader e-mailed:

"A sign is needed in the far right lane of Tech Road east of Rt. 29 to indicate vehicles can proceed straight or turn right only onto northbound Rt. 29.

The other lanes have signs (on the signal light wires), however, there is no sign indicating vehicles cannot turn left from that lane.

Colleen Roa

PS — The intersection south of there (Industrial Parkway and Rt. 29) has signs for all three lanes."

The State Highway Administration will look into it. An SHA spokesman replied:

"SHA would like to thank your reader for bringing the matter of the traffic sign to our attention. It is often the public that is our eyes on the roads and highways.

The intersection along U.S. 29 at Tech Road is maintained by SHA. SHA's traffic division will be undertaking a brief evaluation that should not exceed 30-60 days to determine if a sign needs to be installed at this location.

I will be happy to report the findings of the evaluation to you as soon as the results become available.

Charlie Gischlar, SHA spokesperson

Traffic shifts for ICC work

Commuters on Notley Road will be shifted to a temporary road between Royal Forest Lane and Paula Lynn Drive as part of the work to build a new Notley Road Bridge over the Intercounty Connector.

The traffic will be shifted between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. while the bridge work occurs. The work is expected to take about a year to complete, according to the State Highway Administration.

The 18.8-mile ICC runs from Interstate 370 near Gaithersburg to I-95 near Laurel.

Bumper to Bumper, a biweekly column dedicated to answering your questions related to transportation issues, is compiled and written by Staff Writer C. Benjamin Ford. Send questions, comments or tips to bumper@gazette.net. For past columns, log on to www.gazette.net.

Metro workers join

Capitol Hill rally

Metro workers were joining other union workers Tuesday on Capitol Hill to urge additional federal funding to improve mass transit systems nationally.

More stimulus funds are needed to improve safety on the public transit systems and to make them sustainable, said Jackie Jeter, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689.

The Washington Metropolitan Transit Administration and the Tri-State Oversight Committee that oversees Metro have been criticized following a series of Metro crashes in the wake of the fatal June 2009 collision of two trains on the Red Line that killed nine and injured 80.