County Connector Shuttle Continues to Serve the Workforce T he County Connector, a free daily shuttle service for the workforce and job By Towera Loper, Director of Community Development, The BWI Business Partnership
40%, which was in line with other public transit operations across the country. However, as vaccines became available and the State and private sector organizations opened their doors for business, we began seeing a significant uptick in our ridership month over month. In FY2022 (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022), we had the highest ridership since the pandemic. We totaled 71,025 passengers. For context, the M&T Bank Stadium’s capacity is 71,008. We had more people ride the County Connector than a sold-out M&T Bank Stadium. This is indicative, we believe, of the resilience of our passengers getting back into the workforce, despite the challenges they still face. In our new fiscal year (FY2023), our highest ridership in a month to date has been 7,253. Along with our positive numbers and in keeping with the trends
of technology in transportation, we recently installed GPS and passenger count tracking on our shuttles called Passio Go Technology. This technology is a service that allows us, as an agency, to track the shuttles and count the number of passengers daily. Our passengers can track the shuttles in real time by downloading the free Passio Go app on their cell phones and from a browser on their computer. The BWI Business Partnership is excited to contribute to the success story of riders feeling confident, once again, to use public transportation as we provide reliable transit that promotes economic growth and workforce development. We look forward to continued service for our riders as we anticipate getting back to pre-pandemic numbers of 10,000 passengers a month.
seekers, operates 365 days a year. The shuttle is made possible by funding from the Local Development Council and is managed by The BWI Business Partnership, in conjunction with the Anne Arundel County Office of Transportation. In operation since July of 2018, the shuttle services the BWI Business District and has become a reliable source of transportation, especially for those needing transportation between the BWI Light Rail/BWI Marshall Airport and the Arundel Mills Mall/Live! Casino & Hotel. As the public transportation industry took a hit during the pandemic, the County Connector was no different. Its ridership decreased by over
November 2022
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