More than 40 people, including staff from the Maryland Department of Transportation, the State Highway Administration and Motor Vehicle Administration — as well as planners and citizen bicycle advocates from a number of Maryland counties — turned out for a bike community meeting Tuesday night at MDOT headquarters in Hanover.

One reason for the meeting was an opportunity to introduce Darrell B. Mobley, MDOT’s still-new acting secretary, to the transportation, bicycle and pedestrian community.

A potentially good piece of news for bicyclists is that Mobley, as well as State Highway administrator Melinda Peters and Motor Vehicle administrator John Kuo, all of whom made brief presentations, described themselves as recreational bicyclists. Mobley spoke of tackling the Great Allegheny Passage this summer; Kuo mentioned that he was a weekend C & O Canal rider in Montgomery County; and Peters added that she was a dedicated cyclist, training for an Ironman triathlon and regularly taking long rides in Carroll County.

Peters noted that the over the summer the state had put a Complete Streets policy into effect for all projects, focusing on enhancing designs for bicyclists and pedestrians, particularly in urban areas.

Perhaps most noteworthy, State Highway officials also said they are preparing to update Maryland’s 20-year Bicycle and Pedestrian Access Master Plan. The updated plan will be completed on the same schedule as the overall 2035 Maryland Transportation Plan, as now required by state law, according to an MDOT handout last night.

An MDOT website with information on the update plan and project is scheduled to be launched by Nov. 30, 2012. MDOT plans to announce public engagement opportunities at that time as well. Over the next few years, MDOT will assess current conditions, goals, trends, needs and financial resources — and develop investment and implementation strategies.

Kuo said that the MVA has begun coordinating with the SHA, in particular, on safety and education issues, emphasizing work on reducing distracted driving — and promoting the state’s “3-foot” law,” designed to protect cyclists. Kuo pointed to the MVA’s recent public service announcement about safe driving and bicycling, as well as MVA driver renewal envelopes sent out this fall that highlight the 3-foot law.

Carol Silldorf, executive director of Bike Maryland, responded, however — after praising MVA’s efforts — that the agency still needs to expand its education efforts, suggesting 3-foot law educational messages could also be placed on emissions testing envelopes and other public communications. And not just over the course of one month, “but six months or a year,” she said.

The pure, mad joy of bicycling in Halloween costume with 1,300 adventurous friends through the streets of Baltimore on a Friday night is impossible to capture in word, photos — even video. Unless, maybe, you spend the entire ride shooting with a great camera, and then editing it all later into something coherent. But who wants to do that when it’s so much fun basking in the glow of the wild scene — the mermaids, monsters, killer bees and bearded men in drag — surrounding your bike.

Nonetheless …

The short video at the top of this post was shot at the start of the ride as bicyclists rolled out from Mt. Vernon Square.

There are a couple iPhone pics below from the ride and after-party at the Union Craft Brewery in Hampden. The outdoors after-party, with good beer, awesome food trucks, D.J., dancing, photos and a rockin’ moonbounce that looked ready to topple several times, was a blast. As someone next to me noted, everyone just seems friendlier and more outgoing in costume.

The absolute best part of any last-Friday-of-every-month Baltimore Bike Party is the reaction along the route. More taxi, truck, delivery and automobile drivers honk and toot in support than you’d think — but even better are the kids, teenagers and adults in every neighborhood, East to West, North to South, who leave their rowhouses, come off their porches, step out of local bars and restaurants, and stop whatever they’re doing to high-five Bike Party bicyclists, shout encouragement — and often, shoot their own cellphone pictures and videos.

It’s also interesting to listen to Bike Party riders as they pedal. The bicycling culture in Charm City and the Bike Party, only six months old, seems to be growing so fast now, that it’s almost hard to grasp at times.

“How is it possible,” asked one 20-something bicyclist, “that this is the most fun thing I’ve ever done.”

Another: “It’s like everything I love rolled into one: there’s an element of activism, it’s bicycling, there’s the extroverted, outrageousness of it all, and it’s going out on Friday night to a great party.”

For those unfamiliar with the loose guidelines/mission of the Baltimore Bike Party, it’s an informal recreational ride, about 12 to 13 miles, informal and fun while hopefully spurring city bicycling. It’s evolved from the old Critical Mass rides into something safer and traffic friendly, and has a different theme each month. July’s theme was a beach party, for example, and June’s was an 80’s party. The August theme was lights. October, naturally, Halloween.

The Baltimore Bike Party website can be found here. The Halloween Bike Party ride’s Facebook page — and more pictures — is here.

The much-anticipated Red Line transit project, the proposed 14-mile, east-west, light rail system, took another step forward today.

The Baltimore City Board of Estimates approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Wednesday with the Maryland Transit Administration outlining the City’s commitment to the project, according to a statement from Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s office. An estimated $2.1 billion project, the proposed light rail line will connect Woodlawn through downtown Baltimore to the Johns Hopkins Bayview Campus.

When complete, the Red Line is expected to run every 8 to ten minutes, taking 44 minutes each way while carrying more than 50,000 riders daily. In the best case scenario, according to the project's most recent timeline, a federal funding commitment in 2015 would lead to six years of construction, concluding with operation in 2021.

From the Mayor’s press release:

“The agreement commits the City to constructing projects necessary to building the Red Line such as a widening of the Edmondson Avenue Bridge over the Gwynns Falls in West Baltimore during its planned reconstruction, and constructing the Boston Street-O’Donnell Street connector road in Southeast Baltimore. The City will also donate land currently occupied by the Departments of Public Works and General Services and acquire land for a new Red Line/Bayview MARC station. 

MTA has also committed to an aggressive local workforce and contractor development program and to incorporate extensive sustainability measures in the project.  MTA will also reimburse the City for certain costs related to land acquisition and technical design reviews, while the City will waive permit and document retrieval fees…

The agreement is signed for the City not only by the Mayor, but also by the Directors of Planning, Public Works, Transportation, General Services, Housing and Community Development, and Recreation and Parks, each of which will play an important role in making the Red Line a reality.”

“The Red Line will play a pivotal role in helping to grow the City,” said Rawlings-Blake.  “Providing safe, attractive transportation choices – biking, walking and transit – for residents, visitors, and businesses will help to transform communities across the city, and will pay dividends for years to come.”

The Red Line has been designated for expedited review by the federal government, the Mayor’s press release noted, which will allow MTA to receive final environmental approvals by February. If approved, the federal government will cover up to 50 percent of the constructions costs. The State of Maryland would be responsible for the other 50 percent of the construction costs, according to the Baltimore Red Line project website.

According to www.gobaltimoreredline.com, MTA's current policy encourages bicycles on the entire MTA system and bicycles will be allowed on Red Line light rail cars as well.

Anticipated plans to bring bike sharing to Baltimore are now in full reset mode.

Baltimore City’s efforts to implement a bike-sharing program in the city by this fall suffered a set back this summer when an exclusive negotiating agreement with B-Cycle — a bike-sharing company operating in 15 cities — expired without a deal. Any future bike-sharing program in Baltimore is now at least another year away, according to the Department of Transportation.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced an exclusive negotiating agreement with the Wisconsin-based B-Cycle last November. That deal expired because B-Cycle was unable to secure enough local sponsorship to move forward with implementation, B-Cycle’s Brian Conger told Baltimore.

“There’s some great community support for bike sharing, but to do the business side is complicated and we need a certain number of [private] sponsors and financial support,” Conger said. “There weren’t enough dollars committed for us to feel comfortable going forward.”

(Bike-sharing programs, for those who haven’t seen the initiatives in other cities, offer short-term bicycle rentals via strategically placed stations throughout downtown areas, offering another form of inexpensive transportation for short trips.)

Conger said B-Cycle looks to the local corporate and business community, as well as institutions like universities, for financial support, which can include, for example, hosting bike-sharing stations. Advertising at bike stations and on the bikes themselves are also offered to businesses and institutions in return for financial support. Conger said B-Cycle needed an overall commitment of roughly $1.25 million over five years to move forward, which wasn’t reached.

Adrienne Barnes, of the Baltimore City Department of Transportation, noted in an email that the City, with the support of a state grant, has committed $1.3 million to the start-up and construction of bike-sharing stations. The City will not be funding the operation of any bike-sharing program, however. She added that Baltimore City’s DOT is currently in discussions with Alta Bicycle Share, Inc., the same company that runs Washington D.C.’s successful Capital Bikeshare, to provide bike sharing here.

“We continue to work with potential vendors to operate the system at no further cost to the City,” Barnes wrote. “We are committed to bringing bike sharing to Baltimore. Given the delay, we hope to have the system operational in September 2013.”

In two years of existence, the Capital Bikeshare program, now with 189 stations, including those in Arlington and Alexandria, has accounted for 2.85 million trips by bicycle. The Capital Bikeshare program now has more 18,000 monthly and annual members, averaging 50,000 rides a week. The annual membership in the Capital Bikeshare program is $75; the first 30 minutes of any ride are then free.

Montgomery County expects to join the Capital Bikeshare system next year.

Alta launched Boston’s Hubway bike-sharing program last year and recently was recently awarded a contract to start a program in Portland. B-Cycle runs bike-sharing programs in Denver, Chicago and Madison, among other cities.