Transportation Demand Management Plans | Bethesda Transportation Solutions

Montgomery County Code Section 42A-24 / Bill Number 36-18

Bethesda Transportation Solutions (BTS) can help your company in its compliance with Montgomery County Code Section 42A-24 and Bill Number 36-18, which requires companies with 25 or more employees to submit Transportation Demand Management Plans (TDM Plans). Completing a TDM Plan ensures that companies meet county regulations and also helps employers recruit and retain the best employees. The law requires that employers:

Implement a Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Plan
Participate in Montgomery County’s Annual Commuter Survey
Distribute transportation information to employees
Submit an annual report of activities

For more information on employer TDM Plans and Annual Reports, please contact Marcus Johnson at MJohnson@bethesda.org, 301-656-0868 X 129 or Kristen Blackmon at KBlackmon@bethesda.org, 301-656-0868 x 119.

View a Sample Transportation Demand Management Plan

Transportation Demand Management Fees

This law authorizes the County Council to set by resolution a transportation demand management fee to cover the cost of certain services provided by a transportation management district (such as downtown Bethesda); clarifies that the revenue generated by a transportation management fee must be used in the district in which the development or property subject to the fee is located; repeals a prohibition against charging a transportation management fee that exceeds a certain rate; and generally amends the law governing transportation management districts. The law is effective as of March 13, 2020.

For more information on Transportation Demand Management Fees, please contact Kristen Blackmon at kblackmon@bethesda.org or 301-656-0868 x 119.

Developer’s Traffic Mitigation Agreement

A Traffic Mitigation Agreement (TMAg) or Transprtation Demand Management Plan is entered into by a real estate developer and Montgomery County government—represented by the Department of Transportation and the Montgomery County Planning Board at the time land is being approved for subdivision. Agreements or Plans are required for development in Bethesda as a matter of public policy to manage traffic congestion in support of planned development within the central business district area.

TMAgs and Plans set forth the respective rights, duties, and obligations of the interested parties. The program consists of various traffic mitigation measures designed to manage traffic, such as parking charges and transit subsidies. At the time the County Council passed the enabling legislation to create Traffic Management Districts (TMDs) and Transportation Management Organizations (TMOs), it also established the ability to collect supporting fees. Some TMAgs include the future payment of TMO fees.

Developers in Bethesda have an obligation to make a best effort to meet and maintain the traffic mitigation goal established in the Bethesda Sector Plan. That goal is a reduction of peak hour, single occupant automobile traffic with a goal of 55% or 60% (depending on the year that the Agreement or Plan was signed) of building occupants using transportation options such as transit, bicycling, walking, carpooling or even telework. The County encouraged developers to meet this goal by reducing the amount of on-site parking to ensure compliance or provide no on-site parking.

If developers wish to provide on-site parking at levels exceeding the amount needed to support the TMD trip reduction goal, the developers need to satisfy the Planning Board requirements that they will still be able to meet the trip reduction goal by the operation of a trip reduction agreement. This agreement may consist of several elements designed to manage traffic such as charging for parking and paying transit subsidies.

Over time, experience has shown that indirect traffic mitigation efforts are valuable and will contribute to achieving this public policy goal such as building sidewalks, adding bus shelters, supporting bicycle facilities, etc. In recognition of this, the Planning Board's Local Area Transportation Review Guidelines have been expanded to formally recognize these contributions.

Click here to review a copy of a draft agreement.

For more information, contact the Montgomery County Planning Board, who together with the Prince George's County Planning Board, comprise The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.

For further assistance from BTS, please contact Kristen Blackmon at kblackmon@bethesda.org or 301-656-0868 x 119.