Case Study: Silver Spring, MD

Businesses show strong support for public transit and walkable infrastructure in this thriving DC suburb

Downtown Silver Spring is a diverse mixed-use edge city of Washington, DC located in Montgomery County, Maryland. It surrounds the Silver Spring Metro, MARC, Bus, and future MTA Purple Line Station, making it a major public transit hub. It is rated as one of the most diverse cities in the country according to WalletHub. Its population of approximately 6,800 is 36% White, 30% Black, 12% Hispanic or Latino, and 6% Asian. The median household income is $97,000.

Downtown Silver Spring is home to many small businesses, including restaurants, bars, barbershops, salons, clothing stores, boutiques, and cafes. Many diverse businesses are located in close proximity, a reflection of multiple waves of development and redevelopment that occurred with people of all walks of life observed on city streets. Other communities in Silver Spring include Lyttonsville, Long Branch, Woodside, Franklin Knolls, and Clifton Park Village, among others, with Downtown being the most urbanized.

Like many communities, Silver Spring faced devastating population losses and urban renewal post World War II. In the 1970s and 80s, the arrival of the Metro Red Line brought some office and small mixed-use spaces in the area immediately surrounding the station.

Since the 2000s, increased mixed-use developments have sprung up in areas formerly occupied by parking lots. Today, Downtown Silver Spring reflects the varying styles of development from these different areas, as well as storefronts and shopping centers along Georgia Avenue that recall the early 20th century.

Downtown Silver Spring is an important hub in the Washington, D.C. area transit network. Metro Red Line trains connect Silver Spring with Downtown Washington DC in just 20 minutes, with trains arriving every 4 minutes during rush hours. The station is also home to the Silver Spring Transit Center, which serves 30 bus routes run by Metrobus and Montgomery County RideOn, as well as University of Maryland shuttles and Peter Pan Intercity Buses. The MARC Train runs weekday rush hour peak direction service between Washington Union Station and both Frederick, Maryland, and Martinsburg, West Virginia.

“Transit is very important for the city of Silver Spring, because it helps the community and the businesses around downtown and also helps bring the volume of patrons to the downtown businesses. It's more important to improve the transit system for the people.”

– –Sipito Masuku, Afrikutz barber shop

Despite the quantity of this transit infrastructure, its quality could be improved. Many suburban bus routes run every 30 minutes, and buses into and out of Silver Spring travel on congested corridors and see low reliability and on-time performance because the region has been hesitant to invest in bus lanes or transit signal priority. MARC trains would provide quick connections to up-county employment centers like Rockville, Gaithersburg, and Germantown, but the current service pattern of weekday, peak direction-only trips makes this impossible.

For drivers, Downtown Silver Spring’s major roads include Georgia Avenue/MD 97, Colesville Road/US 29, and New Hampshire Ave/MD 650. Multiple of these roads connect the city to I-495, the Capital Beltway.

In the near future, Silver Spring is set to be further transformed by the completion of the Maryland Transit Administration’s Purple Line. This new light rail line will soon more quickly and directly connect the station to other transit hubs and major destinations in Montgomery County and Prince George’s County, including Bethesda, New Carrollton, and the University of Maryland.

Surveying Small Business Owners

We surveyed 30 small business owners in close proximity to Purple Line construction to hear owners’ opinions on existing transit and walkability infrastructure, and whether they would support additional investment in these areas. Full survey results can be found in the appendix of the PDF below.

Survey Results - Takeaways

Walkability

A strong majority of small businesses in Silver Spring strongly support walkability, believing that walkable infrastructure supports the success of the local economy.

80% of small business owners surveyed said that walkability supports a thriving local business economy, with 97% of those surveyed supporting investments to improve walkability around their business, and 90% supporting investments in walkability throughout Silver Spring.
70% of small business owners surveyed believe that people walking past their storefront were more likely to stop in than people driving past.
When asked to rate the current walkability of the area around their business on a scale of 1 to 10, owners reported a wide range of opinions, with an average score of 6.87 out of 10.

Survey responses to the statement: "I support investments in walkability around my business"

Survey responses to the statement: "A robust public transit system would better support my customers who are aging or have disabilities access local business, community, and services."

Public Transit

87% of small business owners surveyed supported investments in public transit near their business, with 70% agreeing that public transit would make it easier for them to attract more customers, maintain more employees, and better serve those who are aging or disabled.
When small business owners surveyed were asked to rate the existing public transit system of the area on a scale of 1 to 10, the average score was 6.47 out of 10.
Nearly 90% of small business owners surveyed said that they support investments in public transit around Silver Spring as a whole.

Conclusion

A vast majority of small business owners surveyed in Silver Spring supported investments in walkability and public transit, both around their business and in the rest of Silver Spring. These business owners overwhelmingly indicated that walkability and transit support the ability of both employees and customers to access their businesses.

Regional transit hubs like Downtown Silver Spring benefit from walkability and transit service just as much as larger metropolitan areas, smaller cities, and rural communities. Business owners in Silver Spring understand the importance of these investments when it comes to supporting the local business economy.

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