Past time to invest in improved transit
I find it fascinating that in all the years I've sat in traffic on Interstate 83 or Interstate 695 or Light Street, sometimes for 15, 30, 60 minutes, I've never seen an article referring to the cars packed on our region's highways, going nowhere fast, as sardines ("Angry sardines," May 8).
I think there is a clear bias here.
Why can we sit patiently in traffic but are "frustrated and irritated," as Michael Dresser put it, waiting for the light rail?
And really, can we truly be upset about light rail delays?
For decades, we have treated public transportation like an unwanted child while favoring road projects.
We haven't invested the necessary human or financial resources, and now, as gas prices soar, many of us are waking up to realize we need safe, reliable, affordable transit.
Well, that costs money.
So let's stop raiding the transportation trust fund every time we get backed in a fiscal corner; let's start thinking beyond four-year funding cycles.
And let's invest in the public transportation resources necessary to ensure the economic health and viability of Central Maryland and its citizens.
Tasha McNutt, Baltimore
The writer is a special assistant for the Central Maryland Transportation Alliance, a nonprofit public transit advocacy group.
Minimal service isn't good enough
The current controversy over conditions on the light rail underscores the fundamental problem with mass transit in the Baltimore region: We have a system that is considered a form of welfare and intended for those who have no other options ("Angry sardines," May 8).
The design, funding, maintenance, operations and public relations for our transit system all point to an attitude that suggests that the least possible service is good enough.
Until we, through our state and local leadership, acknowledge that a fully functioning public transit system, with dependable and comprehensible service, is a necessary component of a vibrant urban region, we will be saddled with poor service.
Thomas Casey, Baltimore
Light rail a victim of its own success
I don't want anyone to overlook the obvious in regard to the recent inspections of light rail cars - that the light rail system is a victim of its own success ("Light rail becomes heavy burden," Commentary, May 6).
