Cheryl Sparks, the chief spokeswoman for the Maryland Transportation Authority, fights the same battle day after day after day. Who could blame her for turning to her favorite columnist for a little help?
Sparks works for the agency that runs Maryland's toll facilities - the toll portion of Interstate 95, the Baltimore Harbor crossings, the Bay Bridge and a couple of other elderly bridges over the Susquehanna and the Potomac.
Alas for her, a big part of Sparks' job description consists of explaining to folks that she doesn't work for the MTA.
That acronym belongs to the Maryland Transit Administration, the agency that runs the Baltimore bus system, the light rail, the Metro subway (yes, Baltimore has one) and the MARC commuter train system.
Lacking clear title to its own initials, the Maryland Transportation Authority has had to content itself with the unwieldy MdTA. This could be the only time you see it in print in The Baltimore Sun because it's a concoction that makes our copy desk break out in hives.
So anyway, Sparks was wondering whether I could help clear up some of the confusion about Maryland's existing - and in some cases nonexisting - transportation agencies.
"Just walking in my neighborhood, neighbors feel inclined to ask me how to get a pothole fixed on [Interstate] 83 - or will ask me about an incident at the airport, or ask me about why the Beltway was shut down on a certain day," Sparks lamented. "We are the Maryland Transportation Authority, but often get referred to as the MTA. The Transportation Authority Police are often called the Maryland Transit Police, and the MTA Police are often called the Maryland Transit Authority Police. Sometimes we even get the Maryland Department of Transportation Police."
It seems only fair to help out. I, along with my colleagues at The Sun, have certainly been contributors to this confusion.
A search of The Sun's electronic library finds 34 references to the Maryland Transit Authority and 20 to the Maryland Transportation Administration (three times under my byline). Neither exists. You'll also find numerous references to the Mass Transit Administration, some occurring as recently as November. That agency changed its name to the Maryland Transit Administration many years ago - though to add to the confusion the MTA still operates light rail cars with the old name.
So in the interest of clearing the air, here goes:
