Shuttle

At 5 p.m. on Monument Street in East Baltimore, the line of doctors, nurses, researchers, students and others winds down the block and around the corner. Coffee cups in hand and headphones in ear, they file on to the buses that line up three deep. They are riding what has become a highly popular shadow transit agency - the Johns Hopkins shuttle. Every day it provides 5,000 rides to and from Charles Village, Mount Vernon and the east side, to anyone associated with Hopkins, or sometimes just anyone at all. That's up from 3,100 daily riders just three years ago. Riders do not pay a fare and need not show an ID. The big white buses with "Johns Hopkins" emblazoned on the side depart as often as every five minutes during rush hour.

NASA officials have again postponed the launch of the shuttle Atlantis on a final mission to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope. The delay, from February to at least May, means astronomers will have to wait three months more before two of Hubble's key scientific instruments can be used again. Engineers told Hubble managers they need more time to inspect and test the 18-year-old hardware that will replace a science data computer that failed on Sept. 27, and to train astronauts and build the tools they need to install it. "Our plan is to try to have it ready to ship to Kennedy [Space Center]

What grounded the last downtown shuttle in Baltimore wasn't too few riders. It was an insufficient funding source. Mayor Sheila Dixon's administration has decided to put a fleet of shuttles back on the street and pay for them through parking taxes. Commuters and tourists will have to pay slightly more to park at area garages and lots, but the free daily shuttle should provide a quicker, less harried way to get from midtown to the Inner Harbor and across to East Baltimore. The real payoff should come in energy savings and reduced traffic.

The Baltimore City Council voted yesterday to increase the parking tax and use the expected $4.5 million in revenue to operate a fleet of shuttle buses to ferry people around downtown neighborhoods. Trips in the hybrid shuttles would be free to passengers, with pickups every 10 minutes along three routes. The service is expected to begin in July 2009. Mayor Sheila Dixon's administration proposed the legislation. The tax increase, which takes effect in December, will likely mean a 50-cent increase in the cost of daily parking, and a $5 to $6 rise in monthly parking costs, city officials estimate.

The Russian invasion of Georgia complicated what was already a major headache for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration: how to get to and from the International Space Station, which was funded mostly by U.S. taxpayer dollars, after NASA's aging fleet of space shuttles retires in 2010. NASA expected Russian rockets to ferry its astronauts between 2010 and 2015, when the shuttle's replacement is due to fly. But a chill in U.S.-Russian relations could throw a monkey wrench into that plan.

I fully agree with the editorial "A quality shuttle first" (June 2) when it says that the proposed Downtown Shuttle Bus needs to be "attractive, reliable and yes, even fun." But I was confused by The Sun's assertion that making this shuttle free somehow undermines these goals. Several other major cities offer free transit in their downtown areas, including Denver and Portland, Ore. Their positive experience points the way for Baltimore. And from what we've seen, the benefits of free rides outweigh those of charging a fee. Indeed, it is extremely expensive to purchase, install and maintain fare equipment.

Attention Space Cadets! The International Space Station, with shuttle Discovery attached, will make a fine pass over the Mid-Atlantic states tonight, visible from Baltimore if skies are clear. ISS and crew rise like a swift star at 9:08 p.m. in the northwest. They climb halfway up the northeastern sky by 9:11 before disappearing in the east at 9:14. While you're out, get a look at the crescent moon low in the west. It's just a pinky's width (held at arm's length) south-southwest of Mars.

Tourists and city residents would be able to ride through downtown Baltimore for free on a new shuttle bus system that officials said yesterday would begin carrying passengers by next summer. The system, which would include at least three downtown routes with 10-minute waits at each stop, would be paid for in part by increasing a city tax levied on parking spaces. "It's about trying to make it convenient for people to move around," said Mayor Sheila Dixon, adding that she hopes the shuttle would also reduce traffic congestion and vehicle emissions.

Baltimore officials want to revive a downtown shuttle bus service to ease congestion and free up parking spaces in city garages, despite the financial failure of a similar transit system three years ago. The proposal, which might initially include three downtown circulator bus routes - with reduced fares or no fare at all - would be paid for in part by increasing a city tax levied on daily and monthly parking spaces. "Congestion is a serious issue in downtown," said 1st Deputy Mayor Andrew Frank.

1986 The space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center, killing all seven of its crew members.