Transit Administration

Every school morning, Shawna Jeffress sprints through Mondawmin Transit Center.Sometimes, the Cherry Hill resident's subway train arrives late. Other times, the bus leaves minutes early. Either way, she usually misses the bus -- and the bell that starts her pre-nursing classes at Baltimore City Community College.Jeffress and many commuters want to improve the West Baltimore bus and subway depot and better coordinate schedules, which is why the Citizens Planning and Housing Association (CPHA)

If Howard County transportation officials have their way, there could soon be a new evening bus route between residential and employment centers, a reduction in waiting time for riders and a resumption of service in the western county.Those were some of the services officials said they could offer if the state provides a 10 percent to 20 percent increase in transportation funding to the county for the fiscal year that begins July 1.Officials of Corridor Transportation Corp. are cautiously optimistic the county will get the money.

Carroll County residents have consistently opposed bringing public transportation in from Baltimore, but they might support expanding Carroll Transit, a bus system that operates 19 vans in the Westminster area.The concept came from a forum organized Friday by state transportation planners in Westminster. Many of the 30 participants viewed Carroll Transit, a private, nonprofit company that primarily serves the elderly and disabled, as the answer to public transportation needs."We should connect all major activity centers in all municipalities," said Janet Gregor, county transportation planner.

County residents have consistently opposed bringing public transportation from Baltimore into Carroll, but they might support expanding Carroll Transit, a bus system that operates 19 vans in the Westminster area.The concept came from a forum organized by state transportation planners in Westminster Friday. Many of the 30 participants viewed Carroll Transit, a private, nonprofit company that primarily serves the elderly and disabled, as the answer to public transportation needs."We should connect all major activity centers in all municipalities," said Janet Gregor, county transportation planner.

GLEN BURNIE residents may be on the verge of making the same mistake residents of Georgetown made during the planning of the Washington subway system.Nearly three decades ago, residents of that exclusive neighborhood in the nation's capital convinced the Washington Area Metropolitan Transit Administration not to build a station off the subway tunnel that was to run beneath their neighborhood.At the time, they complained that the stops would transport hordes of people to the area's sleepy commercial district and transform it into a noisy entertainment center of bars and restaurants.

Ridership on the Baltimore area's bus, light rail and subway systems has risen more than 4 percent since March, when transit officials took the controversial step of raising fares and shortening some bus routes.Higher fares and more riders? The news defies an industry maxim that says, in essence, when you raise rates, you lose passengers."That definitely goes against the grain of what one would normally expect to happen after a fare increase," said Dennis M. Kouba, spokesman for the American Public Transit Association, an industry trade group in Washington.

Annapolis has moved one step closer to building its first publicly owned bus terminal in the city.The Mass Transit Administration received about $2 million in transit funds this week to help pay for statewide projects such as purchasing buses and computer software and hardware, according to Democratic U.S. Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski and Paul S. Sarbanes.Part of those funds, issued by the Federal Transit Administration, will pay for a study that will create a design for a bus terminal and transfer center for the state's capital.

Recently, I decided to analyze the triumphs and tragedies of my ancestors (the Scots) by attending an early evening seminar at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.Being as pigheaded as they, I decided to attempt the trip -- Fells Point to the nation's Mall and back -- entirely by public transit. This included use of Mass Transit Administration (MTA) buses whose numbers and destination markings were mysterious to me.Using the bus for the 10-minute trip downtown meant a five-block walk to the nearest stop, a wait, and a three-block walk to the Camden Yards MARC station.

Plans to expand the Central Light Rail Line received a major boost yesterday with a pledge of $85 million in construction funds from the federal government.The money will cover 80 percent of the cost to extend light rail to Hunt Valley, Baltimore-Washington International Airport and Pennsylvania Station. The remaining $21 million of the $106 million project will come from the state.Federal Transit Administration (FTA) officials yesterday also pledged $37 million for improvements to the Maryland Rail Commuter (MARC)

A federal audit criticizing management of the Mass Transit Administration's bus fleet has caused the state agency to lose $6 million in federal funds.The report issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General says the MTA keeps dozens more buses in stock than it needs, disposes of buses without properly compensating the federal government and has not conducted a proper inventory in 15 years.As a result of the April 22 report, the MTA has agreed to purchase 30 fewer buses this year than the 125 originally planned, amounting to a savings to the federal government of about $6 million.

While the state moves forward with plans for the Red Line, considered the most important transportation project in the metro region, Baltimore County is reviewing its land use policies for the area around the four stations in Woodlawn, which will anchor the western end of the 14.6-mile light rail line through the city to Bayview. The county Planning Board endorsed Thursday a study that outlines transit-oriented residential and commercial development at the stations near Interstate 70, the Social Security complex, Security Square and the Center for Medicaid Services.

Governor O'Malley's endorsement of a locally preferred alternative for the Red Line light rail project - the first east-west route that ties together this region's mass transit systems - marks a significant step toward reducing Baltimore's over-reliance on the automobile. His decision sets the stage for detailed planning that will determine specifics on how this 14-mile transit line interacts with city and county neighborhoods. A handful of critics of the Red Line, though, sought to disrupt the governor's announcement and tried to shout down his message.

The Maryland Transit Administration is considering changing the front-running proposal for the Red Line to require east- and westbound light rail trains to share one track through a mile-long tunnel - a plan that might save $60 million or more but could pose operating difficulties and raise safety concerns. Building a single-track tunnel under Cooks Lane - a narrow street at the city-county line that connects Edmondson Avenue with Security Boulevard - is intended to reduce the Red Line's cost and bring it within federal funding guidelines.

When one subway train crashed into the rear of another in Washington this week, killing nine, it quickly raised a question in Baltimore: Could it happen here? Maryland Transit Administration officials aren't taking any chances. Just to be safe, MTA Administrator Paul J. Wiedefeld has ordered an "integrity test" to see how the Baltimore subway's train operation and collision-avoidance systems would perform in a crisis. MTA officials, who don't think an accident like Washington's could happen in Baltimore, are designing a series of tests to simulate potential problems.

With the National Transportation Safety Board taking over the investigation of Monday's fatal crash of two trains on the Washington Metro's Red Line, the federal investigation and the capital's transit system will open a new chapter in a long and contentious relationship. For more than a quarter-century, the NTSB has been a persistent critic of the management and operations of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Administration - the regional agency that operates the subway system.

Orioles fans who depended on Maryland Transit Administration charter buses to get home from games now face the same deprivation that afflicted Ravens rooters last year. Because of a federal ruling, public transit agencies can no longer provide specialized services geared to sporting events. That includes the buses to Savage, Greenbelt and Washington that the MTA used to offer after games. With the baseball season under way, it has been left to the MTA to break the bad news to fans that they may have to leave before the last out is recorded to make the last transit connection to Washington.

After six years of planning and a recent round of public hearings, a clear consensus has emerged among civic and business leaders about what a long-debated east-west transit line through Baltimore would look like - if it is ever built in the face of determined community opposition. While a half-dozen alternatives for building the so-called Red Line remain on the table, most of them have been practically eliminated either as a result of excessive cost or lagging support. Supporters say the Red Line - which would serve some of the area's largest employers and intersect the north-south Central Light Rail Line - fills a glaring gap in Baltimore's transportation network.

'Movie music' slur displays artistic elitism In his review of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's concert featuring Leonard Slatkin's composition "The Raven," a musical representation of Edgar Allan Poe's poems, critic Tim Smith said: "Unfortunately, what underscores the poems is little more than innocuous, if artfully crafted, movie music" ("A propulsive reading of Sibelius' 2nd Symphony," Nov. 7). This denigrating comment is not only incorrect but unfair; it smacks of the worst kind of artistic elitism.

The Maryland Transit Administration held a public hearing Thursday night on its proposed Red Line - but not everybody could attend. There, outside the rear door of the Lithuanian Hall in West Baltimore, sat Bob Reuter in his wheelchair. Ahead of him was a concrete lip of as much as 4 inches, with a rickety piece of plywood impersonating an actual accommodation for the disabled. Beyond lay a ramp so steep Reuter compared it to a ski slope - and not one at the beginner level. "You would be taking your life into your hands," Reuter said.

Beleaguered Ravens fans who lost their rides when the Maryland Transit Administration dropped its game day service have received a little bit of good news. The team has reached an agreement with private charter companies to provide bus rides from many of the old MTA stops. But the price will be roughly double what the MTA charged. The agreement announced yesterday between the Ravens and a consortium of seven local bus companies ensures that fans can catch a ride from familiar park-and-rides and other stops and be dropped off at the same location that MTA buses used in previous seasons.