Transit Administration

A string of problems at the Maryland Transit Administration - from poor leadership to inadequate mechanic training to faulty parts - led to the rash of incidents in which wheels fell off buses and dozens of people were injured, state investigators have concluded. In a highly critical 22-page report released yesterday, investigators said the problems began at the top of the MTA with a failure to emphasize safety or launch a formal investigation until wheels had fallen off 10 buses. "Safety wasn't a front-burner issue," said Fred Goodine, a member of the investigation team.

With two weeks to go until the presidential inauguration, the Maryland Transit Administration still has plenty of seats left on MARC trains headed to Washington's Union Station. The agency is about to ramp up marketing efforts to sell the 7,400 tickets remaining from a stockpile of 9,000 tickets, said spokesman Terry Owens. Train tickets, $25 for a round trip, must be purchased in advance of the Jan. 21 event. Regular MARC tickets and passes will not be honored. The demand is far less than it was four years ago, when the MTA website crashed as about 112,000 people attempted to buy tickets on the first day and people began lining up at 3 a.m. at the agency's downtown Baltimore store.

Fans who ride the Maryland Transit Administration's buses from local park-and-ride lots to Orioles and Ravens games will soon have to find a new way to the stadium under new federal rules restricting the types of services public transit agencies are permitted to offer. As of June 2, the MTA will stop offering $10 rides from its White Marsh, Essex and Southwest park-and-rides to Orioles games, spokeswoman Jawauna Greene said yesterday. The same rules, issued by the Federal Transit Administration, also will force cancellation of weekend bus service from the Greenbelt Metro station to Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

F or those tired of all the excuses mouthed by elected leaders and bureaucrats over their handling - and mishandling - of this month's record snowfall, Ralign Wells is a welcome relief. The Maryland Transit Administration's new chief is willing to admit that mistakes were made, which means he and his agency can correct them. Apparently, Mr. Wells didn't get the memo that must have circulated among county executives, mayors, highway departments and the like to never admit you goofed - or at least to blame your front-line troops manning the plows and shovels when problems do arise.

James O. Cherry, a retired supervisor for what is now the Maryland Transit Administration, died of a heart attack Saturday at Garrett County Memorial Hospital in Oakland. The longtime Reisterstown resident was 72. Mr. Cherry was born in Baltimore and raised there and in Windsor, N.C. He served as an Air Force mechanic from 1953 to 1957. He became a bus driver for the old Baltimore Transit Co. in 1957 and was promoted to instructor. He was a supervisor at the old Mass Transit Administration's Bush Street Terminal when he retired in 1997.

A $348,000 renovation project to improve the Odenton MARC station for residents and the surrounding properties for future businesses is set to be launched this week with a groundbreaking scheduled by Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens. The ceremony will be held at 3 p.m. Wednesday on the west side of the railroad tracks. County Councilman Bill D. Burlison, a representative from the Maryland Mass Transit Administration and community leaders are expected to attend, Judy Pederson, the county executive's director of communications, said last week.

Charles Junior Rice, 56, retired MTA bus driver Charles Junior Rice, retired Mass Transit Administration bus driver who was active in his local NAACP, died Wednesday of a heart attack at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Sykesville resident was 56. Mr. Rice had retired last year from the MTA, where he had driven buses for 32 years. At the time of his retirement, he was assigned to the transit administration's Carroll Park Shops division. He began his career in 1968, working for the old Baltimore Transit Company.

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.

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.

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.

The Maryland Transit Administration has again delayed its long-promised plan to introduce "smart card" technology for payment of fares - pushing the estimated start time to next fall. Meanwhile the agency also announced it has begun taking credit cards for fare payments and purchases of passes at subway stations. The MTA has been talking about introducing smart card technology since at least 2001, when the state awarded a contract to a company for the technology, with plans to begin using smart cards by 2003.

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.

Baltimore County Councilman Douglas B. Riley, a generally well-meaning politician who fancies himself a part-time traffic engineer, is at it again.During the past several months, Mr. Riley has experimented with traffic patterns in Towson, to mixed results. Now a group of about 60 Lutherville residents has persuaded the 4th District Republican to draft a law that would prohibit Central Light Rail engineers from blowing their air horns at the line's Seminary Avenue crossing.The group says the noisy horn blasts early in the morning and late at night are making life miserable for people with homes near the crossing.

The Maryland Transit Administration announced yesterday the first of seven state grants to revitalize Baltimore transit hubs, awarding Greater Mondawmin $120,000 to develop a small urban park memorializing the area's Jewish past and African-American present. Modeled after pocket parks in New York and Washington, the 4,300-square-foot triangular strip at Liberty Heights Avenue and Reisterstown Road is across from the Mondawmin transit center. Its centerpiece will be a memorial wall commemorating the lives of prominent Baltimore Jews and African-Americans.

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.