Transit System

WITH all of the current discussion about building a "people mover" in Baltimore, there's been a renewed interest in mass transit ideas I put forth 17 years ago. But, while it is flattering to hear people use my name when ideas such as the people mover arise, they often forget the context in which I was working years ago.Now, I would dearly love to see the Baltimore area have a modern integrated public transportation system. One that would be so convenient to use that many people would use it because it made their everyday lives easier.

SATURDAY night's NFL contest was a preseason game for the Baltimore Ravens, but it was the Super Bowl for the Mass Transit Administration. Unfortunately, the MTA fumbled the opportunity to show that it was ready for the big time.The transit system failed miserably at proving that buses and light rail could deliver fans to the stadium and back with the efficiency of a two-minute drill.Instead, many riders who reached light rail stops early missed the opening kickoff. With the heavy demand, one packed car after another passed them by at their stations.

MY CONFIDENCE in Howard County's enigmatic bus system was at a low point a few months ago.After waiting more than a half-hour for a bus that didn't come to my Ellicott City neighborhood on a chilly September morning, I had to forget about taking mass transit to work in Columbia that day. I drove instead; the next bus was not scheduled to come for hours.The frustration of waiting in vain for a bus and the indifference shown by a transit system operator when I called to complain made me reluctant to try again to catch the bus.Fortunately, I have the option of driving, unlike many riders of the Howard Area Transit System (HATS)

Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke took an important step toward what might end up being only an informal endorsement of Gov. Parris N. Glendening yesterday, praising the governor's recent positions on state court funding and mass transit.Schmoke, a former ally who has feuded with Glendening for two years, said in a statement that the governor's stances on the two issues were signs of a "leader with a positive vision for the future.""I see nothing but very positive things resulting from his comments regarding the courts and mass transit system enhancements," Schmoke said in a statement released by his spokesman.

THE DISTANCE between Philadelphia and Howard County is NTC more than the 100 miles of Interstate 95 that separate my hometown from my home.A reminder of this comes every time I use a Howard Area Transit System (HATS) bus to commute between Ellicott City and Columbia. The suburban bus system is light years from the big-city network of trains, light rail and buses that was my link to the outside world.For their myriad of urban woes, Philadelphians are spoiled when it comes to mass transit. When commuters miss a trolley, they don't worry.

Burdened by cost-cutting and design compromises, Maryland's much-heralded light rail expansion to Baltimore-Washington International Airport and Pennsylvania Station could prove to be an expensive dud.At least that's the fear of some state officials, who are scrambling to make the system work despite shortcomings that could cause riding light rail to become a potentially arduous experience."

In an article Sunday, the name of state Mass Transit Administrator John A. Agro Jr. was misspelled.The Sun regrets the error.Baltimore area commuters who travel on light rail and Metro trains on weekdays now can take their bicycles with their briefcases and bag lunches.Mass Transit Administration officials yesterday launched a six-month pilot program that allows cyclists to carry their bicycles on the mass transit system at all times except two hours before and after Orioles home games.The program is the latest during a time when commuters more often prefer to drive and when the federal government is expected to cut the mass transit system's funding.

THE PHRASE, "mass transit in Howard County," sounds like an oxymoron. An outer-ring suburb of Baltimore and Washington, Howard is a place where public transportation buses are about as difficult to find as corner mom-and-pop groceries. The ColumBUS system that ended its 20-year run last week carried 250,000 riders a year, far fewer than the number of passengers the state Mass Transit Administration carries any given day. So few buses ran in Columbia's system, there was no need for numbers or letters like those that distinguish MTA lines -- just a basic logo of red, gold, green and blue.

FOR THE first time since moving from Philadelphia a decade ago, I took the bus to work recently. In the years since leaving the city, I've lived in suburban communities and have relied on one clunker or another for transportation.Only when the Howard Area Transit System (HATS) started running new bus lines in September could I reach Columbia from Ellicott City via mass transit. And in Howard County, the term "mass transit" gets defined rather broadly.The HATS system is nothing like the intricate bus-subway-light rail-elevated train networks of big cities.

Carroll's budget hearings concluded yesterday with a parade of parents, senior citizens, coaches and others urging the County Commissioners not to cut money for recreation programs, parks, museums and a heavily used nonprofit transportation system.The county's final hearing on proposed budget cuts for fiscal 1997 was reminiscent of others at the Agricultural Center in Westminster during the past two weeks. The hearing room filled to capacity more than 200 people showed up yesterday, many wearing T-shirts or ribbons to support threatened programs.

While the effort to improve Baltimore's transit system passed an important milestone last week when Gov. Martin O'Malley selected a specific plan for an east-west light rail line, The Battle of the Red Line is far from over. Residents in Canton and other areas along the route vow to keep fighting the $1.6 billion plan, which they regard as an assault on the peace, parking and property values in their neighborhoods. And there are two likely battlefields. "I expect it to play out in Annapolis and in Washington," said Ben Rosenberg, a Canton resident and leader of the anti-Red Line forces.

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.

WASHINGTON - Maryland senators are seeking more than $1.4 billion this year in earmarked federal spending for hundreds of special-interest projects, according to first-ever public disclosure reports. Big-ticket items on the senators' wish lists include the Chesapeake Bay, transportation and government construction projects. The Democrats also want to steer more than $170 million combined to private defense contractors. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin has filed requests totaling $1.14 billion, and Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski is asking for $942.

Witness, jury intimidation shows need for reform The paper's Page One story concerning an act of witness intimidation ("Courtroom threat shakes witness, jury," May 5) should be of concern to every citizen in the United States. It is obvious in the area of criminal law we are faced with 21st century crimes but practicing 19th and 20th century criminal law practice and procedures. This must change! The governor or legislature should convene a committee to review conditions as they exist today and what can be done to improve, if not correct, what we are experiencing.

A bus rider driven to drive I just can't wait to fill up my tank again. Seventy bucks. Who cares? I'm not wealthy by any means. I'm merely a young civil servant. But because the Maryland Transit Administration can't figure out a way to get me from my home in the city to my job in the county (at a certain government agency where I have more than 6,000 co-workers, the Social Security Administration headquarters in Woodlawn) in less than about 60 minutes (for a distance of 6 miles), driving is certainly better than the bus. I love public transit, conservation, reducing my carbon footprint, bicycles and all of that green stuff.

From vacation in France ... Paris has the best subway system I've ever used. Trains go anywhere you want. (Even the snooty 8th arrondisement. No black holes for rich neighborhoods, such as for Georgetown in the D.C. metro system. And they run frequently. We haven't waited more than four minutes for a subway all week. READ JAY'S BLOG For Jay Hancock's take on local business news that affects you, read him daily at baltimoresun.com/blogs Even better: the Velib system for bike rentals.

It was June 2001, and the price of a gallon of regular gasoline had soared to $1.68 a gallon. It was so ridiculous that many folks said to heck with it, we'll take mass transit. And they did. There were 5 million more transit trips taken in the United States that month than the previous June. But by June 2002, with travel curtailed in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, gas was down to a less burdensome $1.39. Public transit lost 23 million rides from the same month a year before as commuters returned to their cars.

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?

On May 10, Baltimore is sponsoring a "summit" to discuss the Red Line - a rail transit project proposed to connect Bayview, Fells Point, downtown, Edmondson Village and Security/Woodlawn. One thinks of a summit as an exclusive affair attended by heads of state and other top officials, but this particular summit is open to everyone - even you and me - so we must wonder whether issues crucial to the city's future will really be addressed. Then we must think about the rail transit system we've built in Baltimore.

LONDON -- Four men convicted of conspiracy to murder were sentenced yesterday to life in prison for their part in failed suicide bombings on London's transit system in 2005. Each must serve a minimum of 40 years before being eligible for parole. Woolwich Crown Court said two other defendants will be retried in the July 21, 2005, attempts. No date has been set. During sentencing, Judge Adrian Fulford linked the botched attacks to London transit bombings two weeks earlier that killed 52 people.