Transit

The state Mass Transit Administration discovered through a recently completed survey that Carroll County workers and employers are not terribly interested in mass transit. Despite the lukewarm response to the survey, Carroll still needs to think about its future public transportation needs.MTA surveyed about 13,000 Carroll workers and employers to determine whether a market exists for bus service to the Owings Mills Metro stop in northwest Baltimore County. Workers were asked whether they had adequate transportation to their jobs.

BALTIMORE NEEDS better public transit. What the city has now is a bunch of half-built half-measures. It's become a chronic problem and is one of the prime reasons that Baltimore's jobless can't get work - and the rest of us are increasingly stuck in traffic. That's why it's vital that Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. fully support the Red Line, the proposed east-west transit connection from Woodlawn to downtown Baltimore and potentially further east to Patterson Park. Administration officials claim to warmly embrace the project and have offered to spend $17 million on its planning and design.

The controversy over a proposed parking lot in Baltimore City's Patterson Park shows once again that there is something profoundly wrong with our collective dependency on cars ("Residents irate at proposal to pave over green," Sept. 19). The alleged need for additional parking is a consequence of past decisions to destroy a viable public transportation system. While that decision was made long ago, we are doing little to change its continuing legacy. Building more parking capacity only sustains the problem, in addition to the environmental damage it will bring about.

Carroll Transit officials are likely to get most of the things on their wish list, now that $9.7 million in federal money has been approved to help bus systems in Maryland.The money, $3.5 million to $4 million of which will be sharedamong several Maryland subdivisions, was appropriated by the Senate last week and approved by the president Sept. 30, said Bill Toohey, spokesman for Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes.About $6 million goes to the Mass Transit Administration to buy buses and to improve some MTA facilities, he said.

Everyone wants more and better roads. And a first-class airport nearby. And a thriving port. And a convenient web of mass-transit stops linking home to work and to downtown. The problem is paying for all these transportation necessities.By decade's end, the state will barely have enough revenue coming in to cover the upkeep of these facilities. It will have no money to expand or improve its transportation network. While expenses are expected to grow at 8 percent a year, revenue from taxes that pay for transportation projects (gas tax, auto registration, titling tax and corporate income tax)

IT LOOKS so enticing on paper, but it's the details buried in the fine print that tell the real story. Headline: Governor proposes innovative six-year, $758 million mass-transit program. Sounds great. Parris N. Glendening wants to put some meat on the scraggly bones of Baltimore's skeletal rail-and-bus transit system. It's part of a well-intended state public-transit initiative. But like many items in the governor's overly generous budget, this package is unaffordable. Here's what it would mean: A large fee increase on Maryland's toll roads, tunnels and bridges in 2003.

Four years ago, as legislators were considering a 5.5 cent per gallon increase in the gasoline tax, administration officials predicted they would be returning in 1991 in search of additional tax dollars. The enormous cost of road-building, bridge repair and mass transit would gobble up the extra revenue by that time, they said. And sure enough, transportation leaders are back seeking another $1.5 billion in revenue enhancements.This would translate into higher motor vehicle fees and a 6.5 cent rise in the gasoline tax, to 25 cents.

Fans attending the Baltimore Orioles' home opener Friday should bring their peanuts and Cracker Jack -- and their MTA passes, the city's Department of Transportation recommends. The Opening Day game falls on a weekday, so area garages will be packed with commuter vehicles, according to the agency. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will also hold two performances tonight at the 1st Mariner Arena, adding further congestion. Any ticket holders who do not also have a parking permit for stadium lots should use public transportation, such as the orange Charm City Circulator route that connects Hollins Market to Harbor East.

Public transportation is an essential public service, and Carroll County is in real danger of losing its transit system. Carroll Transit, the non-profit agency that has operated a 17-van fleet for the past four years, may begin closing down on Feb. 1 if it doesn't get help from the county government to fill a projected $70,000 deficit.Carroll Transit had proposed several money-saving measures to JTC the county. Instead of using private garages to repair and maintain the agency's fleet, its board proposed using the county garage, which would save about $12,000 to $15,000 a year in maintenance cost.