Mass disappointment

Here is a topic where I not only blame Governor Martin O’Malley (D), but I also blame Robert Ehrlich (R) and Parris Glendening (D).  I am blaming these three governors for the crappy state of public transportation in Maryland, particularly in the Washington and Baltimore Metropolitan Areas. 

In the past decade, this area has grown in leaps and bounds beyond anyone’s expectations.  You would think that with a lot of people criss-crossing between the two cities, the Maryland Department of Transportation would have mastered getting the millions of commuters in an easier, non complex but above all somewhat timely manner.  The only jurisdiction in Maryland that seems to understand this concept is Montgomery County.

For all it’s worth, I think that the elected leaders in Montgomery County at times have acted like spoiled rotten arrogant brats, particularly in Annapolis.  I am sure that many of you have said worse about one of the wealthiest counties in the state.  However, we cannot take away the solid fact that Montgomery County has it right when it comes to transportation, whether it’s traffic control or mass transit.  As a former traffic reporter, I have always been impressed with their traffic camera network.  You would think that Montgomery would have been a model for the rest of the state when it comes to local transportation, but looking at the rest of the state, it’s disappointing.

As someone who was without a car in 2007, I can personally tell you that it was a challenge using public transportation services from Laurel.  Cab rides to the Greenbelt metro station was $80 a weekend because bus services were very limited on Saturday and non-existent on Sunday.  Thankfully I had help from family and friends last year in getting around on the weekends.

It seems that public transportation is not only in disarray at the local level (sans Montgomery County,) but statewide as well.  This was evident in the recent apology issued to MARC riders by MTA Maryland administrator Paul Wiedefeld for it’s poor service in June.

As reported in The Baltimore Sun recently, The Penn Line was 81 percent on time while the Camden and Brunswick Lines were on-time 63 percent of the time.  The performance of the latter two lines would seem ironic, but you have to understand that the Brunswick and Camden Lines operate as one line for reasons that I have not learned about yet.  Even shocking is that MARC’s diesel fleet is four decades old.  These cars should be in the B&O Railroad Museum enjoying retirement.

The state needs to make serious investments in public transportation as a whole, not just projects that make for hot topics in the press (i.e. Purple Line between Bethesda and New Carrollton, the Red Line in Baltimore and Intercounty Connector.)  This is something that is long overdue and should have started with Governor Glendening, but for some reason it did not happen.  Except for Montgomery County, public transportation seems to be the black sheep of elected officials in every level of government, from local level to state level.  Gas prices might be going down at the moment, but let’s learn from our mistakes and start planning, improving and reorganizing transit services.