Regarding the op-ed “Baltimore region needs a seat at the table on transit” (Feb. 26), authors Brandon Scott, Kathy Klausmeier and Steuart Pittman propose solving mass transit woes by creating another board within the Maryland Department of Transportation.
Another board holding endless meetings will not solve the Light Rail’s issues. To start, I suggest Scott, Pittman and Klausmeier actually park their cars and limo services and take mass transit so they can see what’s happening.
I do. And what I see is not pretty, and it certainly won’t be cured by creating another bureaucratic box on the organization chart.
What is needed? In three words, “communication” and “operational excellence.” Drivers need to be able to easily communicate with dispatch, and mass transit needs to be run with the hard discipline of an elite military operation. Dispatch must consider what events are going on, where they need to add more trains and create a reliable method for communicating arrival times.
I take Light Rail almost purely for recreational purposes — Camden Yards, Penn Station, downtown restaurants, museums, etc. I can’t trust it enough for anything work-related. I certainly couldn’t use it to go to work and get me there on time.
People who want to take it to BWI Airport must feel like a character in a Clint Eastwood film, asking: “’Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?”
If it’s not an equipment malfunction, it’s a faulty door. If it’s not a mechanical issue, there’s a tree lying across the tracks at Falls Road. I have been on so many trains taken out of service at North Avenue, I look at that part of Baltimore as a giant roulette wheel. Spin wrong, and you arrive home at 2 a.m.
So, nothing against more automobile-centric bureaucrats, but just telling us minions which sub-agency of what department is responsible for my latest transit-related delay is not going to cut it.
I’ll see you on the Timonium Fairgrounds-bound light rail. It will be nice to meet you.
— John D. Schulz, Cockeysville
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