Steve Eldridge, The Examiner
2007-08-29 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

BALTIMORE -

Now is the time of year when we all have to change gears again. School buses are back in the commuting mix every morning, schoolchildren line sidewalks and cross streets (not always at the crosswalks), and there are more cars on the road because most vacations are over. It’s time to really pay attention and be extra cautious.

LIGHT RAIL UPDATE

I received this the other day from the Maryland Transit Administration: “Effective Sunday, August 26, 2007, the Maryland Transit Administration will offer nonstop service on the Light Rail system from Penn Station to Camden Yards via downtown Baltimore. This will eliminate the need for customers traveling between Penn Station and Camden Yards to change trains at the Mount Royal station, as they must currently do.

“With the new Penn-Camden shuttle, Penn Station riders, and anyone using Light Rail along the Howard Street corridor, will be able to reach their destinations directly. This will provide a significant customer service enhancement for riders destined for either train station, as well as riders who live and work on the Westside and use Light Rail to travel up and down Howard Street.

“Destination signs on the Light Rail trains will read ‘Penn Station’ for northbound trains and ‘Camden Yards’ for southbound trains. The route will be shown on MTA system maps in red. Penn-Camden Shuttles will run every 20 to 30 minutes during morning and evening rush hours, and every 30 minutes during non-rush- hour periods and on weekends.

“Further information on the new Penn-Camden service, including a link to new Light Rail timetables, is available at MTA’s Internet Web site at mtamaryland.com.”

WHERE ARE THE MTA POLICE?

“G.M.” writes with a question and an observation: “I wish you would ask the MTA what the MTA police do all day. I ride the subway from the Milford Mill station. I was thoroughly insulted by the way the MTA brought a portable police booth to oversee traffic at the Milford Mill station during the closure of the [Owings Mills] station — it was only in place for the first week. The MTA police presence at subway stations is a joke. At the Milford Mill station there is a desk beside the elevator where the officer sits. ... They can see less than 1 percent of the parking lots at the station.

“My car was stolen from the Milford Mill station. It took three phone calls by the station attendant and 45 minutes for MTA police to show up to take the report. There was no follow-up by the MTA police. I was notified by Baltimore County police that my car had been recovered two days later. I called the detective assigned to my case and asked what was going on to catch the perpetrator. I advised him that my car had been recovered. He had no idea it had been recovered.”

I know this is one of the things the higher-ups at the MTA are concerned about. They want to increase the presence of MTA police in and around stations, especially during events at some of the major venues around town. The safety of the system is vitally important.