MTA proposes several bad ideas

October 17, 9:24 AMDC Transportation ExaminerKatherine M. Hill

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This is actually a bonus entry. I wrote the following for my blog The Perils of Public Transportation but feel that the information is important for DC transit riders, too. I urge you to contact MTA and let them know that these service cuts are unacceptable.

From Get There, Dr. Gridlock reports serious cuts in MTA services (pdf). Commuter buses and routes will be affected first from several cuts and MTA also proposes eliminating holiday service:

In addition to these service reductions, MTA proposes, effective Veterans Day, to: -- Eliminate all holiday service (Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day and the day after Thanksgiving). -- Eliminate all service on the day after Christmas. -- Operate holiday service rather than full service on Christmas Eve and the day after New Year's Day.

These changes are proposed for MARC, too.
The changes will start January 12, 2009.

Unfortunately most people work on holidays. Columbus Day, President's Day, and Martin Luther King Day are days most people work. Every MLK Day I caught the bus I was grateful the bus was still running.

The majority of MTA's riders in Baltimore are not people who have federal holidays off; they are the people who keep the world turning while the 9-to-5 federal employees get to sleep in and most of them depend on bus service to get around.

Almost as asinine is the proposal that January 2nd will operate on holiday hours. Everyone gets back to the pre-holiday routine on the 2nd. Schools start their new semesters and everything resumes as the way it had before. You really want to run limited service on a day because it's near a holiday? Really?

MARC will also terminate evening service on the Penn line, several integral services on the Brunswick line (which is integral in getting Fredericktonians to and from DC), and the ten-trip ticket.

MARC is a service necessary for Maryland commuters to get to and from DC. It was the most efficient way for me to get to Montgomery and Frederick Counties when I lived in Baltimore.

MTA will hold public hearings (pdf). If you can't attend a hearing I urge you e-mail MTA (commuterbus@mtamaryland.com/marc@mtamaryland.com) or send letters to:
Glenn Litsinger
MTA Office of Customer Information
6 St. Paul Street
Baltimore, MD 21202