Taking Action

Since Martin O'Malley seems to be hellbent on brushing aside the continued MARC train issues to the point that one of these days #MARCfail is going to actually become a trending topic on Twitter, Governor Ehrlich is actually trying to do something constructive; listen to MARC's customers through the creation of a "Commuters for Ehrlich" caucus of transit riders who are fed up with the continued failure of Martin O'Malley's MTA.

The group will be led by Craig Borne, who is featured in this video:



I have long been critical of the failures of Martin O'Malley's transit administration; and it is heartening that Governor Ehrlich is taking positive action to solve problems for Maryland.

It's Time to Clean House

The MTA just cannot get out of its own way these days. Because we get point after point after point about the culture of failure that has seeped into every pore of that agency.

Even I, as much of a critic as I am, understand that mistakes happen and that sometimes things break. But when you skip major MARC stations without a reasonable explanation, forcing riders to doubleback, it makes you wonder what kind of circus Ralign Wells is running over there.

It is time (still) for Martin O'Malley to clean house over at the MTA and send a message to transit users that the continued failure of the Agency is no longer acceptable.

O'Malley in Microcosm

The MARC Train Ride from Hell is starting to become a perfect microcosm of the failures of the O'Malley Administration.

MARC train service has been a problem throughout the O'Malley Administration. The entire Maryland Transit Administration has been a mess throughout the O'Malley Administration. Then earlier this week, we had the complete breakdown of common sense and order on MARC Train 538. Thousands of suburban, middle-class voters commuting between D.C. and the Washington area get stuck in sweltering, inhuman heat on a train for two hours.

Then and only then does Martin O'Malley wake up from his rock star dreams to deal with the harsh reality of the situation by....appearing for a campaign spectacle photo op to try and cover his indifference on the issue. And even then, his presence didn't exactly stop more grisly conditions on today's trains.

The fact that Secretary of Transportation Beverly Swaim-Staley or embattled Transit Administrator Ralign Wells never bothered to show up to MARC riders advisory committee meetings probably explains a heck of a lot about the continued failures of the MTA to deal with this.....though it does explain why Ralign Wells thinks that all of MTA's problems are with their perception.

And don't forget that beyond the MARC train debacle, the MTA remains the gang that couldn't shoot straight on other issues, too.

Martin O'Malley's dealing with the "hell train" fiasco from early in the week has been eerily similar to the way he has run his entire administration:

• Identify the problem;
• Ignore the problem;
• Notice that the problem has begat some sort of calamity, particularly one that impacts white, suruban, middle class voters from Baltimore or Howard Counties;
• See if the problem is your fault;
• Create a photo op to address the problem;
• Blame Bob Ehrlich;
• Go back to ignoring the problem.

While Martin O'Malley has been ignoring transit issues for his entire administration, many critics (of which I include myself) have been documenting problems with the Transit Administration for several years. He is little more than a Johnny Come-lately on this issue, particularly as it relates to MARC trains. Only now that his failure to lead on reforming the MTA has led to such a public relations nightmare has O'Malley finally decided to give the appearance that he is doing something about it.

We're wathcing Governor...prove us wrong.

But I thought it was a perception problem

Remember last week when MTA Chief Ralign Wells said that the problem with the MTA and its services was perception and not service.

Yeah....about that.

I have a high suspicion that the 1,000 commuters that the MTA left stranded for two-hours in hot, inhuman conditions without being provided any relief in the form of a simple drink of water on a MARC train probably think that the perception of the MTA is not exactly a high priority. Maybe a MARC train system that works is. Because this does not sound like the words of satisfied customers:

They absolutely lost control of the situation," said Tim Kelly of Arbutus, a
10-year MARC rider who called the experience "the worst I've ever seen" on the
commuter railroad.

Passenger Bill Rowe of Towson said he estimated the
temperature in the car "conservatively" at 110 degrees. "Frankly, if someone
left their dog locked up in a car for 11/2 hours like this, they would be
arrested," he said.

Way to go MTA! Clearly the perception of your agency is in the dumps because you don't market well enough, not because you can't keep the system running or, when the system fails, treat your customers like human beings. And as more details come out, the worse the whole incident it sounds.

Heads should roll over this.....and maybe it's time for me to call (again) for a purge of senior leadership over at the MTA.

MTA Head Has Misplaced Priorities

Michael Dresser reports on a roundtable with Transit Administrator Ralign Wells. And if you think the head of the MTA has his priorities straight well.....not necessarily:

"I'm very frustrated that there's a poor perception of transit," said MTA
Administrator Ralign Wells. "What I'm trying to do is change the perception of
transit."

Well....people the public has a poor perception for a pretty good reason, and it says a lot that the priority for Wells is to improve the pereception of transit, not actually improve transit itself.

Some of the other things that Wells notes goes from basic common sense budgeting stuff to the more....well, shall we say off the wall concepts of what's important.

Every other major transit system in America has a SmartCard system. WMATA introduced theirs in 2004....however MTA's is "still in development."

A 30-percent farebox recovery rate for Wells is "decent." Thiry-percent. We've talked about farebox recovery rates before, but what is even worse is what Wells delineates as the actual farebox recovery rates:

• MTA Buses: 30 percent
• Metro Subway: 28 percent
• Light Rail: 18 percent
• MARC: "Mid-30's percent"

Those recovery rates are absolutely unacceptable.

Then we get to safety issues:

"But he said suburbanites who do use the system can attest that it is safe.

That might be news to more than a few people just with the number of horror stories that just I have discussed over the years (though it isn't like the MTA got any help from Annapolis on this one). So the problem, Mr. Wells is not the pereception that the MTA system isn't safe; it's the fact that the MTA system in sections seems to not actually be safe.

But hey.....new uniforms for MTA operators will fix everything!

So how does Ralign Wells defer from his predecessor at MTA? Seemingly, he doesn't. There seems to continue to be this culture within MTA that the status quo is fine, that the system is safe, that low farebox recovery rates are acceptable to taxpayers, and that the problem is with the perception of the public and not the reality of the situation.

I hope that we will get the opportunity to deal with this change in culture with the change in Administration in the Governor's Mansion that will be coming this January...

Starve the Beast

Well it looks like the poster-child for failed state agencies doesn't have enough money to keep things going into the next fiscal year:

The Maryland Transit Administration may not have enough money for personnel and operations in next year's budget, legislative analysts warn, but state transit officials insist that they’ll make do with the funding the governor gave them.

Transportation Secretary Beverly Swaim-Staley told the Senate budget committee Thursday that fiscal 2011 will be challenging under Gov. Martin O’Malley’s proposed budget, but she vowed to make it work.

"We have to move things around in the budget, or look at the capital program to meet our needs,” she said.

Now we know that the Transit Administration is possibly the worst-run aspect of Maryland State Government, with a spate of problems throughout the years; failed equipment, unsafe transit lines, services that don't make any money. I have been calling for the senor leadership to be replaced for a long time at the least, and at most to see the entire system privatized so that it can be better managed.

What better way to prove the fiscally reckless manner in which the MTA is being run than the fact that the in the budget submitted for the Governor's approval the agency doesn't have enough money to keep things going.

And what is one reason that the agency is running out of money. Labor unions:

The Department of Legislative Services raised concerns in its analysis of the MTA’s proposed $468 million budget that projected costs of labor contracts could outpace the agency’s funding next year. The document pointed specifically to ongoing negotiations with transit unions.

“There is concern that the fiscal 2011 allowance for MTA is insufficient to support all of the contract increases for services and union personnel expenses in addition to the ongoing expenses of operating a large transit system,” the analysis said.

Here's a memo to MTA leadership; when negotiating these contracts, why not be reasonable? Why not negotiate within your means and try not to spend more than the Governor has allocated for you? Why? Because that's how we operate in the real world. If you are already projecting $468 million in shortfalls because of the contract that is currently under negotiation, you better come up with a plan that will offset that $468 million projection.

Which then leads to the issue of farebox recovery rates, in that the MTA's stated goal is a recovery rate of 35 percent; that means that the goal of the state is to recover only 35 cents of every dollar that it takes to operate the entire transit system.....and MTA right now is only getting a 30 percent recovery rate.

If the MTA were a private business, they would be hemorrhaging money and close their doors within a year with such rates. ...but here in Maryland, such business practices seem to be perfectly acceptable.

If I were in charge of the MTA, I would take steps to make the Agency profitable. There are ways to make the system self-sufficient without making the system unsafe or transit fares unaffordable to average riders. I'm not saying that the MTA needs to have a 150% farebox recovery rate like they do in Hong Kong (on a privatized system, incidentally), but I would make sure that steps were taken in order to move closer to ending the subsidization of of the system.

But I'm not. Instead, MTA senior leadership needs to do the competent thing and spend within their means. With a budget shortfall, there is no room in the budget to throw more good money after bad toward a failing transit administration. General Assembly leadership needs to resist the urge and make the MTA work with less; we need to starve the beast to create efficiencies and costs savings that will finally make the MTA take common sense approaches to improve service.

MTA stands for "Most Troubled Agency"

You know that sometimes, I get letters. And sometimes I get them about the Maryland Transit Administration, which as you know if you've been paying attention, is in dire need of a clean slate and fresh leadership from somebody who has not been part of the circus and has at least a smidge of common sense.

So needless to say that the following email message I got was....disturbing:

A guy I work with has a neighbor who does maintenance and repairs of the MTA buses in Baltimore City. Last week, a call came in from a driver, and she wanted to bring her bus in because "someone had taken a crap in the bus."

She brought the bus in, and, unbeknownst to her, this guy reviewed the tape from the bus. Well, as you probably guessed by now, they have footage of her emptying her bus, going Out of Service, pulling off somewhere, and taking a crap in the middle of the bus. The best part of it was this: she was on the phone calling it in as she was taking the dump.

So, the mechanic followed up with HR (or whatever the heck they have) and, because she is union, she was not fired... only reprimanded for her behavior.

Wow. Just wow. Is it any wonder why Light Rail, Metro, and MTA Buses fail to meet ridership expectations? I mean, how can riders expect a clean and safe mode of transit when even MTA employees can't meet basic standards of human civility?

So that leads me to ask the same questions I usually have when this issues come up:

• Why do Senior Leaders at the Maryland Transit Administration continue to have jobs;
• Why does Governor O'Malley take no responsible for MTA and its mismanagement?

If transit advocates really want to help increase ridership in the Baltimore area, they should join me in calling for new leadership and new realities over at MTA Headquarters. The current crew cannot change make the necessary changes to provide safe, reliable and clean transit.
For positive change, outside leadership is necessary.

Feeling Unstimulated

It's bad enough that Democrats in Congress have forced the unwanted, unnecessary, and unsavory stimulus plan down the throats of American taxpayers. Now, look at what the Democrats in Annapolis plan on doing with some of that money:

Maryland will use money from the economic stimulus plan to purchase 100 hybrid diesel-electric buses, state officials said yesterday. The purchase of the fuel-saving vehicles had been on hold because of a shortfall in the state's Transportation Trust Fund. The $65 million purchase will more than double the number of hybrid vehicles in the Maryland Transit Administration's bus fleet.

So, let's follow the logic here:

• Congress appropriates billions of dollars in an effort not to stimulate the economy,but in order to provide a shopping spree in the name of a multitude of liberal special interests;
• Maryland Democrats, instead of using the money to balance the budget in this year and cut spending to ensure that it never happens again, are instead going to spend that money on pie in the sky projects to protect the environment;
  
• The Administration is going to hand over $65 million to the MTA, Maryland's most incompetent agency, to buy buses that we really don't need;
• Ensure that $65 million of the stimulus package winds up not being spent in Maryland.

Is it any wonder why American taxpayers oppose the stimulus package? Is it any wonder why Americans don't trust Democrats not to tax them more? Instead of doing good deeds to try and bolster consumer confidence and get money back in the hands of taxpayers through reductions in federal spending and necessary tax cuts, Democrats instead are going to bury us in more foreign debt while trying to plan Santa Claus. For Democrats, it's more important to make their base happy than it is to do right by America's middle and working class families.

The MTA bus purchase is going to be merely the first in a number of new and creative reckless fiscal decision made my Maryland due to the stimulus package. Then again, it's not like we should suspect Annapolis Democrats would learn to be responsible overnight....

Privatization a Serious Option

I have been calling for some time now the privatization of state assets, mainly as a way to improve services and reduce state spending. Now that state budgets are actually up against the wall, it looks like momentum for such common sense solutions is bulding:

Minnesota is deep in the hole financially, but the state still owns a premier golf resort, a sprawling amateur sports complex, a big airport, a major zoo and land holdings the size of the Central American country of Belize.

Valuables like these are in for a closer look as 44 states cope with deficits.

Like families pawning the silver to get through a tight spot, states such as Minnesota, New York, Massachusetts and Illinois are thinking of selling or leasing toll roads, parks, lotteries and other assets to raise desperately needed cash.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has hinted that his January budget proposal will include proposals to privatize some of what the state owns or does. The Republican is looking for cash to help close a $5.27 billion deficit without raising taxes.

And if you notice, it is a wide variety of states that are looking at privatization measures. Big government states such as New York, Massachusetts, and Illinois are looking at the benefits to maximizing efficiency by utilizing the private sector.

Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe that such common sense will seep in here to Maryland, even if a small step was taken in August when the state considered privatization for the Seagirt Marine Terminal. At minimum, Maryland needs to be looking at privatizing the Maryland Transportation Authority assets as well as the assets and operation of the notoriously mismanaged Maryland Transit Administration. Such a minimal privatization plan will save millions of dollars for Maryland taxpayers, and provide taxpayers with better services at lower costs.

At the very least, Maryland needs to consider how we can maximize the use of our state owned assets to deal with aftermath of the reckless fiscal policies of the O'Malley Administration. There is an opportunity here for the state and its taxpayers, if the Administration and General Assembly can resist their default settings and take advantage of it.

Off Track

Think about how it must feel to be one of the thousands of regular Light Rail users who are being inconvenienced by the MTA, and then find out the situation was avoidable almost a decade ago:

The current shutdown of half of Baltimore's light rail line likely could have been prevented had Maryland Transit Administration engineers decided in 2000 to spend about $4 million on an electronic system designed to prevent trains from sliding on slippery tracks, according to a top MTA official.

Henry Kay, the MTA's deputy administrator for planning and engineering, said that as a result of the decision, Maryland's light rail is one of the few in the country without the so-called "slip-slide protection" to protect the wheels of its cars....

....Kay said there is no way now to quantify the cost of the decision in terms of lost service, additional maintenance, overtime and other expense. But he said there's little question the MTA would have been better off had it invested in the technology, which would have roughly doubled the cost of a crash-avoidance system it did adopt.

"That would have been $4 million well spent," Kay said.

You bet it would have been money well spent. Between the cost to fix the cracked wheels, the diminished revenue from diminished light rail service availability, and the cost in both time and money to commuters who are having to deal in a variety of ways with the disruption of service, this snafu has cost the taxpayers of Maryland a hell of a lot more than $4 million would have.

The problem is that, more than likely, the same decision makers who made this decision back in 2000 are probably still on the job here in 2008. But that's not even as big of a problem as the piecemeal way of addressing the problem that MTA Senior Leadership has demonstrated. Like all other aspects of transit planning in Baltimore, Paul Wiedefield and company have shown that they are not up to the task of running a safe, basic, and functioning mass transit operation.

While it is easy to see in hindsight that the failure to buy this system in 2000, we need to note this as a lesson learned and make sure that steps are taken to adequately plan for risk avoidance such as this for future projects. Unfortunately, I have no confidence in the O'Malley Administration and current MTA Senior Leadership to learn those lessons make such decisions with any competence.....

The Mess Continues

The Maryland Transit Administration continues to show day in and day out that failure is an option in Maryland State Government:

Thousands of Baltimore-area commuters were forced to abandon trains and board buses yesterday, the first workday disrupted by a light rail shutdown that closed the northern half of the system. State officials were unable to say how long service would be curtailed by a problem caused in part by the fall of autumn leaves.

Commuters attempting to take light rail between North Avenue and Hunt Valley were diverted to shuttle buses, which passengers said added as much as 90 minutes to the trip.

Light rail typically serves 30,000 riders a day - about half of whom use the northern stations.

So that's fantastic. Half of the ridership of the Light Rail system disrupted because the MTA couldn't adequately plan for Fall.

What's infuriating about this shutdown is the fact that it has been inherent in the design and operation of the system from the get go, according to the Sun story:

Problems with light rail go back to the original design and route of the system, which opened in 1992 under pressure from then-Gov. William Donald Schaefer to get it running in time for the debut of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The northern section of the line follows a narrow, old railroad right of way along the Jones Falls Expressway through forested parkland before emerging from the woods north of Ruxton.

The problem, Porcari said yesterday, is that trains run over fallen leaves and can grind the wet plant matter into what he described as a "gelatinous substance."

Some somehow after 16 years, the MTA leadership still doesn't realize that this is a year in, year out problem? Or the fact that the computer system in place on the Light Rail trains has been in place for four years and they still do not have an adequate solution?

This afternoon, the MTA Follies just got worse:

The Maryland Transit Administration has referred a case to criminal investigators at the Attorney General's Office involving an employee who used keys to bus fare boxes to gain access to the collected money, according to a legislative audit released today....

.... Among its findings:

—During an 18-month period in 2006 and 2007, the MTA failed to perform maintenance inspections as frequently as required by federal rules on 66 percent of its bus fleet.

—As of January, the MTA had not performed a complete physical inventory of its equipment since July 1998.

—Of its 140 state-owned, non-transit vehicles, 39 were not driven the minimum of 10,000 miles of use on state business in 2007 needed to justify keeping them in the MTA's fleet.

The only finding to result in a criminal referral was the matter involving access to fare box keys.

According to the audit, the MTA did not maintain a proper inventory of which of the 34 employees responsible for collecting revenues had access to which specific keys. Nor did it record which supervisors issued which keys to each worker.

So, to recap:

• MTA can't keep it's system operating;
• MTA can't perform basic maintenance on its trains and buses;
• MTA can't keep it's passengers safe; and.
• MTA can't adequately retain its fares

I have spoken time and again about the MTA's incompetence. And I have to ask again why Governor O'Malley will take no steps to rectify systemic failures at MTA? Why does Paul Wiedefeld and the rest of MTA Senior Manager still have jobs? And why will Martin O'Malley take no responsibility for Baltimore's public transit crisis?

Another Satisfied Customer

Looks like once again the Maryland Transit Administration really steps up and makes us proud of our transit apparatus here in Baltimore:

We always ride the front car, thinking that it is the safest. Much to our surprise, this time we were the only female riders and were confronted by nine men using crude terms in front of us. All of the terms were sexual in nature, and they were announced in a loud and abusive in tone of voice.

After two stops, I went to the back of the car and called 911. The 911 operator attempted to transfer me to the Maryland Transit Administration police, only to give me a nonworking number. I called 911 again and explained that I felt threatened by these riders.

It took the 911 operator some time to identify whether we were in the city or county. By that time, we had arrived at the Mount Washington stop and an MTA employee boarded the train. At that time, the abusive riders bolted off the train....

....Over the last six months, I have seen fewer police at the stations, particularly at night and more riders jumping off the train at their first sight of an MTA employee.

And the MTA wonders why that, even with the earlier rises in gasoline prices, people refuse to ride Light Rail, Transit Buses, or the Baltimore Metro.

I have been chronicling for some time the general incompetence of the MTA, but this is getting beyond ridiculous. The state of Maryland, particularly in the Baltimore region, is not serious about Mass Transit. It is just a complete impossibility for Martin O'Malley and his administration to take the problems seriously when MTA Administrator Paul Wiedefeld still has a job. The private sector would never allow an organization this incompetent, and organization that seems to find new and creative ways to alienate its customers, to operate like this without serious and significant changes.

Since my optimum choice of privatization is not likely, O'Malley and Transportation Secretary John Porcari can start to address this problem by sacking Paul Wiedefeld and the rest of the Senior Leadership over at MTA. To replace them, recruit competent leaders from the private sector to get the system back on track, back on budget, and to a situation where people can feel safe on public transit. Without a feeling of security and safety on buses and trains, there is no need to expand the system and no need to continue to develop the system.

Without massive changes, allowing MTA to operate in its current state and with its current senior leadership is throwing good money after bad. When will O'Malley and company learn that?

Rewarding Failure

The day after I point out once again the shortcomings of mass transit in Maryland, it looks like poor transportation planning will continue in the Baltimore area:

In a shift away from highways-first transportation policies, top elected officials in the Baltimore region have decided to direct about $340 million in previously unallocated revenue over 20 years entirely toward mass transit projects.

The action by the Baltimore Regional Transportation Board comes in response to protests from citizen advisers and transit advocates that its previous long-range plan, called Transportation Outlook 2035, was too heavily weighted in favor of road projects.

The board is recognized by the federal government as the chief planning body for transportation in the Baltimore metropolitan region. Its members include the mayors of Baltimore and Annapolis, the Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Harford and Howard county executives, the Carroll County commissioners and state transportation officials.

The money comes primarily from Gov. Martin O'Malley's 2007 package of revenue increases from such sources as the vehicle titling tax and corporate taxes. The added revenue from that package had not previously been factored into the regional board's long-range plans.

In a vote last week, the board determined that all of the added funds should go to short- and long-term transit projects, a shift in priorities that officials said reflects concerns about air pollution, gasoline prices and dependence on fossil fuels.

Now, I wouldn't necessarily have a problem with what the Transportation Board is doing here, if it were not for two key points:

1. Highway Capacity: Anybody who drives around the Baltimore metro area realizes that there are a number of highway projects that need additional highway funds. The Beltway, Route 100, Route 29, and I-83 could all use additional lanemiles in order to meet the already existing demand for these roads, to say nothing of the demand for these roads by 2035.

2. Rewarding poor performance: It makes it very hard to take the Transportation Board seriously as a governor body if they are going to dedicated $340 million in funds to be spent by an agency that has proved that they are, in fact, beyond incompetent. While the money will not all be explicitly spent on Transit Administration related projects, suggested expenditures include additional MARC service and the expansion of the Baltimore subway line. Given the MTA's poor performance so far, why do local county government wish to reward that failure with the potential infusion of more capital for the MTA and its management to squander?

How long will it be before Maryland has adequate and responsible transportation planning? And how long before Governor O'Malley makes the necessary wholesale changes that that Maryland Transit Administration so desperately needs?

The Brian Griffiths Minute: 07-29-2008

The usual "high-quality" audio and video feed is decided less so for this show when even compared to the usual version. But hey, that's the perils of taking the show "on location":

No Kidding they're Sorry

The Baltimore Sun headline could have just been shortened to "MTA is sorry" as opposed to expanding upon the point, but the song seems to remain the same with the Transit Administration:

The head of the Maryland Transit Administration offered beleaguered MARC train commuters an apology and a series of explanations Wednesday for what he called six weeks of service "far below what customers expect or deserve."

In an e-mail to MARC riders, MTA Administrator Paul J. Wiedefeld disclosed that on-time performance during June had fallen to 63 percent on the Camden and Brunswick lines, and 81 percent on the Penn Line.

"Although some service disruptions are unavoidable, there were instances where we could have taken actions to reduce the anxiety, frustration and inconvenience that you and your family, friends and colleagues experienced," Wiedefeld wrote.

So once again, the MTA cannot deliver reliable service to customers. Customers that are doing their part to reduce the amount of cars on the highways between Baltimore and Washington, but who can never seem to get any reliable service....ever.

Yes, I know that Paul Wiedefeld is sorry, because that's exactly what his job performance has been as the MTA Administrator. Why Secretary Porcari or Governor O'Malley have not taken measurable steps to fix the problem, and to fire Wiedefeld and the rest of the MTA senior staff is beyond me. As usual, O'Malley and company never take the proper corrective action.

When, oh when, is Maryland going to get serious about improving mass transit?

Lean on Me

Here's a question: how far will the state allow state agencies to lean on other state funded agencies to prop them up? This may be part of the answer:



Yes, MPT spent about 10 full minutes on State Circle tonight talking about the joys of the Maryland Transit Administration, propping up the management of this agency. Secretary of Transportation John Porcari comes on at the end to give us all a pep talk about the joys of mass transit (even hinting at a hike in the gas tax, for good measure). All the while, MPT substitute anchor Yolanda Vazquez was going out of her way to affix her lips to Porcari's posterior.

The entire segment was a ridiculous joke, and it goes to show two thing. One, that the Maryland Transit Administration, now more than ever, needs to have its Senior Management fired and replaced with somebody who can get the job done in a cost effective manner. Secondly, this pretty much shows the reason why taxpayer funded MPT gets no voluntary contributions from viewers like me...

MTA: Still off the rails

Wow, there are so many problems with what happened today in Timonium:

Commuters will be offered refreshments and giveaways today at the Timonium fairgrounds light rail stop for the Maryland Transit Administration's Light Rail Customer Appreciation Day....

...The transit administration will provide snacks and giveaways to riders from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

As a taxpayer, I certainly don't want the already mismanaged Transit Administration giving stuff way to people just for the hell of it, though I'm curious to try and figure out why the MTA is having one appreciation day event at an area that appeals to white, middle-class voters.

That aside, don't you think that riders of Light Rail and other forms of MTA transit would certainly appreciate safe, on time, cost-effective transit service a hell of a lot more than they do free snacks? Wouldn't proper management of the MTA, and a clean sweep of MTA senior leadership show more commitment to transit riders than just a glorified press event?

Once again, the MTA shows that it has failed to get a grip on how bad their transit system woes really are.....

There are options

The ever incompetent Maryland Transit Administration seems to think that there is no way for them to fund their proposed Red Line project:

New cost projections for a proposed east-west transit line across Baltimore show that the most widely favored alternatives are too expensive to qualify for federal funding, while the only clearly affordable choices are ones already rejected by City Hall.

Cost-effectiveness figures released this week by the Maryland Transit Administration for the proposed Red Line show alternatives that involve tunneling to put portions of the line underground exceed the federal standard for consideration of 50 percent funding of the project....

...All of them exceeded the figure of $24 per hour of user benefit that Federal Transit Administration uses as its cut-off line for judging the cost-effectiveness of competing transit proposals.

The two proposals involving the most tunneling - and the least potential disruption to neighborhoods - came in so far over the mark that MTA officials said it is practically impossible to fund them.

It seems like the rut that MTA and other leaders are stuck in (as usual) is the thought that the only source of revenue available to fund the project is through taxpayer dollars from both the state and federal governments. But we all know that this is exactly the kind of project that will simply waste taxpayer dollars and create enormous cost overruns.

It sounds like the exact kind of project that a private company could build for a fraction of the price it would cost the government.

If the MTA and public officials are serious about building the Red Line, they should really step back and consider their options. Privatization is the most cost effective way to get this project down, and this would be the perfect test case to be able to prove that point...

Wait....we're rewarding students for what?

You've got to hand it to the Maryland Transit Administration. Sure, they can't actually provide safe reliable mass transportation, but they are trying to corner the market on stupid, half-cocked ideas:

Maryland Transit Administration officials are offering discount cards for area businesses to students who pledge good behavior on city buses, an incentive that transit administrators hope will help curb disrespectful and violent behavior.

The discount card will offer 10 percent to 20 percent off purchases at 12 city establishments, including Dunkin' Donuts, Cold Stone Creamery, Shoe City, Downtown Locker Room and other places.

That's right, the MTA is going to offer discounts to teenagers to not break the law.

"The pledge is no magic panacea for things going on in the community," Greene said. "It's symbolic in its nature. It's not there to be a law enforcement measure or to do anything but take a step to reward good behavior."

No, it's really a symbolic gesture to show once and for all that MTA leadership has completely lost their minds. Instead of taking proactive steps to make public transportation safer, they are going to instead try hair-brained schemes to bribe young riders to not act like thugs.

We have reached a sad point in civilization when we governmental agencies feel it necessary to reward people to ensure they don't act in an antisocial or criminal manner. But it's also sad that Governor O'Malley refuses to clean house at the MTA, and that he refuses to put an adult in charge to fix the sheer mess that mass transit has become in our state...

MTA Still Clueless

The Maryland Transit Administration can't properly operate the transit systems they have, but that isn't stopping them from asking for more money to expand services:

As gasoline prices climb toward $4 a gallon, more commuters in Maryland are leaving their cars and trucks at home and hopping a bus or train to work.

The Maryland Transit Administration will seek approval next week to expand service on its long-distance bus lines to accommodate a surge of new riders. The so-called "commuter" buses ferry workers to Washington from places as far-flung as Hagerstown, Kent Island and Ellicott City.

The action comes at a time when ridership on almost all forms of transit - including subway, city bus and commuter rail - is up in Maryland and across the nation. Maryland's long-distance commuter bus lines handle just a fraction of all the people taking transit every day, but officials say those lines are among the most sensitive to rising fuel prices because of the distances riders must travel to and from work

Given the complete incompetence of the MTA, additional funding for additional projects should be rejected. If these commuter bus lines need to exist, outsource the work out to private bus and coach companies who can offer such services competently and at a lower costs.

Apparently, the MTA senior leadership (who, despite my pleas, remain on the job) still haven't gotten the memo that their system is in disarray.The Governor needs to get the MTA's house and order, not create more ways for it to fail as a transit organization.