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January 13, 2006
Baltimore Light Rail Headways Among the Nation's Longest Headways, the time between trains, on Baltimore's Light Rail system remain among the longest in the country, according to a BTA review of schedules. Baltimore's system operates as two independent lines, each of which has a train every 20 minutes during peak periods and every 30 minutes other times. Because the trains are evenly spaced and the lines overlap for most of their length, the composite headway experienced by most riders is 10 minutes in the peak and 15 minutes other times. Whether we consider the lines separately or together, Baltimore has the longest peak period headway in the industry, and we tie for last with Denver, St. Louis, and San Diego during the off-peak. Composite peak headways are 7 minutes in Buffalo; 5 minutes in Cleveland; and 7-1/2 minutes in Sacramento and Salt Lake City. Click here to see a representative sample of schedules from other cities. Prior to construction of the Double Track project, headways were limited to 17 minutes on each line by the single track sections. MTA increased this to 20 minutes on each line in 2003. The 17-minute barrier was eliminated with the re-opening of the line to Timonium last month. GBC's Don Fry recently wrote to Transportation Secretary Robert Flanagan asking that he consider modifications to operating plans to make the service more convenient. To see the current Light Rail schedule, click here.
Bus Restructuring Continues with Changes Planned for June This week MTA released its proposal for Phase II of the Greater Baltimore Bus Initiative, planning for implementation with the summer schedule change in June. The proposal is as ambitious, and potentially as controversial, as Phase I implemented last October. Revisions are proposed for 23 bus lines out of a system total of 45. Limited information about the changes was posted on MTA's web site, but based on that information the proposals appear to continue the theme of increasing off-peak frequencies and eliminating lightly used branches. MTA has scheduled a series of meetings with community groups to receive input but at this time has not scheduled formal public hearings.
MARC Station Closures Announced Citing low ridership MTA announced that it will be closing four MARC stations in March. Slated for closure are St. Denis and Jessup on the Camden Line and Boyds and Dickerson on the Brunswick Line. Both lines are operated by CSX Transportation under contract to MTA. At least three of the stations date from the early days of B&O service, and are in communities that were once rural and relatively inaccessible. Because freight trains rather than passenger trains now dominate both lines MTA and CSX have worked to minimize scheduling conflicts by eliminating stations and shifting riders to larger facilities with parking and more amenities.
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