High speed (less 1/2 hour MARC service with three stops: Baltimore, Union, and BWI would be great for economic development. This would really integrate the Baltimore and Washington economy with huge benfits for Baltimore.

This is not instead of the redline, which will be fantastic as well and will really integrate B-more's transportation system.

If MTA really wanted to grow mass transit ridership cost-effectively, it would reprioritize its objectives by expanding MARC service to L'Enfant Plaza and then onto the Pentagon. This would add thousands of daily mass transit riders, at a fraction of the cost of building the new Red and Purple lines.

Expansion into Virginia is do-able -- it just takes some leadership to overcome the institutional impediments of dealing with multiple jurisdictions and Amtrak. Add a few more locomotives and cars to meet the demand and some minor upgrades to existing commuter rail stations.

Alas, this won't happen under O'Malley: Democrats like spending $$ on large, highly visible new rail systems (which often are white elephants. e.g. Baltimore Metro). It won't happen under Ehrlich: Republicans want to reign in Govt spending.

MARC should seriously consider putting weekend service on the Penn Line back on their to-do list. The schedule should also be tweeked to better benefit commuters going into Baltimore as well. MARC now is too DC focused.

the metro is not a white elephant. I use it constantly nd it is hard to ind a seat on Its ridership is higher than MARC. Its always hard to get Republicans to think seriously about public transit since they are too wed to the idea that if government builds something it must be no good

Baltimore Metro is a white elephant because and only because the rest of the system was never built.
Imagine if the DC metro was only the yellow line...that's what Baltimore metro is. That is why it is not successful. Had stupid Anne Arundel County (where I live) not balked at metro, Baltimore's transit system would be much better, Baltimore city would have a lot more business and a more vibrant core and Baltimore and Anne Arundel Counties would have also benefits tremendously.
Instead we have one high speed line and one slow line, neither of which connect to each other. And we wonder why so few people ride it!

I agree with you Mista T...MARC should look into a Saturday schedule....there are a couple of trains in which you can take to get to DC but they are earlier in the morning and late in the evening with your monthly pass. With the summer coming up I am sure MARC would generate a lot revenue with people wanting to do day trips to visit DC.

Sound transit planning is based on facts andactual needs and should not become a football among politicians. It is obvious that good transit service requires a system and our individual (rail) lines to date need additional lines and full integration to be called a system. The proposed transit lines follow the recommendations of an independant task force (Baltimore Area Transit Plan). MARC has a place in it as well as new rail lines. Let's move forward with it not backward or sideways.

When MARC cut service, declined to raise fares and discontinued the 10-ride pass last year I thought that it was a big mistake.

Ridersip has increased because of the rising cost of commuting by car and the cost-conscious attitudes encouraged by the recession. It's high gas prices together with the recession that made people turn to the MARC for getting to DC conveniently.

That's why a modest fare increase in order to avoid service cuts would have worked better for MARC passengers. The demand for MARC service was already there and a modest fare hike in order to avoid service cuts would have been acceptable.

Now that new locomotives and cars are becoming operational MARC can expand service, add weekend and mid-day service, bring back the 10-trip pass, and add more types of passes.

MARC has momentum now and I hope that they will maintain that momemtum. As a regular MARC passenger, I see so much potential but I'm afraid that the current management of MARC will fail to exploit it.

I used to ride the MARC train (daily for over 8 years West Baltimore--Union Station) but I opted to move to Greenbelt to skip the hassles of it last year. I hope that management will use this news to make it better, improve reliability and buy more cars (especially for the Penn Line). The Metro in the DC area while not perfect is much better than what is offered to people in the Baltimore Area. I hope that the political griping will ease up enough for everyone to recognize the need for public transportation. MARC needs to bring back the 10 Trip Pass and round trip tickets. What they offer now is a joke and inflexible.

Marc is great 95% of the time. It's that other 5% you have to watch out for. And, oh yea, get rid of those new cars. The seats are way too small.

p.s. If you absolutely must be some place on time, either leave two hours early on Marc or don't ride it at all that day because Marc will fail you sooner or later. It would be terrible if it failed you on that big day.

I agree about Saturday service--I live in DC and often often often wish there was a way to get to Baltimore on the weekends to enjoy concert venues, visit the aquarium, connect with friends, go to a sporting event, and otherwise spend my disposable income in Baltimore. (I do, if absolutely necessary, take Amtrak for a higher fare).

I think there are issues expanding MARC service to L'Enfant and Pentagon...VRE is also exploring this, but the infrastructure to allow two-story cars and to park longer trains/store spare cars is just not in place in the District. Not to mention that those tracks are shared not only w/ VRE but also w/ CSX/Amtrak. So, although the demand is there, it is not a simple add-on.

This is great momentum--what will the MTA do to expand on it and keep growing ridership?

Ridership is up. Overall service and performance is down. MARC's facilities are a joke. The Halethorpe "station"? What an embarrassment. I've been the train stations in third world countries that are ten times nicer and safer to use. MTA should be ashamed of itself.

Regarding the Halethorpe station, they're going to be totally rebuilding it (starting this summer, I believe). You can read more about it here:

http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post.cgi?id=5817

As a long-time Penn Line rider and a huge fan of MARC, let me say address a couple of these things.

1. There is service to L'Enfant Plaza and the Pentagon currently, via Metro. And why would you turn that into a dig against O'Malley and Democrats? He can't decide to build tracks into DC and Virginia, anyway.

2. There have been many improvements in the MARC system in recent years. New engines, new train cars, remodeling of train cars, and the cost to the commuter has stayed the same. The last increase in fares was about seven years ago. Try to say that about any other mode of transportation.

3. Saturday service just isn't feasible without major increases in fares. What most commuters don't understand is that MARC is heavily subsidized. Regardless of how many people whom you think would take it on Saturday, it would require a lot of money to run. You would either have to raise more money, or divert existing money into them, which would reduce the amount that could be used to improve existing service.

4. Don't hold your breath about improving Halethorpe station anytime soon. I saw the plans for that station back in 2003, and it still hasn't happened. But if you're "embarrassed" by it, drive five more minutes to BWI, where they have a nice parking garage, and two new platforms (one under construction) for the same price. Halethorpe can't be too bad to most people, because it's impossible to find parking anywhere around there after about 8 a.m. on a weekday.

MARC is a good system that can use some improvement, but improvement costs money. How many would be prepared for a 20% increase in fares in order to pay for the massive improvements everyone would like? How about an extra nickel a gallon gas tax to pay for it?

Yeah, that's what I thought.

Eh, maybe ridership is spiking becuase, oh I dunno, the fed. transity subsidy / pre-tax commuter benefit jumped from $120/mo. to $230/mo? If it covers your entire ride and you didn't have to pay for parking, wouldn't you jump on it too?

@Andrew
I am not currently a regular MARC commuter, I just use it to get to Union Station and BWI. I use the Metro to get to work and I transfer at L'Enfant. However, if MARC offered service to L'Enfant, I would move my commute to tit in a second! It would shorten my commute from 45 minutes to about 30 and with a monthly pass, probably wouldn't increase he cost of my $8 (soon to be $8.40) daily metro cost. I think the plan to extend MARC to L'Enfant is aimed at people like me and hopefully there are lots of us out there.
p.s. I used to ride the Red Line past Union Station and I can attest to the fact that that stop is WAY too overloaded. It would be nice to relieve some of the pressure elsewhere in the system.