Light rail fails rider after Orioles game
Every once and a while I get an email about a breakdown in light rail service after an Orioles game. Since serving baseball fans was one of the original justifications for building the system, that strikes me as a serious lapse. Here's one rider's story, as recounted by Jay Sweren of Pikesville.
And here I thought I was the only one who noticed just how clueless Baltimore’s MTA was. I remember thinking when the Light Rail opened that it was a great way to travel to and from Oriole Park. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, that was one of the reasons to make OPACY a major stop and transfer point. Somehow, though, the geniuses at MTA never seemed to get the message. This past Friday I wanted to join my son and grandsons, who were driving in from Ellicott City for the game and invited me to meet them. With a crowd of 40,000 expected I figured light rail was a far better idea than fighting all that traffic and that Light Rail was the perfect solution.
Unfortunately, each time over the years I have tried that logical solution I end up forgetting the prior experiences and then trying it again. Not any more.
First of all, I’ll be damned if I could find the Mount Washington Station, and I know the area. I guess there are signs somewhere but I never saw one. I ended up at the Falls Road location. No big deal, really. No harm, no foul. But then I had a 20 minute wait for a train, added on to the 10 or so minutes others had already been waiting. Didn’t anyone know about the big crowd they expected? And the trip itself took nearly 40 minutes. I could have walked it in less time.
I don't know if the political re-emergence of William Donald Schaefer is the answer, considering that the light rail system was in many ways his gift to the people of Baltimore. But the MTA certainly should at least maintain normal train intervals at game times. And when there is a problem, it desperately needs some form of notification system at Camden Yards.
But the worst part was the trip home. Just under an hour wait for the train. Again, didn’t anyone know there was a pretty big crowd? Couldn’t anyone figure out that just about all of the folks who made the trip downtown for the game would probably be making the return voyage after the fireworks that followed? Apparently not. Train after train headed north bound only as far as North Avenue, there to be finished for the night. It finally occurred to someone to send one train all the way to Hunt Valley. I don’t know who actually made that executive decision since there did not appear to be anyone in authority in the neighborhood.
I also had the occasion last week to meet a client in downtown DC at the Library of Congress. Here again the DC Metro seemed to be a better option than driving into town and then paying a king’s ransom to park. The experience couldn’t have been more different than the one in Baltimore. Those folks really have their act together, and it is not surprising that the DC system has been far more utilized, and successful, than ours. I hate to admit that DC bureaucrats seem to be a whole lot smarter than Baltimore bureaucrats. Where is Willie Don when we really need him?
Comments
Just to be clear, the rider tried to get on the light rail right after the game, and a train going past North Ave didn't come for an hour? Can MTA verify this?
Posted by: Michael | June 28, 2010 4:36 PM
The MTA's performance has generably been disgraceful. Fire everyone and replace them with people who really know the importance of quality public transportation. Disgraceful & unacceptable!
Posted by: Attila the Hon | June 28, 2010 5:34 PM
Jay is right. The DC system is a breeze to use even when it's crowded. I really don't understand why Baltimore/MTA isn't trying to learn from Metro's example. We should be trying to immitate the DC system. People aren't going to ride the lightrail when it doesn't run consistently, anticipate crowds, isn't maintained, or has scarey people camped out on it with no guards or ticket checkers on board.
I remember my first time using the DC system. I was rather concerned because my past experience with mass trainsit was the Baltimore light rail. DC was so much easier to navigate with the Metro. Baltimore really needs to expand its subway system, and they can do that now by running rails down from Whitemarsh along 95 similar to what's done now with Owings Mills and 795.
Posted by: BigDragon | June 28, 2010 5:47 PM
As I have told many people over the past few years, I have used mass transit in countries where I do not speak the language with greater ease than since moving to Baltimore.
Posted by: B'More Cat Lover | June 28, 2010 7:56 PM
I wholeheartedly agree. The light rail system, needs some serious improvements especially around orioles games.
Moreover, MTA needs to address the light sequencing and train priority on Howard St. There is no reason why trains should stop twice because of red lights between Convention Center and Camden Yards. This would easily shave off 5 minutes from the right.
Posted by: CB | June 28, 2010 9:05 PM
Heck,
Don't even get me started talking about this and Ravens games.
Its disgraceful.
Fran in Baltimore
Posted by: F Smith | June 29, 2010 2:21 AM
@CB: There is priority for the light rail on Howard Street: the signal can turn green up to 10 seconds early, or stay green up to 10 seconds longer, when a train is present. Ten seconds was the value agreed upon by the MTA and the city. Any more than that, and you'd have too much of an effect the cross streets, which have transit on them, too.
Posted by: Traffic Engineer | June 29, 2010 8:08 AM
According to the MTA light rail schedule, there are 11 LR trains that travel all the way to Hunt Valley from 10 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Not all trains go all the way to HV, though. Perhaps this rider boarded a train that terminated at North Ave. without knowing it? That still wouldn't explain the long wait for another train headed to HV, since it looks like trains to HV are scattered 15 mins apart.
Also, we all know attendance has been way down for Oriole games the past few years, meaning that the LR really hasn't needed to increase frequency to accommodate most Oriole games. The large crowd that attended Friday's game probably caught the MTA by surprise. There is no real way for them to judge how many fans are at the game and have more trains ready in time for the end of the game.
As for Ravens games, the LR can be a pain, with overly crowded trains and long wait times between trains headed back home, but overall, it is still the best method of getting to the game. Even DC and other cities with better mass trasnit have issues.
Posted by: Sean | June 29, 2010 10:26 AM
In DC, after a DC United game the MTA runs trains every few minutes to get the crowd down. There is a line to get into the station but with trains constantly coming and going the line moves pretty fast and causes min. delay. Would be delayed more if you were leaving from the parking lot.
After about an hour the train intervals go back to 15-20min or so. Baltimore needs to do this. The only thing about DC is their paying system sucks
Posted by: anonymous | June 29, 2010 3:15 PM
@ Traffic Engineer. That still doesn't explain why at Camden and Conway Streets the light rail trains are stuck at streets with little to no cross traffic.
I don't see why a train can't preempt the turn signal at Camden St to go into or leave the Convention Center Station. Since most traffic does not turn onto Camden.
Or why the green light for crossing the tracks at Conway can't be held until trains pass. Most of the traffic on Conway turns left onto 395 without crossing the tracks.
Posted by: CB | June 29, 2010 3:28 PM
@CB: You hit the nail on the head: at Howard & Camden and Howard & Conway, there are "protected" turn phases for traffic that crosses the tracks: there is a protected left for northbound Howard to westbound Camden, and a protected right for southbound Howard to westbound Conway (i.e., into the stadium). These phases "steal" time from what could otherwise be given to the light rail, making for tortuous progression through this stretch.
In a perfect world, these phases would only activate when there were vehicles present. Alas, the detection is not functional, so the phases must be activated for their full time every cycle, whether there are vehicles present or not. Neither of these turns have heavy volumes, so there is the potential for significant time savings if there was working detection. I notified the City over half a year ago about this very problem; to date, the detection is still non-functional. Maybe they need to hear more citizen voices and/or maybe the Sun could follow up.
Posted by: Traffic Engineer | June 30, 2010 12:35 PM