Charm City Circulator: MARC on rubber wheels?
Has the Charm City Circulator morphed into a MARC train on wheels. Does Baltimore really need a second MTA? Has the Purple Route developed a circulatory disease?
All these snarky thoughts and more occurred to me today as I waited more than 40 minutes in 90-degree heat on St. Paul Street outside Penn Station for a Charm City Circulator Purple Route bus that never did arrive.
To be sure, I could have cut the ordeal short by acting on my suspicion that the Circulator was messed up by the Artscape festival taking shape around the train station. But to the extent possible, I tried to replicate the experience of a visitor who had knew nothing about Artscape.
Let's just say that visitor wouldn't want to return to Baltimore -- or at least use its free shuttle service -- again any time soon.
It was 10:34 when I arrived at the Purple Route Penn Station stop. There was conspicuous signage for the Purple Route, along with an electronic sign giving the time and the wait expected for the next bus. It was noticeable that there was no signage up yet informing riders that the Penn Station stop would be closed during Artscape, but traffic along St. Paul was still running and the electronic sign kept promising an arriving bus. With advertised headways of 10 minutes, there was every reason to expect a bus by 10:44.
At 10:47 a.m. the electronic sign said a bus would come in 1 minute. A minute later, no bus. Then the sign rolled over to say the next bus would arrive in 18 minutes, leaving me and several other waiting riders puzzled.
At 10:59 a.m., with no bus having yet arrived, one of my younger fellow riders used his Blackberry to contact the Circulator web site and was iinformed that the Purple Route had been forced to pull buses because of mechanical issues caused by the excessive heat. Jesse Kriss, having already waited almost a half hour jumped on the third MTA No. 3 bus to pass us during that stretch, choosing to pay the $1.60 rather than wait any longer.
At 11:02 a.m. the electronic sign promised a bus in 6 minutes. At 11:08 there is still no bus, and Mike Thomas grabs a ride with his girlfriend after about a half-hout wait. At 11:09, the sign says a bus will come in 3 minutes. Meanwhile MTA No. 3 and No. 64 buses, along with Hopkins Shuttles, are passing with regularity.
Daymon Bittings, a New York transplant who has lived in Baltimore two years, said it's not the first time he has waited an extended time for the Circulator, a city-sponsored service that made its debut in January. About a week aggo, he said, he waited 30 minutes for a Circulator bus.
"If you're in a hurry, I wouldn't rely on it, but if you're out just sight-seeing, it's a cool bus," Bittings said. "Maryland's bus system is kind of the worst for punctuality."
Since one of the premises of the Circulator is that downtown workers would be able to use it to get across town at lunch hour, Bittings' comments are hardly a ringing endorsement.
About 11;20, with the electronic clock promising a bus in 6 minutes, a fellow rider called the Circulator system by phone and was told he would have to go to Biddle Street because the Purple bus was on a modified route for Artscape. That seemed funny because a fellow rider who checked the web site earlier saw that the Artscape bus schedule wouldn't start until 6:30pm. (Later confirmed by my own visit to the web site.)
So several of us began to walk down toward Biddle Street. Along the way we passed Celine Prebet of Baltimore, who had been waiting with her two young daughters at the Preston Street stop -- also without signage to notify riders it was closed --- for about 15 minutes.
After pausiing to inform her, she and her girls would have to walk to the next stop to the south, we resumed walking -- only to spy a Purple Route bus turning off Biddle onto St. Paul ahead of us -- just too far for us to catch up to.
When we reached the stop -- closer to Eager Street than to Biddle -- we met Carolyn Williams, who had walked up to Penn Station to catch the bus because she was relying on information from the web site. Spotting the closing of Charles Street, she correctly guessed she would have to go down to St. Paul to catch a bus -- a process that took her 25 minutes because she had been steered wrong.
A Circulator bus finally arrived about 11:35, and I hopped off at Centre St. about 11:40 -- more than an hour after arriving at the Penn Station stop.
Hey, stuff happens, and it's no more serious because it happens to a transportation writer than anyone else. And maybe we should expect some rookie mistakes in the Circulator's first year of operation. But if anyone from the city is reading this, would you please dispatch someone to all the closed bus stops on the Purple Route -- pronto -- and put up signs telling people they are closed and where they can go to catch a bus this weekend? That's what professional transit people do.
And in case anyone is confused, don't blame the MTA for this fiasco. The Circulator is run by the city of Baltimore, and the name on the signs is Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
Categories: City bus service, MARC train, MTA bus system
Comments
This is what happens when you contract the city's main cab company to run a free shuttle service. Which is the priority? Hmm.
Posted by: Brian | July 15, 2010 1:25 PM
This all too frequently mirrors my experience with the orange line. I catch the bus at the unfortunately located President Street stop along Lombard Street to take the bus crosstown to the UM Biopark about twice a week. A few thoughts...
1) What were they thinking with this stop location? It's the middle of absolutely nowhere, and forces riders to choose between MTA and the Circulator. Whichever choice I make on a given day, it's the wrong one and I wait about five minutes extra.
2) The orange line has an added "stop" for driver switches at Marketplace and Lombard, but drivers refuse to allow new passengers on at this location, even when the bus is stopped and the doors are open. Often, the bus stops for up to 5 minutes at this location.
3) The estimates for the next bus are right about as often as a random number generator.
3) Lunch hour is awful. I've tried to take it cross town several times, and each has been an adventure. Perhaps my worst experience was when I waited for a bus near Oriole Park. After close to 10 minutes, one arrived, loaded with passengers. However, the sign on the front said "Out of Service." The bus pulled up to the stopped and the doors opened for passengers to disembark. I moved to get on after the unloading was finished, only to have the driver say "This bus is not in service" and close the doors. To reiterate, the bus was carrying passengers! I waited 15 minutes for the next bus.
I'm a huge supporter of the Circulator, but it definitely still has a few kinks that need to be worked out.
Posted by: Mitch | July 15, 2010 1:35 PM
Not. surpised. at all.
Reminds of the time when I wanted to take light rail. I knew it was down and shuttle buses were being used. I proceeded to where I had seen shuttle bus signs on Falls Rd @ N. Pkwy. Over an hour later, no shuttle. When I asked a regular bus driver how to catch the Light Rail Shuttle, he told his bus was the shuttle. Not only was the bus not marked as the light rail shuttle, the stop gave no indication of this little caveat, and neither did the MTA's website. And to make matters worse the shuttle didn't have stops anywhere near where people would normally disembark for Penn Station, making it even more confusing. I contacted the MTA about this by multiple means and never heard anything back.
Posted by: Bill | July 15, 2010 1:44 PM
This is not just a Purple Circulator issue, whenever there is an event, they go out of whack and as a heads up, they will probably not run at all the day after the event is over and you may have to call the day after that just to be sure that they know they are to be on regular schedule. I know this because for almost a week after the 1 day Sewebo Festival, the Orange Line could not get its act together. I called everyday, once they thought Sewebo was still going on, next day, they thought they had discontinued the Hollins Mkt. route (they had not) next two days, constantly late because no one from the office was quite sure if or why they were to be going to Hollins Mkt. There is a very big lack of communication between the dispatchers, the office and the drivers. That really needs to change because you can never rely on the signs since they are hardly ever right.
Posted by: angeandre4 | July 15, 2010 1:46 PM
The Circulator is simply not ready for primetime. Baltimore needs more buses to keep 10 minute windows. They need one extra bus on each route so wait times are actually 10 minutes or less (not 10 or more, and usually more, as is currently the situation). If you promise 10 minutes you MUST deliver consistently (as DC Circulator does), otherwise don't promise it!
Also, since these buses seem to break down a lot (bumpy roads, heat, cold all seem to cause them to break down and all exist in Baltimore), maybe keep one bus on stand by for each route for when this happens. Even if this means delaying the green line and adding a $1 daily fare (keep it free with MTA transfer).
On a differnet note, there needs to be a way to update NextBus when a stop is closed so that the times stop showing up online and even more especially at the stop itself!
Lastly, when you make changes, please announce when the changes end and not simply remove it from the site. I have seen multiple times that stops were closed for extended periods of time and announced usually a day or two after the stop closed, but it was never announced that the stop reopened (and it did). Please follow-up.
I know the CCC isn't the MTA, but they sure act like!
Posted by: Richard | July 15, 2010 2:12 PM
Interestingly enough, I just got a text message at 2:20 pm today (Thursday) saying that the route had been closed for Artscape.
Posted by: James | July 15, 2010 2:22 PM
" ... the Circulator, a city-sponsored service that made its debut in January."
"The Circulator is run by the city of Baltimore, and the name on the signs is Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake."
hmm ... SRB took office in early February. does that mean the city wasted little time changing signs to reflect the new mayor, but couldn't do the same for Artscape? the money from Artscape parking tickets alone could well pay for temporary signage.
Posted by: Adrian | July 15, 2010 2:31 PM
The Purple Line was having on-time performance problems right after it's launch. I tried using it to commute from Penn Station to downtown and got fed up after the fifth day of waiting more than 20 minutes for the bus to show up. One day in late June I got so sick of the wait that I actually walked from Charles and Fayette Street to Penn Station during the evening rush. It took 15 minutes. In that whole time I never saw the Circulator pass by me on Charles Street. The City should either figure out how to run a bus system or get out of the business.
Posted by: Rick | July 15, 2010 2:44 PM
Lack of communication and confusion? Now that does sound like MTA.
The major problem I see on the Orange Route is with the Bus Lanes. They aren't enforced and are constantly clogged with cars and taxis. The Circulator buses are slowed significantly because of it.
The Purple Route doesnt have space for bus lanes, but even if they were, there is no guarantee they won't be obeyed.
Posted by: CB | July 15, 2010 2:55 PM
The Pratt Street part of the route could be improved by having the right travel lane on Light Street dump cars into the lane to the left of the bus/bike lane. When there is a lot of traffic, it is easy to get stuck in the bike lane and frankly, the signs are pretty high up in the air for drivers who should be looking at more of a pedestrian level. Maybe taking out that triangular median would help, too as it's a pretty tight squeeze there.
Posted by: Mary Rob | July 15, 2010 3:08 PM
For technical reasons, I'm posting this as a commeny rather than a blog item:
I reached a spokesman for the city, Barry Robinson, chief of transit/marine services.
He acknowledged the city screwed up by changing the Purple Route before putting up signage. He said the route should have gone to a detour that still served Penn Station but instead went to Artscape route too soon. He apologized for the problems, which he blamed on dispatch errors.
He said signs notifying riders of closed stops were going up today.
Good apology but still shoddy performance.
Posted by: Michael Dresser | July 15, 2010 3:31 PM
My dad used to say that when you get something for free, it is usually worth every penny you paid for it...
Posted by: PghSteve | July 15, 2010 6:44 PM
You mass transit enthusiasts remind me of Charlie Brown kicking the football. It's not going to be any different this time! Lucy is going to yank the ball away - again!
This kind of performance is built into the system. The purpose of mass transit is to provide high-paying jobs for low-skilled people. Any actual service provided is merely a side effect.
Posted by: Baltimoron | July 15, 2010 9:16 PM
Michael's use of the word, "snarky," is the third time in two days that I've seen this word. Another conspiracy?
Posted by: Benedict XVI | July 16, 2010 8:56 AM
He [Barry Robinson, chief of transit/marine services} acknowledged the city screwed up...
Oh, Michael! The city always acknowledges that it has screw up! What the city does not do is keep the same thing - or something even more stupid from happening again. And again. And again.
He apologized.../i
I'm sensing insincerity.
Posted by: Eve | July 16, 2010 9:30 AM
Just so we're being fair...I had to ride the purple route circulator to work every day for two weeks due to my car being in the shop and I had a great experience with it. Nextbus was always accurate with its arrival estimate and I didn't have any problems. I think two weeks straight without any personal issues with it is pretty good...
Posted by: KGM80 | July 16, 2010 10:33 AM
Yeah the circulator is pretty awful. I ride it fairly often, usual wait times anywhere from a minimum of 20 minutes up to 50. The buses break down every few minutes it seems like- out of maybe 5 rides, the bus has either broken or not had operating air on 3 rides. Apparently from what I've read these buses are an unproven design from a company teetering on the verge of bankruptcy- if there performance here is any indication, I'd assume the company is done for.
Posted by: John Doe | July 26, 2010 8:56 PM