Two of us rode the light rail from the Falls Road station and back for Artscape on Saturday and were pleased witht he time and the air conditioning (yeah!). Our only complaint is not with MTA but several young women with strollers that thought they were entitled to take whatever space they wanted and that it was fuuny when their kids screamed. MTA did a great job with the crowds.

I noticed that a lot of trains were packed, and there were some longer thant normal waits, but that is expected with the huge crowds. The light rail can only handle so much.

My wife and I waited at the Warren Rd (headed Southbound towards Artscape) light rail from 5:23 to 6:13 until I said forget this and drove downtown. Much faster to drive, park and walk a little bit - then to sit around endlessly in 97 degree heat for a train that never comes. I'll probably never take the light rail again.

Not MTA or Light Rail related, but I was planning on using the Charm City Circulator for the first time this past weekend. I planned on taking the Purple route from the Fed Hill area to Artscape. We arrived at the stop in front of Ropewalk Tavern on Charles and there were a couple other riders there waiting. As we joined them and waited for the bus, the crowd steadily grew, including a few out of towners that we struck up a conversation with. After about 30 minutes in the sweltering heat, we decided to just grab cabs that were coming by every minute or two.

After Artscape, we were looking for purple route busses too, with none to be found. Again, a $10 cab ride was much easier to be found.

I was hoping I'd finally be able to get something out of the five grand a year I pay in taxes...but alas, it appears not to be.

I got stuck in a mass of people by the light rail stop on howard street, near artscape. The light rail came quickly into the stop and the driver was yelling over the speaker to get off the yellow line. There was no room and im quite sure somebody got sucked down the side of the train and crushed, the sound was horrible and people were screaming. The victim or victims were right behind me, and I was helpless to move with my bike, was pushed aside by a cop, and ended up lifting my bike up over a railing to get out of there. people were yelling that someone fell under the train, and it was panic. I don't know anything more about the incident, i cant find any reports online.

I'm not one to defend the MTA, but it's laughable that people expect a built-on-the-cheap light rail system to accommodate a few hundred thousand people and somehow remain on-time when having to travel directly through a 300,000 person festival.

They were running 3 car trains like every 6 minutes on Friday. I think they did the best they could.

It's slow when new riders who don't have monthly passes have to purchase tickets, are not familiar with stops, machines, boarding, etc. People wander in front of the trains like freaking cattle. These same riders causing the delays then complain when the trains are late.

Perhaps if these same county folk had supported HRT instead of being NIMBYs in the 80s, we wouldn't have these issues.

In sum, I think the MTA did the best they could.

I admit I can't blame MTA operations too much on the Light Rail's failure. As I've mentioned before:
When it makes most sense to use the system and when it is needed most--is exactly when it will fail.

Though I'd hasten to blame the NIMBY's too much back in the 80's, Jed. Even if not for them, rural legislators were dead set against spending more money on Balto, and suburban legislators were none to keen on raising revenues at a time when auto congestion was declining due to the completion of the McHenry tunnel and ironically, the Metro to Owings Mills (and I-795). Collapsed gas prices added no urgency either. The story goes that the Orioles old owner wouldn't accept a temporary shorter-length segment of metro service. Thankfully, times have changed somewhat, but politicians still haven't figured out a good transit project to support, unfortunately. (FWIW, as a youngster during the late 80s and early 90s, though certainly my memory is probably quite biased, I rarely recall enduring traffic jams that weren't caused by accidents or construction.)

Correction: I would not hasten to blame the Nimby's too quickly.

Correction: I would not hasten to blame the Nimby's too much.

I used light rail on Sunday to go to Artscape from the BWI Business District station. I am not a regular MTA user but my casual observation of the facilities, equipment and personnel is: They believe that they are doing a good job of moving people around and that is all that matters.

*The two ticket machines at that station were not selling tickets UNLESS you had a SmartCard. *No attendant at the station, of course. So, a free ride for about 15 people boarding there. *Some of the stations between the airport and Mt. Royal, where I left the train are desolate and one might believe abandoned if not for a few cars parked on the lot and passengers getting on and off there. *Overflowing trashcans at some stations. *Food (yogurt) spilled under a seat. *Picked up a light rail schedule at the MTA booth at Artscape. *Schedule is dated 2009. *Bought my return ticket at Mt. Royal. *Eventually a single car comes from the north, many passengers exit, many passengers (myself included) enter and sit down. *We sit and wait. *The driver(?) walks from one end to the other telling (mostly unintelligble)us to get off, this one is going back(?). *The next train arrives (not on the 2009 schedule), dozens get onboard and we wait - no explanation given. *I exit at North Linthicum to transfer to a BWI train. *I wait. *BWI bound train comes eventually, not on (2009) schedule.