Mount Vernon couple wants bus stops to stay
A Mount Vernon couple just got back from out of town and saw last Saturday's Sun article about the Maryland Transit Administration delaying action on a proposal to eliminate seven bus stops near their home at the behest of the local neighborhood association.
It turns out the association doesn't speak for Joan and Tom Spence.
We were away when your article appeared and it was with great dismay that we read about the proposal to close seven bus stops in the Mount Vernon area. We are a retired middle class couple who live in Mount Vernon. We voluntarily gave up our car a year ago to try an experiment of using public transportation. The experiment has been a success. We have been able to go almost everywhere by taking buses, light rail and/or the Metro. We have shopped, gone to the movies, kept doctor and
dentist appointments etc etc. Even our small dog has made trips to the
vet and kennel. We have only two complaints: there are too few buses and those there are don't keep to their schedules. Otherwise, we have found the bus drivers courteous and our fellow passengers kind and helpful.
This brings us to our anger with the Mount Vernon Belvedere Association.
We are Mount Vernon residents and we do use public transportation unlike most of the members of the Association. If they did, they would realize that a high percentage of the ridership is disabled and/or old. For them as well as for us who are able bodied but may be carrying a grocery bag which can easily weigh ten pounds an extra block is a LONG walk.But let us put aside considerations of compassion or empathy and look at the availability of public transportation as an economic incentive to move to Mount Vernon. Nationwide cities appeal to empty-nesters who want to enjoy the amenities of city-living. Not having to have a car is an economic plus. We halved our transportation costs for a six month period when we compared the costs of having a car with those of using public transportation..
We follow your articles regularly on transportation issues and enjoy them. If there is any way we can help to advance the cause of public transportation, please let us know.
Sincerely,
Joan and Tom Spence
Comments
Unfortunately, regular bus service does not exist to serve primarily older or less mobile or, in this case, inconvenienced, riders. That's why there's the Mobility Service; to provide transportation from their homes to a nearby bus stop or transit point. Is that more expensive than a normal bus ride? Yes, but the system right now is inefficient and fares haven't gone up in several years so something's got to give at some point. When I can get off a bus at Mt. Vernon Square and walk to my destination on Preston Street before the bus I just exited on a day without incredibly horrible traffic, there are too many stops, bottom line.
If you can't carry your grocery bag one extra block, you need either re-pack your bags or invest in a rolling grocery cart or take a backpack. Or, both. You give up your car, which I commend, but you then expect the system to maintain its inefficiencies so you don't have to walk as far. Sorry, but walking additional distances is one of the daily inconveniences of living sans auto in Baltimore.
The system should accommodate as many people as possible wherever it makes sense to do so, but should we put a bus stop on every block between Monument and Mt Royal and Calvert and Park Ave so some can avoid as much unnecessary walking as possible?
Posted by: Vernonite | July 28, 2010 7:31 PM
Because this issue continues to resonate with the neighborhood and the area, I am putting together a more concise and detailed explanation justifying why fewer bus stops contributes to degraded transit service. I hope this will serve to foster a more comprehensive discussion with my fellow Mt. Vernonites in particular (with whom I normally tend to agree).
Nate
TRAC
Posted by: Nate Payer | July 28, 2010 9:30 PM
MTA mobility service is for people UNABLE to utilize the regular busses. It is not a premium shuttule service contrary to Vernonite's belief.
While I do not typically travel in the Mt Vernon area I believe I know why the local association wants to remove a number of the stops. Fewer stops means fewer places for addicts/gang mambers etc. to make a quick escape after committing a crime. Perhaps if the city and state would make Baltimore a safer place we would have a desire for more public transportaion options not less.
COMMENT: Any drug addict/gang member counting on the MTA to proviide a quick getaway is not thinking straight. The same for fearful people who think hopping on a bus is a reliable way to get away.
Posted by: Charles Rosenberg | July 30, 2010 9:50 AM