MTA insists it made P.A. announcements
The Maryland Transit Administration is insisting it used its public announcement systems at most of its light rail stations to let riders know of serious disruptions along the line Saturday while Artscape and other well-attended events were taking place downtown.
Terry Owens, an MTA spokesman, said the MTA has a P.S. system that covers 25 of its 33 light rail stations, including North Linthicum. He said the system was used to spread the word of the serious disruptions Saturday, which he said were caused by an unverified report of a body on the tracks, followed by a train's collision with a tree branch that became wedged in the undercarriage.
Owens' account appear to contradict those of a rider who reported waiting at the North Linthicum for more than an hour Saturday evening without seeing a northbound train. Other riders reported long waits at Linthicum, Mount Washington and Woodberry without hearing from the MTA. Getting There is checking with these riders to see whether they heard anything from the P.A. systems.
The MTA spokesman continues to insist that the MTA did a commendable job Saturday in coping with multiple disruptions and getting the word out to riders. "We did an awful lot right on Saturday,"" he said.
In the end it doesn't matter how I see it or Owens sees it. It's how the customers see it. And the feedback I've received has not been positiive.
Owens said the MTA is planning to upgrade its P.A. system and to extend it to all of its light rail stations. He said the contract is in the bidding process. That would be a big improvement to the system -- if it's used.
Meanwhile, if you were at a light rail station Saturday and did hear a P.A. announcement about the troubles, please drop us an email.
Comments
There may be a P.A. system, but do they know for sure it works? When was it last tested? MARC has one too, but it mostly never works.
Posted by: Bill | July 20, 2010 5:05 PM
I can't comment on Artscape, but the last time I was at a station and heard the P.A. in use, the information provided sounded like electric buzzing and feedback mixed with garbled mumbling.
Posted by: Jed | July 20, 2010 6:37 PM
I second both comments. The last time I heard a PA system announcement at any MTA facility was in January when I rode the metro from State Center to Shot Tower in the morning and the trains were delayed (surprise!). After waiting for 15 minutes, a message blared out of the PA system. Unfortunately, it was so garbled and spoken so quickly and with such poor grammar that nobody could understand it. The same irritatingly loud message blared every 5 minutes until a train limped into the station 40 minutes late. Another awesome day where my commute of 2.5 miles took me almost an hour. To this day, I couldn't tell you why they were delayed and I'm fairly certain only a handful of people at MTA knew too. Pathetic.
Posted by: kungpow12 | July 20, 2010 7:53 PM
Mr. Owens said the PA system was used, he didn't claim that it worked correctly nor that riders at stations heard the announcement. Yet by saying his account contradicts that of a rider, and the "if it's used" comment , you imply that he is being untruthful. You may be missing the most likely possibility, that they used the system but that the rider (or many riders) didn't hear anything. Both can be telling the truth if the system doesn't work well (as others have stated). At least they are working on a contract to upgrade the system. This reminds me of a Getting There commenter who said that he didn't see any water being given out in his car during the MARC 538 breakdown, so he concludes that MTA was lying. But they didn't claim that every rider was provided with water. A small cooler of water bottles isn't going to supply 9 cars.
Posted by: James | July 20, 2010 11:50 PM
About two weeks ago I was on the light rail in the morning and between the Cherry Hill and Westport station the trains started slowing down to about 5 miles an hour and then came to a complete stop. The driver then made an announcement that said, "we have a red signal ahead, we are going to go through the signal which will cut power to the train." That was the entire announcement.
As all of us looked at each other bewildered, the trains moved forward and then lost power.
Two minutes later the power came back on, two minutes later the train started inching forward again until it reached Westport and then went at normal speed.
No other announcements of explanations.
If this is how the MTA communicates over its PA at stations, then I understand the Saturday problem!
Posted by: Richard | July 21, 2010 10:13 AM