Views From The Bus Stop

George Ferrandi

it felt like i knew you…, 2012 - ongoing

Maglev is back, tantalizing Marylanders with the promise of speeds that could whisk train passengers from Baltimore to Washington in 15 minutes.

What is billed as a new generation of magnetic levitation technology is at the heart of the latest proposal, the first step in what would eventually be a line taking passengers from Washington to New York in 60 minutes at a cruising speed of 311 mph.

"…We are now calling on Mayor Rawlings-Blake, City Council President ‘Jack’ Young and all other city office holders, planners, and higher-level employees to give up their car keys and use public transit exclusively for a 30 day period. 

Use our system to commute to work. Use it to come downtown to your favorite restaurants. Use it on a Sunday or a holiday to try to get to a relative’s house for a visit. Use it to get your groceries and do other errands. Use it to go through, and to, some neighborhoods or suburbs you rarely visit.

See what it’s like to pay two fares because you couldn’t get a transfer. See what it’s like to wait more than an hour for a bus. See what it’s like to watch two buses on the same line tailgate one another after that hour. See what it’s like to have a bus driver look you right in the eye and pass you by at the stop. See what it’s like to be late for work. Hey, maybe you can even see what it’s like to have your iPhone stolen right out of your hand.

We’re sure that this experiment would garner a lot of interest in the local press if anyone in elected office wants to take us up on it. If it can’t generate coverage from an outlet bigger than this blog then we promise we will cover it and report the results right here.

Gov. Martin O’Malley plans to announce $1.5 billion in new state funding for the Baltimore Red Line and more than a dozen other transportation projects in the area Wednesday, officials said, outlining for the first time how the state’s gas tax increase will be tapped to improve local infrastructure and mass transit here.

O’Malley also plans to discuss the state’s interest in attracting public-private partnerships to help fund the Red Line project, and a Dec. 7 start date for weekend MARC train service between Baltimore and Washington, which has never been offered before.

In a statement, O’Malley described the transportation spending as “making the modern investments a modern economy requires” to educate, innovate and rebuild the state.

The state Department of Transportation said the funding, which O’Malley is scheduled to announce alongside Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and other officials at the West Baltimore MARC station Wednesday afternoon, would create about 13,000 jobs and ease congestion as busy arteries are widened or improved and mass transit systems are prioritized.

Rawlings-Blake said the new funding “says that the state is serious about being a partner with Baltimore” to improve connections between transportation options.

"They’re putting their money where their mouth is," she said. "They’re recognizing that for the state to be strong, Baltimore has to be strong, and it has to be strong as a connected city."

who i sat next to on a bus up from baltimore who ate, legit, a whole rack of ribs, then got the itis and knocked out for rest of the ride. until he woke up to eat some fried chicken, then went back to sleep.