If Baltimore had New York City's Transit System??! (Bethesda, Hagerstown: 2015, insurance)

[gwillyfromphilly]

Originally Posted by Tinawina

Baltimore's mass transit sucks. I don't even know how one could think otherwise. This is definitely a car city.

Baltimore transit doesn't suck. It's at the very least average for American standards.

[Infinite_heights77]

Lmao! Is it better than Philadelphia's?

Originally Posted by gwillyfromphilly

Baltimore transit doesn't suck. It's at the very least average for American standards.

[gwillyfromphilly]

Originally Posted by Infinite_heights77

Lmao! Is it better than Philadelphia's?

Of course not. Philly transit is definitely better than Baltimore but Philly is probably better than any other city outside of NYC and Chicago when it comes to mass transit. To say that Baltimore transit sucks, I feel is very short sighted given the fact that there are so many cities across the country that wish they had Baltimore's infrastructure and transportation. Baltimore may not have the best transportation but it definitely does not have the worst mass transit. I'm not boosting Baltimore's transit system but rather seeing it for what it really is. I'm looking at it from an objective viewpoint.

[lanhvtnymd]

Yes, Baltimore's mass transit isn't great, but it's not the worst. I used to live in Baton Rouge. Now that sucks. A city of comparable population is Memphis....I'm sure that system is worse than Baltimore easily. They just have buses and trolleys. Baltimore has light rail, a subway, and buses.

Basically take any major city in the south that's not Atlanta, New Orleans, and possibly Houston, and your public transit options are probably abysmal.

[Joke Insurance]

A nice fantasy map, made by user, pantin23:



The organization, Welcome to TRAC, came up with their own suggestions back in 2008. No clue if MTA ever looked at them:

[designer_genes]

I would kill to have that a subway system like that first map. I'm realizing now just after moving from right next to Johns Hopkins Hospital to Patterson Park that the one thing I'm going to sorely miss is access to public transportation. There is a circulator stop right outside my former building. No subway or circulator to be found near Patterson Park/Canton.

[diablo234]

If the Red Line gets built though then Canton will have direct light rail access to Downtown in addition to the West Baltimore MARC station for transfers to the MARC Train to DC.

Just be patient.

[Joke Insurance]

Originally Posted by diablo234

If the Red Line gets built though then Canton will have direct light rail access to Downtown in addition to the West Baltimore MARC station for transfers to the MARC Train to DC.

Just be patient.

Didn't they speculate that the cost will now go up?

https://www.baltimorebrew.com/2014/0...ederal-hurdle/

The proposed federal share of the light-rail project has dropped to 34%, requiring some creative financial planning for the $2.6 billion project

[P47P47]

Originally Posted by P47P47

...Subway and straight-line Light Rail with totally incompatible rolling stock...

Originally Posted by MidValleyDad

It always irritated me that the Baltimore and DC metros were PURPOSELY built to different electrical and rail standards so they cannot interconnect! could you imagine a system that went from Baltimore to Columbia and on to DC!

I was looking at the early posts in this thread again and I think there may be some confusion here.

The electrical installations on both the DC Metro and Baltimore Metro were done by the same subcontractor, Fischbach & Moore, and were done to the same standards, basically the same third-rail traction power system as used by any other subway system. The rail standards are the same, too. As far as I know, the rolling stock is compatible between the two systems.

It's the Metro and Light Rail systems that are totally incompatible.

[james777]

Originally Posted by P47P47

I was looking at the early posts in this thread again and I think there may be some confusion here.

The electrical installations on both the DC Metro and Baltimore Metro were done by the same subcontractor, Fischbach & Moore, and were done to the same standards, basically the same third-rail traction power system as used by any other subway system. The rail standards are the same, too. As far as I know, the rolling stock is compatible between the two systems.

It's the Metro and Light Rail systems that are totally incompatible.

If that is the case, can you imagine what it would do for Baltimore if the two metro systems were connected by one or two lines, making it one giant metro? One could enter the system at Reston and exit it at JHH or Owings Mills, or anywhere in between.