Marc "hell train" (Baltimore, Brunswick: homes, luxury, live in)

[Woodlands]

Hold on Marylanders..and get ready for the ride.. Looks like the MARC Train will be the new political football long before the Ravens ever take the field....To quote HGTV's Mike Holmes (Holmes on Homes) "Just Fix it Fix it Fix it!!!!"
O'Malley, Ehrlich trade barbs over transportation policy - baltimoresun.com

[oneworld25]

The MARC train receives a disproportionate amount of media coverage for the people who ride it. Many more people ride the subway and the bus yet all we hear about in media is the MARC. My guess is that this is because the subway tends to work pretty well so there isn't as much news to report about it. While I find the bus to be pretty reliable and much of the fleet is pretty new,I'm sure there are plenty of issues that go unreported. My guess is that this is due to the MARC carrying affluent white people while the bus carries mostly poor black people.

[janetvj]

Originally Posted by oneworld25

The MARC train receives a disproportionate amount of media coverage for the people who ride it. Many more people ride the subway and the bus yet all we hear about in media is the MARC. My guess is that this is because the subway tends to work pretty well so there isn't as much news to report about it. While I find the bus to be pretty reliable and much of the fleet is pretty new,I'm sure there are plenty of issues that go unreported. My guess is that this is due to the MARC carrying affluent white people while the bus carries mostly poor black people.

????!!! Really?! I don't commute on the MARC but I've used it occassionally to attend seminars in DC, as well as to just visit the attractions during the week and not have to worry about traffic and parking. It's news to me, and I'm sure will be news to many of the other riders, that we are all "affluent white people".

[picardlx]

Maybe stated non-artfully, we can certainly see his/her point. Only someone willfully blind cannot recognize the difference in class/race of passengers across MARC and MetroSubway/LightRail. I take both every day and there are issues with the subway/lightrail that I never see reported either. Although in this case, people were stranded for >2 hours so I wouldnt have used this as an example of reporting bias.

[janetvj]

Originally Posted by picardlx

Maybe stated non-artfully, we can certainly see his/her point. Only someone willfully blind cannot recognize the difference in class/race of passengers across MARC and MetroSubway/LightRail. I take both every day and there are issues with the subway/lightrail that I never see reported either. Although in this case, people were stranded for >2 hours so I wouldnt have used this as an example of reporting bias.

I don't know...I still can't see someone making this into a racial or class thing. I don't pay a whole lot of attention to traffic reports anymore but I seem to recall hearing about light rail and subway issues when they have major problems that shut down the whole line. So it does make the news when it is newsworthy. The big difference, as I see it, is that if one of those trains break down it is just one in dozens that run each day. It affects the people on that particular train, but it doesn't have the impact that a breakdown on the MARC would have. At minimum, the light rail trains run every half hour and for most stations they run every 10 minutes or so. The same with the subway. So if one breaks down you just catch the next one. Not so with the MARC Penn line - especially for trains that go further north beyond Penn Station. You have 3 or 4 going south in the morning, 1 or 2 mid-day, and 3 or 4 going north in the evening, and that's it. So if one breaks down it's a major problem for a lot of people - regardless of their social status.

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

Originally Posted by janetvj

At minimum, the light rail trains run every half hour and for most stations they run every 10 minutes or so. The same with the subway. So if one breaks down you just catch the next one. .

Sounds like you don't use either the light rail or the subway that much. I've waited HOURS for both. Yes, hours.

[janetvj]

Originally Posted by HandsUpThumbsDown

Sounds like you don't use either the light rail or the subway that much. I've waited HOURS for both. Yes, hours.

You're right - I don't use either very often. So I will concede that I have no personal experise in this area. I do know that the bus service was terrible 30 years ago when I was dependent on it, and I assume it hasn't improved much since that time. And unless you live in the very limited areas served by the subway and the light rail, neither is very useful. I guess I just assumed that they ran fairly regularly. It's disappointing to hear that they can't even get that right.

But I'm still not convinced that the media coverage of the MARC train breakdowns is rooted in bigotry. I'm sure that a lot more underprivileged people ride the subway and the light rail than ride the MARC, because I can't imagine someone from Baltimore deciding to ride into DC to run errands and do their food and other shopping on a regular basis. But I do know that a lot of professional people also ride the subway and the light rail to commute to work downtown. It's not all "poor black people" and MARC commuters are not all "affluent white people".

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

Originally Posted by janetvj

I do know that the bus service was terrible 30 years ago when I was dependent on it, and I assume it hasn't improved much since that time.

No, not very much!

Originally Posted by janetvj

It's not all "poor black people" and MARC commuters are not all "affluent white people".

You're right, and the poster was a hamhanded in saying that. Black or white, I think you'll agree that MARC commuters are likely to be more affulent than MTA commuters. I think that their collective connections may allow them better access to media coverage than MTA commuters. When something goes wrong on the light rail, subway or bus, we have only two outlets:

1. the MTA 800 number or email. Completely a waste of time. They never respond nor do they care. Downright rude, they go home after 7.

2. Michael Dresser, the Sun's transportation columnist. He may blog about the problem, but nothing changes.

Once I wrote a letter to the Sun about waiting for 2 hours in 100 degree heat at rush hour for a bus. Four buses passed myself and about 100 other people at that time with "NOT IN SERVICE" lit on the sign. No news crews came out, no reporters. The letter ran, and channel 2 called me wanting to do a story, but something bigger came up, and that was that.

MTA riders are prone to stuff like that, and it truly seems like nobody cares. A problem might get a brief mention on the news, but no weeks of ongoing coverage like is happening now with the "Hell train" (which would be old news by now if it weren't for the campaigns of O'Malley and Ehrlich). It wouldn't be that much of a stretch for a longtime MTA rider to feel the way the poster did with the way we're treated on a daily basis.

[7th Direction]

I used to take the Commuter Bus all the time and learned very quickly that on days before holidays or during weather related emergencies, the buses were unreliable at best. Most of the time, by the time the bus got to our stop, it was full. So there were times when 3 or 4 buses would pass by our stop ~ often in freezing temperatures and snow (and the stop does not have a shelter). Did that ever make the news? No.

I take the MARC train now (Brunswick Line). It isn't usually too bad. But I make sure that if there is a possible snow storm, I stay home. I know some people don't have that luxury, but it has saved me some very long nights on the train (especially this past winter when the Blizzard of 2010 caused the train to get stuck for 5 or 6 hours). That's the problem with the train, if it breaks down or a train ahead of it breaks down, or there is an emergency (pedestrian/car accident), the delays can be horrendous and there isn't a whole lot that you can do.

What I'd like to know is why the eye is being put entirely on Amtrak. Amtrak is responsible for ONLY the Penn Line. CSX manages the Camden and Brunswick Lines. I don't understand why they aren't being mentioned when delays and breakdowns are a problem for all three lines.

[picardlx]

Originally Posted by 7th Direction

What I'd like to know is why the eye is being put entirely on Amtrak. Amtrak is responsible for ONLY the Penn Line. CSX manages the Camden and Brunswick Lines. I don't understand why they aren't being mentioned when delays and breakdowns are a problem for all three lines.

Especially considering Penn/Amtrak is much more reliable than the Camden line.