Xanny t1_iu0izdi wrote on October 27, 2022 at 5:30 PM

Reply to comment by ohamza in Envisioned refurbished harbor (circa 1950’s, via City Archives) by Reeyuuk

The only problem I have with cutting 83 further north, which would normally be a great idea and long term I'd def agree to cut it out to Northern Parkway, is that the light rail doesn't go direct to Penn Station from the north. Like if we want to cut the highways we need to actually offer an alternative that won't piss people off feeling like a huge downgrade.

That being said yea, they totally should put in an infill park and ride at Northern Parkway for the light rail. If you are coming down 83 from PA there are park and ride signs for the light rail in Timonium, but from the Beltway you really don't have a good spot to do it at.

Long term the goal for transit development in Baltimore should be to build out light and heavy rail to the major burbs at the city border (if the red line is built to Catonsville, then Parkville is the only really big one I see needing a dedicated right of way rail connection) and build up the city core with proper metro so commuters feel fine park and riding in from near the beltway. But that has to start and build out center-out, meaning we need things like the red line making inner city connections that are woefully needed, and replacing MLK and 83 with complete streets and working transit.

ohamza t1_iu0w5bl wrote on October 27, 2022 at 6:54 PM

You're absolutely right, and I think moving the JFX back would be a piecemeal process. For example by getting rid of some of these really ugly interchanges like at Druid Hill Park.

I do think though if budget is an issue taking away a lane on some of these two lane one ways for a bus is the quickest way to get people to start taking them, then they could be upgraded to light rail. The problem with buses now is the frequency and the number of stops. if they were some expresses that would take you across town it would make it much more reasonable to use. Even the light rail I feel suffers from this issue.

todareistobmore t1_iu10d1s wrote on October 27, 2022 at 7:22 PM

Number of stops is a much smaller problem than :gestures broadly:. Buses in most cities stop every couple of blocks (most of the locals in Manhattan are standardized at every other block, IIRC).

Reckon we need more buses and traffic prioritization first and foremost, but also ffs more streamlined fare payment pls. Make the cash fare $2 and spread out any future increases to stick to (at least) quarters, and I suppose ideally look toward contactless payment for the future.

ohamza t1_iu15u38 wrote on October 27, 2022 at 7:58 PM

Yes, and actually when I am in Manhattan I don't use the bus for similar reasons unless it's the unique case of trying to get across town if I'm not in the LES. Traffic prioritization is certainly a key, as is the frequency of buses here. I don't recall the headways for NYC MTA buses but I'm certain it's faster than the 15 minutes+ it can be around here.

Xanny t1_iu1bje7 wrote on October 27, 2022 at 8:34 PM

The charm pass works fine, just flash the driver the little screen animation thing, my problem with it is the fare structure sucks in that if you take a bus somewhere and back you are just stuck doing a full day pass no matter what. The $2 passes should be for like 4 hours of transit so that most trips are included in that pass rather than the like 15 or 30 minutes it currently is.

todareistobmore t1_iu1g822 wrote on October 27, 2022 at 9:04 PM

I'm not sure any transit system works like that--usually transfers are for a limited time window and can't be used on the same route specifically to avoid people using them for round trips. IMO as far as overall fare things to adopt, I wish more American cities would do like London where if you pay per ride up to the level of a particular day/week pass, it just converts you to that.

But as for paying fare itself, I more mean that our MTA welcomes too much delay at the farebox. A $1.90 fare absolutely encourages people to turn out their pockets to make exact change, and refilling CharmCards on the bus was slow and error-prone (but also necessary bc we don't have much other transit). It's just such a stupid self-own not to prioritize getting passengers to board/deboard as quickly as possible.

Xanny t1_iu1o7xt wrote on October 27, 2022 at 9:59 PM

Eliminating fares is definitely a huge benefit to specifically bus systems because it makes stops way more efficient. But I get the antagonistic relationship between MDoT and Bmore means that the state will never just give the city free busses.

One idea I've been floating is that the city should give residents 3, 5, or 7 free day charm passes a month. I'd want them to just load them on the app but way too many people don't have phones or cell service (something else the city could do, municipal cell service and a phone recycling program to give people that need phones phones) but in the meantime they could just load them on the app for residents that have phones and anyone else can get the pass in the mail. Maybe give out 7 days paper and 8 on the app to try to promote its use a bit, but still give everyone at least a week of free transit.

DC is floating the same kind of policy with $100 a month allowance per city resident in Metro, and this would be a lot less per person, but I think it would still get more people using transit and might get more pressure to improve it if people in Fells and Fed Hill were on it more often.

Xanny t1_iu1auj2 wrote on October 27, 2022 at 8:29 PM

The problem with 83 for busses isn't needing a dedicated lane, its the backups getting off the highway. Giving them a bus only lane on the highway doesn't do anything to fix that.

I am annoyed on the bus subject how much MD is trying to push electric busses when what we really need is that the colored line busses (and well, all the busses in general) having better than fucking 40 minute headways. I live on the purple line, they just cut the route from John Hopkins which really messed with me because it used to stop throughout downtown and at Shot Tower and now it skips half the city,

We need some express busses for arterials, particularly on rts 40 and 1. And we need way, way more frequent service on every line - 4-8 minute headways for colored lines, and 15 minute headways for numbered lines. People don't take the bus that could to get cars off the road because you can't get anywhere with a direct connection (and if you can, the bus stops 30 times and takes twice as long as driving anyway) and if you have to transfer you are stuck waiting somewhere for upwards of 20-30 minutes, and then half the time your transfer bus never even shows up.

I wish I could take the bus to doctors appointments, its like the perfect use case for busses, but I can't because I have to assume the bus will never show, get stuck in traffic, or that I'll miss the transfer. And even if it goes perfectly, most places I go regularly take 15-20 minutes by car and 40-120 minutes by bus. Make driving suck, and make taking transit not, and more people will take transit over driving, and then the city can build denser and waste less space on parking and roads for cars that drive people away.

Like, I am the person that hates driving and wants to use transit, but if I'm choosing between hopping in the car I park outside my townhouse with plenty of permit free street parking, have almost no traffic cuz the roads are so massive all the way out to some suburb sprawl mall with football fields worth of free parking in half the time it would take to bus anywhere, or possibly getting marooned somewhere with groceries when a bus just never shows or is 30 minutes out from when I'm done shopping, the system pushes you so hugely towards driving the planet killer.

Top it all off with most downtown jobs providing parking garages, so its not like you have to worry about parking for work, so of course you are going to drive there.

ohamza t1_iu1hmqb wrote on October 27, 2022 at 9:14 PM

Right on my friend, I do agree with a lot of your points - specifically headways and managing transfers. But that's why I think by reducing lanes, changing bus routes so that they don't get backed up by car traffic, and the real key you mentioned of reducing headways it would make it much more feasible. There are plenty of times I give up and take my car because I don't have to spend 2x-3x as much time taking the bus when I could do it in my car.

As for the parking garages, this is one of the few times I'd advocate jacking up prices - granted as long as it's easy to get into the city, to dissuade people from coming in. Hell the city could charge a flat tax on people parking which goes back into reinvestment.