pathofwrath

pathofwrath t1_j6ofx3o wrote

> They are just assuming that the boring machines will destroy their homes.

There is also a strange fear of below grade infrastructure. I've had tons of people tell me they prefer to ride the bus from Mondawmin to downtown because metro is underground. I'm from California, where the earth literally shakes regularly, and I haven't seen tunnel fear like this before.

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pathofwrath t1_j6nvyet wrote

We need infra for the people who are already here. New and updated infra is important to help draw more people in too. But infra alone doesn't do it. Has to be paired with decent policy. People have to see and believe that the city and state are actually addressing infra here. A bike master plan, for example, doesn't mean much if you don't have a good track record of installing, maintaining, and enforcing the bike facilities.

For the sake of completeness, crime is also an issue that creates challenges to increasing density.

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pathofwrath t1_j5ggcwy wrote

Manpower shortage. Is pay part of the equation? Likely, yes. But it isn't the whole story. MDOT MTA bus operators are paid pretty well compared to operators around the industry (adjusted for COL).

Before the pandemic, MDOT MTA was pretty steady with the number of operators on hand. As in they stayed just about maxed out. The pandemic is what triggered this. It's industry-wide.

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pathofwrath t1_j5cg3e6 wrote

There are several neighborhoods in Baltimore City that could work based on what you've shared already.

We're in Hamilton-Lauraville and love it. This is the third place in the city we've lived since moving to Maryland from California in 2017. The neighborhood has a mix of side-by-sides and standalone homes. I-95 is close, if that matters.

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pathofwrath t1_j5cffyw wrote

There is an manpower shortage transit industry-wide. It's impacting pretty much every transit agency in the US. During the height of the pandemic, most transit agencies did major service reductions to compensate for lower ridership and the growing transit manpower issue. Those agencies are now going through the process of restoring service as possible.

Meanwhile, MDOT MTA didn't do similar levels of service reductions. One of the reasons for that was that transit ridership in this area did not tank nearly as much as it did in other places. The drawback to this is that MDOT MTA wasn't immune to the industry manpower shortage and we're seeing that play out now with daily cut trips.

Over the last year, MDOT MTA has performed some planned service reductions to help with the daily cut trip issue. That effort is ongoing. The result is less scheduled service, but also less cut trips. For awhile, daily cuts were in the mid-teens, percentage wise; currently, it's averaging in the single digits.

One of the few things the Governor can do is budget for signing and retention bonuses for transit workers. People can make similar (or more) money in other jobs without having to deal with things like problematic riders (operator assaults are a thing) so why would someone opt to drive a bus instead?

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pathofwrath t1_j5601cr wrote

Daily cuts are generally like single digit percentage these days. Some routes end up with more trips cut than others. Routes with higher frequency are more likely to have cuts so that already infrequent routes don't end up stranding people forever. (Cutting a trip on a route that runs every 10 minutes leads to a 20 minute gap between trips while cutting a trip on a route that comes every 30 minutes results in a 60 minute gap.)

There is a manpower shortage nationwide in the transit industry. MDOT MTA isn't unique in that challenge.

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