The shortage, which at one point left almost a third of Baltimore’s light rail operator positions vacant, has been especially acute on Baltimore’s Light Rail, where the MTA was forced last month to cut the line’s official weekday headways at most of its stations from every 10 minutes to every 15 minutes, at least for the remainder of the summer, to stabilize its increasingly inconsistent schedule. The first of those six strategic priorities could have the greatest immediate impact: fixing the maintenance and repair backlog that’s plagued the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA’s) various bus and rail systems for years, as well as a more recently evolving issue, a substantial train operator shortage. Address the MTA’s repair backlog and operator shortage The core of this campaign centers around six “ strategic priorities” they see as key to accelerating the transformation of Greater Baltimore’s transit network.ġ. That’s why in late June the Greater Washington Partnership, a coalition of businesses and nonprofits spanning Baltimore, Washington, DC, and Richmond, and the Greater Baltimore Committee, a more locally-focused business advocacy organization, launched “Baltimore’s Transit Future,” a campaign to bring Baltimore’s businesses, elected leaders, and the general public together to form a long-term plan for expanding its bus and rail service, as well as making its existing bus and rail more reliable. All of this would seem a perfect match for much of the $7.8 billion in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funds Maryland is expected to receive over the next five years for everything from renovating roads and bridges to reviving canceled light rail lines to reconnecting communities divided by highways.īut to hear two of the Baltimore-Washington region’s largest business advocacy groups tell it, Baltimore is still not really primed to capitalize on any of this transit momentum, at least not with the urgency they say it requires. That’s not even counting plans to replace a key passenger rail tunnel in the city, as well as expanding its main rail hub. It already has another planned light rail line which previously secured federal funding and both the cancellation of that line and one of the city’s most infamous highways directly inspired key provisions of last year’s federal infrastructure bill. It’s already got its own light rail and subway systems, three different stops on two of Maryland’s three MARC commuter rail lines (With several more stops within a 20-mile radius of the city), the busiest airport in the state about 10 miles to its south, and the 8th busiest Amtrak station in the country. Baltimore CityLink bus by BeyondDC licensed under Creative Commons.Īt first glance, Baltimore should be well positioned to take advantage of the current federal transportation spending boom.

Baltimore metro station