New cars may ease MARC crowding

This is good news - I've seen plenty of VRE cars sitting in the yards at Union Station and wondered why they weren't being used.

I'll take it!

omalley looks at any way to spend money. you know your gas tax will be raised to cover these marc trains. i do hope most marylanders know that the gas tax does pay subsidies to MTA buses in Baltimore and the Subway in DC. So most of us are paying for a few. Makes sense to me. Ok O'Malley and Michael Busch TAX ME SOME MORE FOR YOUR IDEAS TO MAKE MARYLAND BETTER. But don't worry, I retire in a year and am moving to a state right up the road that does not penalize their retired citizens. O Yes that was the lottery but we bought Raven STadium instead of helping the elderly. DEMOCRATS THEY CARE ABOUT YOUR TAXES SO THEY CAN CHARGE YOU MORE

O'Malley's on-time MARC performance numbers are deplorable, more than 20 percent lower than Governor Ehrlich's. The bottom line: congestion and transit service are worse under the Boy Governor.

All of us pay for taxes toward things that we don't use, for example, I don't have any kids but I help pay for schools. That argument is tired. As a MARC commuter and TAX PAYER, I am just happy for this small token. And service was just as horrible under Ehrlich but at least now something is being done and issues are being addressed. He seemed more concerned with ICC.

kathy wrote:

omalley looks at any way to spend money. you know your gas tax will be raised to cover these marc trains. i do hope most marylanders know that the gas tax does pay subsidies to MTA buses in Baltimore and the Subway in DC. So most of us are paying for a few. Makes sense to me. Ok O'Malley and Michael Busch TAX ME SOME MORE FOR YOUR IDEAS TO MAKE MARYLAND BETTER. But don't worry, I retire in a year and am moving to a state right up the road that does not penalize their retired citizens. O Yes that was the lottery but we bought Raven STadium instead of helping the elderly. DEMOCRATS THEY CARE ABOUT YOUR TAXES SO THEY CAN CHARGE YOU MORE

what does that have to do with transportation ?

Martin the Failure wrote:

O'Malley's on-time MARC performance numbers are deplorable, more than 20 percent lower than Governor Ehrlich's. The bottom line: congestion and transit service are worse under the Boy Governor.

that is so ridiculous , you neoconpoops have too much time on your hands

A small step in the right direction. Public transit has been ignored for too long in this state. We need more train, light rail and subway service and less money spent on roads that are out of date a year before they are finished.

Thank you! As a Penn line rider I really appreciate how this will improve my life! Now if we can just get those locomotives fixed faster, all will be well!

At some point we'll have to get serious about the trains and build new tracks that are independent of CSX and Amtrak. Until then, service is always going to be lousy, no matter how many cars are added.

I know my new car has saved me from MARC's overcrowding.

The problem with building independent tracks is that the corridors are already maxed out for space. You can't fit more tracks along the Penn and Camdem routes unless you widen the corridor. The State would have to buy land to build new track!
(prohibitively expensive, would you want to sell your house or business?)
Or buy the corridors from CSX and Amtrak (not gonna happen). Buying double-decker cars is a good first step.

Finally, some good news. I have been a Penn line commuter for some years. Service was better under Ehrlich, but this problem is not O'Malley's administration's fault. It's the failure of past administrations to fund this program, including Ehrlich and Glendenning. I absolutely can't stand O'Malley and his arrogant free spending and taxing ways, but you can't blame this on him. It's the culmination of years of neglect.

And as far as the tax money being used to subsidize the system, citizens fund all kinds of services they never use. Schools, social services, public clinics, bus systems, airports are all funded through the tax system. Just because you don't use them, doesn't mean that they shouldn't be funded. If all of the people who choose to use public transportation (and almost all of the MARC riders have the choice) chose to drive to work instead, think of the amount of additional congestion that wouold bring to the highways, not to mention the additional wear on the road and bridge surfaces.
Come on folks, I'm no socialist tree-hugger, but use your head. Mass transit, like educating the masses, helps everyone.

UT Cal wrote:

The problem with building independent tracks is that the corridors are already maxed out for space. You can't fit more tracks along the Penn and Camdem routes unless you widen the corridor. The State would have to buy land to build new track!
(prohibitively expensive, would you want to sell your house or business?)
Or buy the corridors from CSX and Amtrak (not gonna happen). Buying double-decker cars is a good first step.

SEPTA runs on the same constraints out of Philidelphia on the Amtrak line and they manage to pull it off.
MARC is mismanaged and has no idea how to negotiate running rights.

I agree that government needs to be careful with taxpayer money. Buying used double decker cars to add capacity on an overcrowded line sounds like a good idea to me.

It seems to me the combination of better transit and policy incentives to direct offices, retail, and residential around transit stops has to be the best land use planning for the future.

Like it or not, Maryland's increased population cannot handle more far flung single family houses with far flung office parks and far flung grocery stores and farflung schools. Our new communities are going to have to be multi-use and maybe even walkable/bikable. Maryland's citizens are going to have to be able to do some things without lugging around a 4000 pound vehicle with them every where they go.

"Gov. Martin O'Malley has made improvements on MARC a centerpiece of his transportation program, but the lengthy timeline for transit equipment purchases has meant that riders have seen few results so far."

Yup, that's O'Malley. Great for the photo-op, but no substance. Please Obama, take him off our hands. And take Miller as well, while you're at it.

This is good news for MARC commuters. One immediate improvement would be conductors enforcing people using one seat. I often find people sprawled out across three seats, laptop, briefcase, newspaper, and always have to say 'Excuse me." Conductors often see people standing while others are in their three seat suite, and do nothing about it. In a crowded theater, people usually have no problem with this, so it should be no different on the train.

Current cars hold 107 to 121 passengers.... New ones hold 135.... Not all of the cars will be added to the current fleet, some will replace older cars.

Is this enough of an improvement? Or is it just simply "good enough," the lifelong motto of the MTA?

ipuppy wrote:

This is good news - I've seen plenty of VRE cars sitting in the yards at Union Station and wondered why they weren't being used.

Trust me, the VRE cars sitting in the yards are ALL being used. VRE doesn't operate trains between the morning and evening rush hours, so once they come in in the morning they go to the yard and wait for the evening rush.

DDL wrote:

All of us pay for taxes toward things that we don't use, for example, I don't have any kids but I help pay for schools. That argument is tired. As a MARC commuter and TAX PAYER, I am just happy for this small token. And service was just as horrible under Ehrlich but at least now something is being done and issues are being addressed. He seemed more concerned with ICC.

Well said!