MTA: Still off the rails

Wow, there are so many problems with what happened today in Timonium:

Commuters will be offered refreshments and giveaways today at the Timonium fairgrounds light rail stop for the Maryland Transit Administration's Light Rail Customer Appreciation Day....

...The transit administration will provide snacks and giveaways to riders from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

As a taxpayer, I certainly don't want the already mismanaged Transit Administration giving stuff way to people just for the hell of it, though I'm curious to try and figure out why the MTA is having one appreciation day event at an area that appeals to white, middle-class voters.

That aside, don't you think that riders of Light Rail and other forms of MTA transit would certainly appreciate safe, on time, cost-effective transit service a hell of a lot more than they do free snacks? Wouldn't proper management of the MTA, and a clean sweep of MTA senior leadership show more commitment to transit riders than just a glorified press event?

Once again, the MTA shows that it has failed to get a grip on how bad their transit system woes really are.....

There are options

The ever incompetent Maryland Transit Administration seems to think that there is no way for them to fund their proposed Red Line project:

New cost projections for a proposed east-west transit line across Baltimore show that the most widely favored alternatives are too expensive to qualify for federal funding, while the only clearly affordable choices are ones already rejected by City Hall.

Cost-effectiveness figures released this week by the Maryland Transit Administration for the proposed Red Line show alternatives that involve tunneling to put portions of the line underground exceed the federal standard for consideration of 50 percent funding of the project....

...All of them exceeded the figure of $24 per hour of user benefit that Federal Transit Administration uses as its cut-off line for judging the cost-effectiveness of competing transit proposals.

The two proposals involving the most tunneling - and the least potential disruption to neighborhoods - came in so far over the mark that MTA officials said it is practically impossible to fund them.

It seems like the rut that MTA and other leaders are stuck in (as usual) is the thought that the only source of revenue available to fund the project is through taxpayer dollars from both the state and federal governments. But we all know that this is exactly the kind of project that will simply waste taxpayer dollars and create enormous cost overruns.

It sounds like the exact kind of project that a private company could build for a fraction of the price it would cost the government.

If the MTA and public officials are serious about building the Red Line, they should really step back and consider their options. Privatization is the most cost effective way to get this project down, and this would be the perfect test case to be able to prove that point...

Wait....we're rewarding students for what?

You've got to hand it to the Maryland Transit Administration. Sure, they can't actually provide safe reliable mass transportation, but they are trying to corner the market on stupid, half-cocked ideas:

Maryland Transit Administration officials are offering discount cards for area businesses to students who pledge good behavior on city buses, an incentive that transit administrators hope will help curb disrespectful and violent behavior.

The discount card will offer 10 percent to 20 percent off purchases at 12 city establishments, including Dunkin' Donuts, Cold Stone Creamery, Shoe City, Downtown Locker Room and other places.

That's right, the MTA is going to offer discounts to teenagers to not break the law.

"The pledge is no magic panacea for things going on in the community," Greene said. "It's symbolic in its nature. It's not there to be a law enforcement measure or to do anything but take a step to reward good behavior."

No, it's really a symbolic gesture to show once and for all that MTA leadership has completely lost their minds. Instead of taking proactive steps to make public transportation safer, they are going to instead try hair-brained schemes to bribe young riders to not act like thugs.

We have reached a sad point in civilization when we governmental agencies feel it necessary to reward people to ensure they don't act in an antisocial or criminal manner. But it's also sad that Governor O'Malley refuses to clean house at the MTA, and that he refuses to put an adult in charge to fix the sheer mess that mass transit has become in our state...

MTA Still Clueless

The Maryland Transit Administration can't properly operate the transit systems they have, but that isn't stopping them from asking for more money to expand services:

As gasoline prices climb toward $4 a gallon, more commuters in Maryland are leaving their cars and trucks at home and hopping a bus or train to work.

The Maryland Transit Administration will seek approval next week to expand service on its long-distance bus lines to accommodate a surge of new riders. The so-called "commuter" buses ferry workers to Washington from places as far-flung as Hagerstown, Kent Island and Ellicott City.

The action comes at a time when ridership on almost all forms of transit - including subway, city bus and commuter rail - is up in Maryland and across the nation. Maryland's long-distance commuter bus lines handle just a fraction of all the people taking transit every day, but officials say those lines are among the most sensitive to rising fuel prices because of the distances riders must travel to and from work

Given the complete incompetence of the MTA, additional funding for additional projects should be rejected. If these commuter bus lines need to exist, outsource the work out to private bus and coach companies who can offer such services competently and at a lower costs.

Apparently, the MTA senior leadership (who, despite my pleas, remain on the job) still haven't gotten the memo that their system is in disarray.The Governor needs to get the MTA's house and order, not create more ways for it to fail as a transit organization.

No End in Sight

Another day, and more horror stories from riding light rail:

When the single-car light rail train pulled into Mount Washington station about 3:30 p.m., it was so crowded that David Utley couldn't board it with his bicycle to get to his job at Penn Station. He decided to wait for the next train - which didn't come for another 50 minutes. And it was so overstuffed that Utley just gave up. "Time for Plan B," he said as he wheeled his bike away from the station. The Mount Washington man is one of thousands of light rail riders who have had their lives disrupted as the Maryland Transit Administration grapples with maintenance issues that have sidelined more than three-quarters of its rail cars at peak travel times.

I think somebody needs to wake Governor O'Malley up and make him realize that he has a major crisis on his hands when it comes to public transportation. He has a Transit Administration that can't even make the trains run on time (literally and figuratively) and the people who use the system most frequently are fed up with it.

And actually, this entire fiasco regarding the safety of Light Rail trains brings up another question: where was the MTA on doing increased inspections before they found the crack? Was the wheel crack attributable to shoddy maintenance? Were enough inspections being done prior to discovering the wheel crack?

What it seems like to me is the fact that there is a lack of institutional control over the Maryland Transit Administration. The Governor's office should have already been looking into this issue, but even now it seems like there is no interest in addressing the problem. His office should be demanding that MTA senior leadership answer the questions surrounding their incompetence. And the Governor needs to make major changes in MTA leadership, instead of accepting the continuance of the MTA's culture of failure. We need accountability in leadership of all high profile government agencies, and O'Malley could (but likely won't, given his past history) make a major statement about government accountability at the state level by doing the right thing and making a change.

But since it isn't likely that changes will be made, it's going to be more of the same for the commuters who use mass transit....just as the state encourages them to.

Same Old Song

Looks like we have another satisfied MTA customer...

The doors opened and people were spilling out because they were so jammed in the exit wells. Needless to say, I did not get on; it did not look safe, much less comfortable. Ten or so minutes later, the next one arrived - same story. People were falling out when they opened the doors, and again I declined to board. (This also happened to be a day when the Orioles had a 12:30 p.m. game at Camden Yards that let out at rush hour.)

Thirty minutes later, I was finally able to get onto a two-car train. Why would the MTA use only the singles during rush hour and on the day a game lets out during rush hour?...

....I think I speak for many when I say that's a long time to put up with such inconvenience. At a time of soaring gas prices and clogged highways, transit officials should be doing what they can to encourage ridership - not driving people away.

Amen to that. The Maryland Transit Administration has been a disaster for some time, and I have long called for a house cleaning of all MTA senior leadership. I just continue to ask why the O'Malley Administration, who advocates the expansion of transit, continues to allow this kind of failure and mismanagement from its transit system managers?

Of course not, that would be helpful

It's not liked anybody expected the O'Malley Administration to do anything to benefit taxpayers, but still:

With gas prices continuing to reach new heights, the part of the cost controlled by federal and state governments is coming under increasing scrutiny as some politicians lobby for a break during the summer driving season.

Officials in Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration, however, caution that any reduction in gas tax revenue - which is dedicated solely to transportation spending - would hurt the government's ability to maintain roads.

"It might be a 'penny wise' and a 'pound foolish' at this point, especially since we've seen chronic underfunding of our transportation system," said Rick Abbruzzese, the governor's press secretary.

No, because god forbid the taxpayers of Maryland actually get a break after the Democrats pillaged them time and time again over the last few months. What's even more absurd is that Rick Abbruzzese actually talked about the chronic underfunding of transportation when the O'Malley Administration raided the Transportation Trust Fund to cover the excesses of their profligate spending!

Maryland taxpayers need a break, even if it is a largely symbolic break on state gas taxes. The fact that O'Malley and Maryland Democrats refuse to take even such a minor step to benefit the citizens of Maryland shows the kind of contempt these people hold taxpayers in: you are an ATM to benefit their pet projects, enrich their cronies, and keep them in office, and nothing more.

Flying the Merging Skies

There seems to be a lot of consternation regarding the merge of Delta Airlines and Northwest Airlines. Frankly, I'm not exactly sure why.

Would it not make more sense for all parties involved to support this merger? Is Consumer Choice going to be severely degraded? Not really. Are jobs going to be lost? Probably none that weren't already in danger. Will prices go up? Highly unlikely, at least in terms that are directly related to the merger. And those seem to be the biggest concerns when it comes to this proposed merger.

But I ask this question: if Delta and Northwest did not merge, wouldn't it be more likely that one of the two would go out of business? Would that no guarantee greater job losses? Would that not guarantee even fewer consumer choice? Would that not lead to higher prices as the demand shifts to the remaining carriers?

The Delta-Northwest Merger is going to be a long and arduous process for all who are concerned. But to say that this the merger should be rejected are completely wrong in their assertions. The merged airline will provide American consumers with a stronger, more financial stable airline that will have a larger fleet with reduced operating costs due to the new economy of scale. Sure it may be a headache for passengers and employees for the time being, but more than likely consumers get a stronger airline over the long-term. And given the state of the economy, this cannot be anything but a good for passengers, employees and consumers.

New tricks not working

Obviously transit riders still aren't feeling all that great about safety conditions on MTA facilities:

Some bus riders in Baltimore brace themselves before stepping aboard. They say they never know what might happen.

Even after transit and city officials vowed to make public transportation safer after a brawl in December that left a 26-year-old woman with broken facial bones, the experience of riding buses is far from serene, some regulars said yesterday.

"Sometimes kids get on the bus and your heart is pounding," said a nursing assistant who, fearing for her safety, gave only her Nigerian first name, Ebun, as she waited for the No. 27 bus in Hampden -- the same route on which the Dec. 4 assaults occurred. "You better keep quiet or you're going to get slammed. You pray to get off safe."

Well let's face it though, would you feel that much safer because of the meek changes to MTA's security posture following December's outbreak of transit violence?

The fact of the matter remains this: the new tricks MTA implemented in order to get the public off of their back regarding their catastrophic failures in keeping riders safe are doing little if anything to improve the safety of the system. What this means is that consumer confidence in MTA facilities and services is continuing to decline. And if that confidence continues to decline further, ridership will decrease and the MTA systems will become even more of a logistical and financial boondoggle than they already are.

It is becoming more and more apparent every day, as I have been calling for for months, that not one more red penny should go to expand MTA operations and that MTA should be completely privatized. At the very least and only as a short-term solution, the entire senior leadership of the MTA should be terminated and replaced with people who might actually care about providing a reliable, efficient, and safe public transit system. Because clearly at this moment in time nobody with any decision-making authority over at the MTA actually cares one bit about the safety of their customers, and that is unacceptable as a taxpayer of this state...

Momentum for Privatization

Looks like other people are picking up on the idea that only privatization may be all that we can do to save our transportation infrastructure:

Free markets may be the only way to save the nation's roads and highways. They might even be the best way to save them. The Department of Transportation, under this Administration, has made no secret of its desire to lease highways to private companies, to use tolls and congestion pricing, to auction off fast access to those willing to pay and to otherwise let free markets drive transportation. Under this view, breaking up the government monopoly on transportation could lead to innovation and more choices for the public. Let those who use a resource pay for it, without burdening everyone else with the costs. Let the pain of price ease gridlock. It will reduce both fuel consumption and emissions. Heck, it might even drive down your insurance premiums.

Let us hope that we get to this point. Privatization may not be the solution for every state, nor the solution for every transportation method. But there is a pretty good chance that privatization will lead to all of the things that Marty Jerome's post suggests: innovation, consumer choice, and lower costs. And these should be concepts that all citizens, both left and right, can get behind...

A Conservative Defense of HB1416

There has been some consternation about the support of some conservatives for HB1416, which will pull funding for the Intercounty Connector. My longtime friend Delegate Nic Kipke is one of the Republicans who has put his name to the bill, and I asked him why he was supporting it. While I don't agree with his position to pull the funding (delaying the project, in my view will only make it more expensive in the long run), here is his response without any further comment from me:

At first glance, this appears to be out of step with what you'd typically expect from me. However, let me suggest to you that the INTENT of this legislation is completely consistent with my conservative beliefs & record. This legislation is not about Global Warming, it is completely about pressuring the Governor to control state spending.

Here's why:

The ICC is estimated to cost $2,300,000,000 dollars, but the road is only 18 miles long. So the state will be spending $128,000,000 per mile. This cost is exorbitant, even for a project like this. Also, Eminent Domain is being used to procure many properties from private citizens, and while sometimes that is definitely appropriate, in this instance I fear we will be financially devastating approx 200 families. (established communities will suddenly have a major highway running right through it, lowering property values)

Additionally, I cannot in good faith support a project that the state cannot afford. Even after the largest tax increase in Maryland history Maryland faces a $300,000,000 deficit. Also, Maryland is reaching its cap on bond sales which means this project will prevent many other important capital projects from taking place in the rest of the state, including Anne Arundel.

I hope this helps you understand my position. In the interest of full disclosure, I like the idea of the ICC. But I just do not think we can afford it, I am concerned about the impact on the residents in the region, and I am not convinced this is the best place to make a $2.3 billion dollar state investment.

This one's a bad idea...

I think that I have been pretty clear about my support of privatizing toll roads and through private construction of new toll roads. However, this idea is something that is a bridge too far:

Regional transportation and political leaders are increasingly coming to the conclusion that the only way to keep the chronically congested Washington region moving is tolls, and plenty of them.

A report to be released Wednesday pushes a regionwide system that would place tolls on most existing area highways, bridges into the District, the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, George Washington Memorial Parkway and such major District thoroughfares as New York Avenue. The key to success, the authors say, is the comprehensiveness of the network.

Officials, pointing to the lack of any sizable investment in the region's transportation infrastructure by Virginia, Maryland or the federal government, say they see no other realistic options to keep traffic moving, accommodate newcomers and get desperately needed money to pay for new roads and improved transit. The tolls could generate more than $2.75 billion a year, according to the report.

This idea is problematic for a number of reasons. One is the fact that the roads that have been proposed to have tolls added to them are already existent. Certainly I have never suggested that roads that are already part of the existing non-tolled infrastructure. We already have roads that are clogged, roads that are already used by commuters; how is adding tolls to existing non-tolled roads going to solve traffic? Clearly, it's not.

One other problem with this concept comes from a misconception that is quoted in the article:

Toll proponents say users should pay for the true cost of highways. Unlike traveling by Metro or airplane, users can take roads for free, and there is no financial incentive to reduce unnecessary trips, adjust timing, carpool or use transit. Roads in the region are so overused that they no longer operate dependably.

Of course, roads are anything but free. We pay a pretty stiff fee to use those roads in the form of state and federal taxes. To say that these roads are "free" is, of course, poppycock. And to say that that there is no financial incentive to reduce travel and commuting time is even more farcical when you consider the non-financial costs of commuting that many folks already have to build into their daily lives.

Finally, nobody really answers the question as to who these tolls would be paid to. Will tolls be collected by the states or by the District of Columbia? Are the tolls being collected by the federal government, considering the proposed inclusion of federal parkways in this scheme. Or will the tolls be collected by an unelected multi-state entity? I certainly do not want to see toll dollars from drivers using roads in Maryland shipped off to a regional outfit that will misspend and misuse the money, when the money can be misspent and misused right here in Maryland.

While I am glad that the Metropolitan Council of Washington Governments is looking at ways to alleviate the region's traffic problems, the fact of the matters is that these Utopian proposal are nowhere near optimal nor practical. The Council needs to look at proposals that are practical and realistic, proposals that will reduce commuting time and not take additional funding out of the pockets of the region's working families, not the creation of additional mechanisms to take more money out of the pockets of commuters.

More Fuel for Privatization Fire

Maybe the State of Maryland, even in our current O'Malleynomic hell, may really consider the concept of privatization:

And in the long-term, MdTA will be so saddled with debt it might even have to lease one of its facilities to a private partner, according to DLS. Over the next four years, the agency will issue $2.8 billion worth of debt to bolster its capital budget.

Now all of this is in a story about how MdTA might be ready to jack the price of tolls on the Bay Bridge up to $5.00 in the near future. But as I have argued before, the privatization of the Bay Bridge may make it cheaper for taxpayers and commuters to use the bridge, as a private toll facility operator will be able to operate the bridge at a far lower cost than the State of Maryland ever could.

Even ardent opponents of privatization don't want to see tolls doubled on MdTA facilities, and privatization may be a way to avoid that current inevitability.

Lots of Democrats and liberals talk about brining innovation to government. I can assure you that doubling tolls does not count as innovation in anyone's mind. But I think that one of the most innovate things that Maryland could do at this moment in time is to privatize our toll facilities so that we, both as commuters and as taxpayers, get the biggest bang for our buck.

Nothing can help the MTA

This is well meaning, but......

A measure calling for tougher penalties for people who assault fellow passengers on public transit has been rejected by the Maryland House.

A House committee has voted down four bills proposed by a Baltimore Democrat to set mandatory minimum penalties for certain crimes on buses. Delegate Melvin Stukes says bus violence led to his proposals, but delegates' dislike of mandatory minimums sank his plan.

The Maryland Transit Administration can't properly keep their passengers safe with the laws already on the books. Even though I support stiffer penalties for all crimes, I doubt that they will alleviate the incompetence of MTA officials.

Reading into it

The Sun also has a long story today about speeding tickets, and how the percentages of tickets given for certain speed ranges vary between counties. Of course, the story tries to draw conclusions out of thin air that cannot logically be proven by statistical data:

The discrepancies from county to county raise questions about unequal treatment of speeders in different parts of the state. For instance, the records suggest that a driver going 76 mph in a 55 mph zone on the Baltimore Beltway in Towson faces a strong possibility of severe penalties - including points that can drive up insurance rates. Meanwhile, a motorist going 76 mph in a 55 mph zone on the Capital Beltway in Bethesda has much better odds of getting a slap on the wrist.

Except, it really doesn't, because none of this data can be put into context. We don't know how many folks were doing 76 in a 55 in Montgomery County or Baltimore County. We don't know if other speeding violations were going on at the time. We don't know the traffic patterns that existed when these tickets were issued. It's somewhat of a meaningless conclusion to even suggest that these percentages and records lead anybody into any meaningful revelation.

The remainder of the story goes on to list some of the issues that may come up regarding why there are drastic differences between counties: driving environment, priorities, etc. But it makes no sense why Michael Dresser would reach such a conclusion so early in a story when there was no statistical data existent that could realistically justify his claim.

Plain Silliness

The Maryland Transit Administration already has a hard enough time running an operating system, and is a complete failure when it comes to keeping passengers safe. But that doesn't stop the Sun from wanting to expand the MTA's role where it does not belong:

Simply put, it says that the creation and support of transit-oriented development should be a priority for the Maryland Transit Administration. That's not a new concept, but the O'Malley administration bill marks the first effort to set the goal into law. And while there are numerous such projects in the works, support for them - political and financial - has not always been as strong as it should be.

Transit-oriented development should be a no-brainer. Building projects with retail, offices, residential and parking facilities immediately adjacent to rail or bus service increase ridership and better serve the community....

...But promoting development is quite a departure from the traditional role of the MTA as merely a builder and operator of transit lines. It means, for instance, forging agreements with developers and local government to encourage visionary projects. That may involve promoting tax abatements or zoning exceptions, the standard tools of local government-fostered economic development.

Of course, the MTA has absolutely no business in working on the kind of projects the Sun suggest that they work on. Suddenly though, the Sun seems to think that the MTA is the kind of effective government agency that should use its vast experience in development issues to help plan transit oriented development.

Of course, when you consider that the MTA can't get the easy stuff right, can't protect their customers even after promising solutions, and wants to spend billions upon billions of dollars on 28-year plans, I can see where the Sun would get that idea. I mean, they are such an effective organization and they clearly have no problems with their system. The MTA is surely the organization to lead Maryland into the next 25-years of urban policy.

Sarcasm aside, the Sun's rah-rah support of this is a complete joke, albeit unsurprising given that the bill in question is being pushed by the O'Malley Administration. And check out this nugget from the legislation:

"TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT" MEANS A MIX OF PRIVATE OR PUBLIC PARKING FACILITIES, COMMERCIAL AND RESIDENTIAL STRUCTURES AND USES, IMRPVOEMENTS, AND FACILITIES CUSTOMARILY APPURTENANT TO SUCH FACILITIES AND USES.

So by definition, we're going to find ourselves with the MTA as a new de facto MEDCO type outfit, creating development projects that are going to be competing directly with the private sector. And those of us in Anne Arundel County know what happens when those projects, as one would suspect they would, go south, though we know that O'Malley and his team never learned those lessons.

The Administration and the Sun both seem to lack the understanding that when an organization is failing to do the job that they were created to perform, it is then probably not a good idea to task that organization with different, completely unrelated responsibilities and expect anything good to happen for our state and certainly the taxpayers.

Privatized Transit in the Dulles Corridor?

Lots of our liberal friends criticize me for my stance on the private funding on transportation infrastructure, but it looks like such ideas are being bandied about for the construction of Metro's Northern Virginia Silver Line:

Private equity investors are drawing up proposals to partner with Virginia for a rail line to Dulles International Airport as hope fades that the federal government will help fund the 23-mile Metrorail extension.

State officials said several equity groups have expressed interest in investing in a rail since Thursday, when U.S. transportation officials declared the project unfit for federal funding. The $5 billion project had been counting on a $900 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration.

Private purchase of the rail line or the Dulles Toll Road to fund the extension would attract strong opposition from those who believe such public infrastructure is far too valuable to hand over to for-profit corporations. But with the outlook for keeping the rail project alive bleak, regional business and political leaders who are adamant that the rail line must not die are increasingly of the mind that private partnership must be considered.

"You gotta build this thing," said William D. Lecos, president of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce. "So whatever contingency is fastest, bestest and quickest is good with us. We've always been supportive of the public-private concept. If that turns out now to be the contingency we can pursue, provided we can get on that course quickly and with some level of certainty, then that's what we should do."

Folks in Northern Virginia have been looking for over 25 years for a Dulles rail extension, and with the disqualification of the project from receiving federal funds, it looked liked the project may never get built. Now, with private companies in the mix, it looks like there is still hope for the project. When you consider how much of the Dulles Corridor's planning is tied into the future of this line, it remains and important project for the future of this area.

I hope that the private companies get a legitimate chance to build and operate this system. It will show, hopefully once and for all, that there can be a great public benefit to privatized transportation options in our area.

Broken Record

I said before that the MTA's plan to reduce violence would not be effective, and it's certainly turning out to be that way:

Maryland Transit Administration Police and city police were seeking at least two young males who assaulted a 19-year-old man aboard a No. 8 bus Saturday night as it headed south on York Road from Towson toward the city, an MTA spokeswoman said.

About 11 p.m., several youths left the movies at Towson Commons on York Road, boarded the bus and became rowdy, said Jawauna Greene, the spokeswoman. She said that as their behavior became more disturbing, at least two of them assaulted the passenger for no apparent reason.

When is the O'Malley Administration, with their newfangled "law and order" focus, going to get serious about protecting those people who have to use mass transit on a regular basis? Because at the moment, I'm not sure anybody in the Administration gives a damn about the safety of these folks.

Right now, anybody who rides public transportation is extremely vulnerable. I just wonder if the O'Malley Administration is actually going to try and do something about it.

Dresser needs to get a clue

Michael Dresser once again proves that he is clueless when it comes to driving in Maryland:

Traffic on I-70 may frequently run at 80 mph but never in my experience safely.

What? He can't possibly be serious, because highways are extremely safe in America. We have well built cars and a long expanse of road that makes it very easy to drive at 80 MPH on most American highways. Remember, the Pennsylvania Turnpike was built to be used at a safe speed of 100 MPH; how could driving 80 on I-70 be unsafe?

What's "just plain crazy" is what we've lived with far too long: 40,000-plus highway deaths in the U.S. each year and 600-plus in Maryland. The only way to bring those numbers down is to banish "zoom-zoom-zoom" to Joe Camel's desert.

Which of course, is pure cockamamie. The majority of accidents in Maryland are due to reckless driving, not driving at an unsafe speed. Reckless driving is a lot more than just driving at an unsafe speed; it's swerving, it's tailgating, and it's other activities. Not doing 75 on the Beltway. And those accidents that are not caused by reckless driving are caused by drunk or impaired driving, which no speed law in the world is going to deter those idiots from.

Then, Dresser quotes an email from a similarly uninformed reader:

The solution to the problem is greater enforcement of the law. I rarely see police cruise the highway or park on the side of the road. Speed traps are few and far between. When I lived in The Netherlands, I was impressed by the frequent and routine use of speed cameras to limit speeding and to stop drivers from going through red lights. It worked! The arguments that speed cameras are a step in the direction of Big Brother or simply a revenue generator are nonsense; they are a proven way to slow drivers down, prevent crashes, and keep people from being hurt or killed.

Which of course, is also complete bull. There is a great deal of literature and study out there about the use of speed cameras as revenue generators, and how traffic cameras do nothing to reduce the likelihood of a crash, as noted in several instances. In my anecdotal study with speed cameras in D.C., they actually cause more accidents as drivers slam on the brakes in an effort not to get a ticket. In some cases the cameras just don't work. And Britain, which is littered with these things, is trying desperately to get rid of them.

Dresser needs to get a clue and stop ranting about how horrible Maryland's driversare. As I have said before, what Maryland really needs is to increase our speed limits so that police can go back to doing more important police work than setting speed traps that cause horrific traffic jams at inopportune times...

No end in sight for transit system violence

Will the violence on Baltimore area transit systems ever end?

In the latest of a series of violent incidents on Maryland Transit Administration property, a 14-year-old boy was shot and wounded on board a bus in West Baltimore this morning, according to city police.

Agent Donny Moses, a department spokesman, said the incident occurred about 12:45 a.m. on the No. 15 bus in the 1100 block of Poplar Grove St. He said the youth got into an argument with another male, who stepped off the bus at a stop, then leaned back in and fired a shot, hitting the boy in the leg.

In the latest of a series of violent incidents on Maryland Transit Administration property, a 14-year-old boy was shot and wounded on board a bus in West Baltimore this morning, according to city police.

Agent Donny Moses, a department spokesman, said the incident occurred about 12:45 a.m. on the No. 15 bus in the 1100 block of Poplar Grove St. He said the youth got into an argument with another male, who stepped off the bus at a stop, then leaned back in and fired a shot, hitting the boy in the leg.

This is just the latest in a series of violent incidents on Maryland Transit Administration operated systems. Problem is that, at least with last week's unveiling, the MTA has been asleep at the switch for months on the issue of safety on public transit:

Bus operators are being encouraged to call police and stop the vehicle at the first sign of disruptive behavior as part of a plan to curb violence on public transit, the Maryland Transit Administration announced yesterday.

Responding to a series of assaults recently on its buses in Baltimore, the MTA also said it would step up patrols by its police force and forge a closer working relationship with the Baltimore Police Department and the city school system.

Among other steps, the MTA plans to speed notification of city officers when an incident occurs on a bus or other transit facilities in the city. Under this change, city police would receive word of 911 calls involving MTA facilities at the same time as the transit agency's police force so the closest unit could respond.

"Whoever gets there first," said MTA Police Chief David C. Franklin. "It's not about egos. It's about making the system safe."

At a news conference at the Mondawmin Mall Transit Center, MTA Administrator Paul J. Wiedefeld described what he called a "comprehensive approach to disruptive behavior," called Operation: Safe Transport.

"We want to reassure citizens we have taken strong measures to protect public transit users," he said.

Of course, I have anything but confidence in the MTA to fix these problems. The fact of the matter is that public transit overseen by the MTA has never been safe, and few measures seem to ever be taken to make the system safer other than going beyond lip service. And lip service sounds exactly like what the MTA is proposing now, because a lot of these things make me think, "Wait, they didn't do this before?" Are the people over at the MTA really so clueless that they didn't think to step up its patrols until after several acts of violence on its system? Does anybody have a clue over there?

What's completely disheartening about the MTA is the fact that they seem to be oblivious to the issue of rider safety (much like they are with competent timetables) while at the same time asking for billions of dollars in new construction and improvements to expand MARC rail, and also to build new transit options in Baltimore City. However, the MTA clearly can't get it's act together to male their current system safe. So why should anybody expect the need for a multi-billion dollar expansion when people will likely avoid the system since the system can't provide them with a safe environment? And it's not just the issue of crime, but the issue of existing infrastructure that adds to this problem.

Clearly, I believe that privatization is what needs to happen here in order for the mass transit to get it's act together here in Maryland. However, since the likelihood of that happening in the immediate future is slim, I think that it is time that the General Assembly cut all new spending directed at the MTA until the MTA gets its house in order. Until public transit in Baltimore is relatively safe, we should not spend one penny more in state money to expand a system that cannot promise its riders a safe environment.

Mission Creep

Governor O'Malley is getting ready to push for new revenues, by trying to sneak in new revenue sources by putting a foot in the door:

The O'Malley administration will seek General Assembly authorization to use cameras to enforce speed limits in work zones as part of a "hard-hitting" package of highway safety legislation, Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari said yesterday.

If Gov. Martin O'Malley can persuade lawmakers to adopt the measure during the session that starts next month, it would for the first time give police in Maryland the discretion to use camera technology for speed enforcement on a statewide basis. Police in Montgomery County are currently permitted to use such cameras in school zones and residential neighborhoods.

Past proposals to expand the use of speed cameras have met with fierce opposition - especially from Republican legislators who have called them an unwarranted intrusion. Former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. successfully blocked a bill to allow their use statewide in 2003 but was overridden in 2006 when he vetoed a local bill permitting their use in Montgomery.

Let's not kid ourselves. Like any typical Democratic proposal, this is merely the first step until the General Assembly can wrangle enough votes to pass full expansion of speed cameras around the state.

What's really unfortunate is that the O'Malley administration is getting ready to push for failed technology that has led to the repeal of red-light and speed cameras in many jurisdictions across the country. Once again, O'Malley is proving that he is merely behind the times...

Privatization still the solution

This article from this morning's Post further reinforces the need to privatize transportation construction:

State transportation officials say Columbia's future might not include rail transit despite pleas to extend such service to the county's largest community.

Howard Del. Elizabeth Bobo (D) asked state officials last year to study whether Washington's Metro rail system or the MARC, the state's commuter rail service, could run to Columbia. But state officials have told Bobo in recent weeks that both options would cost billions over the next 30 years, a prohibitive expense. That should provide local officials with "a little dose of reality," Bobo said.

"We can't move forward thinking we're going to have [rail] transit anytime soon in downtown Columbia," Bobo said after a meeting of Maryland transportation officials in Ellicott City last week.

But they could move forward if a bid went out to private contractors to determine the costs to build such a system privately. I would be willing to be that a number of companies would be willing to build and operate a Metro, MARC, or Light Rail extension if given the opportunity to bid. The concept that a multi-billion project such as this has to be constructed using only state funds is outmoded, and leads to further traffic delays, congestion, and projects that take fifty years to complete.

As I noted last month, the privatization of such projects is the only way to make progress.

Leopold endorses O'Malley Tax Plan

One thing Streiff did not point out earlier was that, as usual, John Leopold is showing his true colors:

County Executive John R. Leopold, a Republican, said the state's transportation demands justify higher taxes.

True, transportation demands are at an all-time high. But as we noted yesterday, there are alternatives to taxpayer-funded roads. Leopold's snap judgment that taxes should be raised to fund transportation projects are just another notch in his pro-tax, pro-big government, pro-liberal belt.

A Reasonable Approach to Fixing our Traffic Woes

Drew Carey on private sector solutions to highway gridlock (H/T absentee on RedState):

Wouldn't it be nice if the state of Maryland would outsource the construction of the Intercounty Connector, a new Bay Bridge, or HOT lanes (like the aforementioned 91 Express Lanes in California)? Wouldn't you, as a taxpayer, feel better about the construction, maintenance, and expediency of construction of these roads as opposed to the ten-years plus it may take to even turn the first shovel of dirt on these projects if the State of Maryland takes the lead?

Big Brother is watching your ride

With the concept of High Occupancy Toll lanes becoming more and more in vogue, this idea was bound to come forward:

Are drivers ready to be scanned like groceries at the supermarket?

The answer will help determine whether Washington area commuters use a planned network of high-occupancy and toll lanes, which will start to take shape next year when an expansion of the Capital Beltway is to begin.

The lanes are billed as the salvation of the suffering commuter. Solo drivers will be able to buy their way around congestion, while carpoolers will ride free. But the lanes' success hinges on finding a way to differentiate between paying and nonpaying customers without stopping every vehicle to count heads.

The private companies that will build and operate the Beltway lanes have proposed using technology that would scan drivers and passengers with bursts of infrared light that detect human skin. The technology is so sophisticated that it can distinguish human faces from decoy dummies and shotgun-riding dogs, according to Ken Daley, a senior vice president at toll road operator Transurban, one of two private companies behind the Beltway project.

So, why exactly is it going to require privacy-invading technology to police HOT lanes? Why can't these lanes be policed in the same way that HOV lanes are policed today? And how much is this boondoggle going to cost taxpayers?

HOT lanes are a great idea. But this way of enforcing them is another step forward in support of the nannystate....

Planning Effects

Usually we wind up complaining the government isn't doing enough planning. So I suppose it would be hard to fault them for this kind of planning:

The Maryland Transit Administration is planning a sweeping expansion of its popular but crowded MARC commuter train service, including weekend runs and additional weekday trains by next year and a tripling of the system's capacity by 2035.

The detailed blueprint, outlined in a briefing by MTA Administrator Paul J. Wiedefeld, envisions a system that eventually would stretch from Virginia to Delaware and have the capacity to carry more than 100,000 riders a day.

The plan, the cost of which would amount to billions of dollars over the next 28 years, would add tracks in areas that are bottlenecks and would increase the frequency of train arrivals. It would bring new interconnections with existing and future transit lines and create a new transportation hub at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

A 28-year plan? Ambitious. How they pull it off is anyone's guess. The fact of the matter is that the state owns pretty much no rail lines. All of the lines are owned by CSX or Amtrak. Without ownership of any rail lines, the MARC system is automatically at the mercy of external forces. How in the world can you expand service when you don't own the mechanisms you need to provide the service?

On top of it, how could the state possibly find enough money to pay for this? Such an ambitious, multi-decade expansion plan will probably costs the state several billion dollars in the long-run? Is it an sexy idea to basically be able to go from Fredericksburg, VA to Trenton, NJ? Sure. Is there a demonstrable demand for such a service? Not that I can see. Is there a way to make such a service financially self-sufficient? Not a chance.

Regional rail is a great way to provide an alternative means of transportation when expansion plans are reasonable, have a funding source, and will alleviate traffic on the roads. If regional rail plans do not have all three of those components, then tax dollars are better spent addressing the noted shortcomings of our highway system. And I can think of ten highway projects that should be a higher priority than this kind of MARC uberexpansion.

This week in transit failure...

Once again, why I can't stand American public transportation:

Smoke poured into Metro subway tunnels again last night, a day after an unprecedented and unexplained series of such incidents. Baffled officials began to consider the possibility that the events were more than mere accidents.

"This is not normal," Metro General Manager John B. Catoe Jr. said. "This is highly, highly irregular."

Asked whether he suspected terrorism, Catoe said no. But he added: "Could it be something else? Everything now is suspicious."

Asked whether he suspected sabotage, he said, "I don't know the answer to that question."

The system reopened Tuesday at 5 a.m., and Metro officials said trains were running normally, with no service disruptions or problems.

Yesterday's events, like Sunday's, came just after the height of the evening rush, halting train travel on part of the Green Line in the District and much of the Blue and Yellow lines in Alexandria and in Arlington and Fairfax counties. At one point, a Metro spokeswoman said, seven trains lost power in the Blue and Yellow Line tunnels south of the Pentagon.

The chaotic situation forced thousands of irritated and bewildered passengers to disembark from stopped trains and use shuttle buses or search for other ways to complete trips home that, in some cases, stretched hours longer than usual. Well after 10 p.m., there was no service between the Pentagon and Braddock Road stations on the Blue and Yellow Lines. The U Street/Cardozo Station on the Green Line in the District was closed by smoke from about 7:20 to 8:40 p.m.

Officials provided some explanation for the shutdowns but could not provide a detailed basis for much of what happened. "We're at a loss to identify the root cause of the problem," Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said.

The Washington Metro may be one of the least efficient, least effective, bass ackwards organizations ever to be stood up in the history of the planet, and continued incidents like these just goes to further perpetuate that image...

Forgetting what the story was about

The tragedy that was and still is the Minneapolis Bridge collapse is completely indisputable, and I don't think that anybody doubts that state, local, and federal officials are doing whatever they can in the recovery mission and in an effort to do what can be done to repair the damage to the people of Minnesota.

That being sad, every other government official needs to shut up about bridges for the moment.

Governor O'Malley ran out today and assured the people of Maryland that Maryland's bridges are safe. Now, nobody actually knows if the bridges are really safe. Nothing has changed in the past twenty-four hours that would make Maryland officials question the structural integrity of our bridges. But then again, nobody thought the bridge on I-35W had anything wrong with it either.

Something bad happened. Could it have been predicted and prevented? Who knows at this juncture. But I can assure you that Governor O'Malley taking this opportunity to jump in front of a television camera accomplished absolutely nothing. He forgot that the story was not about him...

One comment the Governor did make was that there was a $40 billion shortfall in the state of Maryland as it relates to highway infrastructure, in necessary repairs and improvements. Given the fact that highway transportation is one of the few areas that government has a legitimate business being in, would it not make more sense to divert some of the billions in new social spending proposed by the O'Malley administration towards repairing our dilapidating infrastructure to try as best we can to prevent such a catastrophe from happening here? Wouldn't that be a better use of the Governor's time than posturing in front of the camera?

Whining at the Speed of Print

Apparently, this is what you need to know about Michael Dressers, who wrote a sequel to his Christmas morning column (deconstructed here):

Speed cameras? You bet. Put them up all over. Not to extract revenue but to prevent road murders.

No word on how the cameras will jump out into the highway and physically prevent accidents. Of course, Dresser's reasoning is out there even when compared to some of the other opinions the Sun comes up with from time to time...

Life in the Fast Lane

The Sun decided today would be a good day to run a column in the Maryland section lamenting the lack of penalties for speeders on Maryland roads. Michael Dresser's biggest grip