No News Is Not Good News

(flickr photo credit, Amber Rhea)

It's been over a day since two teens were found in the middle of the southbound tracks of the Light Rail near the Lutherville Station. One died yesterday, the other died today, but why does MTA Maryland not update its riders of the situation?

Within minutes of the accident on the DC Metro, Metro's website had information regarding the situation, delays, and news updates. I would question the immediacy of a response with our counterparts.

Why is it that every time I hear news from MTA Maryland, I get it from the Sun, or WBAL or WJZ or somebody else besides MTA Maryland? This incident is just another one of those non-stories from our Public Transit folks. No press release on the website, nothing. Press Releases are few and far between on mtamaryland.com, yet you can find almost daily news updates from transportation departments in other cities (MTA, MBTA, WMATA, SEPTA, etc). Why, then, do we get nothing?

It's not to say that there isn't news in Baltimore transit. The Light Rail is getting new signage downtown, any news or updates? No. The SmartCard system is supposed to go live in October, any updates for riders who might be interested in getting one? No. Bus, Light Rail, and Metro Subway schedules changed on June 14th, any news release on the main page? No, and even then, there was no press release about what was changing. The Metro Subway is getting brand new PA/AV systems at all stations with Federal Stimulus money. You guessed it, No news there either. What about updates on the Red Line? Nothing, Green Line, Nope, Purple Line, Nada.

How do you expect to encourage ridership growth, if you don't tell your current or potential riders anything?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When Club One was the House of Welsh

Image
 House of Welsh in 1943. Note the Guilford Elevated streetcar line. At one time, what was 301 Guilford Avenue (at some point over time the address was switched to 300 E. Saratoga St) was called the House of Welsh a long time Baltimore steakhouse and restaurant. Originally opened in 1900 it occupied the corner buildings for 98 years. A 1998 article in The Baltimore Sun details the history of the House of Welsh on the eve of its closure. With the demolition of these three buildings yesterday marks the end of some of the oldest houses that stood near downtown. The houses were build in the 1830s, some of the only other houses of the same period were on St. Paul Street and were demolished to make way for the new Mercy Medical Center tower. Inside these buildings make have taken place some of the more little known, but nonetheless interesting stories in Baltimore's history. In 1904, at the height of the Great Baltimore Fire, a telegraph line was hooked up inside the building
Read more

Getting Back into the Groove of Blogging about Baltimore

I took a four-year hiatus from posting anything here on the Baltimore Skyline blog for a lot of reasons. Part of it was pure laziness; I decided to post some things directly to the Facebook page instead, but even then I sort of just stopped doing that in 2017.  A big part of it was that I no longer worked in Baltimore starting in 2013, and I honestly did not get the chance to get out and take photos of what was going on around town. The family grew, work changed, etc., so the hours in the day seemed to be mostly full. Little time to dive into news, development projects, openings and closings. The funny thing is that with a growing family, I actually did get out to a lot of fun kid-friend events - trips to the Zoo, Science Center, Patterson Park, B&O museum, and so on - but I was more invested in who I was there with than anything else. When I wrote less about Baltimore, it became harder and harder to get back into it. After blogging for, at that point, over 7 years I found it cha
Read more

The Rotunda

Image
photo by CB Maryland Casualty Insurance Co. circa 1920-1930 (photo by MdHS) The Rotunda :   Originally built for the Maryland Casualty Insurance Co. in 1920-1921. Later converted to offices, a mall, and longtime home of the Rotunda Cinematheque. Renovated again into a mixed-use space with retail on the ground floor along with the ICON Residences at the Rotunda which opened in 2016.  MdHS photos: https://mdhsphotographs.tumblr.com/post/26843707551/maryland-casualty-company-building-701-west-40th
Read more