Baltimore Skyline

There will not be a grocery store at the Charles Village site adjacent to JHU ( Baltimore Sun ) Mount Vernon Mill No. 1 has 25 of its apartments rented. First tenets move in May 1st. ( Baltimore Business Journal ) JHU Nursing graduate among the wounded in the April 15th bombings at the Boston Marathon (hub.jhu.edu) Baltimore City might (finally) be (almost) cracking down on illegal dirt bikes , just send them an email! ( Baltimore Fishbowl ) New Southbound platforms at Halethorpe MARC station will open on Monday. The Northbound platform and new overhead walkway and elevators will open in June. (MTA Maryland) Pro-transit coalition in Canton wants streetcars instead of the Red Line on the east side, and wants those streetcars to go no where near Canton. ( Baltimore Brew )

(photo credit flickr jpete ) ...only took them 3 years since all the Maryland Transit Pass fare boxes and gates were added! Case-in-point, the above picture is from December 2006. Notice the Maryland Transit Pass COMING SOON! smart card tap pad on it. Baltimore Sun article Plans are to have it up and running by October, while now it isn't operational with the WMATA system yet, something about who gets what money, the systems are compatible to make it so in the future. This is a great start. Next step - make it work for the MARC Train. This will help speed up efficiency on the Light Rail and Buses, get people through the fare gates in the Metro faster, and cut down on trash from the paper passes. I am interested to see how the MTA will be policing fares on the Light Rail with this system. In Boston the MBTA has handheld fare readers that inspectors carry. It's also helpful with efficiency. During rush hour inspectors are placed on Green Line platforms to help quicken the boar...

(photo credit, The Baltimore Sun ) The first of 26 new MARC MPXpress diesel locomotives (officially an MP36PH-3C) made its debut at a press conference today at Camden Station. They are supposed to go online in the next couple of weeks on the Penn Line with the last of the 26 arriving by 2010. These will start replacing some of the oldest locomotives in the MARC fleet, which as of late have been plagued with breakdowns and other maintenance problems. The new guys are sleek, smooth, more powerful, and more reliable. However, at least one of the old brutes will be donated to the B&O Railroad Museum, so posterity can still see them.

Miss a deadline in college - lose a few points off your grade Miss a deadline in the real world - lose $2 million in FTA funding This is why deadlines are important people! The MTA missed a crucial deadline for earmarks adding up to $2 million for design and engineering program for the Red Line. Consequence? Bye-bye money. The Gov't giveth and the Gov't taketh away. Now, in all fairness the FTA didn't make it very easy to file the necessary paperwork, but if the MTA knew it was difficult, they should have worked harder. Especially if it is central to the planning and implementation of a major piece of transit! The Baltimore Examiner goes into a little more detail about it, which is worth taking a good look at it. I liked the Bush Bashing at the end. http://www.baltimoreexaminer.com/local/121908redline.html

Woo Hoo! The light rail is back on track, but I wouldn't get too excited too quickly. There are still many trains out of service, and the MTA is still expecting crowded conditions. The problem isn't totally fixed yet (probably won't be for another few years), but a "temporary solution" has been found that should help the trains better negotiate the slippery rails. And just in time for snow and ice season! Let's all hope this is a bit better. Here is the update from MTA: Last updated: November 24, 5:31 AM Effective Sunday, November 23, all Light Rail trains will operate between Hunt Valley and Cromwell Station/Glen Burnie and BWI Marshall Airport. Trains will operate every 15 minutes between Linthicum and Hunt Valley and every 30 minutes from Cromwell Station/Glen Burnie and BWI Marshall Airport. Shuttle buses will continue to provide service to Penn Station from the Mt. Royal/UB stop until further notice. As wheel maintenance associated with fall and winter w...

Unfortunate news coming out of MTA for Maryland Commuters, because of the budget cuts and souring economy, MTA is going to be making some cuts of their own starting in January. The MTA plan to cut 6 Commuter Bus routes and a few trains on the MARC Penn and Brunswick lines are coming at a time where mass transit is seeing one of the largest spikes in its usage. Last January the MTA announced that they would add four later MARC trips, to take advantage of later riders. Now, a year later, two of them, the 447 to DC and the 448 to Baltimore, are planning on being cut. In August, Gov. O'Malley announced that he wanted to expand the Commuter Bus service to encourage more rides because of high gas prices, now it seems that this will be taking a step back. The MTA had already planned to initiate weekend service on the MARC Penn Line, but this, too, seems like more of a dream than a reality at this time. It's really disappointing that service is being cut when gas prices are still high,...

This weekend Baltimore is celebrating its Maryland athletes with two events on Saturday. First up is a parade in Michael Phelps' old stomping grounds of Towson. Most of the Towson streets will be shut down for the procession. The parade steps off at 3pm along York Rd at Burke Ave. The parade is then to be followed by a Star Spangled Extravaganza at Fort McHenry. There will be a ceremonious reenacting of Phelps receiving his Gold Medals...Hey, like Defenders Day but without the British. I really like this part, reenactment of receiving Gold Medals, seriously? Didn't this just happen back in August. I'm sure it's on YouTube. Anyway, the connection is clear: American wins a Gold Medal, they play the Star Spangled Banner, the Star Spangled Banner was written in Baltimore during the attack on Fort McHenry, Phelps is from Baltimore, therefore have the Phelps celebration at Fort McHenry...brilliant! The festivities start at 3pm at the Fort with food and entertainment. The main...