Local e-list on railroad commuting

Washington Post photo by Joel Richardson. Commuters get off the VRE at Brooke Station, 4:54 PM, 09/28/05.

There is a yahoogroup on local (DC-MD-VA) railroad commuting issues, marcvre. Those interested in the issues involved should join.

In thinking about the reversal last week by MTA to not close four stations previously targeted due to lack of ridership, I have been thinking about the fact that UMD's Planning School hasn't offered their transportation planning class for a few years now. (See "MTA yields on closing of MARC stations," from the Baltimore Sun.)

I think that the local transportation agencies such as MTA in Maryland and DDOT in DC should provide funds to UMD and/or CUA so that they would offer transportation planning courses and "studios" where the students would do fieldwork projects on such issues as why do these four stations on the MARC line--St. Denis-Relay and Jessup stations on the Camden Line, and Boyds and Dickerson on the Brunswick Line--have such low ridership, and how can this sore fact be changed? Maybe the colleges could offer one transportation planning sequence jointly?

The MARC Odenton station has over 2,000 riders each day. The four stations targeted for closure have 40-50 riders daily, in total...

I mentioned that one of my academic dreams is to rewrite the textbook Marketing Public Transit. Students in a transportation planning class should be exposed to marketing as well, not just GIS and transportation software modeling. The textbook Geography of Urban Transportation clearly should be one of the texts. Every "urban" planning student should be required to read this well-written interesting book.

Early-morning commuters prepare to board a MARC train at the Odenton station. Acknowledging the inadequacy of parking, a MARC spokesman says the station has become a victim of its own success. (Baltimore Sun photo by Amy Davis) Oct 14, 2003.

"We don't need fancy things," says Brenda Klaunberg, a 44-year-old veter inarian who commutes on the MARC Camden line to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda. "We just want to get on and off." (Baltimore Sun photo by Amy Davis) Dec 21, 2005.

Index Keywords: transit