"New" MARC Commuter Railroad system map, Maryland

I guess I had forgotten (because looking in my Flickr files, I found a similar map from 2019) that MARC, the Maryland commuter railroad, has updated its system map, using a design style more common to subway systems, and much more modern than previous iterations.  It's quite attractive.

The old map was quite dowdy.

It also includes long distance commuter bus routes.  Which is great because it puts "regional" long distance transit services on the same map.  Previously, Maryland MTA published a separate commuter bus map, which other jurisdictions in the area don't really do. And that map wasn't dowdy.

c. 2016

Interestingly, the new maps include commuter bus services that MTA doesn't run, such as the service between York County, Pennsylvania and Baltimore County.  And the WMATA B30 bus from the end of the Green Line Metrorail's Greenbelt Station to and from BWI Airport -- this service was very important for times outside of the MARC service, especially when the Penn Line didn't used to operate on weekends.

Two other cool elements about MARC.  First, if you have a monthly train pass, it entitles you to free use of local transit services in Greater Baltimore, as well as Montgomery County RideOn bus service and WMATA Metrobus service.

Second, the MTA CharmCard transit media fare card is really just a differently branded version of the DC/WMATA area SmarTrip card.  Either card is interoperable on transit in the DC and Baltimore areas.  

(Massachusetts does something similar with the Charlie Card.  The same fare media system is made available to other transit agencies across the state.  It's supposed to operate the same way in the Province of Ontario, with the Presto card, but I don't know if it really does.)

Recommendations for Maryland railroad passenger planning

Separately, for the Baltimore-Washington region, I argue for an integrated transit planning and operations "association" based on the German model ("The answer is: Create a single multi-state/regional multi-modal transit planning, management, and operations authority association," 2017).

This would reposition railroad passenger services along the lines of the German S-Bahn "suburban commuter" model, which tightly integrates service with other transit.

MARC fare media should be integrated into the SmarTrip/CharmCard system ("One big idea: Getting MARC and Metrorail to integrate fares, stations, and marketing systems, using London Overground as an example," 2015).

MARC and Virginia Railway Express should merge, starting with the MARC Penn and VRE Fredericksburg lines ("A new backbone for the regional transit system: merging the MARC Penn and VRE Fredericksburg Lines," 2017).

Maryland needs to develop a statewide passenger railroad plan, which goes beyond the current system footprint ("A "Transformational Projects Action Plan" for a statewide passenger railroad program in Maryland," 2019).

While Maryland's current governor is more enamored of pie in the sky maglev than traditional transit services, I recently outlined what I call a "complementary transit network improvement plan" for the maglev service, to drive improvements across the transit network simultaneously.  While the piece is focused on the DC area, a similar piece should be written for Baltimore ("DC, Transformational Projects Action Planning, and the Baltimore-Washington Maglev project," 2021).