One of the great obstacles to developing political will for more mass transit is that politicians, particularly those who represent the suburbs and rural areas, never take a bus. They have little personal experience with public transportation and represent people who want nothing to do with it and live happily in places where it does not exist.
In Maryland, there’s a profound disconnect – an empathy gap – between the lives of those who do and do not use public transportation. As a result, it becomes easy for politicians to just say no to big transit projects; in fact, if most of your constituents never take a bus or train to work, it’s a popular position.
A classic example of this was the decision of Larry Hogan, a suburban Republican, to kill the Red Line light rail project across Baltimore. It was June 2015, and Hogan had been governor for only six months. He had just helped Baltimore through the Freddie Gray unrest, walked the west-side streets and heard all about the abandonment and disinvestment there. He claimed to love Baltimore, claimed it was the “economic and cultural heart of our state.” But, just like that, more than 10 years of planning for the Red Line, $300 million in sunk cost and a $900 million commitment from the federal government went poof.
The timing of Hogan’s decision could not have been more demoralizing for a city struggling to come out of the smoke of the April uprising. Then, as if to penalize the city further for the troubles of spring, Hogan sent $2 billion to suburban and rural areas for road projects – and not a penny for Baltimore and very little for Baltimore County.
The diss represented a blown opportunity for Hogan to be the kind of magnanimous, bipartisan leader he now claims to be as he campaigns for the U.S. Senate. He could have led by example, demonstrating for his suburban and rural supporters the importance of helping Baltimore in its long recovery.
But we all make choices, and those were his.
While many, including some city residents in Canton and Fells Point, cheered the axing of the Red Line, the decision left a large gap in the city’s hopes for transit-oriented development along the system’s 14-mile path. And it was a real setback in helping people in West Baltimore reach jobs on the east side at, for instance, the sprawling Johns Hopkins medical campuses.
Those of us who own a car – or two or three – can get around whenever we want. To work. To stores. To dinner in a restaurant. To an Orioles game. An expanded transit system – either light rail or bus rapid-transit – would serve those who don’t have a car.
A few years ago, the owner of a landscaping company wanted to hire city residents who needed work, and he asked me to assist. I referred two guys who had contacted me for help in finding jobs. The problem: They did not have wheels; they could not get easily from their city homes to the morning crew muster in Sparks. So it didn’t happen.
Would the Red Line have helped those guys? Can’t say. But a recent study by Johns Hopkins data scientists found that an east-west transit line would substantially cut travel time for people with mid- to low-income jobs, vastly increasing their access to employment opportunities across the metro area.
But public transportation is not just for people who cannot afford a car. It’s for any guy who would like to reduce his carbon footprint, any woman who wants to avoid driving on our congested, messed-up roads. If you have never taken an MTA bus – or taken it only once and declared it awful – you need to give it a first or second try.
(Note: In my experience and that of other MTA bus passengers, the Transit app has been a huge improvement; it provides real-time arrivals of buses on their routes, eliminating the frustrating guesswork of the past.)
Now, Hogan’s successor as governor, Wes Moore, has committed to a revival of the Red Line. Rep. Kweisi Mfume and other Democratic members of the Maryland Congressional delegation support the effort, and our senators, Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, are all-in, pushing for federal infrastructure funds.
Cardin is retiring from the Senate. Hogan and Angela Alsobrooks are running for his seat.
November’s election holds importance for the Red Line revival. The cost estimates for construction have only gone up since Hogan killed it. If the Trump tragedy strikes a second time, there’s the possibility that no federal funding will come through for Baltimore light rail or expanded bus service.
Alsobrooks, the Democratic candidate, supports the Red Line revival.
“In the Senate, I’ll be a partner to Gov. Moore and build upon the work that Senators Van Hollen and Cardin have been doing to move this project forward quickly and make it competitive for federal funding,” she said. “There can be no thriving Maryland without a thriving Baltimore. Leadership means lifting up our entire state.”
If he were to win, fulfilling Donald Trump’s just-expressed hope, would Hogan support the revival?
Alas, my attempts to get an official answer to that question over several days were unsuccessful. The Hogan campaign never responded.
It could be that his staff thinks the answer is obvious. Maybe they find the question awkward. Or maybe, as with Trump’s endorsement, the less said about it the better.
