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sllewgh t1_iyisi7n wrote

Baltimore used to have one of the nation's best public transit systems. A half century of deliberate underfunding and having too few bus drivers has ruined it, but there's no reason we can't get back to where we once were by reversing that trend.

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Infinite_Magnetic7 t1_iyjak37 wrote

How so??? The subway and light rail systems were highly underdeveloped, not connecting to neighborhoods and places that are too far out where transportation isn't accessible.

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sllewgh t1_iyjh4w0 wrote

The bus system was a lot stronger. Light rail is good for serving high traffic routes, but a reliable and well developed bus network is what truly takes cars off the road. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the routes, there just aren't enough busses running them to keep the system speedy and reliable.

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dingusamongus123 t1_iyjdy97 wrote

Zoning could be changed to allow more walkable development around existing stations and new rail lines could serve existing or easily buildable walkable areas.

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gaiusjuliusweezer t1_iyk684d wrote

Yeah, while it is true that prohibiting development around our rail infrastructure has been a huge failure, this is a solvable problem as evidenced by the Owings Mills development

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gaiusjuliusweezer t1_iyk7xo5 wrote

It’s funny that the new MTA corridor studies basically looked at a bunch of routes and were like “yeah on these route even buses that are slow and unreliable are at capacity, so that seems like a good place to upgrade” while the dumbest people in the city go “we don’t need this, nobody takes the [route that is completely different]”

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bottleboy8 t1_iym1icd wrote

Half a century ago, Baltimore had a competitive two-party political system. One party systems breed corruption.

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sllewgh t1_iymjfhq wrote

Both parties serve the interests of the rich. That's not the problem.

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bottleboy8 t1_iymk7t0 wrote

Per capita income in Baltimore City is $32k. "The rich" left a long time ago.

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sllewgh t1_iyml1vz wrote

Do you know what "per capita" means? It doesn't mean there aren't rich people in Baltimore. Also, they don't need to be. Plenty of outside interests in this city.

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