Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Rubysdad1975 OP t1_iymk02j wrote

Reply to comment by petitepixel in Is the Metro subway dying? by Rubysdad1975

I don’t buy it. The Baltimore Metro is the only heavy rail subway in the country to see an overall drop in ridership through the first half of 2022. Philly’s SEPTA subway saw a 37% increase over the same period. Chicago’s CTA subway and Elevated lines saw a 60% increase. There’s no way to see Baltimore’s subway as anything but an outlier.

25

sunglasses90 t1_iyn1vpk wrote

Baltimore has a large number of state, local, and federal employees. A large majority of which are now remote. Even other private companies have moved to remote. I haven’t used the light rail since March 2020 and I absolutely would not do it again because ridership is so low it’s too risky as a woman to ride alone. Especially with no people around.

13

pk10534 t1_iynafgq wrote

DC likely has more remote workers than we do though

2

todareistobmore t1_iyncmjk wrote

DC has a subway system, Baltimore has a subway line. I feel like most of the people who can't understand the difference have never really used the Baltimore subway--which is great for what it is, but also goes to very few places most people need to get to.

25

pk10534 t1_iynd0bq wrote

Yes, I understand that. My point is that talking about government employees seems odd given that I can’t imagine other cities like NY and Chicago don’t have similar numbers of public employment, and that DC is probably leagues ahead of us in that realm. I don’t think that’s why the subway here is dying

1

todareistobmore t1_iynimd8 wrote

It's not so much that Baltimore has such a large percentage of public employees, but rather that so much of our subway's pre-pandemic usage was specifically about commuting, whether to Hopkins or Charles Center or State Center or Owings Mills.

The thing about DC or Chicago or NYC is that the subway's something you take to get around the city that also takes you to work. Ours was only ever really built for the second part, and without that you're basically left with a train that connects Lexington Market to parts of East and NW Baltimore.

9

sunglasses90 t1_iynrm8u wrote

DC also has a lot more people living there for schools/work and has a lot of tourism.

2

petitepixel t1_iymkfhu wrote

I know all workplaces and individuals are different, but I invested in my at home workspace and haven't been into the office since 2020.

10