Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

instantcoffee69 t1_izpco5f wrote

Let's not forget: light rail was meant for people from the suburbs to get into the city and back out. Not for intra-city travel.

Because as always: the state and county do not give a shit about city problems.

135

-JG-77- t1_izq3b8q wrote

Light rail was meant for politicians to be able to say “look, we built a light rail” and not much else. It was built on the cheapest route they could find which happened to be on an old railroad that didn’t serve many dense areas. The metro was built in a similar way, it just happens that the old rail corridor used for metro happened to serve denser areas than the light rail

46

wbruce098 t1_izrb1ro wrote

This exactly. The limited routes only make sense for a sliver of the population, and the whole thing stinks of “well we wanted one, but it’s getting prohibitively expensive so we stopped”, a la Honolulu’s monorail, a travesty that began construction over a decade ago, and is now about to open up its first section, a 10 mile stretch of rail that stops about 8 miles outside the airport and doesn’t quite reach Honolulu proper, much less the tourist areas like Waikiki, making it almost completely useless.

12

abcpdo t1_izpp35a wrote

doesn’t even have a stop at Towson. or at least a bus shuttle.

32

todareistobmore t1_izpv0el wrote

> Let's not forget: light rail was meant for people from the suburbs to get into the city and back out. Not for intra-city travel.

Not really, it was just made for a few specific uses (stadiums, State Center, BWI) rather than general reliance, same as the subway.

19

jdl12358 t1_izq0yqy wrote

Correct me if I’m wrong but it was also sort of pitched as a way to resurrect the west side of downtown/Howard Street corridor. Obviously not gonna work if there’s no plan and not much else on the corridor.

11

gothaggis t1_izqvos8 wrote

yes that is correct. Some people will try to say that the light rail killed howard street - but really (from what I understand) it was already in decline - they were hoping the light rail would save it.

9

baltimorecalling t1_izt627k wrote

Howard Street was DOA by the time the Light Rail began running.

2

Jrbobfishman t1_izzykul wrote

So untrue. Yes, Howard street had suffered much decay from its heyday but it was far from dead

1

STrRedWolf t1_izqhrj5 wrote

Not really. Light Rail was meant for people to get to the O's game and Raven's game and back without a car, done for as cheap as possible using floated bonds. This was done under Wm. Donald Shafer's orders.

Yes, Light Rail was build by and on politics.

15