If one picture is worth a thousand words, then your recent front page picture says it all. It barely makes the plural of the caption of “Passengers disembark…,” as there are only two getting off the Baltimore light rail car, and a look into the windows of the car shows empty seats. Nobody is on it (“Gov. Wes Moore prepares to add more light rail to Baltimore as ridership lags and costs rise on current system,” July 16).
It is estimated to cost around $1 billion to run this one line for the next decade or so if you include the planned purchase of new rolling stock. This is in part because the city does not have school buses, and the Maryland Transit Administration has to provide students with free transit, and they are the majority of the ridership. It is cheaper to have school buses, add bus service and routes where needed, and mothball the light rail system.
Jonathan Sacks, executive director of HUB West Baltimore Community Development Corporation, is correct that light rail kills retail. Look what it did to Antiques Row on Howard Street years ago and even further down between Saratoga and Fayette streets. It now looks like it’s from the movie set of “Blade Runner.”
— Harvey Schwartz, Baltimore
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