With billions of dollars at stake and the direction of Baltimore City?s mass transit system on the line, transit advocates say their proposal for a new addition to public transportation has gotten short shrift.
State officials recently shot down an alternative route proposed by the Transit Riders Action Council ? a route advocates say would be faster and better than the $1.2 billion light rail and rapid bus line, called the Red Line.
“It would get more riders, but it was too costly,” said Maryland Transit Administration Deputy Henry Kay, who heads the Red Line project for the state.
Transit advocates said their proposed line, which would use heavy rail, was a better option.
The alternative line backed by the Transit Riders Action Council would run north-south from Westview to Camden Yards, then north up the St. Paul Corridor to Johns Hopkins University.
“Our proposal would … be immediately connected to all the other rail in the city,” said Ed Cohen, president of the Transit Riders Council.
“Their proposal does not connect.”
Cohen said his line would attract about 43,000 riders, more than the east-west line running from Security Square to Bayview Medical Center favored by state transit officials.
“Given the number of riders, the cost of our proposal is cheaper at $3.2 billion, while the light rail option they have that travels underground would be around $3.7 billion and attract only 41,000 riders,” Cohen said.
What is at stake is building a system that would move commuters fast enough to justify the cost, advocates argue.
“In this case, our proposal is better,” said Nate Payer, spokesman for the Transit Riders Action Council.
City officials are backing an east-west route that travels downtown either through Lombard or Pratt streets.
Proposals for light rail or rapid bus transit are being considered, as well as options to run above ground or through tunnels.
Officials estimate the cost of the surface light rail option at roughly $1.2 billion.
But Payer said the $1.2 billion price tag did not include tunnels, creating a slow mass transit system.
“It would average around eight to 12 miles per hour downtown,” Payer said.
MTA officials, coordinating the Red Line design, said Cohen?s proposal would not meet federal cost-effectiveness requirements ? a key to qualifying for federal aid to fund the bulk of the Red Line?s construction costs.
“… The federal cost effectiveness number was twice that of the routes being considered now,” Kay said.
