Checking in on Charm City’s Frequent Transit Network (Part 1)
Yes, Baltimore has a frequent transit network.
After Governor Larry Hogan cancelled the Red Line light rail project, he and the Maryland Transit Administration beat the drum for the Frequent Transit Network: 18 routes that promised buses about every 15 minutes during weekday peak service as part of the BaltimoreLink redesign.
MTA claimed that under the improved network, 130,000 more Baltimoreans would live within a quarter-mile of frequent service (32% more than under the old system) and would have greater access to services and jobs.
BaltimoreLink debuted in June of 2017.
For Baltimore, a mid-sized city with a population of 620,000 and many high-poverty, transit-reliant neighborhoods, the network sounded promising.
Last October, in a presentation to the Baltimore Metropolitan Council’s Baltimore Regional Transportation Board, MTA described the network as a “historic, game-changing introduction to the region,” one that would help address the MTA’s longstanding problem with reliability.
Now that BaltimoreLink is ten months old, it’s a good time to evaluate whether the network is having the impact MTA promised.
What is Baltimore’s Frequent Transit Network?
The Frequent Transit Network consists of the 12 high-frequency, color-coded CityLink routes (pictured here on the system map), and six LocalLink routes: the #22, #26, #80, #54, #30, and #85 below.
Of the LocalLinks, the #22carries the most passengers, moving about 8,200 riders between Mondawmin and Johns Hopkins Bayview every weekday.
The #80, carries about 7,500 riders — traveling between the Rogers Avenue Metro Station and downtown.
The #54, with the third-highest LocalLink ridership, moves about 7,200 passengers daily between the Loch Raven area and downtown.
The #85 transports about 5,500 riders each day, from Penn North to Milford Mill, and the #26 and #30, transport about 5,200 passengers each — the #26 from Mondawmin to the South Baltimore Park and Ride, and the #30from Rodgers Avenue to Rosedale Industrial Park.
How Reliable is the Network?
The CityLink routes in the frequent transit network are the most dependable — or at least the most on-time. Citylinks maintained their headways an average of 76% of the time, from June — December, according to the BaltimoreLink status report to the Maryland General Assembly released in February.
MTA’s goal is for CityLink buses to be no more than five minutes late or one minute early 80% of the time. (MTA does not publish reliability data on individual CityLink routes).
For LocalLinks, “on-time” is considered to be no more than two minutes early or seven minutes late.
The LocalLinks in the frequent transit network still struggle with reliability, as shown in the chart below.
Based on December data (the most recent public data):
The #22’s on-time performance was 60%
The #54’s was 54%.
The #30’s was 58%
The #26’s was 66%
The #80’s was 62%
The #85’s was 71%
I reached out to the MTA, and they provided more recent on-time performance numbers for some of the LocalLink routes.
On-time performance for March 5 — April 9:
The #22’s was 68%
The #54’s was 64%
The #30’s was 67%
The #80’s was 63%
MTA’s on-time performance goal for LocalLinks and CityLinks is 80%.
MTA Administrator Kevin Quinn said the March-April numbers incorporate real-time data (Swiftly geolocational hardware, was recently installed on MTA’s entire 750-bus fleet) and show some improvements.
With the new GPS, MTA has a better idea of where its buses are and can more readily address delays.
“Bus location is being pinged back to our system every 10 seconds instead of every 60 to 70 seconds,” Quinn said.
He added that the agency “…had recently implemented an internal program to heavily analyze a few routes at a time, collecting a variety of data, both qualitative (operator interviews, ride-alongs) and quantitative (OTP, schedules, pass-ups).” Pass ups are when operators pass by stops because the coach is overcrowded.
To limit the impact of late buses, MTA is also developing a “playbook” to provide instructions to field supervision, bus operators, and staff at the Bus Operations Control Center to deal with operational issues that impact bus arrival times.
“The playbook will standardize terminology… and function as a step-by-step guide that includes industry best practices for how best to handle diversions, headway management, and heavy passenger loads,” Quinn said.
He added that MTAs Office of Service Development is also doing “runtime re-calibrations” on both the #30 and #54 lines to adjust for early and late departures.
FTN Routes Are the First to Get Cut
Not only do the LocalLinks that are part of the Frequent Transit Network carry the most passengers and have some the spottiest reliability, they also are most likely to get cut when MTA doesn’t have enough operators to cover its shifts.
MTA cuts the high-frequency routes first as a matter of course because cutting high-frequency service (where in theory another bus will be arriving in 10–15 minutes) is less impactful to riders.
Last year, from June through November more than 2,000 service runs (1.2% of service) were cut by MTA: between June and November, runs on the #54 alone were cut 141 times; runs on the #22 were cut 101 times.
The reason? Primarily, lack of bus operators. MTA has a longstanding operator absenteeism problem, which it has been trying to reduce since the launch of BaltimoreLink.What steps is MTA taking to reduce absenteeism?
Quinn recently issued a directive on unscheduled absences for bus operators (They can be terminated if they have more than 12 unscheduled absences in a twelve-month period), and the MTA is updating its operator sick leave policies.
Daily absenteeism rates in April are closer to 14–15 percent — down from about 20 percent six months ago.
Additionally, for the first time, the agency is looking at ways to inform riders when runs are cut.
That way, they can make alternate transportation arrangements and won’t be stranded waiting for a bus that’s not going to come.
(Part II, “What Do Baltimore Bus Riders Think of the Frequent Transit Network?” will post later in April.)
