Tell Your Story #2: Jalen and Angela
Meet Jalen. A student of the Dundalk area. I met Jalen through one of his high school teachers who was concerned about his troubles navigating the new Baltimore Link system. Previously, Jalen was a daily bus rider. Today he uses public transit 1–2 times each month.
Jalen travels from the Turner Station area to the area high school less than 2 miles away, Monday through Friday. On average, it’s a 10-minute drive or a 14-minute bike ride. He has a few bus route options to choose from for his morning commute.
Option 1: The shortest route averaging 12 minutes is via Local Link 62. That’s the run time once Jalen is on board, but wait times at the bus stop can be longer because the bus runs only once every 30 minutes during the am peak.
Option 2: Averaging 26 minutes, Jalen can take City Link Navy to the Local Link 65. Both are considered high frequency routes during am peak. The City Link Navy is scheduled to run every 10 minutes while Local Link 65 is scheduled to run at least once every 15 minutes, with some buses scheduled to arrive within 4–5 minutes of each other. As Jalen has encountered, it can be hard to sync up transfers when runs are being cut daily without notice. Between June and November, the CityLink Navy had almost 80 runs cut, some back to back in the same day. During that same period, Local Link 65 had over 30 runs cut.
Option 3: He could catch the City Link Navy to Dundalk Ave and Holabird St, an average ride of 16 minutes, then walk 22 minutes to school, not ideal during the winter.
When it comes to commuting via MTA, Jalen does not have safety concerns. He has never experienced ghost buses (an app says the bus is arriving and there’s no bus in sight). But Jalen does struggle with access. The high frequency buses that he has access to from his home, City Link Navy, don’t go where he needs it to. Or in reverse the buses that do go where he needs them to go are not frequent.
Meet Angela. Jalen’s mom and a Dundalk resident. She confirmed everything Jalen shared and added another element facing “deep” Dundalk residents. Angela travels often to Bayview Hospital for healthcare services, like many of her neighbors. Before the network redesign they would catch the MTA 10 route from Turner Station directly to the hospital. The new equivalent route, City Link Navy, does not travel the length of Dundalk Ave. and turn on Eastern Avenue. Instead it turns on Boston street, travelling through Canton. She says to reach the hospital she’d have to take multiple buses and/or walk significant distances which is unreasonable for the sickly and elderly, hence the reason they are travelling to the hospital so frequently.
Angela says the recent changes are not in the best interests of the long-term riders in the area but of the more affluent Canton residents. She went on to describe how struggles with your commute can cause a negative ripple effect in your day and the day of others you encounter. “It’s hard to say good morning [to the bus driver] because you’re hot and mad”
Their story highlights one thing that many Baltimoreans encounter:
1. Lack of access: Living near high frequency transit is a wonderful thing but only when it can take you where you want and need to go. In this case you have a family that is unable to get to the local school and healthcare services in a reasonable amount of time via public transportation. They are not better off.
Almost 27,000 school students are traveling to and from school via MTA buses. The Baltimore area has nearly 20 hospitals and countless medical facilities being patronaged by area residents, many of whom do not own a car. having frequent and reliable access to healthcare is critical for the health of our area residents and the academic success of students.
Are you an area resident that uses the public transportation system? If yes, it’s your turn to ‘Tell Your Story.’ We want to know how the local transit system is impacting your daily life. Contact Ashlee at ajohnson@cmtalliance.org to be interviewed.
