Why Baltimore's Light Rail underperforms

On occasion of Baltimorelight rail's 25th anniversary the Sun wrote a really good story titled "Light Rail's potential remains unfulfilled". As one who worked on the project from beginning to end, I have have to say the article is thorough and correct. Yet, it doesn't really answer the underlying question: Why does the line under-perform beyond the suggestion that a single line in itself cannot really succeed?

Light Rail on Howard Street in the 1990s (Photo: Kittelson)

True, a rail lines becomes exponentially better the more it is connected to other lines and the more it is part of a system; but there are several light rail lines in America that operate equally isolated with sometimes less miles and do that with decidedly more riders than the Central Light Rail Line (CRL) which carries a measly 22,800 riders a day over its total 33 miles of track. This is nearly 10,000 riders less than originally estimated, in spite of extensions and in spite of operating now also on weekends.

With 691 boardings per mile that is only a bit more than 1/5th of Minneapolis/St Paul's  3,334 riders per mile on 22.8 miles of track, three times worse than new Orleans' vintage streetcars on their 22.3 miles and also fewer riders than Pittsburgh has on its 26.2 miles of rail. Minneapolis is aggressively expanding its system, but at the moment of comparison, Baltimore's line is by far not the smallest, especially if one considers that there is also a 22 miles Metro system which those other cities don't have and that Baltimore's single line has two spurs, one to Penn Station and one to BWI.

Minneapolis-Saint Paul LRT

What can one do if additional rail that would transform a single line into a system is politically not an option? The answer is to put more stuff where the line is, specifically, transit oriented development (TOD). If one can't build more rail to more destinations one can still put more destinations where the rail already is. The LRT to stadium link was exactly the right beginning. But the reason that Baltimore's system does so much less than its peers lies in less intensive land use in the rail corridor.

When the CRL was built in breakneck speed so it could be completed together with Oriole Park as the SUN correctly reports, it had to be built where it was the easiest: On an existing rail right of way. Which happened to be the old  Northern Central Railway, Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad and Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway railbeds. That wouldn't have been a problem if those old tracks would have gone where new development was planned, possible, or wanted. But that was not the case. Development in the old and narrow Jones Falls Valley north of Penn Station seemed almost impossible, economically and spatially. The same was true for large stretches on the south end around Westport, Baltimore Highlands and Linthicum. In other stretches, such as Ruxton, transit was not really wanted. The bright lights that justified the alignment were the job centers near the airport and in Hunt Valley, but the rush to build the system through three jurisdictions completely failed to engage the respective planning and zoning departments to redirect development, up-zone land along the tracks and designate TOD wherever possible. The Hunt Valley and the Cromwell Station areas remained as suburban car-centric as they have always been.

TOD at Mt Royal Station 

The trains end in a sea of parking at Dorsey Road (Cromwell Station) and at Hunt Valley. No change to the suburban development zoning was made on either end and also not in the middle. Not on the lands of an old quarry near Linthicum, not for the underutilized Timonium Fairgrounds, not on the giant satellite parking lots the train traverses near the airport and not for the already then ailing Hunt Valley Mall. Only two projects ever attempted to even use the moniker TOD: One was Symphony Center, a large apartment complex erected on the site of an asbestos laden insurance building. From the train Symphony Center's most visible structure is a giant State financed parking garage, ostensibly not a symbol of good TOD. "Our marketing showed that people wanted Class A
space in the city with great accessibility but without the problems of finding downtown parking," (Arthur Adler, then partner in the venture). The other was the near 400 apartment / mixed-use complex of CenterPoint on Howard Street, it, too was equipped with a giant garage.

Whatever development eventually sprung up near the light rail line was not the result of orchestrated transit oriented development planning but the result of the whimsies of a real estate market that increasingly cherished the presence of trains, notably Clipper Mill in Woodberry and the Fitzgerald at the Mount Royal stop.

LRT in the Jones Falls Valley: No space

To this day there is no coordinated effort of maximizing development in the CRL corridor, not in Baltimore County, not in Baltimore City and not in Anne Arundel County either. The City's new zoning code includes a TOD designation, but it is very subtle and timid and there is little incentive for a developer to build inside a TOD overlay instead of outside of it. Even though the State created some enabling laws that made TOD a transit purpose and created a good inventory of properties near transit, a systematic joint review of development potential in the corridor that brought together local land use planners and the transit agency never happened. At least not with the expressive goal of optimizing the rail investment over the entire 33 mile length of the CRL. There were some anecdotal efforts on behalf of MDOT, I recall a Sunday walk with then Secretary Flanagan to inspect sites along the downtown Metro stops that resulted in an executive order of Governor Ehrlich.  There also was a MDOT study showing development opportunities along Howard Street which BDC chose to ignore, but to this day there is no strategic plan for the entire LRT corridor that could readily to be implemented.

Denver LRT: Extending train length to accommodate riders

Of course, the current Governor made it clear that he prefers roads over rail. He decided to kill not only the additional rail line that would finally make a system and is still the appropriate way to do it but also the mother of all TODs, the State Center redevelopment, which would benefit light rail and Metro at the same time. MTA Administrator Comfort told the SUN that it is his aim to make transit work that is already on the ground, a good goal. But is shouldn't be forgotten, to optimally utilize the assets that are on the ground, land use is, at least, half the story! Instead of the holes in the doughnut that characterize so many station areas on LRT and Metro, the region would need to concentrate all possible development there. MDOT once calculated, that all of Maryland's expected growth could easily fit into such TOD areas.

It isn't too late. To direct the real estate demand where it can be most useful: Not at Maryland's remaining forests and farms but near existing rail stations is hard where the real estate market is weak, for example at several Metro stops. But the CRL runs through areas with much better potential, the Jones Falls Valley has recently become a hot commodity. With an all hands on deck effort, it shouldn't be too hard to boost the sagging ridership of the CRL with the same tools Minneapolis-Saint Paul has done it or Denver is doing it. For it to happen, a true regional partnership would be needed between the three local governments and MDOT. With tight public resources nothing less is what voters should expect from their elected officials.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA


List of United States light rail systems by ridership:

	Largest city served	Ann’l Ridership (2016)	Avg. dly wkday boardg Q4 2016	System length	Avg dly boardg per mile Q4 2016	Yr opened	Stations	Lines	Yr last exp'd
1	Boston	69,236,700	226,500	26 miles (42 km)[2]	8,711	1897; 1929	74	5[2]	2004; n/a
2	Los Angeles	65,829,000	211,700	98.5 miles (158.5 km)[4]	2,149	1990	80	4[4]	2016
3	San Francisco	52,597,300	164,300	35.7 miles (57.5 km)[8]	4,602	1912; 1980	152	9[6][8]	2007
4	Portland	40,240,300	124,200	60 miles (97 km)	2,070	1986	97	5	2015
5
	Philadelphia	25,127,600	82,000	68.4 miles (110.1 km)[16][17]	1,199	1906	>100	8[16][17]	2005
8	Denver	24,585,000	75,900	58.5 miles (94.1 km)[18]	1,297	1994	62	7	2013
9	Minneapolis-St. Paul	22,963,500	72,900	21.8 miles (35.1 km)[21][22]	3,344	2004	37	2[21][22]	2014
10	Salt Lake City	19,220,300	64,300	46.8 miles (75.3 km)[23][24]	1,374	1999	56	4[26]	2013
11	Seattle	19,121,621	52,388	20.4 miles (32.8 km)[28]	2,568	2009	15	1[28]	2016
12	Houston	18,335,800	56,600	23.8 miles (38.3 km)[30][31]	2,378	2004	44	3[30]	2017
13	Phoenix	16,322,800	51,200	26.3 miles (42.3 km)[33]	1,947	2008	35	1[34]	2016
14	Jersey City	15,450,736	51,867	17 miles (27 km)[38]	3,051	2000	24	3[39]	2011
15	St. Louis	15,343,900	45,800	46 miles (74 km)[40]	996	1993	37	2[42]	2006
16	Sacramento	12,286,600	41,300	42.9 miles (69.0 km)[44]	963	1987	53	3[44]	2015
17	San Jose	9,931,100	29,900	42.2 miles (67.9 km)[45]	709	1987	62	3[45]	2005
18	New Orleans	8,084,400	24,900	22.3 miles (35.9 km)[46][47]	1,117	1835		4[46]	2013
19	Pittsburgh	7,783,100	21,324	26.2 miles (42.2 km)[48]	814	1984	53	2[48]	2012
20	San Francisco	6,910,000	17,700	5.2 miles (8.4 km)	3,404	1878		3[7][50]	1952
21	Baltimore	6,888,500	22,800	33 miles (53 km)[51]	691	1992	33	3[51]	1997
22	Newark	5,724,544	19,994	6.2 miles (10.0 km)[38]	3,225	1935	16	2[39]	2006
23	Charlotte	5,147,500	16,400	11.1 miles (17.9 km)[52]	1,477	2007	20	2[52]	2017 (planned)
24	Buffalo	4,899,700	17,500	6.4 miles (10.3 km)	2,734	1984	14	1[55]	n/a
25	Portland  Streetcar	4,623,520	15,248	7.35 miles (11.83 km)[57]	2,075	2001	76	2[57]	2015[58]
26	Trenton- Camden	2,830,339	8,954	34 miles (55 km)[38]	263	2004	20	1[60]	2013
27	Oceanside -Escondido	2,600,700	8,500	22 miles (35 km)[62]	386	2008	15	1[62]	n/a
28	Cleveland	2,485,900	6,810	15.3 miles (24.6 km)[63]	445	1913	34	2[63]	1996
29	Norfolk	1,399,500	4,300	7.4 miles (11.9 km)[65]	581	2011	11	1[65]	n/a
30	Tacoma	937,885	2,570	1.6 miles (2.6 km)[28]	1,606	2003	5	1[28]	n/a
31	Washington, D.C. Streetcar	745,400	2,800	2.4 miles (3.9 km)	1,167	2016	8	1	n/a
32	Seattle	518,300	1,900	3.8 miles (6.1 km)	500	2007	21	2	2016
33	Tucson	460,737	2,313	3.9 miles (6.3 km)[69]	593	2014	22	1[69]	n/a
34	Atlanta	371,000	700	2.7 miles (4.3 km)	259	2014	12	1	n/a
35	Tampa	294,600	600	2.7 miles (4.3 km)[70]	222	2002	11	1[71]	2010
36	Memphis	0	0	6.3 miles (10.1 km)	0	1993	25	3[73]	2004
37	Kansas City	n/a	n/a	2.2 miles (3.5 km)	n/a	2016	10	1	n/a
38	Dallas	n/a	n/a	2.45 miles (3.94 km)	n/a	2015	6	1	2016
39	Cincinnati	n/a	n/a	3.6 mi (5.8 km)[76]	n/a	2016	10	1	n/a