As of this morning’s commute I am officially a field tester of the Maryland Transit Administration’s new Charm Card.

The Charm Card is a rechargeable plastic fare card, just like the Washington Metro’s SmarTrip card. Instead of buying paper passes daily,weekly or monthly you can add money to the card as needed — with the option to load it with weekly or monthly passes as well.

So, I plunked $20 into the vending machine this morning — paying with credit card is apparently forthcoming, but not available yet. And, on the first time out, everything went as expected, with no problems.

I can’t say I was really expecting there to be any problems; it’s not like using rechargeable fare cards is a novel idea.  The SmarTrip card launched in May 1999, and more than a million cards have been issued.

But the MTA is not taking chances. After a two-month field test on the subway system, it’s on to a test of the Light Rail and buses. That means it won’t launch systemwide until some point next year.

I’ll provide updates periodically of how the experiment is faring.

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Today, the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore launched its new site that’s intended to help commuters figure out how they can get to Harbor East without a car, or at least show them alternatives. The site, entitled “A Smarter Way to Get There,” has some cool-looking features, though I’m not having great success in using it right yet. Over time, it will probably get easier as they refine it.

Basically, here’s how it works: the site is oriented around a map with 11 icons below it, for the various Maryland Transit Administration lines and the Baltimore’s pending Charm City Circulator. You can click one of the options and see what resources are available around Harbor East. For example, click on the bicycle and it will show you public bike racks around the area. (And fun facts. Did you know that you burn 85 calories in a ten minute bike ride?) But it’s hard to look at other parts of the city where commuters might stop or be coming from. I’m sure that wouldn’t be too hard to fix.

Overall, it’s an interesting idea, because the Harbor East area, with its relatively narrow, two-way streets, is not going to wind up being a place where everybody can drive their own car to work. As Robbie Whelan and I wrote last year, many of the intersections in that area are projected to become inadequate if the growth continues apace. Using the existing public transportation could be helpful, but everyone seems to acknowledge that it’s going to be hard to accommodate growth down there without the Red Line, an east-west light rail link that’s years away.

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Here’s a telling experience I had today. I walked from my office to the Inner Harbor for some lunch.

Why? Because as a Baltimorean, that’s what I’m supposed to do, right?

I’m supposed to go to the jewel of our city, our biggest tourist attraction, spend my locally-earned bucks at local businesses, and marvel at the hordes of people walking around during the day, admiring our fair city, spending their hard-earned bucks at our proud local businesses, right?

Well, I did, and it was great. The sun was shining. The hordes were out and about. I heard lots of chatter about how nice the Inner Harbor is, and darn it, I felt good about it too. But on the way there, as I was walking south on Light Street, crossing Pratt, the following happened:

A car turned left onto Pratt from Light. I had the little white-walking-man-in-lights signal from the crossing light, so I kept walking. The car stopped to let me pass. And suddenly, the traffic cop in the middle of the intersection was screaming at me:”Why you gotta cross right in front of this car?!”

I said nothing. I just pointed at the crossing signal. “It was my right of way.”

“No, THIS is the signal you need to be looking at! You see that? That’s a green light for these cars, here!”

He was pointing at the green light facing the turning car, which indicated that southbound traffic on Light Street could proceed. Again, I wordlessly pointed at the white-walking-lighted-man in front of me.

“I was taught in kindergarten, that little white walking man means “walk.” Red-standing-lighted-man means “stop and wait.” Right?”

“No, sir, THAT is the signal you need to be looking at!” the cop screamed, clearly agitated, and once again pointing at the green traffic light.

And it occurred to me: if I’m not supposed to cross the street when the signal is in my favor, and surely I’m not supposed to cross when I’ve got a red light and a red-standing-lighted-man facing me, because I’m sure to get run down by a car barreling eastward on Pratt Street, then when the heck am I supposed to cross Pratt Street to get to the coveted, charming, civic masterpiece that is the Inner Harbor?

Now I know, this cop is just a traffic cop, not an urban planner. He’s not making policy decisions that will affect the walkability of downtown Baltimore. But for crying out loud, isn’t the pedestrian always right?

Shouldn’t somebody clue these sorts of on-the-ground bureaucrats in to the fact that the city is dropping somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million to make Pratt Street and the Inner Harbor more pedestrian- and business-friendly?

Isn’t this sort of behavior exemplary of the type of attitude that privileges cars over pedestrians in this city, and indeed country, which runs counter to most modern trends in urban planning?

In other news, there’s a lady at the corner of Light and Redwood selling pit beef sandwiches out of a cart, with a homemade tarragon sauce and fresh horseradish, and they’re DELICIOUS.

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In today’s paper, Andy Rosen wrote about the ‘dash for cash’ for the planned Red Line in Baltimore and Purple Line in Montgomery County. The Maryland Transit Administration is preparing to bring each project closer to being ready to compete for federal money in the fall.

Here in Baltimore, the Red Line is becoming more and more of a contentious issue. Donald C. Fry of the Greater Baltimore Committee is a strong supporter of it, saying that it will provide a boost for business, reduce travel time and create jobs. He projects that it would attract 42,000 commmuters daily, resulting in 67,000 less vehicle miles traveled.

But lawmakers and homeowners in Canton are speaking out–the argument being that a surface line on the already bustling Boston St. would increase congestion, decrease the value of some of the waterfront property and lead to a loss in business because of a lack of parking.

Darryl Jurkiewicz, President of the Canton Community Association, has stressed that residents are in support of a mass transit line running through Canton, but with a hope that it would be underground.

A rally has been organized by community members against the surface Red Line for Monday morning between 6-8 am at the intersection of Boston St. and Lakewood.

Watch the videos below of Fry speaking at a press conference last fall in support of the line and Jurkiewicz taking me on a tour around Canton showing me how detrimental it could be.

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Search and rescue teams spotted debris in the Atlantic Ocean along the flight path of the missing Air France jet this morning. While the Brazilian Air Force cautions that there is not enough wreckage to conclude they’re the remains of Flight 447, it certainly looks that way.

Initially Air France floated the theory that the plane was brought down by lightning. Experts are split on whether that’s a plausible explanation; planes have been struck in the past, but rarely with catastrophic results. Though it’s hard to comprehend, planes are designed to withstand lightning.

That wasn’t the case for Pan AM Flight 214, the United States’ first official instance of a plane destroyed by lightning – which occurred right here in Elkton, Maryland.

More than 80 people were killed in December 1963 when the Boeing 707, en route from Puerto Rico to Philadelphia, entered a lightning-streaked rainstorm. Officials believe that next the jet was hit by lightning and exploded in mid-air. Witnesses reported a resulting “ball of fire”; bits of the wreckage landed in a cornfield and on nearby farms.

“It’s going to be a very, very difficult job of identification,” Dr. Russell S. Fisher, Maryland’s chief medical examiner who was on the scene, told The (Syracuse) Post-Standard.

Dr. Fisher emphasized there would be “no personal or visual identification of the remains,” saying it would be futile for relatives to come to Elkton for that purpose.

You can read more about the Elkton crash and other high-profile airplane lightning strikes here. (PDF)

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A recent article in the Chicago Tribune raises a very interesting question: with gasoline prices now at about half the cost this summer’s prices, will those “gas guzzling” SUVs and trucks make a comeback?

According to the article, “SUVs remain, as ever, politically incorrect,” but dealers from Texas to Montana report “the big vehicles clogging up their lots for months like so much radioactive waste have started moving again, albeit at slashed prices.”

While the author reports General Motors plants making Tahoes, Yukons and Escalades have their workers on overtime, “car sales on the whole remain a bust, and this comeback barely lives up to the name, considering the bleak conditions overall.”

Maryland Automobile Dealers Association President Peter Kitzmiller said that whatever comeback some vehicles may be making in other states because of gas prices hasn’t happened here.

“If everything was normal, I think we’d being seeing an uptick in those sales,” he said. “But nothing’s selling right now so I don’t think we’re seeing that. If you compared pickup sales this October to last October, they would be off significantly because nothing’s selling.”

Kitzmiller said that it also isn’t worth it to people who bought a larger vehicles during the rush a few years ago to trade them in today for a more economical car because the gas prices of this summer have severely deflated their value.

We’re getting people saying they’re going to lose $4,000 or $5,000 if they trade them in so we’re not seeing a lot of that,” he said. “I think if gas prices stay down we will start seeing the used car values of those vehicles stabilize, and we’ll see more of that activity.”

In the meantime, what are people doing with their SUVs? Are they hanging tight and waiting to trade them in next year? Or are you out on the roads more now that gas is below $2 a gallon?

LIZ FARMER, Business Writer

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At a press conference earlier today at UMB Biopark hosted by the GBC, a number of medical institutions and colleges voiced their support for the Light Rail Red Line Alternative 4C.

The Alternative 4C plan would create an east-west light rail line that would stretch 14.6 miles from Woodlawn to Johns Hopkins Bayview. The plan calls for two tunnels—one under Cooks Lane and another under downtown Baltimore and Fells Point.

The alternative line, which is projected to cost $1.6 billion, would carry 42,000 passengers per weekday – more than triple the number of riders that are currently using existing bus routes in the corridor, according to Donald C. Fry, CEO of the GBC. It would take 41 minutes to take the red line from one end to the other, half the time of the current bus route.

But what seemed to be the paramount issue today was the importance of keeping area college students happy enough to stay in Baltimore after they graduate.
According to Kristen Campbell of the Baltimore Collegetown Network, the most important issue to area students is transportation.

With a red line, there would be connecting stops to both the existing light rail and metro systems, making it easier to get to areas such as Fells Point and Hopkins Bayview from schools in the county.

What’s the next step, you ask?

Next month, there will be four public hearings, beginning on Nov. 6. After the hearing process closes on January 5, the Maryland Department of Transportation will meet with the governor with the information gathered. They will then announce a locally preferred option that gets submitted to the federal government.

It might sounds like it’s a ways off, but from a budget standpoint, the building of the line could start as early as July 2012.

Below is a video from the press conference. Click here for more information on the public hearing dates.

RICHARD SIMON, Multimedia Reporter

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Of all the people at all the intersections, I had to run into you.

Imagine this:

You’re late to work, not paying attention to what you’re doing, and you run a stop sign. Another car is headed through and you smash into it. Everybody seems to be OK, and who gets out but the state secretary of transportation.

Though I don’t know that this is exactly how it played out, I do know that something similar happened to somebody in Maryland yesterday. John Porcari, who heads the Maryland Department of Transportation, appeared at the Board of Public Works meeting Wednesday and said he had a morning crash.

Someone ran a stop sign and hit him on the broad side of his vehicle as he was dropping his son off at school in a private vehicle, Porcari said. He said his experience demonstrated the importance of wearing seat belts and driving a safe car, but all was well.

I do not mean to make light of what must be a stressful situation for all involved, but it’s hard to imagine a car accident that would be more awkward. At least the other driver had insurance, as Porcari said it was through the state’s insurer of last resort, the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund.

Can you think of anyone who it would be more bizarre to encounter during a fender bender?

ANDY ROSEN, Business Writer

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In my story about Maryland’s Fourth of July travel, folks in the restaurant and hospitality industry say the holiday’s positioning on a Friday helped bring people out to make a three-day weekend out of the deal. But some Bay Bridge statistics the Maryland Transportation Authority just e-mailed me drive home the three-day weekend effect in a big way.

For example, nearly 60,500 cars crossed the bridge on Thursday, July 3, this year. That’s up 25 percent from the year before and up 42 percent from the corresponding Thursday last year (July 5). The day of the holiday, just 32,500 crossed the bridge last year while more than 46,600 did this year (a 46 percent increase).

The differences are stark — especially when you put them in the context of the rest of the week. Overall, travel on the Bay Bridge was down about 4 percent last week. Not including this year’s peak days (Wednesday and Thursday), traffic was down about 14 percent last week, compared to the corresponding week in 2007.

This is just a snap shot, but it looks as though while people are still taking to the roads, they’re being much more selective about it this year. Marylanders still want to do something special on their vacation days, but perhaps that means they are scrimping in other areas to make up the difference.

Do you think it’ll be worse or better by the next Fourth of July? And where will motorists draw the line? $7 a gallon? $10?

LIZ FARMER, Business Writer  

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Washington’s Metro system has had two of its highest-ridership days on record this week – despite the lack of Nats games or special events.

Yesterday, 823,000 people road Metro’s trains, making it Metro’s sixth most popular day. The day before Metro had 812,000 riders and a new No. 10 for the list.

It’s no big surprise – officials were expecting to greet more riders as gas prices climb. (At the Shell station outside my building in Bethesda, gas was $4.35/gallon for regular unleaded this morning … which would encourage just about anyone to ride Metro.)

Still, the real record-breaking day for the transit agency could be today – National Dump the Pump Day. As if commuters need more encouragement, transit officials around the country are pushing public transportation today especially.

And whether or not you take Metro, you can still enter WMATA’s contest to guess today’s ridership. If you win, you’ll get a Metro card worth $100.

Even if you sold it to a friend – hey, that’s still a tank (or two) of gas. For use in a carpool, of course..

JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor

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