The Case Against the Trolley
The pink line on the above map is where the city is planning to spend $300,000,000 of taxpayer money. Under the pink line are several bus lines which already serve the Charles Street Corridor. The rest of the Baltimore transit system is sketched on the map. (Only major lines are shown. Click here for full map of Baltimore Transit System: Regional Map, Downtown Map.) (These maps are big and take a long time to load. Be patient.)
The corridor does not need better transportation; the rest of Baltimore's transportation system needs to be improved:
More buses--to cut wait times and generally improve service
Better buses
Greener buses
For the cost of the construction of the trolley, Baltimore could buy 600 Charm City Circulator type buses. Imagine what the addition of 600 green and quiet buses could do to city's transportation system, to the system which serves all of Baltimore.
Imagine how little a 3.5 mile trolley will do for anybody but a small group of people living along the Charles Street Corridor. The trolley might allow Johns Hopkins to eliminate most of its private bus system that it uses to shuffle its students and employees around, it might make life easier for a few residents in Charles Village, it might get a few more tourists up to the BMA.
There is speculation and wild claims by those who are pushing for the trolley that the trolley on Charles Street will cause a boom in development along its path which will in turn lead to a vast savings for Baltimore taxpayers. The argument is that the trolley will cause both new development in the corridor and an increase in property values in the corridor and that both of these will lead to increased revenue for the city from property taxes. The trolley will be essentially free! The city will have more revenue from property taxes.
This is only speculation. There are reasons to think that the speculation is false. Look at the Portland Analogy.
This possible, speculative gain for the city must be weighed against the certain gain that a vast number of new, green buses would be.
Maybe the trolley will eventually lead to a trickling down of benefits to the rest of the city. Adding new and better buses to the general transportation system for Baltimore will certainly lead to better transportation now.
The choice is obvious. And, yes, we must choose. The amount of money at the city's disposal is very limited. Right now Baltimore cannot afford to have recreation centers and swimming pools open this summer. How can it afford this expensive rail line that goes nowhere? It might not be able to afford to use this Trolley money to make sensible improvements to the transportation system. The money for the trolley will come out of the same fund that supports schools, social services and crime prevention. We could be in a position of cutting education for a trolley to nowhere.
Make no mistake about it. $300,000,000 to build the trolley will be an unyielding lien against future property taxes paid by Baltimore residents.
The Mayor and the promoters of the project--the Charles Street Development Corporation think that the only segment of city whose opinion matters on the trolley are those living in the corridor who will profit most from it. The opinions of the rest of the city who need transportation improvements much more do not matter.
As a matter of justice for the greater city, as a matter of prudence in spending, as a matter of urban planning sanity, the Charles Street Trolley should be shelved, permanently shelved.
