TRANSPORTATION

Bus transportation is provided by the Mass Transit Administration (MTA), the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), and local buses. Statewide, MTA operates commuter buses linking metropolitan areas, funds bus transportation for elderly and disabled persons, and supports local public transportation, funding many counties and small cities. MTA provides privately contracted commuter bus service from Annapolis, Charlotte Hall, Columbia, Crofton, Frederick, Hagerstown, Huntingtown, Kent Island, North Beach, Silver Spring, and Waldorf to Washington, DC, or to a Metrorail station. MTA also operates over 60 bus routes in the Baltimore area. With suburban service from Annapolis, Bel Air, Columbia, Havre de Grace, Laurel, and White Marsh to downtown Baltimore, 860 buses serve more than 250,000 passengers daily. In winter, MTA Shelter Shuttle transports homeless individuals and families to city-run shelters nightly.

Passengers with disabilities may use regularly scheduled lift-equipped service; Call-A-Lift on bus routes without such scheduled buses; and Mobility, a van and taxi service for those who cannot use MTA buses.

In Montgomery and Prince George's counties, bus transportation is provided by Metrobus (WMATA), the Ride-On service in Montgomery County, and The Bus in Prince George's County.

LIGHT RAIL

• Light Rail: (410) 539-5000
  1-866-RIDE-MTA (toll free)
  1-866-743-3682 (toll free)
  tdd: (410) 539-3497
  web: www.mtamaryland.com/schedules/lightrail/light_rail_schedule.cfm

Begun in 1992, the Light Rail Line of electric-powered trains runs 30 miles through the central corridor of Maryland from Hunt Valley in Baltimore County, through the heart of Baltimore City, past Oriole Park at Camden Yards, to Cromwell Station/Glen Burnie in Anne Arundel County. Extensions run to BWI Airport and Baltimore's Penn Station. The entire line takes about one hour and fifteen minutes to travel. The Light Rail links to buses and subways with free parking at many Light Rail stops. The Line is run by the Office of Transit Operations of the Maryland Transit Administration.

RAILROAD

• MARC (rail commuter):
  1-800-325-RAIL (toll free)
  1-800-325-7245 (toll free)
  web: www.mtamaryland.com/schedules/marc/marc_schedule.cfm

MARC commuter train. Photo courtesy of Mass Transit Administration, Dept. of Transportation.

The State currently runs three commuter train lines which form the Maryland Rail Commuter Service (MARC), carrying over 20,000 passengers each weekday. Two lines run between Baltimore and Washington, DC: the Camden Line and the Penn Line. One line links Martinsburg, West Virginia, and Brunswick, Maryland, to Washington, DC. By late 2001, service will extend to Frederick from Point of Rocks on the Brunswick line (two additional stations will open and three trains will operate daily). Service also runs north of Baltimore on the northeast corridor into Harford and southern Cecil counties with routes ending at Perryville. The MTA contracts out operations for three freight lines on the Eastern Shore and two through Frederick and Carroll counties, covering over 150 miles. Additional service is provided for passengers by Amtrak and for freight by CSX Transportation and Conrail. Of historical note, the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad Company was chartered by the General Assembly in 1827 to construct a transportation link to the west, establishing the nation's first long-distance railway.

SUBWAY

• Baltimore Metro: (410) 539-5000
  1-866-RIDE-MTA (toll free)
  1-866-743-3682 (toll free)
  tdd: (410) 539-3497
  web: www.mtamaryland.com/schedules/subway/subway_schedule.cfm
• Washington Metrorail: (202) 637-7000

Baltimore Metro train. Photo courtesy of Mass Transit Administration, Dept. of Transportation.

Subways operate in the Baltimore and Washington, DC, areas. They are provided by the Mass Transit Administration (MTA), and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).

The MTA's Baltimore Metro has 14 stations. It runs 15.5 miles from Owings Mills to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, carrying an average of 49,000 passengers daily.

Commuters traveling through the Maryland suburbs, Washington, DC, and Virginia, use the Washington Metrorail, operated by the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority and partly funded by the Maryland Department of Transportation. Metrorail has 5 lines, 83 stations, and 103 miles of track. Two Maryland counties - Montgomery and Prince George's - are in its transit zone.

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