Some fans frustrated by light rail crowds after Baltimore events, but many still ride
By Sam Cohn, Dillon Mullan, Baltimore Sun,
4 hours ago
An incoming southbound train arrives to the platform while a northbound light rail fills with passengers at right who leave the game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Buffalo Bills in Baltimore. Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun/TNS
Drew Moore considers his family to be a public transportation household, with members making regular use of buses and light rail to get in and out of downtown Baltimore from their house in Mount Washington. But when light rail cars were too crowded — and few and far between — to take back after the Bruce Springsteen concert last month, Moore said he hopped on a Lime bike and pedaled a frustrating 45 minutes home.
“Subsequently, I went to an Orioles game with my family and we just drove,” said Moore, 46. “I wasn’t gonna subject my kids to that situation. … It’s frustrating because I would love to take public transportation if it functioned.”
Though infrequent, the sometimes overcrowded nature of the Maryland Transit Administration light rail on event days has some fans rethinking whether public transportation is the most convenient way to get to concerts and Orioles or Ravens games. Following an Orioles game Sept. 20, light rail cars were so full that children and parents stood on the steps inside with nowhere else to go, some fans said.
“More people are waiting for less vehicles to pick them up,” said Phil Dupont, a self-described transit enthusiast and advocate. “Because of that, more people drive. Because more people drive, the buses get clogged [in traffic]. Because the buses get clogged, more people choose to drive. Because more people choose to drive, there’s less revenue for MTA, and the vicious cycle continues downward. They need more light rail frequency, and more capacity, which is unfortunately not something light rail can do as well as a subway or metro line.”
MTA administrator Holly Arnold, who frequently engages Baltimoreans on social media, told frustrated fans on X that the MTA is “working to get more trains available for games but our baseline is only about 20 trains available every day.”
Arnold added later in the thread that MTA tries to increase cars for games if possible, but it’s dependent on availability.
On its website, the MTA encourages riders to use the Transit app, which provides real-time information for all public transportation, to plan trips.
On two recent game nights, light rail cars were packed to the gills, but the larger-than-normal crowd appeared satisfied with the efficiency of operations.
As Game 1 of the American League wild-card seriesended Tuesday, thousands of baseball fans split into two groups for two separate platforms at the Camden Yards light rail station. Trains arrived regularly, as MDTA officials shouted instructions regarding safety and direction. Almost as quickly as one train departed, another arrived for both northbound and southbound directions, and riders moved toward each car, their bodies pressed together, filling every free space inside each unit.
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People needing special assistance board a southbound train to as fans using light rail leave the game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Buffalo Bills in Baltimore. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff)
Even considering Baltimore’s playoff loss, the mood seemed friendly and patient.
Two nights earlier, last Sunday, the first wave of Ravens fans walked en masse over a pedestrian bridge following Baltimore’s win over the Buffalo Bills. One light rail with four cars waited for departure with its doors open, revealing a crush of people packed shoulder to shoulder from front to back. Both rails held trains as riders pressed together and the doors opened to accept passengers.
The MTA extended operations until one hour after the Ravens game ended.
The MTA also supplements light rail service with express shuttle buses, according to Veronica Battisti, the senior director of communications and marketing.
“The [MTA] operates every available light rail train for service,” Battisti told The Baltimore Sun. “These express shuttle buses operate from Glen Burnie and Timonium Fairgrounds light rail stops directly to Camden Yards for access to Oriole Park and M&T Bank Stadium. MTA provides extended service hours when Orioles and Ravens games are scheduled to end after regular operating times to ensure riders will have safe and convenient transportation home.”
“I don’t want to drive through Baltimore game traffic, especially at night. This is relatively close to where I live. It might be a bit cramped coming home, but it’s worth it,” Jonathan Kesner, who goes to one Ravens game a year, said at the Glen Burnie station before last Sunday’s game. “Coming home the cars are squished, but that’s to be expected.”
Trains before the game ran from Glen Burnie — where parking was free — every half-hour, and upon reaching the station a few hundred yards from the entrance, trains were crowded, but seats were still available.
“You can’t beat [the light rail] as far as convenience of the time it takes to get down to the stadium and where it lets you off right there at the stadium,” said Anthony McPhail, a Ravens season-ticket holder from Ellicott City. “They certainly could have more trains ready to be loaded and sent out after the game. … We took the shuttle down once, and that was a nightmare.”
Through secondhand brokers, parking passes for the next Ravens home game, next Sunday against the Washington Commanders, are selling for over $250. Two-way light rail tickets are $4.
“Parking passes are really expensive,” said Jeff Siford, a season-ticket holder from Millersville. “We have definitely left a game early to catch a train, but you would have to sit in traffic anyway, so light rail is still the way to go.”
Baltimore Sun photographer Karl Merton Ferron contributed to this article. Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at scohn@baltsun.com , 410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn .
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