BALTIMORE
JUNE 2017 | MassTransitmag.com | Mass Transit | 17
class. Th e operators are taken out
of revenue service and paid to get
trained on all of the routes out of
the garage they work at.
Th ey’ve also videotaped every
route and put them on YouTube
so the public can see the new
routes, and so the operators can
see them. As part of the training
process, MTA has installed four
computers at each of the divisions
so the operators all have access.
Gregory Spencer Jr., a 12-year
operator out of the MTA Eastern
Division, said, “Th ey had people
come out to the operators and let
us know exactly what’s going on
throughout the process … get our
input and actually take our suggestions.
A lot of our suggestions
actually made it to the fi nal cut.”
The Purple Line
Th e Purple Line, a 16.2-mile light
rail line connecting to Washington
Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
stations, is in the planning stage
but delays threaten the project.
Last August, merely days before
closing on a $900 million
Federal Transit Administration
grant, U.S. District Court Judge
Richard J. Leon required revised
ridership numbers. Th e concern
was the impact of declining ridership
on Metro and what impact
that would have on the ridership
estimates for the Purple Line as
one in four passengers are expected
to transfer to the D.C. system.
In November the judge was
given an updated report regarding
ridership estimates but since
receiving the report, Leon has
yet to respond. If delayed past
the end of the fi scal year, it could
lose the federal funding that has
been set aside.
THE PURPLE Line
is a 16-mile light
rail line that
would extend
from Bethesda
in Montgomery
County to New
Carrollton in
Prince George’s
County.
Purple
Line
16-mile
light rail line
21
stations
1
tunnel
2022
Anticipated
Launch
With no time limit for the judge
to rule, money could run out. “It’s
not fair to have that money run out
when this project would help out
so many people,” Comfort said.
“It’s well over a hundred million
dollars that’s been spent and
it would take a lot of money just to
shut it down at this point,” he said.
“We have obligations. We could still
get right back on schedule if he gives
us a ruling. We’re doing borings, the
engineering, the fi nal design layout,
meeting with communities, doing
the public art designs – all the stuff
that has to be done.”
It was reported that Purple Line
Transit Partners CEO Rob Chappell
said the team is committed to the
project, even though offi cials have
estimated costs increase by $13 million
for every month of delay.
Maintaining a
Safe System
Comfort said in the city that
has led the nation in the rate of
shootings, the MTA has the lowest
number of Part 1 crimes out of the
top 12 transit systems in the U.S.
“Safety-wise, we’re there,” he said.
“Th at doesn’t happen by accident.”
A successful program MTA Police,
Chief of Police John Gavrilis
talked about was its Zone Enforced
Unifi ed Sweeps (ZEUS) program.
He said, “We took a look at how
our deployment occurred and how
we could tap our resources so we
could create a very high-visible
deployment to address crime and
to target harden our facilities from
any terrorist attacks.
“We believe that’s one of the
strategies that has really contributed
to our reduction in crime. Th at
along with the Compstat process,
gathering data and being able to
look at 28 days, 7 days, a year ago
and in one day, to see what our
trends could be and making our
resources to address those trends.”
Gavrilis said they work with
the local police department, state
and feds and have more than 41
MOUs, memorandum of understanding,
which gives concurrent
jurisdiction that allows those local,
state and federal offi cers to come
aboard on stations and platforms.
“We have a program called law
enforcement onboard program,”
explained Gavrilis. “We have more
than 200 police offi cers who ride
the MARC system free, however,
they’re our eyes and ears on the
MARC system.
“We’re able to put out data
to them, what’s important to us,
and then they report back to us
on a near-daily basis of issues or
incidents or information or intelligence
that we can use to leverage
our resources for deployments.”
MTA Police also utilize plenty
of the latest technology to help
keep the system safe. “Technology
is a force multiplier,” said Gavrilis.
“We have more than 2,000 cameras
that MTA has system-wide in
all of our conveyances: bus, light
rail, metro. Th ey all have cameras.
Which is a huge deterrent in itself.”
Th ey have smart cameras by
Skyline Security Co. Ltd. that
can recognize acceptable and unacceptable
behavior.
Th e MTA is also tied locally to
the city, so they can also see what
the city sees in its cameras. With
the state, MTA Police have MView,
to see the state’s cameras, as well.
Th e biggest challenge is maintaining
order during school, when
school lets out. Gavrilis said, “We
have 20-some thousand children
who converge.” Comfort said,
“27,000 school kids a day ride
our system.”
At some hubs, there are 5,000
to 6,000 students within a 2-hour
time period or less. “Ninety-nine
percent of those students are very
orderly,” said Gavrilis. “But still,
when you get a whole lot of people,
a whole lot of kids in one area,
you have to be able to direct them.
Th at’s probably the biggest challenge
we have to ensure the safety
not only of the students, but also
the other riding public.”
More online: “Communication in a New
Era at MTA,” on how MTA uses social media
at MassTransitmag.com/12337581.
WSP