I tried rerendering the video without one of the audio tracks after this was posted, but for some reason I just can't get the audio glitches at 6:49 and onward to go away. The video is haunted, beware! 👻👻👻
It depresses me how dysfunctional Baltimore transit is. In particular outside of the city service is abysmal; white Marylanders are terrified of ~the urban element~ riding public transportation into their functionally segregated suburbs. And it's not just a legacy problem (although the neutering of Baltimore's metro due in large part to racism is pretty infamous): nearby Carroll County had its council in 2016 outright ban any public transportation that'd connect it to other counties. In 2016, christ. Well at least I get to look forward to the Red Line eventually....probably in the form of BRT :/
The funny thing is it's not just white Marylanders. Maryland is one of the most diverse states and places like Montgomery County (where I grew up) and PG have the wealthiest black population in the country. My parents are black immigrants, lived and worked in cities (NYC and Baltimore) and they're equally if not more afraid of cities than their white or Asian counterparts. In all the trendy areas of Baltimore, it tends to be white people moving back in.
The silver lining is Carroll County is relatively unpopulated and far away from Baltimore, making it less relevant for frequent transit service. It's ranked 9th of 24 in Maryland's populated counties, but it's the least populated of the counties around DC and Baltimore (except for Charles County, which is about to surpass it). It's 15 miles (as the crow flies) from downtown Baltimore to Carroll County's southeast edge, let alone to where stations could realistically be at least 5 miles farther in. Carroll County's edge is about as far from downtown Baltimore as (going clockwise): Phoenix, Kingsville, Joppatowne, Severna Park, Millersville, Odenton, North Laurel, and western Columbia. That range I just described is likely the general limit of where Baltimore would realistically want to expand its local transit service to - the equivalent of its northernmost light rail station, Hunt Valley. That said, Carroll County doesn't even have regional service, such as MARC. And there's no railways in Eldersburg, the closest Carroll County community to Baltimore.
@@DAK4Blizzard But part of why the official ban shocked me so much is how easy it'd be for them to avoid inter-county service through the standard excuses: it is in fact low population, low density, and there's relatively few people demanding service there. But instead of using excuses to avoid the issue the county council made it 100% explicit that public transit would legally not be an option into the county. Maybe I'm just naive but that shook me to the bone. It feels like one of those crude, blunt attempts from the 70s to segregate, not something from our modern world. It feels especially blatant considering Carroll County is over 90% white. I just want some terrible bus service from Reisterstown to Westminster :/ It's infinitely easier for me to visit my sister in Alexandria, VA via public transportation than to access a county capital that's barely a 20 minute drive away from me.
@@GrafEisen1 I agree, Carroll County is politically upside down relative to the other counties around Baltimore and DC. I'm essentially saying at least the opportunity cost isn't that high for Carroll to block rapid transit. But you make a good point: they're blocking any form of transit. And that is scary and pathetic, a reflection of Baltimore's very segregated history. Not only in terms of here's where black people can live, but also here's where the local and state government will and won't invest money. It's getting better, but obviously it's going to take decades more for Baltimore to have relative parity. I guess we'll see which comes first, that or a bus route to Carroll County.
I’m pretty sure the bigger issue is the fact that the city government has suffered from corruption for years, not to mention the skyrocketing crime there.
I agree. Baltimores architecture is mind blowing beautiful but the attitude of some of the people and state administration seems stagnant. I liked Hogan but I think Gov Moore will progress the city towards a more positive future.
@@Steve-tj9on Hogan had my respect until he opposed helping Syrian refugees settle. I like Moore, but he’s not nearly radical enough for my taste. He’ll also be spending a lot of time cleaning up Hogan’s messes…
The funny thing is that it's actually Philly with (slightly) MORE money. Median household income in Baltimore City is $52k, compared to $49k in Philadelphia. And using the most disfavorable-to-my-argument definition of each metro area*, they're roughly equivalent on the metropolitan level, with the estimated** numbers coming out to $74k for Baltimore and $77k for Philly. I think people just give Baltimore a bad rap compared to other cities for what the numbers are, probably because of The Wire, and Philadelphia for some reason sort of reputationally skates by while being objectively a little worse in such regards than Baltimore (and Chicago too!!!). **(Respectively, Baltimore City and County plus just Carroll and Harford counties - not the wealthier, more DC-oriented Howard, Anne Arundel, or Frederick counties - and Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, and Delco in PA plus Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Salem counties in NJ) **(based on multiplying each county's population by its MHI, adding all figures up, and dividing by total population).
@@Theawsomepups3.0Nah breh Baltimore just bad crime, Philly has some crime but nothing on Baltimore's level. There's a reason housing is cheap there for how good the public transportation is and connected to other cities it is
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. You may have accidentally went to Trenton, but you turned it into a positive by managing to get on the Acela! That museum is so cool that they did that for all of you! And you know a place is legit when both the iconic Alan and Jeremy are there.
1) Baltimore is absolutely Philly's little sibling. Without a doubt! 2) I grew up in the DC area and moved to Baltimore 3 yrs ago. This has hands down been the best urban living experience of my adult life. Best quality of life I've ever had. Baltimore is perhaps one of the most underrated cities in the U.S. 3) Knowing the history of this city and how it became so neglected pisses me off. I've grown to love this city and so many people here would agree that there is so much untapped potential. We just need the investment. The locals need to be invested in.
How has your experience been in Baltimore vs. DC? As a DMV resident and fellow Marylander and urbanist, I've only been to Baltimore a handful of times (always state/work related and always downtown). Most of my friends find the city somewhat inaccessible and the blight a bit depressing. For most people here, Baltimore= National Harbor and that's it. Honestly, I'm much more familiar with NYC, Boston, Montreal and Chicago than my own neighboring city, which is embarrassing and unacceptable. How can we better connect the DC area and Baltimore, because they seem to be on completely different trajectories, yet would benefit considerably if they were more aligned, a la San Francisco- Oakland.
Baltimore has a lot of potential. I visited the place back in 2010 and a memory I have was we visited Fort McHenry on the way back to Jersey City from a boy scout jamboree in Virginia that year and when we made to Fort McHenry, it was right in time for a flag ceremony and I had the opportunity to hold the folded flag and walk to give it to a ranger. Doing that at the location where the national anthem honoring the flag was written...it was an experience. But something I've noticed while we were driving to Fort McHenry was many abandoned buildings and industrial zone, places that have seen better days and it shouldn't be that way considering its location (but Locust Point by Fort McHenry has since changed a lot based on Street View which is great to hear). I felt bad, and now that I’m into urbanism, I understand their situation. My parents are both from NJ cities that don't have the best reputation, Paterson and Newark. My dad was only with me for the first eight years of my childhood as he passed from leukemia, but while we lived in Westchester County at the time, he did several trips with me to Paterson to show me the places he grew up going to in the area when he was a child. It's something I'm glad he did because it made me appreciate Paterson and NJ in general. And I've been to Newark several times as well. My mom was impressed with how much her hometown of Newark has changed since the 1970s. With the Prudential Center (which moving the Devils from car-oriented Meadowlands was such a genius move), NJPAC, and new apartments popping up, Newark has taken advantage of its transit-oriented location, and shows that moving forward is very much possible. I believe that Baltimore can do the same if more people give it a chance!
having commuted to woodberry on the light rail for 2 years, I too always thought it felt like a very japanese-feeling place with all the trees and electric rail. Glad you enjoyed your trip, you picked a great weekend to visit
You can apply the same things about Baltimore to Camden, which is in my area. It has good public transit resources with buses, 3 PATCO stations, and the River Line light rail. But due to various issues, a city very much struggling. Although it has gotten better with a lot of redevelopment lately and crime going down due to their improved police force.
Baltimore & Philly are so tempting to me. I'm forced to live quite a way out in the suburbs of D.C., because we're totally priced out of the urban core, but the work is here. But my wife & I have talked about the possibility of making it work in Philly, and Baltimore is tempting. Like you say, they've got good bones.
Glad to see the museum on a channel i watch for once, im a volunteer for the BSM and i have been going since i was a baby. Glad you enjoyed your visit.
Wild idea, but what about some kind of transit/urbanism-related scavenger hunt? Thinking like points for getting different tickets from different transit systems, points for pictures at different landmarks. Maybe more of a long term idea
As one who grew up in Baltimore County pretty much right next to Owings Mills, your words for Baltimore ring so true. Thanks for seeing the beauty in Charm City.
Dear Alan, cool episode! Interesting how you narrated on the attention portion. Definitely have been there, sometimes still am. Same here, move the brunt of the work further and further towards the deadline. One thing I learned over the years; is to not divert into the obvious branch line of how things can be done better. In other words, the constant reinventing of the ‘process.’ And, by constantly reinventing, not getting to the actual chore or problem solving. Still, it’s all a process and most often good ideas flow in when the weight is on the pressure cooker. Got Baltimore’s Trolley Museum on my bucket list. Yep, Baltimore is indeed a beautiful city. Never really understood it’s demise. Especially when one considers it is so centrally located. Plus, those brownstones. Just plain awesome. Interesting idea on the planning gathering. Cheerio
It would be fantastic if people would build homes in places like Baltimore. There's so much vacant, abandoned land, and old houses that could be fixed up too. With housing prices as they are, a lot of them are extremely affordable. People moving in there would start counteracting the death spiral.
3:00 Glad you touched on this topic cause I definitely have it too. Like 100%. I’m just glad to see a successful content creator that actually puts out good and well researched videos. It gives me hope cause now I know I’m not alone 😅.
As long as an event isn't centered around drinking, I'm interested. I vote Chicago because so I can take the Texas Eagle, but an excuse to visit the east coast would be nice too Edit: womp womp I assumed the Illinois Railway Museum was in Chicago. Nonetheless it would still be easier to get to from Dallas 🙃
Big vote for the gala. I don't get enough chances to break out my tux. I'll also put up a vote for using one of the event spaces in Washington Union Station, especially if those grand renovation plans keep getting delayed.
Always nice to see your home city represented (and in Baltimore's case, in a positive light). Thank you. Public transit here is pretty pathetic, but I am hopeful. There are a lot of young and motivated people working for the MTA here. And it is getting better. Even since I moved here two years ago, more bus shelters have gone up, more bike routes and separated pedestrian crossings, and a massive hiring spree for bus operators. Is it good yet? No, but it's a start.
if you want a cool trolley museum I highly recommend seashore trolley museum up in Maine. crazy amounts of trolleys and interurbans etc. stubbled on it on a family vacation and it was worth the day.
Growing up in Baltimore county, thank you for bringing attention to how impoverished and neglected the city is. Often times people feel forgotten about and it holds a lot of progress, like transit and housing, back. But Baltimore has good bones, and its days arent numbered just yet
I who moved from South Jersey suburbia to Baltimore. I agree with your take on Baltimore. Sometimes it feels like the bus system in my home town is better then Baltimore's. It's definitely more consistent and predictable, but waaaaay less accessible. I do want Baltimore to have a glow up, but gentrification is a real concern of mine. I can already see it happening in the city and I can already see the negative effects. One way to make it possible for poor black people to keep up with rising housing costs is having better access to public transit and better walkability/bikability. Make it possible for people to get to/from work, the grocery store, doctor offices, etc without having a car. Make the city livable for those who actually live in it.
Oakland and Baltimore are very similar cities on opposite coasts. But Oakland has seen decent investment in local & regional transit, while Baltimore hasn't seen as much.
Holding the Gala at Cincinnati's Union Terminal would be such a grand space. One of THE last great train stations, easy connections to Amtrak, Highways, and plane, AND you get to ride the Cincinnati Streetcar. That would be so cool
Hey, I once thought the South Shore Line train was Metra Electric, an even dumber mistake since they have branding... thankfully got off before it left the station though.
Cool video! Love the PCC cars. I used to frequently ride them on the Newark (NJ) City Subway. Did I see one of the beloved gray NJT PCC cars in a cameo?
This was a nice video! I'm looking forward to your video on the Acela, and especially your video on nationalization! Seeing a trolley museum was fascinating! Also, the gala idea you have definitely sounds interesting, so I say definitely go ahead and plan something! That sounds FUN!
@@tredd4997 Sorry forgive me in 2015, you had the Freddy Gray incident. The result of which led to less of a police presence in lower income areas and an increase in crime activity in 2015. I remember as a kid going to the science center and on other school trips, but now the place has one of the highest murder per capita rates in the world(one death a day almost.) Since 2015 the population has declined 50,000 people meaning more people are dying or leaving than people being born or immigrating to the city. Also important in the train world for having the first common caring railway along with most of the track intact and used by that railway's successor.
Pittsburgh Transit, it's 👎 bad that it cares about money. Coraopolis and other towns need more than bus l. We need trains, or the T gets more places connected in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh has the baddest transportation in Pennsylvania.
A Gala/awards ceremony would be SUPER cringe.... No matter how much you dont want it to and try to avoid it, there's always an air of self-importance. Don't do it....
Heh, gluten-free food being better isn't a unique opinion when comparing pizza at a ZPIZZA to any mass-produced pizza delivered, those taste like hot soggy sponges.
Appreciate your comments on Baltimore. As someone from here, I hear all the time complaints about any proposed expansion of any kind of transit, from light rail to new bus lines or whatever. Lots of coded language used to hide racist intent behind blocking a lot of these projects that are very much needed.
I'd like to see Baltimore expand its transit in the WSW direction to Catonsville, Ellicott City, and Columbia. Of course, knowing full well it won't happen until after the Red Line is done, which even optimistically will itself take more than 5 years.
Seeing all this regional transit from the perspective of the Pacific Northwest just makes me jealous. Also makes it difficult to go to a lot of urban planning events 😓
@loganbrown8282 you and me both, buddy. At this point, I'm seriously considering making it my life's work to just buy a short line and build out passenger service myself.
Would love a festival or meetup in Baltimore. Other commenters have already brought up the momentum behind the redline, but there are a lot of dedicated transit/urban planning folks here that are very passionate about transforming the city
Ever thought of making a video about New Hope PA and its neighbor Lambertville NJ? The cores are extremely beautiful, walkable, and historic, with some train history, and D&R canals in both towns. New Hope, outside of the core, is a great example of car dependent sprawl as well.
It would be interesting to combine this with a history of the Bucks County streetcar networks. I know there was a streetcar from Trenton to Lambertville via Yardley & New Hope, with a spur from Yardley to Newtown, where it connected to some other Bucks County streetcar networks run by a separate company. There was originally not a River road from Lambertville to Trenton, so the trolleys went through PA. Both power house buildings for the Trenton to Lambertville / Trenton to Newtown lines still exist. 1 was turned into a CVS in Yardley, and the other in Upper Makefield was turned into a house
How to ADHD is an amazing channel if you wanted to explore ADHD more. Coincidence that you and CityNerd both making videos about various sections of ACELA (Ps, being Australian, my knowledge of this is very sketchy, so sorry about that)
I suggest Jersey City's Communipaw Terminal as a location for a potential meetup or festival, since many of us live around NYC! I lived a few years in Jersey City (now I'm on LI but considering moving back), and I feel its urbanism isn't talked about enough! Downtown JC transformed thanks to the HBLR, and Newport mall is thriving thanks to transit too (and of course, there's a Cheesecake Factory next to the HBLR Newport stop for CityNerd)! The park is gorgeous and Communipaw Terminal is not only one of two NJ waterfront rail terminals standing, but it played a role in helping immigrants find their new lives and build the country! You can take a ferry from the marina to Warren Street to catch the HBLR, or if you wanna hit up the science center, you can take the HBLR from Liberty State Park station too!
@@bellairefondren7389 Moynihan Train Hall is nice and all but I don't think they'd be happy if there was a festival there since it's not a museum. And there's really no places to sit in the main area unless you have an Amtrak ticket. And as I've said, Jersey City isn't really talked about when it comes to urbanism. PATH, NY Waterway, HBLR, NJT rail at Hoboken Terminal, NJT buses, there are different ways to get to JC.
@@AverytheCubanAmerican Oh I thought you said meetup or festival. In any case, I think Penn Station would make a good starting/end point for a Tristate area meetup given it does have more connections than Jersey City (like to Long Island for example). Group could take PATH and HBLR to Communipaw terminal.
@@frafraplanner9277 I admit I noticed it first over at the Battleship New Jersey channel; the main curator guy there has a much thicker accent and says "museum" (muzaam) a lot
@@alanthefisher Thanks for considering it! I'm excited about its prospects and development. More videos on Baltimore would always be appreciated. Much respect!
Luckily Maryland has a new administration that is actually friendly towards transit and the City so hopefully some easy things can be done soon like more MARC trains and extending service. I live on the upper end of the Penn Line (The line that uses the NEC) and is frustrating that we have the equipment that just isn't used. barely any service north of Baltimore and none beyond the first stop north on weekends. I would be down in the City every weekend if I could just catch the train there. Also I just love that MARC still has HHP-8s
honestly i dont mind long videos. and the downtown here in Richmond has been absolutely wrecked since the pandemic. so many beautiful brick buildings boarded up. i also second the need for the red line in baltimore!
Thanks for talking about Baltimore. I've seen so many videos complaining about it, but blaming all the wrong things (including being openly racist). Baltimore has it's issues (cops for one), but it has such a large potential! Also, as someone else mentioned, there are plans for the red line to return!
Watch out, the potential for it to turn out as bus rapid transit is pretty high. Wes Moore was ambiguous in his announcement of the Red Line, and the MTA loves cheaping out on its mass transit projects.
1:32 I began writing an essay to turn into a video about Portlands transit network, and I kept thinking of more and more things to talk about until I had almost seven topics in the same video. Scope creep is real
I'm a former Baltimorean who travels home frequently. Hopefully, the Metro Red Line Light Rail gets fully funded by the FTA and Maryland DOT. They should also extend the Metro Heavy Rail Line up to Morgan State U. and Northern Parkway.
We had no idea about the Trolley Museum. We've got a kid in college down in Baltimore. We'll have to check it out when the fall semester starts. (Also, I really want to grab lunch in Havre de Grace on the river or bay. It looks like there are some restaurants on the water down there.) Also, he rode the 15 trolley to The Prep (until they sidelined them for buses during the rebuild) so I suspect he's seen enough trolleys for a while. But nice to see some of those down there.
I am super excited about the nationalization video, I actually had written and presented a speech on nationalization for school (sadly I have no idea where that speech is now) but it was fun to make.
The Chicago museum of science and industry could be a cool place to do such a thing. Large model railroad layout within the train/transportation section of the museum. Accessible by buses and Metra Electric line.
I don't know if you know the history of the planing of what is now known at the Metro SubwayLink. The planed 71-mile Baltimore Region Rapid Transit System was begun before his tenure as Mayor of Baltimore. When he became Mayor and later Governor he had greater desire to build light rail instead of heavy rail rapid transit resulting in the full 71-mile rapid rail transit system not being fully built out. The north south subway line ended up being built as light rail. The decision making to build light instead of heavy rail rapid transit was entirely made at the state level. And this was back when the capitol funding split for rapid rail transit was a 60% federal 40% local.
The poor streetcar track is very representative of Baltimore: poorly maintained public property tagged by people who only detract from the longterm value. It's a close race between the graffiti artists and politicians as to which is worse.
I tried rerendering the video without one of the audio tracks after this was posted, but for some reason I just can't get the audio glitches at 6:49 and onward to go away. The video is haunted, beware! 👻👻👻
Spooky!
sp00py
What did you render this with?
its the ghosts of trolleys from the past who are out to scare all the people who support car centric infrastructure
@@sonicboy678from what I can tell, with a beatboxer
It depresses me how dysfunctional Baltimore transit is. In particular outside of the city service is abysmal; white Marylanders are terrified of ~the urban element~ riding public transportation into their functionally segregated suburbs. And it's not just a legacy problem (although the neutering of Baltimore's metro due in large part to racism is pretty infamous): nearby Carroll County had its council in 2016 outright ban any public transportation that'd connect it to other counties. In 2016, christ.
Well at least I get to look forward to the Red Line eventually....probably in the form of BRT :/
The funny thing is it's not just white Marylanders. Maryland is one of the most diverse states and places like Montgomery County (where I grew up) and PG have the wealthiest black population in the country. My parents are black immigrants, lived and worked in cities (NYC and Baltimore) and they're equally if not more afraid of cities than their white or Asian counterparts. In all the trendy areas of Baltimore, it tends to be white people moving back in.
The silver lining is Carroll County is relatively unpopulated and far away from Baltimore, making it less relevant for frequent transit service. It's ranked 9th of 24 in Maryland's populated counties, but it's the least populated of the counties around DC and Baltimore (except for Charles County, which is about to surpass it).
It's 15 miles (as the crow flies) from downtown Baltimore to Carroll County's southeast edge, let alone to where stations could realistically be at least 5 miles farther in. Carroll County's edge is about as far from downtown Baltimore as (going clockwise): Phoenix, Kingsville, Joppatowne, Severna Park, Millersville, Odenton, North Laurel, and western Columbia. That range I just described is likely the general limit of where Baltimore would realistically want to expand its local transit service to - the equivalent of its northernmost light rail station, Hunt Valley.
That said, Carroll County doesn't even have regional service, such as MARC. And there's no railways in Eldersburg, the closest Carroll County community to Baltimore.
@@DAK4Blizzard But part of why the official ban shocked me so much is how easy it'd be for them to avoid inter-county service through the standard excuses: it is in fact low population, low density, and there's relatively few people demanding service there.
But instead of using excuses to avoid the issue the county council made it 100% explicit that public transit would legally not be an option into the county. Maybe I'm just naive but that shook me to the bone. It feels like one of those crude, blunt attempts from the 70s to segregate, not something from our modern world. It feels especially blatant considering Carroll County is over 90% white.
I just want some terrible bus service from Reisterstown to Westminster :/ It's infinitely easier for me to visit my sister in Alexandria, VA via public transportation than to access a county capital that's barely a 20 minute drive away from me.
@@GrafEisen1 I agree, Carroll County is politically upside down relative to the other counties around Baltimore and DC. I'm essentially saying at least the opportunity cost isn't that high for Carroll to block rapid transit. But you make a good point: they're blocking any form of transit. And that is scary and pathetic, a reflection of Baltimore's very segregated history. Not only in terms of here's where black people can live, but also here's where the local and state government will and won't invest money. It's getting better, but obviously it's going to take decades more for Baltimore to have relative parity. I guess we'll see which comes first, that or a bus route to Carroll County.
I’m pretty sure the bigger issue is the fact that the city government has suffered from corruption for years, not to mention the skyrocketing crime there.
As someone who grew up in Maryland, I always thought Philly looked like Baltimore but with more money
I agree. Baltimores architecture is mind blowing beautiful but the attitude of some of the people and state administration seems stagnant. I liked Hogan but I think Gov Moore will progress the city towards a more positive future.
Nailed it.
@@Steve-tj9on Hogan had my respect until he opposed helping Syrian refugees settle. I like Moore, but he’s not nearly radical enough for my taste. He’ll also be spending a lot of time cleaning up Hogan’s messes…
The funny thing is that it's actually Philly with (slightly) MORE money.
Median household income in Baltimore City is $52k, compared to $49k in Philadelphia.
And using the most disfavorable-to-my-argument definition of each metro area*, they're roughly equivalent on the metropolitan level, with the estimated** numbers coming out to $74k for Baltimore and $77k for Philly.
I think people just give Baltimore a bad rap compared to other cities for what the numbers are, probably because of The Wire, and Philadelphia for some reason sort of reputationally skates by while being objectively a little worse in such regards than Baltimore (and Chicago too!!!).
**(Respectively, Baltimore City and County plus just Carroll and Harford counties - not the wealthier, more DC-oriented Howard, Anne Arundel, or Frederick counties - and Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, and Delco in PA plus Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Salem counties in NJ)
**(based on multiplying each county's population by its MHI, adding all figures up, and dividing by total population).
@@Theawsomepups3.0Nah breh Baltimore just bad crime, Philly has some crime but nothing on Baltimore's level. There's a reason housing is cheap there for how good the public transportation is and connected to other cities it is
Baltimore has so much potential, it's crazy.
You and CityNerd making Acela vids on the same day is this happiness?
As someone from Baltimore, glad to see u making this video
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. You may have accidentally went to Trenton, but you turned it into a positive by managing to get on the Acela! That museum is so cool that they did that for all of you! And you know a place is legit when both the iconic Alan and Jeremy are there.
1) Baltimore is absolutely Philly's little sibling. Without a doubt!
2) I grew up in the DC area and moved to Baltimore 3 yrs ago. This has hands down been the best urban living experience of my adult life. Best quality of life I've ever had. Baltimore is perhaps one of the most underrated cities in the U.S.
3) Knowing the history of this city and how it became so neglected pisses me off. I've grown to love this city and so many people here would agree that there is so much untapped potential. We just need the investment. The locals need to be invested in.
How has your experience been in Baltimore vs. DC? As a DMV resident and fellow Marylander and urbanist, I've only been to Baltimore a handful of times (always state/work related and always downtown). Most of my friends find the city somewhat inaccessible and the blight a bit depressing. For most people here, Baltimore= National Harbor and that's it. Honestly, I'm much more familiar with NYC, Boston, Montreal and Chicago than my own neighboring city, which is embarrassing and unacceptable. How can we better connect the DC area and Baltimore, because they seem to be on completely different trajectories, yet would benefit considerably if they were more aligned, a la San Francisco- Oakland.
The Baltimore trolley museum is great but I’m a big fan of the B&O museum. One of my all time favorite places in the city
Baltimore has a lot of potential. I visited the place back in 2010 and a memory I have was we visited Fort McHenry on the way back to Jersey City from a boy scout jamboree in Virginia that year and when we made to Fort McHenry, it was right in time for a flag ceremony and I had the opportunity to hold the folded flag and walk to give it to a ranger. Doing that at the location where the national anthem honoring the flag was written...it was an experience. But something I've noticed while we were driving to Fort McHenry was many abandoned buildings and industrial zone, places that have seen better days and it shouldn't be that way considering its location (but Locust Point by Fort McHenry has since changed a lot based on Street View which is great to hear). I felt bad, and now that I’m into urbanism, I understand their situation.
My parents are both from NJ cities that don't have the best reputation, Paterson and Newark. My dad was only with me for the first eight years of my childhood as he passed from leukemia, but while we lived in Westchester County at the time, he did several trips with me to Paterson to show me the places he grew up going to in the area when he was a child. It's something I'm glad he did because it made me appreciate Paterson and NJ in general. And I've been to Newark several times as well. My mom was impressed with how much her hometown of Newark has changed since the 1970s. With the Prudential Center (which moving the Devils from car-oriented Meadowlands was such a genius move), NJPAC, and new apartments popping up, Newark has taken advantage of its transit-oriented location, and shows that moving forward is very much possible. I believe that Baltimore can do the same if more people give it a chance!
having commuted to woodberry on the light rail for 2 years, I too always thought it felt like a very japanese-feeling place with all the trees and electric rail. Glad you enjoyed your trip, you picked a great weekend to visit
Would love to see your event in Baltimore as a DC area resident who spends a lot of time up there
0:12 that hideous new electronic departure board always makes me upset when I see it.
You can apply the same things about Baltimore to Camden, which is in my area. It has good public transit resources with buses, 3 PATCO stations, and the River Line light rail. But due to various issues, a city very much struggling. Although it has gotten better with a lot of redevelopment lately and crime going down due to their improved police force.
Baltimore & Philly are so tempting to me. I'm forced to live quite a way out in the suburbs of D.C., because we're totally priced out of the urban core, but the work is here. But my wife & I have talked about the possibility of making it work in Philly, and Baltimore is tempting. Like you say, they've got good bones.
Glad to see the museum on a channel i watch for once, im a volunteer for the BSM and i have been going since i was a baby. Glad you enjoyed your visit.
Wild idea, but what about some kind of transit/urbanism-related scavenger hunt? Thinking like points for getting different tickets from different transit systems, points for pictures at different landmarks. Maybe more of a long term idea
Jet Lag did a version of this by penalizing air travel when they did the northeast.
As one who grew up in Baltimore County pretty much right next to Owings Mills, your words for Baltimore ring so true. Thanks for seeing the beauty in Charm City.
New lines in Baltimore should be built to the same specs of the DC metro for reasons
What reasons?
Hell yeah to the transit gala, would cross the Atlantic for that
Dear Alan, cool episode! Interesting how you narrated on the attention portion. Definitely have been there, sometimes still am. Same here, move the brunt of the work further and further towards the deadline. One thing I learned over the years; is to not divert into the obvious branch line of how things can be done better. In other words, the constant reinventing of the ‘process.’ And, by constantly reinventing, not getting to the actual chore or problem solving. Still, it’s all a process and most often good ideas flow in when the weight is on the pressure cooker.
Got Baltimore’s Trolley Museum on my bucket list. Yep, Baltimore is indeed a beautiful city. Never really understood it’s demise. Especially when one considers it is so centrally located. Plus, those brownstones. Just plain awesome.
Interesting idea on the planning gathering. Cheerio
It would be fantastic if people would build homes in places like Baltimore. There's so much vacant, abandoned land, and old houses that could be fixed up too. With housing prices as they are, a lot of them are extremely affordable. People moving in there would start counteracting the death spiral.
That's pretty cool that you got to drive them.
3:00 Glad you touched on this topic cause I definitely have it too. Like 100%. I’m just glad to see a successful content creator that actually puts out good and well researched videos. It gives me hope cause now I know I’m not alone 😅.
Don't touch the spicy grids! Glad you got some controller time.
As long as an event isn't centered around drinking, I'm interested. I vote Chicago because so I can take the Texas Eagle, but an excuse to visit the east coast would be nice too
Edit: womp womp I assumed the Illinois Railway Museum was in Chicago. Nonetheless it would still be easier to get to from Dallas 🙃
Big vote for the gala. I don't get enough chances to break out my tux. I'll also put up a vote for using one of the event spaces in Washington Union Station, especially if those grand renovation plans keep getting delayed.
Could do a conference at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum: plenaries in the exhibit room, and classroom-sized breakouts aboard individual trolley cars.
Always nice to see your home city represented (and in Baltimore's case, in a positive light). Thank you. Public transit here is pretty pathetic, but I am hopeful. There are a lot of young and motivated people working for the MTA here. And it is getting better. Even since I moved here two years ago, more bus shelters have gone up, more bike routes and separated pedestrian crossings, and a massive hiring spree for bus operators. Is it good yet? No, but it's a start.
i am so excited for the nationalization video holy shit
As a baltimore Native, I hope to one day return and help it improve as a planner
if you want a cool trolley museum I highly recommend seashore trolley museum up in Maine. crazy amounts of trolleys and interurbans etc. stubbled on it on a family vacation and it was worth the day.
I love the trolley museum!
Growing up in Baltimore county, thank you for bringing attention to how impoverished and neglected the city is. Often times people feel forgotten about and it holds a lot of progress, like transit and housing, back. But Baltimore has good bones, and its days arent numbered just yet
Small world! Just went to the Trolley Museum in Baltimore a few weeks ago too
I who moved from South Jersey suburbia to Baltimore. I agree with your take on Baltimore. Sometimes it feels like the bus system in my home town is better then Baltimore's. It's definitely more consistent and predictable, but waaaaay less accessible.
I do want Baltimore to have a glow up, but gentrification is a real concern of mine. I can already see it happening in the city and I can already see the negative effects.
One way to make it possible for poor black people to keep up with rising housing costs is having better access to public transit and better walkability/bikability. Make it possible for people to get to/from work, the grocery store, doctor offices, etc without having a car. Make the city livable for those who actually live in it.
Oakland and Baltimore are very similar cities on opposite coasts. But Oakland has seen decent investment in local & regional transit, while Baltimore hasn't seen as much.
Holding the Gala at Cincinnati's Union Terminal would be such a grand space. One of THE last great train stations, easy connections to Amtrak, Highways, and plane, AND you get to ride the Cincinnati Streetcar. That would be so cool
Someone finally talks about how underinvested and a wreck Baltimore is. Great video!
Hey, I once thought the South Shore Line train was Metra Electric, an even dumber mistake since they have branding... thankfully got off before it left the station though.
As far as venues go. Union Station in DC is pretty neat event space. My company is also a preferred AV vendor.
Cool video! Love the PCC cars. I used to frequently ride them on the Newark (NJ) City Subway. Did I see one of the beloved gray NJT PCC cars in a cameo?
please cover the northeast maglev :D
That orange and blue #15 trolley in the thumbnail is from Philly!
This was a nice video! I'm looking forward to your video on the Acela, and especially your video on nationalization! Seeing a trolley museum was fascinating! Also, the gala idea you have definitely sounds interesting, so I say definitely go ahead and plan something! That sounds FUN!
Man I want a Esch-Cummins transportation act video so bad 😢
I would love to meet you! Im a Amtrak engineer and I am a advocate for passenger rail!
I would show up to a meetup for transit folks
I'd love an awards show, kind of a riff on the Oscar's or something
Are those broad gauge trolleys? There’s a nice trolley museum in Washington,Pa.
These underutilized cities, rust belt or otherwise, have vast untapped potential to help solve the housing crisis.
I would happily make my way to anywhere you have your event in. It would make for a good excuse to take a long distance train ride.
2:55 where is this located with the large river and double bridges? I dont recognize it but it looks really cool.
Instead of a gala how about "crashing"/attending a series of local government city-hall meetings and taking all their time to talk transit
I hear you. Detroit, just like Baltimore.
You want to see some transit, go to Los Angeles.
I have been renting in Baltimore for almost a year, what areas do you think are worth buying a house in ?
Even videos about the Acela get delayed...
I mean Baltimore's biggest problems has to be the crime, especially since what happened in 2012 the population decline has been staggering.
What happened in 2012?
@@tredd4997 Sorry forgive me in 2015, you had the Freddy Gray incident. The result of which led to less of a police presence in lower income areas and an increase in crime activity in 2015. I remember as a kid going to the science center and on other school trips, but now the place has one of the highest murder per capita rates in the world(one death a day almost.) Since 2015 the population has declined 50,000 people meaning more people are dying or leaving than people being born or immigrating to the city. Also important in the train world for having the first common caring railway along with most of the track intact and used by that railway's successor.
I fucking love Baltimore. Upgrade the BWI light rail PLEASE
Pittsburgh Transit, it's 👎 bad that it cares about money. Coraopolis and other towns need more than bus l. We need trains, or the T gets more places connected in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh has the baddest transportation in Pennsylvania.
Can you put your bits into RUclips Shorts?
That electronic sign is terrible
A Gala/awards ceremony would be SUPER cringe.... No matter how much you dont want it to and try to avoid it, there's always an air of self-importance. Don't do it....
🦀!!
Heh, gluten-free food being better isn't a unique opinion when comparing pizza at a ZPIZZA to any mass-produced pizza delivered, those taste like hot soggy sponges.
You do not need to keep saying F--.
Appreciate your comments on Baltimore. As someone from here, I hear all the time complaints about any proposed expansion of any kind of transit, from light rail to new bus lines or whatever. Lots of coded language used to hide racist intent behind blocking a lot of these projects that are very much needed.
I'd like to see Baltimore expand its transit in the WSW direction to Catonsville, Ellicott City, and Columbia. Of course, knowing full well it won't happen until after the Red Line is done, which even optimistically will itself take more than 5 years.
@@DAK4Blizzard Howard County for all their liberal politics is passionately NIMBY and will shoot down any kind of effective mass transit
Seeing all this regional transit from the perspective of the Pacific Northwest just makes me jealous. Also makes it difficult to go to a lot of urban planning events 😓
wish the amtrak lines would stop more than twice a day over here
@loganbrown8282 you and me both, buddy. At this point, I'm seriously considering making it my life's work to just buy a short line and build out passenger service myself.
My hometown of Chico really should have frequent trains to Sacramento at this point.
Same
Would love a festival or meetup in Baltimore. Other commenters have already brought up the momentum behind the redline, but there are a lot of dedicated transit/urban planning folks here that are very passionate about transforming the city
Stream of consciousness Alan fisher is the best Alan Fisher. A lot of long audio takes.
Weird video farts when it cuts between shots
About the ADHD, if you have it, I would presume that you also have comorbid ASD. Kinda picking up those vibes.
Ever thought of making a video about New Hope PA and its neighbor Lambertville NJ? The cores are extremely beautiful, walkable, and historic, with some train history, and D&R canals in both towns. New Hope, outside of the core, is a great example of car dependent sprawl as well.
It would be interesting to combine this with a history of the Bucks County streetcar networks. I know there was a streetcar from Trenton to Lambertville via Yardley & New Hope, with a spur from Yardley to Newtown, where it connected to some other Bucks County streetcar networks run by a separate company. There was originally not a River road from Lambertville to Trenton, so the trolleys went through PA. Both power house buildings for the Trenton to Lambertville / Trenton to Newtown lines still exist. 1 was turned into a CVS in Yardley, and the other in Upper Makefield was turned into a house
How to ADHD is an amazing channel if you wanted to explore ADHD more. Coincidence that you and CityNerd both making videos about various sections of ACELA (Ps, being Australian, my knowledge of this is very sketchy, so sorry about that)
I suggest Jersey City's Communipaw Terminal as a location for a potential meetup or festival, since many of us live around NYC! I lived a few years in Jersey City (now I'm on LI but considering moving back), and I feel its urbanism isn't talked about enough! Downtown JC transformed thanks to the HBLR, and Newport mall is thriving thanks to transit too (and of course, there's a Cheesecake Factory next to the HBLR Newport stop for CityNerd)! The park is gorgeous and Communipaw Terminal is not only one of two NJ waterfront rail terminals standing, but it played a role in helping immigrants find their new lives and build the country! You can take a ferry from the marina to Warren Street to catch the HBLR, or if you wanna hit up the science center, you can take the HBLR from Liberty State Park station too!
Wouldn't Penn Station make a touch more sense for NYC areas fans to meet up given its extensive commuter rail and subway connections?
@@bellairefondren7389 Moynihan Train Hall is nice and all but I don't think they'd be happy if there was a festival there since it's not a museum. And there's really no places to sit in the main area unless you have an Amtrak ticket. And as I've said, Jersey City isn't really talked about when it comes to urbanism. PATH, NY Waterway, HBLR, NJT rail at Hoboken Terminal, NJT buses, there are different ways to get to JC.
@@AverytheCubanAmerican Oh I thought you said meetup or festival. In any case, I think Penn Station would make a good starting/end point for a Tristate area meetup given it does have more connections than Jersey City (like to Long Island for example). Group could take PATH and HBLR to Communipaw terminal.
Totally random aside, but dang, the NE accent way of saying "museum" is odd.
Seems like a very cool museum!
I never even noticed that! He uses the Latin e sound instead of the English e.
@@frafraplanner9277 I admit I noticed it first over at the Battleship New Jersey channel; the main curator guy there has a much thicker accent and says "museum" (muzaam) a lot
If you talk about Baltimore, you need to mention the revival of the RED LINE project!! ❤🚊❤️
Im not surprised it wasn't mentioned, but it would've been a nice inclusion!
facts
maybe saving it for a future video
@@alanthefisher Thanks for considering it! I'm excited about its prospects and development. More videos on Baltimore would always be appreciated. Much respect!
I wish I had a place nearby which would let me drive Trains or Trams
Luckily Maryland has a new administration that is actually friendly towards transit and the City so hopefully some easy things can be done soon like more MARC trains and extending service.
I live on the upper end of the Penn Line (The line that uses the NEC) and is frustrating that we have the equipment that just isn't used. barely any service north of Baltimore and none beyond the first stop north on weekends. I would be down in the City every weekend if I could just catch the train there.
Also I just love that MARC still has HHP-8s
honestly i dont mind long videos. and the downtown here in Richmond has been absolutely wrecked since the pandemic. so many beautiful brick buildings boarded up. i also second the need for the red line in baltimore!
Hey! My attention-span is okay! I'm european!
Thanks for talking about Baltimore. I've seen so many videos complaining about it, but blaming all the wrong things (including being openly racist). Baltimore has it's issues (cops for one), but it has such a large potential!
Also, as someone else mentioned, there are plans for the red line to return!
I'm so excited about the red line!
Watch out, the potential for it to turn out as bus rapid transit is pretty high. Wes Moore was ambiguous in his announcement of the Red Line, and the MTA loves cheaping out on its mass transit projects.
@@GrafEisen1 unfortunately this is true. I want to keep hoping, but I won't deny that by any means
1:32 I began writing an essay to turn into a video about Portlands transit network, and I kept thinking of more and more things to talk about until I had almost seven topics in the same video. Scope creep is real
I'm a former Baltimorean who travels home frequently. Hopefully, the Metro Red Line Light Rail gets fully funded by the FTA and Maryland DOT. They should also extend the Metro Heavy Rail Line up to Morgan State U. and Northern Parkway.
We had no idea about the Trolley Museum. We've got a kid in college down in Baltimore. We'll have to check it out when the fall semester starts. (Also, I really want to grab lunch in Havre de Grace on the river or bay. It looks like there are some restaurants on the water down there.)
Also, he rode the 15 trolley to The Prep (until they sidelined them for buses during the rebuild) so I suspect he's seen enough trolleys for a while. But nice to see some of those down there.
Before I start watching this video I'll sum up Baltimore's (more recent) transportation problems with two names: Bob Ehrlich and Larry Hogan.
I don't care how many people harp on Baltimore, I love the city. It has a such an historic 19th century feel.
I am super excited about the nationalization video, I actually had written and presented a speech on nationalization for school (sadly I have no idea where that speech is now) but it was fun to make.
The Chicago museum of science and industry could be a cool place to do such a thing. Large model railroad layout within the train/transportation section of the museum. Accessible by buses and Metra Electric line.
Or you can take the Metra MD-W to Elgin and come out to the Fox River Trolley Museum! Not a lot of people know about us!
Seashore trolley museum in Maine is a great museum as well. Unfortunately inaccessible by public transit, but a great museum regardless
I don't know if you know the history of the planing of what is now known at the Metro SubwayLink. The planed 71-mile Baltimore Region Rapid Transit System was begun before his tenure as Mayor of Baltimore. When he became Mayor and later Governor he had greater desire to build light rail instead of heavy rail rapid transit resulting in the full 71-mile rapid rail transit system not being fully built out. The north south subway line ended up being built as light rail. The decision making to build light instead of heavy rail rapid transit was entirely made at the state level. And this was back when the capitol funding split for rapid rail transit was a 60% federal 40% local.
Every RUclipsr I watch seems to have ADHD. Neurotypical people are kind of lazy about their opinions and don't have the drive to proselytize as much.
The poor streetcar track is very representative of Baltimore: poorly maintained public property tagged by people who only detract from the longterm value. It's a close race between the graffiti artists and politicians as to which is worse.
So glad you’re talking about baltimore
Also b&o museum would be an awesome place
hey there's me!
hi audrey
5:25 Jeremy sighting!
The gala or museum visit idea sounds fun. Great vid as always!
This is a good video. I was there in Baltimore and attended BSM that weekend as well.
9:43 Scared the crap out of me