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The Travelin’ Grampa Touring the U.S.A. without an automobile Focus on fast, safe, convenient, comfortable, cheap travel, via public transit. Vol. 2, No. 1, January 2009 Photo credits: SEPTA; TheCustomOfLife, Wikipedia; David T. Smith, SFPhototour.com Snowy freezy Philly. Sunny Tampa streetcar. San Francisco BART train. Grampa’s off to sunny California and Florida This issue of Travelin’ Grampa is “going to bed” a bit early, as Grampa soon is heading to the sunny climes of California and Florida. He’s booked on US Airways from Philly to Florida in mid-December. After visiting relatives and a horse there, he’ll fly United Air Lines in January to San Francisco, returning later to Tampa for more sunny enjoyment, before flying back to currently snowy freezy Philly. During this getaway, he plans to ride regional and local trains, buses and trolleys in St. Pete, Clearwater, San Jose, Los Gatos, Berkeley, Santa Cruz, Sacramento, and who knows where else. The Tampa round-trip was an especially good bargain. US Airways briefly awarded flights for cashing-in half the usual number of miles. As both flights were non-stop, the security fees were negligible. Total for fees and taxes: $5. Each time you change planes, you pay another security fee. Baltimore is wonderful place to visit, without a car Among least appreciated wonderful places to tour is the Baltimore area. Easy to get to without driving a car, it’s even easier to get around in without one. On following pages are some of Grampa’s experiences there. He often visits en route to Washington DC, partly because he lodges free at his daughter’s home in Elkridge. Photo credit: Old ManGnar, wikipedia Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and skyline at nighttime. 1 Car not necessary to see the sights in/around Baltimore It’s a major metropolis. It’s got what you’d expect: a first-class airport, with its own Amtrak and commuter railroad depot, plus a downtown station where Amtrak’s high speed Acela trains stop, a Greyhound Bus Terminal (actually two, the “downtown” one being not quite downtown), a subway, light rail lines, a major bus system, fleets of taxicabs, paratransit vans for the disabled, etc. Several smaller suburban bus lines, such as Howard County Transit, drop off and pick up passengers at BWI Airport terminals. Commuter motor coach lines do so within downtown Baltimore. BWI is the region’s main airport Three major airports are convenient to the city: Baltimore-Washington International (BWI), Washington National Airport (DCA), and Dulles International Airport (IAD). Quickly, easily reached by light rail line, BWI is 10 miles south of the city, and served by several bus lines from nearby Maryland communities, including Annapolis, Columbia and Silver Spring, the latter having a Washington DC MetroRail station. There are at BWI about 700 commercial airline flights in and out daily. at BWI. Both MTA Light Rail and buses and DC’s Metrobus stop there, as do Howard Transit and other suburban bus systems. Amtrak has a BWI Airport station. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (that’s it’s full official name), or DCA, is located just outside Washington DC, and is reachable from BWI via DC’s MetroBus #30 and the Greenbelt MetroRail station. Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) is in northern Virginia, and reachable from BWI via private shuttle bus and limos. Amtrak stops at two Baltimore stations Amtrak and MARC commuter railroad trains stop at a big downtown depot called Penn Station. It once was owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad, one of the nation’s most wealthy and powerful corporations which went out of business after it merged with the equally wealthy and powerful New Your Central Railroad system. (Merged giants often turn out to be flops, for some reason.) Penn Station also is a station of the Baltimore Light Rail line which, as mentioned above, goes to BWI Airport. (Baltimore’s subway doesn’t go to either.) Senior rides subway, light rail, bus all day for $1.20 Both subway and light rail in Baltimore and its suburbs run 7 days a week from early morning until around midnight. The subway runs from Owings Mills in the northwest suburbs near Carroll County to Johns Hopkins Hospital in eastern Baltimore. The light rail system runs from Hunt Valley Towne Centre, a far north suburb, to Cromwell in Anne Arundel County, which is south of BWI airport. Regular one-way adult fare on Light Rail is $1.60. A $3.50 one-day pass entitles rider to unlimited rides on MTA local buses, Light Rail, or/and Metro subway. You can buy a one-day pass from the bus driver or at a subway/light rail station vending machine. Weekly pass $16.50. Monthly $64. Senior/disability (with proper photo ID) 55¢. Senior/disability one-day pass $1.20. Paratransit ticket book of 20 Tickets $37. Paratransit ticket books can be purchased the Lobby Transit Store, 6 St. Paul street. Paratransit full Fare $1.85. For more: www.mtamaryland.com 2 Photo credits: Hillrhpc, wikipedia; Robert McConnell, The Bergen Network; Steelplug, wikipedia Baltimore Light Rail train. MTA Route 11 Gable Ave. bus. Baltimore Metro subway train. Walking, riding bus often essential when touring Baltimore Unlike New York City or London, England, the Baltimore Metro subway and light rail systems do not go close to most places tourists want to go, notably the city’s famous Inner Harbor. To get there you often need to transfer to a bus, walk a long distance, or hail a taxicab. Don’t travel public transit during school let-out hours Warning: In and around Baltimore, during school hours, most public transit has plenty of available seating. When area schools let out, however, buses, light rail and subway suddenly become packed. It too crowded, a bus driver will simply not stop to pick up additional passengers. You could find yourself standing in the cold, wind and snow a half hour or more. And when you do board, many youngsters seem reluctant to offer a senior a seat, though front seats supposedly are senior/disabled priority. Maryland, seniors ride at 1/3rd usual adult fare In Baltimore and other places in Maryland, MTA bus, subway and light rail lines charge senior citizens, age 65 years and older, approx. one-third the regular fare. MARC commuter trains cost approx. one-half the regular adult fare. Many bus drivers insist that to get the reduced fare the senior show an MTA-issued photo ID card. Also, Maryland residents have told Grampa this card is available only to Maryland residents. Both of these are misconceptions. The MTA’s official policy is that the senior show… “…a valid MTA Senior/Disability photo ID card, or any valid government issued photo ID with proof of age, or a valid disability ID from another transit agency and any valid government issued photo ID, or a Medicare card and any valid government issued photo ID.” Get your very own MTA photo ID card, like Grampa’s However, if you are like Grampa and like to flash your official MTA-issued ID with your very own portrait on it, you can do what he did. Go to the MTA Reduced Fare Certification Office in the lobby of 6 St. Paul street and have your picture taken and a card issued within five or ten minutes. It’s open 8:30 am. to 4:30 p.m. Monday thru Thursday. Regular fare for local bus, light rail, and Metro subway. $1.60 one-way, $3.20 round trip, $3.50 one-day Pass, $16.50 weekly pass, and $64.00 monthly pass. Senior/disability fares: $.55 one-way, $1.20 one-day Pass, $16.50 monthly pass. 3 Baltimore celebrates author Poe’s 200th birthday Edgar Allan Poe’s 200th Birthday is celebrated big-time this month in Baltimore. Though Philadelphia and New York City also lay claim to this famous 19th century writer who invented the mystery novel, Baltimore gets more passionate about him. All three cities have a Poe House museum, but only one annually pulls out all the stops. It does so doubly for two weekends this year. At Westminster Hall, Poe’s burial place on West Fayette Street actors will perform Poe’s comedy, Some Words With a Mummy, the world’s first mummy-come-alive story and precursor of many goofy horror movies ever since. It’s about an Egyptian mummy brought back to life by scientists using electricity (a-la Frankenstein). Poe wrote it in or about 1844. While famous for mystery and horror tales, Poe's writing was almost on-third comedy, although most of it seemed to have a tragic flavor. Also to be is a play based on Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart. Westminster Hall is a short walk from the Lexington Market stations of both the subway and light rail. Many MTA bus lines stop nearby. Saturday the 17th, Mark Redfield, producer of the film The Death of Poe, will present Poe’s Hop Frog with live costumed actors and life size puppets. It’s a horrifying tale of revenge upon a cruel king and his ministers. For more: www.poebicentennial.com Photo credits: WallyG, Flickr; Diane F. Evartt, Md. Dept. of Veterans Affairs; Baltimore War Memorial. Baltimore City Hall. Afro American Museum. Poe House. Famous Poe House tour can be guided or self-guided In a famous 2 ½ story 5-room row home, Poe House (and museum), on West Amity street, tours will be conducted as usual. Inside are the actual living quarters -- and his writing table -- of Poe, his wife Virginia, grandmother, aunt and her children.