Bounce about B'more in public transportation - Your Travel

Go to any Baltimore neighborhood association or community development meeting, and you can count on public transportation (or the lack thereof) being near the top of the agenda. Mobtown is a remarkably poor city, and the best way to solve a poverty problem is to get jobs for everyone.

But this is not the same Baltimore of the WWII era -- there are no jobs in the city anymore, and one of the city's main problems is that there are very few options for people to get to their jobs if they are not in their residential neighborhood.

The transit shortage has been both a blessing and a curse, because it has forced the city and the people in it to adapt -- hacks, or the unlicensed jitneys that roam Baltimore streets, are a perfect example of this resilience.

But let's be honest: These sorts of issues are only really important to working people -- people who have to travel, say, from Dundalk to the Social Security Administration every day. For threadbare college students like the ones at Homewood, there are plenty of ways to get to where we want and need to go on the cheap.

Buses

MTA buses, contrary to popular belief, are not places where you have to worry about getting mugged. You won't get syphillis from the upholstery. And what's more, they go just about anywhere you could hope to go.

The 3 line goes straight down St. Paul to the Inner Harbor and back up Charles to campus, for $1.60 one way, $3.50 for a day pass. The 98, the Hampden shuttle bug, picks up at the Rotunda and at 28th and Remington for only $1, and it takes you wherever you want to go on the Avenue.

Taxis

Despite the fact that they have all sorts of local laws that tack on fees to your cab fare when it's nighttime, when you have extra bags, and when your name starts with the letter "L" and you were born in February, cab fares in Baltimore are relatively cheap.

The base rate for a cab fare is usually $1.25 or $1.50, compared to at least $2 in your average New York checker cab. Plus the tickers run slow around here, or at least much slower than in most big cities, and unlike Washington, D.C., we don't have to learn any stupid "zones" in order to know how much our ride will cost. Sure, it's a shame that we have to use cabs so much, but in a way, we are lucky.

Light Rail

Baltimore's best-kept transit secret is the light rail, which is cheap, but not quite as useful for the Hopkins student. There are two light rail lines, both of which run north-south through the center of the city. The Blue line runs north from BWI to the suburbs and Hunt Valley. The yellow line goes from Glen Burnie to Penn Station.

It's a real shame that the city has not put as much money into the light rail as it has into bus transportation. Anyone who has driven to 95 South from campus has seen the light rail cars as they cross Howard Street near MLK Jr.Blvd. They are large, lithe, and futuristic-looking, and it would be totally sweet if we could actually use them, but alas they do not come up to Hopkins. If you are ever in need however, of a ride from MICA to Lexington Market, hop on for $1.60 and see what the ride is all about.

Hacks

Okay, so if you are truly worried about getting syphillis from car upholstery, don't ever flag down a hack, one of the many illegal, unlicensed cabs operated by small-time Baltimore transportation entrepreneurs. "Hacks," which go by other names in other cities ("jitneys," "gypsy cabs") are thought of as a truly Baltimorean amenity.

They are used and operated primarily by members of the Black community, but they provide an essential service to workers who cannot afford cars. Some hacks even have regular customers who they pick up for work every day, so that the hack system becomes a lot like a car pool shuttle service.

To flag a hack, go somewhere like Greenmount Avenue or the west end of 25th Street, extend your arm out over the road, and tap your finger downward in the air, like you are in the club and you're trying to tell your friend, "Yo, this song is the bomb!", but you want to tell him in time with the beat of the kick drum.

When you get in the hack, the first thing you do is tell the driver where you want to go, then immediately negotiate a price. It will be cheaper than a cab ride, but remember, these drivers aren't necessarily insured, and once you are in a hack, you are on your own. It's not recommended for girls to travel in hacks alone -- likewise, narcoleptics, clean-freaks, and people who forget their wallets a lot are also discouraged.

Water Taxis

And last but not least -- in fact, last and most awesome -- are the water taxis. The Baltimore Water Taxi Co. transports more that 400,000 people each year across the Harbor. Most of them are tourists, but some people actually ride the water taxi from home to work each morning and back again at night. For these people, there is a "Frequent Floater Pass," which gets you a ride on any water taxi for just $3 (they are normally $5).

The taxis have landings at dozens of stops, including the Rusty Scupper, Fells Point dock, Canton, Tide Point, the Aquarium, and Harborplace. They are the perfect transportation for the downtown explorer, and the taxis are a great piece of Baltimore flavor, just like the swan paddle boats in Boston.

There has been one recent water taxi accident, in which one of the vessels capsized and several people were killed, but it is widely regarded as a freak mishap. It was the first fatal accident at the Baltimore Water Taxi Co. since they started running their service in 1978.