History of Metro Subway   

Although Metro Subway began operation on November 21, 1983, the actual conception of Metro began twenty years earlier, in 1963. On June 1 of that year, the state's General Assembly created the Metropolitan Transit Authority to oversee public transit operations within the Baltimore metropolitan area. Initially, the "new" MTA only had authority to regulate and coordinate the routes, rates, and services of the region's private transit companies.

Anticipating the inevitable, however, the state later gave it the power to purchase and actually operate the bus companies whenever necessary. But the new MTA had no jurisdiction over what remained of rail commuter service, which was considered a separate world. In all, it was a limited start, but the creation of a region-wide transit authority marked the beginning of a substantive drive to revive mass transit.

The real dawn came in 1964 when Congress passed the Urban Mass Transportation Act, which for the first time committed the federal government to aid in building new transit facilities and rehabilitating old ones. Federal funding was modest at first, but under the newly established Urban Mass Transit Administration it quickly grew to form the foundation for reviving, rebuilding, and expanding city transit systems.

Even before the passage of the act, the MTA commissioned a comprehensive transit study for the Baltimore metropolitan area. In September 1963 it hired the engineering consulting firm of Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade & Douglas. After two years of work, Parsons Brinckerhoff produced its plan in October 1965. The consultants recommended sweeping changes in the bus system (still BTC plus various suburban companies) to utilize the present and planned expressways, plus an elaborate new rail rapid transit system.

The rapid transit portion of the plan consisted of a subway loop circling Baltimore's business district, with six radial loops extending outward from the city center roughly following the city's traditional heavy transit corridors. The proposed system was usually called a "subway" although much of its mileage was to be above ground. It was to use traditional "heavy" rapid transit construction techniques and equipment, including complete separation from streets, limited-access stations with high platforms, and high-capacity subway-type cars.

The consultants recommended building in stages, beginning with the northwest line to Pikesville/Randallstown. The full system was to be completed in 20 years, by 1985. In 1970 the Metropolitan Transit Authority finally took over the BTC, putting all local city buses under state operation. Less than a year later, the new MTA took another look at the 1965 rapid transit plan that had endured six years of analysis and proposals.

In January of 1971, the MTA board approved building the first section of a new subway system that would cover two of the six spokes originally proposed. From Charles Center in Downtown Baltimore, it would run through northwest Baltimore and Pikesville to Owings Mills, in part following the mainline of the Western Maryland Railway. Owings Mills had been substituted for Randallstown as the northwestern terminal.

The second spoke was to extend southeast to Glen Burnie, Harundale and Marley in Anne Arundel County, with a branch to BWI Airport. Much of this southeastern leg would follow the route of the Baltimore & Annapolis Railroad. The inner-city subway loop that the consultants considered so important in 1965 was dropped, eliminating a very large cost component, and backed by federal funding, formal design work began in 1973.

The MTA continued to consolidate area transit operations, and by 1973 it had taken over most of the independent suburban bus operations. Following that, the state also took over the region's rail commuter services, although initially these were administered separately. Finally an expanded MTA was given jurisdiction over the commuter operations, which were given the marketing acronym of MARC - for Maryland Rail Commuter.

Work on the subway continued onward after the first formal groundbreaking in October 1974 at Bolton Hill Station, which was later to be renamed State Center. A year later Anne Arundel County backed out of the project and the southeast leg to Glen Burnie and the airport was also dropped, leaving only the single spoke through northwest Baltimore.

The original cost estimates were buried by the double-digit inflation in 1976, but thanks to the pushing of then-governor Marvin Mandel the project survived. Five years after the 1978 groundbreaking at Charles Center and numerous delays, service finally opened between downtown and Reisterstown Plaza on November 21, 1983 - over twenty years after the original concept was first drawn up. During its first four weeks of operation, Metro Subway carried 390,000 passengers, with ridership averaging 21,000 per day. The vital statistics, at that time, were:

• Length: 8 miles (4.5 in subway, 2.5 aerial, 1.0 at grade).
• Cost: $797 million (80% federal funds; 20% state funds).
• Stations: Charles Center, Lexington Market, State Center, Upton, Penn-North, Mondawmin, West Cold Spring, Rogers Avenue, and Reisterstown Plaza. Penn-North is 110 feet underground, with Mondawmin the second deepest at about 90 feet.
• Cars on Line: 58 at system’s opening with 14 more due in 1984.
• Price of cars: $800,000 each.
• Top speed: 70 mph.
• Average operating speed: 30 mph.
• Car capacity: 76 seated passengers with 90 standees.

On March 26, 1984 the “new” 10-Trip Metro Pass was introduced for use on the subway only. It could not be used on the Local Buses and included no transfer privileges. On June 18 of that same year, the Metro-connection “Feeder Bus” system (now knows as the “M” buses) went into operation, changing many of the MTA bus routes in Northwest Baltimore.

On June 22, 1985 Metro Subway added Saturday service, and on July 20, 1987 “Section B” opened with service to Milford Mill and Owings Mills. On February 1, 1988 Metro hours were extended to midnight instead of 8 p.m. Sunday service was actually first introduced on July 12, 1992, and special Sunday Metro coupons were issued, good each Sunday until August 26. It wasn’t until ten years later however, on September 1, 2002, that Sunday Metro service finally became a regular option for customers.

On June 1, 1995, the last leg of the Metro system, Section C, was opened and included Shot Tower and Johns Hopkins Hospital stations.

All 100 Metro Subway cars started a “Mid-life” overhaul program in 1999 that was completed on March 16, 2006. Many motor and electrical components were upgraded to improve reliability and new systems were added, such as state-of-the-art security cameras, automatic voice annunciators, interior destination signs, and improved seating and flooring.

A station rehabilitation program was started in 2006, starting with Upton Station, which received upgraded interior lighting, landscaping and new pavers outside the station. Upton houses Romare Bearden’s famous mosaic “Baltimore Uproar” which features a jazz group composed of Baltimore native Billie Holiday and six instrumentalists. The 14’ x 46’ Venetian glass mosaic, unveiled on December 15, 1982, cost $115,000 and is now valued at over $1 million.

In August 2006 all of Metro Subway’s 81 escalators and 33 elevators were completely overhauled with upgrades to improve appearance, safety and reliability. Installation of new faregates and ticket vending machines that one day will be capable of accepting “smart” cards was also completed in 2006.