Public transit grows popular

Unfortunately, there are those of us Marylanders with work hours that don't give us a choice but to spend $350-$400 or more monthly driving into DC or VA. It's getting out of hand. I used to take public transit (Metro) from Greenbelt every morning and pay $200 or less to get to work. Now I pay double the amount, and the prices, it seems so far, are only going to get more unbearable. It's getting so that I have to cut other things out of my life just to occupy at seat at 5 a.m. All of this outstanding technology that allows us to connect from home, and, just as efficiently, telecommute, but many companies would rather has us burn gas, clog the roads and pollute the environment. It just doesn't make sense, esp. w/these gas hikes.

// Eastern Shore resident Lori Hinton says she would love to ride transit, but the commuter bus she could catch on Kent Island would drop her too far from her workplace in Capitol Heights outside Washington.

She is desperately looking for an alternative to driving her H3 Hummer every day, which she said uses $600 a month in fuel. "Driving a Hummer, it takes about $78 to fill up one time," she said. "And I fill up 2 1/2 times a week." //

Dear Lori,

Some suggestions:

1) If you work in DC, don't live on Kent Island;
2) If you must commute to DC from KI, don't drive a Hummer.

Love,

Common Sense

A lot of people are going to be ruined by high gas prices because they won't have access to any alternative to driving everywhere. That's because most people both live and work outside cities. It's true in the Baltimore area...while the lucky few who live and work in the city and can easily ride transit, walk, or ride their bikes will get off pretty easy, and a select group of suburbanites who commute downtown can ride MARC or an MTA commuter bus, light rail, or Metro, what about the more common suburb-to-suburb commute? I'm not too worried about people who live in Bel Air and commute downtown - they can catch a bus in a pinch. What about those who live in Bel Air or Eldersburg and must drive to Columbia, Hunt Valley, or BWI for work? How were they supposed to know 10 years ago when they started these arrangements that they'd made an economically foolish decision?