Owen Kelley

Ridership Revisited Owen Kelley

Controversy persists over how many people would ride the "maglev." This magnetic-levitation rail line has been proposed to connect Baltimore and Washington. If the maglev ran mostly empty, then it would not be worth constructing. To evaluate the maglev's ridership potential, the present document contains a wealth of information for concerned citizens, elected officials, and transportation planners. This information goes far beyond the six-page discussion of maglev ridership in the DEIS, the project's draft environmental impact statement. For unknown reasons, the DEIS uncritically copies its ridership information from a contractor's report that the public is not allowed to read. In contrast, both facts and controversy are laid bare in the document that you are now holding.