Baltimore station

[northnorthwest]

We are relocating to Baltimore this summer. I asked a question about Baltimore earlier, but I'm wondering for those familiar with the area are there places to live either within walking distance of the station (20 min walk max) or places to live in other districts with other very quick public transit access to the station? Basically where can one live if you want to have relatively easy access to the station if commutes to other cities become necessary? And what is the general area around the station like?

Thanks.

 

[oregon pioneer]

I was in Baltimore in Dec 2013. We stayed in a brownstone B&B just a couple blocks southeast of the station, an easy walk. The neighborhood is called "Mt Vernon" and seems quite nice (good restaurants, a mix of housing types). Walking north of the station, we rapidly decided that we did not want to go very far in that direction.

Baltimore has a free bus, called the Charm City Circulator. The Purple Route goes right by Penn Station. Download the "all routes" pdf map to see the Mt. Vernon neighborhood.

 

[chakk]

Baltimore has a light rail system running north-south that serves the Amtrak station. You could live as far north of town as swanky Hunt Valley and still have reliable public transit to Penn Station.

 

[afigg]

Baltimore has a light rail system running north-south that serves the Amtrak station. You could live as far north of town as swanky Hunt Valley and still have reliable public transit to Penn Station.

Baltimore Penn Station is on a stub off of the light rail line. You can't get there directly from the north, but would have to connect at one of the stations south of Penn Station and then take a different light rail train to Penn Station. The service frequencies on the light rail line are not great outside of the peak rush hours.

Baltimore has a limited rail transit system which consists of 2 lines; the heavy rail subway line that runs from Owings Mills to John Hopkins Hospital and the North-South light rail line that runs from Hunt Valley to BWI Airport and Glen Burnie. MARC, the commuter train service, runs trains on the Penn Line (NEC) and, weekdays only, on the Camden line between DC and Camden Yards. Rather than dive into all this, see the MTA website info page. The Baltimore transit system is nowhere near as good as DC.

As mentioned above, the Charm City Circulator is a free bus system that runs buses at frequent intervals over 5 loop routes. The Purple Route runs N-S from Penn Station to Federal Hill and is a good way to get to the Inner Harbor from the station for visitors.

As for the neighborhoods in Baltimore, that is a complicated question beyond the scope of this forum. Baltimore has some nice neighborhoods and some parts of town that are pretty rough. One place to start might be the Baltimore and regional forums in the Maryland section at city-data.com.

 

[Ryan]

The stub line is near worthless if you're able to walk a few blocks. You can just get off at the Mt Royal station and walk over.