A 1999 study by the Citizens Planning and Housing Association, a Baltimore nonprofit group, found that 35 percent of the entry-level jobs in the Baltimore region could not be accessed by public transportation. Imagine if one-third of the highway infrastructure weren't there. Eliminate I-270, for example. Imagine that's gone. They can't do it.
Desperation has wrought invention.
And Baltimore has a lot of people who need jobs, so it's a perfect match. There are similar programs around the region. A van service brings workers to Arundel Mills Mall, and another connects East Baltimore workers to jobs in Harford County. In Virginia, shuttles ferry workers to jobs along the Dulles corridor. And a van service runs from the Franconia-Springfield stop at the end of Metro's Blue Line to the business parks it doesn't quite reach.