The problem: An Ednor Gardens bus stop lacked a sign.

The back story: Ralph Williams rides the No. 3 bus often to his Northeast Baltimore home, and he sometimes disembarks a few stops early to visit friends who live off Loch Raven Boulevard near The Alameda.

That trip has gotten a little more complicated in the past month, however, because signs marking northbound stops on the east side of Loch Raven Boulevard at Greendale Road have gone missing.

One might have been removed after a collision in that area, Williams said, because there was a cone where the pole with the sign on it used to stand.

"If you get an inexperienced bus driver who's new to the route, they may bypass it even when they ring the bell," he said. "It happened to me twice while it was down."

Williams didn't know whether anyone in the neighborhood had notified the Maryland Transit Administration about the problem, but it persisted. "If I saw it, somebody should have realized it after 30 days," he said.

"Some of the bus drivers didn't seem to realize the stop is down," he said. "They haven't seemed to report it to the proper people either."

So he called Watchdog, who noted there still was an active bus stop on the southbound side of Loch Raven, near a Veterans Administration clinic off Loch Raven Boulevard.

Watchdog contacted the Maryland Transit Administration. Spokesman David Clark said that, upon investigation, MTA officials confirmed that a sign was needed.

A sign has gone up "at the intersection of Loch Raven and Greendale [Road] on a light pole," Clark said. The MTA will put up a permanent replacement at that location once it receives clearance to dig in the area.

There had been no reports that the bus stop sign was missing, Clark said. Passengers may call Transit Information at 410-539-5000 or 1-866-RIDE-MTA from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m. weekdays to give them a heads up, or submit a comment online by clicking "contact us" at http://mta.maryland.gov/

Who can fix this: Eddy Okoro, superintendent of operations planning, service development, Maryland Transit Administration, 410-454-7113.

— Liz F. Kay

Need help?

Is there something in your neighborhood that's not getting fixed? Tell us where the problem is and how long it's been there by e-mailing watchdog@baltsun.com or calling 410-332-6735.