It's not so much that Baltimore has such a large percentage of public employees, but rather that so much of our subway's pre-pandemic usage was specifically about commuting, whether to Hopkins or Charles Center or State Center or Owings Mills.

The thing about DC or Chicago or NYC is that the subway's something you take to get around the city that also takes you to work. Ours was only ever really built for the second part, and without that you're basically left with a train that connects Lexington Market to parts of East and NW Baltimore.