Tell Maryland MTA you support the light rail Purple Line

Transit

Tell Maryland MTA you support the light rail Purple Line

by David Alpert • December 12, 2008 9:27 am

The Gazette has endorsed the light rail option for the Purple Line. But opponents of light rail have been making a big push to derail the rail option.

On Monday, WTOP reported that even some Montgomery County transportation officials were ready to fold:

"In some areas, [bus and light rail] are somewhat similar in nature, and then there is the issue of the cost of the facilities," [County Transportation Department Deputy Director Edgar] Gonzalez said. "How much of that money will have to be repaid by taxpayers of Montgomery County?" If somebody else is paying, given the difference between a VW and a Lamborghini, I mean, hey, I know what I favor," Gonzalez said, "but if I'm paying for it, other things are considered."

It's too bad Gonzalez is thinking about the project using this analogy. A Lamborghini and a VW both get you from point A to point B, and except in a drag race, in pretty much the same amount of time. Not so with the bus versus light rail option. The light rail is faster, carries more people, and would use its own right of way for big chunks of the route, avoiding a lot of traffic. A better analogy would be, if the County builds a new school, should they buy big yellow buses or little golf carts to transport kids to school? Even if they're much slower and hold fewer students, they cost less, so why not?

On Cavan's article Tuesday about BRT versus light rail, light rail supporter Wayne Phyillaier wrote that BRT would reach capacity as soon as 2030, with no more room to add more buses. Light rail gives us far more capacity with the larger and faster-moving vehicles. "BRT can not carry the demand we expect over the life of the Purple Line," Wayne wrote. "It is not smart to build a system that will be jammed by 2030, when we expect the system to operate well beyond 2050 when demand will be even higher."

The Metro system cost a huge bundle to build, but does anyone really think we'd have been better off saving money and building some BRT around the region instead? Unlike buying a car, transit isn't simply a choice between paying more for a flashy vehicle or paying less for an economy one. It's a very long-term investment. A better investment yields more growth and more return.

Now is the time for Maryland to invest in the long-term growth of its national models for Smart Growth, like Bethesda and Silver Spring, and its areas with great potential in College Park and New Carrollton. The Maryland MTA is taking comments for one more week. You don't have to live in Maryland to comment. Please tell them you support building an at-grade light rail Purple Line, on its own right-of-way for most of the route, and completing the Capital Crescent trail alongside the route between Bethesda and Silver Spring.

Update: Just Up the Pike reports that fourteen Chevy Chase residents released a letter saying that the Town of Chevy Chase is "making a serious mistake" in spending town money to fight the Purple Line. It urges the town to "cease these costly efforts to fight the state's attempts to relieve traffic and pollution in the area. If not, the town's reputation will continue to suffer."

BeyondDC also suggests emailing the Montgomery County Council and County Executive Ike Leggett as well as writing to the MTA.

14 comments — Share	— tags: BRT, light rail, Maryland, Montgomery, Purple Line

The other Purple Line fight: Wayne Avenue (Jun 8, 2009)
Buses and BRT: some facts (Dec 9, 2008)
Residents support the Purple Line at Bethesda/Chevy Chase hearing (Nov 19, 2008)
Prince George’s and the Post back light rail Purple Line (Nov 17, 2008)
Stand up for the Purple Line in November (Oct 3, 2008)

Comments

I'm sorry but opponents of this plan are simply behind the times or refuse to see the big picture. This country's lack of quality public transportation has played a huge part in the rising costs of energy and the disgusting amount pollution we put into our air. Not only Maryland, but Virginia as well, needs to develop robust public transportation systems. We need a "Beltway Line" which would allow people to get to the same places they would get on the Beltway on public transportation. The Purple Line is a wonderful start but needs to be expanded to encircle the city entirely.

by Ben M. on Dec 12, 2008 10:17 am

Most of the nay-sayers of Silver Spring are conspiracy minded and think this is some sinister plot to flush lower income residents out with a development vehicle. Besides this being complete rubbish, it creates an artificial class war by stirring up anger where there isn't any. There are a lot of serious concerns such as safety, noise, etc. which should be raised and dealt with, but the fact that people will make money in the process seems naive in the extreme.

Making money is how our economy functions, but the fact that some might unfairly make more than others has nothing to do with creating a sustainable future for all of us.

by Thayer-D on Dec 12, 2008 10:44 am

The argument about gentrification would apply equally well to any community improvement - to a reduction in the crime rate, for example.

If you look at things in a broader perspective, a major driving force behind the rent increases that accompany gentrification is the great shortage of transit-accessible locations. By expanding transit, you increase the supply of such locations. To whatever degree you increase development pressure around new Metro stations, you reduce it elsewhere. The net result is a combination of additional development near Metro (reducing the pressure to raise rents on affordable housing not near Metro) and relocation of Metro-accessible development, preserving affordable housing around existing Metro stations.

If we don't expand Metro, and don't allow any new high-end transit-accessible housing, there will be an increasing market pressure to renovate affordable housing near Metro stations and convert it to luxury housing. That could be forestalled by rent control, but historically the success of rent control has been predicated on massive construction of cooperative middle-income apartment housing to relieve market pressure (Vienna in 1920s and New York after WWII are examples).

Overall, the land-use effects of new rail lines will not promote rent increases, but relocate them and to some degree alleviate them.

by Ben R. on Dec 12, 2008 11:09 am

Lamborghini is a subsidiary of VW, FWIW.

by Peter on Dec 12, 2008 11:53 am

Added a comment from SF, CA! Rail 4 Life! :)

by Peter on Dec 12, 2008 12:29 pm

Thanks for the heads up on this - just submitted a comment. My wife and I live in downtown Silver Spring and this would be a lifesaver for her in her daily commute to Bethesda.

A bus line, no matter how tarted up, just wouldn't cut it. She can take the J bus to work now, but it takes forever and obviously doesn't help relieve traffic. There's just no substitute for the speed and reliability of rail.

by Jake H. on Dec 12, 2008 3:22 pm

and tell your friends to send in emails, too! The more the merrier. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

by Cavan on Dec 12, 2008 3:58 pm

One thing which irritates me about much BRT advocacy is the notion that it is somehow a "new" idea. The earliest usage of the phrase "bus rapid transit" that I know of is in 1937, when General Motors released a "bus rapid transit plan for Chicago." In (Dupont Circle resident) Helen Leavitt's Superhighway--Superhoax, she recounts the president of the Automobile Manufacturers Association pushing "bus rapid transit" over fixed rail in 1968. And to David's (rhetorical) question asking what this region would look like if BRT had been built instead of Metrorail, well, that question was actually addressed in a serious way in the planning phase of Metrorail. There's a report in the Washingtoniana section of the MLK library, "NCTA Technical Report--A study of Bus Rapid Transit Operations of the Nation's Capital Region," (call number Wash Ref 388.3 U59).

by thm on Dec 12, 2008 4:01 pm

I'm reminded of the unpopular "people moving pods" or whatever they're called at Dulles. A bus-like transportation system designed by "cutting edge" 1960's thinking is getting replaced by rail, a 19th c. invention.

by Bianchi on Dec 12, 2008 4:57 pm

Save the Capital Crescent Trail!

by Trig Palin on Dec 12, 2008 6:48 pm

One major aspect of a Purple Line light rail which is being lost in the discussion is how the system would go through downtown Silver Spring. The problem is that from the beginning the state has spent very little time analyzing routes or modes from the SS Metro transit center eastward to New Carrolton. (Not the case on the Bethesda to SS segment, which in many ways had been formally documented for 15+ years in city and county master plans with right of ways identified for a public transit system.)

What's worthy of discussion, and not necessarily an indication of being against the Purple Line, is whether the state has adequately studied the impacts to go forward with a light rail system through Silver Spring. The push for full tunneling below Wayne Ave. should be resolved. This proposal favored by many is a cost issue that could jeopardize federal financing. However there is nothing wrong in demanding from the state that they justify why a tunnel can't be considered and meet cost efficiencies expected by the federal government. And if it's going to be a surface street rail system, how is the state going to accommodate it or mitigate for it without creating major traffic issues in the downtown area.

by Ted on Dec 12, 2008 7:09 pm

Save the Capital Crescent Trail becomes an empty slogan when you know that MBPAC has joined WABA in endorsing the Purple Line, and CCCT and MoBike say the CCT and Purple Line can be compatible if designed properly. See their statements at www.finishthetrail.org

by Wayne Phyillaier on Dec 12, 2008 9:11 pm

The key phrase being "can be" rather than "will".

by Trig Palin on Dec 13, 2008 10:40 am

Will be if light rail is built as the MTA plans. Won't be if the Town of Chevy Chase succeeds in getting a two-lane busway built next to the Silver Spring portion of the trail.

by rider on Dec 13, 2008 11:36 am