Bethesda Row after the Purple Line Opens?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is anyone being held accountable for the fact that the Purple Line is nearly 10 years delayed?

Yes— if we could please hold the Chevy Chase Country Club and the Town of Chevy Chase accountable for their ridiculous lawsuit and Larry Hogan for screwing around that would be great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was looking at the Google Map someone made of the Purple Line route. It looks like it will really benefit Univ of Md with three stops and the connection to Metro. I think the Purple Line will raise the profile of the school among prospective applicants (especially those from out of state who would marvel at the novelty of the thing). That’s what happened when the Portland Streetcar famously built the line through the plaza of Portland State University 25 years ago.

Funny how UMD initially fought the Purple Line and tried to block it, like Duke University did with their proposed light rail.

UMD is definitely going to be boosted by the PL. The main immediate benefit will be a more regular connection from the metro station than the current shuttles. But also, UMD is expanding into the Discovery Disctrict, and there's two stops there. Students, faculty, and staff will have free rides in the 5 stops around UMD, so I expect those to be heavily used (that portion will also be the slowest part of the PL due to all the students crossing the tracks, hopefully they will be safe).

And I didn't even mention the increased ease to go to, or commute from, SS and Bethesday. I fully expect the PL will become a critical part of the regional infrastructure a few short years after opening.

Commuting from Bethesda will take one hour on the Purple Line, station to station. That will not be a favored option by anyone who cares about their time.

Bethesda to the middle of UMD campus will be 35 min station to station.

Correction, 35 min to the edge of campus on Adelphi Rd, 39 to the middle of campus.

And how much time to get to Bethesda station from home? From a lot of Bethesda you can do that same trip from your house in 30 minutes.

If your point is that someone will live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, anyone that can afford that rent values their time and no one that values their time would waste it pointlessly on the Purple Line.

The people who livei n apartments in downtown Bethesda are not the primary targeted demographics for the purple line. The purple line will be primarily for people who live in PG County, Takoma Park, Silver Spring, White Oak who have to travel to work over in the Bethesda area. People that can't afford to live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, but who have to work in Montgomery County. These are people who have spent hours on busses or on the Metro to go down into the city and back out the other way, or people who have to negotiate with a family member for use of a shared car. Going the other way, it is for people who live in Montgomery county, but are going to school at UMD. This will get a ton of cars off of the overly congested Beltway and East-West Highway and get those roads less crowded for those who will still commute by car.

What are these jobs you speak of? Bethesda has attracted one major employer in the past two decades and that employer is having trouble filling its office. More recently, landlords have torn down office buildings to put up housing for people who commute to DC. The number of commuters at UMCP has dropped by about half in the past two decades and a lot of those still come from north of campus, not east or west.

The Purple Line is solving problems from 20 or 30 years ago. How many years will it take to break even under even the most favorable benefit calculations? The money would have been better spent creating a better link with NoVa and getting Walter Reed and NIH commuters off of 355.

What are these jobs? The minimum wage workers at Giant, Safetway and Trader's Joes. The barristas who make your lattes at Starbucks. The janitorial staff for the various businesses and buildings in Bethesda. People who work at the desk or housekeeping at the Hyatt Regency and the Hilton. Those who work at the Dunkin Donuts and the clerks at the gas stations and convenience stores. Nannies for local families. There are thousands of low income staff at many of the businesses in the Bethesda and Chevy Chase area who can't really afford to live in the Bethesda/Chevy Chase area. A significant number live in PG county or eastern Montgomery County and may commute via the green line down and the red line back out. Or take busses. But WMATA has been cutting many bus lines over recent years. My spouse now has full-time telework because my spouse cannot drive to work and the bus that spouse used to take to work was canceled by WMATA.

I have this feeling that you live in Montgomery County and are a NIMBY. I live in PG County and the Purple Line is very popular in PG County as one more way to make jobs in Montgomery County more accessible. I know a number of people who work in lower wage positions in Silver Spring or Bethesda areas who can't wait for the line to open up to solve some of their commuting issues. These people cannot afford to live in Bethesda and right now and looking forward to having a new mode of public transportation that goes around the beltway rather than as a spoke into town.

Do you think those jobs are going to generate 74,000 trips a day? That was the usage assumption when the Purple Line was approved.

And why do you focus on low wage workers? I’ll bet you’re a NIMBY who doesn’t want to live near poor people and you just expect them to commute from other places to make your latte and clean your bathrooms.

Think about all the trips you make that aren't (1) the trip from home to work or (2) the trip from work to home. Even after covid. If you want to know what's outdated, it's the assumption that the only trips that count are the work commute trips.

Errands aren’t going to drive ridership to the projected level. Only the presence of new major employers will do that. Instead of making up unrealistic claims about people doing their errands using the purple line, focus on improving business conditions so that Bethesda and Silver Spring attract more jobs. None of the things that the left YIMBYs want will happen without more jobs and yet at every turn you ignore the problem or support ideas that make it worse.

What are you talking about? The Purple Line is getting built, whether or not you think people will use it for errands.

None of the advocates want to answer the original question that prompted this part of the discussion: when will the Purple Line deliver a net positive economic benefit?

My off the cuff guess is 25 years. It takes time, and it can be a gamble.

Despite the huge investment, the 40 year old Baltimore Subway Link has not brought the promised economic benefits. One could argue that’s because the system was not built out as originally planned. But, while that’s a good assumption, we really don’t know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was looking at the Google Map someone made of the Purple Line route. It looks like it will really benefit Univ of Md with three stops and the connection to Metro. I think the Purple Line will raise the profile of the school among prospective applicants (especially those from out of state who would marvel at the novelty of the thing). That’s what happened when the Portland Streetcar famously built the line through the plaza of Portland State University 25 years ago.

Funny how UMD initially fought the Purple Line and tried to block it, like Duke University did with their proposed light rail.

UMD is definitely going to be boosted by the PL. The main immediate benefit will be a more regular connection from the metro station than the current shuttles. But also, UMD is expanding into the Discovery Disctrict, and there's two stops there. Students, faculty, and staff will have free rides in the 5 stops around UMD, so I expect those to be heavily used (that portion will also be the slowest part of the PL due to all the students crossing the tracks, hopefully they will be safe).

And I didn't even mention the increased ease to go to, or commute from, SS and Bethesday. I fully expect the PL will become a critical part of the regional infrastructure a few short years after opening.

Commuting from Bethesda will take one hour on the Purple Line, station to station. That will not be a favored option by anyone who cares about their time.

Bethesda to the middle of UMD campus will be 35 min station to station.

Correction, 35 min to the edge of campus on Adelphi Rd, 39 to the middle of campus.

And how much time to get to Bethesda station from home? From a lot of Bethesda you can do that same trip from your house in 30 minutes.

If your point is that someone will live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, anyone that can afford that rent values their time and no one that values their time would waste it pointlessly on the Purple Line.

The people who livei n apartments in downtown Bethesda are not the primary targeted demographics for the purple line. The purple line will be primarily for people who live in PG County, Takoma Park, Silver Spring, White Oak who have to travel to work over in the Bethesda area. People that can't afford to live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, but who have to work in Montgomery County. These are people who have spent hours on busses or on the Metro to go down into the city and back out the other way, or people who have to negotiate with a family member for use of a shared car. Going the other way, it is for people who live in Montgomery county, but are going to school at UMD. This will get a ton of cars off of the overly congested Beltway and East-West Highway and get those roads less crowded for those who will still commute by car.

What are these jobs you speak of? Bethesda has attracted one major employer in the past two decades and that employer is having trouble filling its office. More recently, landlords have torn down office buildings to put up housing for people who commute to DC. The number of commuters at UMCP has dropped by about half in the past two decades and a lot of those still come from north of campus, not east or west.

The Purple Line is solving problems from 20 or 30 years ago. How many years will it take to break even under even the most favorable benefit calculations? The money would have been better spent creating a better link with NoVa and getting Walter Reed and NIH commuters off of 355.

What are these jobs? The minimum wage workers at Giant, Safetway and Trader's Joes. The barristas who make your lattes at Starbucks. The janitorial staff for the various businesses and buildings in Bethesda. People who work at the desk or housekeeping at the Hyatt Regency and the Hilton. Those who work at the Dunkin Donuts and the clerks at the gas stations and convenience stores. Nannies for local families. There are thousands of low income staff at many of the businesses in the Bethesda and Chevy Chase area who can't really afford to live in the Bethesda/Chevy Chase area. A significant number live in PG county or eastern Montgomery County and may commute via the green line down and the red line back out. Or take busses. But WMATA has been cutting many bus lines over recent years. My spouse now has full-time telework because my spouse cannot drive to work and the bus that spouse used to take to work was canceled by WMATA.

I have this feeling that you live in Montgomery County and are a NIMBY. I live in PG County and the Purple Line is very popular in PG County as one more way to make jobs in Montgomery County more accessible. I know a number of people who work in lower wage positions in Silver Spring or Bethesda areas who can't wait for the line to open up to solve some of their commuting issues. These people cannot afford to live in Bethesda and right now and looking forward to having a new mode of public transportation that goes around the beltway rather than as a spoke into town.

Do you think those jobs are going to generate 74,000 trips a day? That was the usage assumption when the Purple Line was approved.

And why do you focus on low wage workers? I’ll bet you’re a NIMBY who doesn’t want to live near poor people and you just expect them to commute from other places to make your latte and clean your bathrooms.

Think about all the trips you make that aren't (1) the trip from home to work or (2) the trip from work to home. Even after covid. If you want to know what's outdated, it's the assumption that the only trips that count are the work commute trips.

Errands aren’t going to drive ridership to the projected level. Only the presence of new major employers will do that. Instead of making up unrealistic claims about people doing their errands using the purple line, focus on improving business conditions so that Bethesda and Silver Spring attract more jobs. None of the things that the left YIMBYs want will happen without more jobs and yet at every turn you ignore the problem or support ideas that make it worse.

What are you talking about? The Purple Line is getting built, whether or not you think people will use it for errands.

None of the advocates want to answer the original question that prompted this part of the discussion: when will the Purple Line deliver a net positive economic benefit?

My off the cuff guess is 25 years. It takes time, and it can be a gamble.

Despite the huge investment, the 40 year old Baltimore Subway Link has not brought the promised economic benefits. One could argue that’s because the system was not built out as originally planned. But, while that’s a good assumption, we really don’t know.

So you have no idea but you still support the Purple Line. This is why we waste money on infrastructure and have no economic growth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was looking at the Google Map someone made of the Purple Line route. It looks like it will really benefit Univ of Md with three stops and the connection to Metro. I think the Purple Line will raise the profile of the school among prospective applicants (especially those from out of state who would marvel at the novelty of the thing). That’s what happened when the Portland Streetcar famously built the line through the plaza of Portland State University 25 years ago.

Funny how UMD initially fought the Purple Line and tried to block it, like Duke University did with their proposed light rail.

UMD is definitely going to be boosted by the PL. The main immediate benefit will be a more regular connection from the metro station than the current shuttles. But also, UMD is expanding into the Discovery Disctrict, and there's two stops there. Students, faculty, and staff will have free rides in the 5 stops around UMD, so I expect those to be heavily used (that portion will also be the slowest part of the PL due to all the students crossing the tracks, hopefully they will be safe).

And I didn't even mention the increased ease to go to, or commute from, SS and Bethesday. I fully expect the PL will become a critical part of the regional infrastructure a few short years after opening.

Commuting from Bethesda will take one hour on the Purple Line, station to station. That will not be a favored option by anyone who cares about their time.

Bethesda to the middle of UMD campus will be 35 min station to station.

Correction, 35 min to the edge of campus on Adelphi Rd, 39 to the middle of campus.

And how much time to get to Bethesda station from home? From a lot of Bethesda you can do that same trip from your house in 30 minutes.

If your point is that someone will live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, anyone that can afford that rent values their time and no one that values their time would waste it pointlessly on the Purple Line.

The people who livei n apartments in downtown Bethesda are not the primary targeted demographics for the purple line. The purple line will be primarily for people who live in PG County, Takoma Park, Silver Spring, White Oak who have to travel to work over in the Bethesda area. People that can't afford to live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, but who have to work in Montgomery County. These are people who have spent hours on busses or on the Metro to go down into the city and back out the other way, or people who have to negotiate with a family member for use of a shared car. Going the other way, it is for people who live in Montgomery county, but are going to school at UMD. This will get a ton of cars off of the overly congested Beltway and East-West Highway and get those roads less crowded for those who will still commute by car.

What are these jobs you speak of? Bethesda has attracted one major employer in the past two decades and that employer is having trouble filling its office. More recently, landlords have torn down office buildings to put up housing for people who commute to DC. The number of commuters at UMCP has dropped by about half in the past two decades and a lot of those still come from north of campus, not east or west.

The Purple Line is solving problems from 20 or 30 years ago. How many years will it take to break even under even the most favorable benefit calculations? The money would have been better spent creating a better link with NoVa and getting Walter Reed and NIH commuters off of 355.

What are these jobs? The minimum wage workers at Giant, Safetway and Trader's Joes. The barristas who make your lattes at Starbucks. The janitorial staff for the various businesses and buildings in Bethesda. People who work at the desk or housekeeping at the Hyatt Regency and the Hilton. Those who work at the Dunkin Donuts and the clerks at the gas stations and convenience stores. Nannies for local families. There are thousands of low income staff at many of the businesses in the Bethesda and Chevy Chase area who can't really afford to live in the Bethesda/Chevy Chase area. A significant number live in PG county or eastern Montgomery County and may commute via the green line down and the red line back out. Or take busses. But WMATA has been cutting many bus lines over recent years. My spouse now has full-time telework because my spouse cannot drive to work and the bus that spouse used to take to work was canceled by WMATA.

I have this feeling that you live in Montgomery County and are a NIMBY. I live in PG County and the Purple Line is very popular in PG County as one more way to make jobs in Montgomery County more accessible. I know a number of people who work in lower wage positions in Silver Spring or Bethesda areas who can't wait for the line to open up to solve some of their commuting issues. These people cannot afford to live in Bethesda and right now and looking forward to having a new mode of public transportation that goes around the beltway rather than as a spoke into town.

Do you think those jobs are going to generate 74,000 trips a day? That was the usage assumption when the Purple Line was approved.

And why do you focus on low wage workers? I’ll bet you’re a NIMBY who doesn’t want to live near poor people and you just expect them to commute from other places to make your latte and clean your bathrooms.

Think about all the trips you make that aren't (1) the trip from home to work or (2) the trip from work to home. Even after covid. If you want to know what's outdated, it's the assumption that the only trips that count are the work commute trips.

Errands aren’t going to drive ridership to the projected level. Only the presence of new major employers will do that. Instead of making up unrealistic claims about people doing their errands using the purple line, focus on improving business conditions so that Bethesda and Silver Spring attract more jobs. None of the things that the left YIMBYs want will happen without more jobs and yet at every turn you ignore the problem or support ideas that make it worse.

What are you talking about? The Purple Line is getting built, whether or not you think people will use it for errands.

None of the advocates want to answer the original question that prompted this part of the discussion: when will the Purple Line deliver a net positive economic benefit?

My off the cuff guess is 25 years. It takes time, and it can be a gamble.

Despite the huge investment, the 40 year old Baltimore Subway Link has not brought the promised economic benefits. One could argue that’s because the system was not built out as originally planned. But, while that’s a good assumption, we really don’t know.

So you have no idea but you still support the Purple Line. This is why we waste money on infrastructure and have no economic growth.

We only have the models to go by, and the models showed oodles of economic growth. That’s why the thing is getting built. No one can predict the future. But growth takes time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was looking at the Google Map someone made of the Purple Line route. It looks like it will really benefit Univ of Md with three stops and the connection to Metro. I think the Purple Line will raise the profile of the school among prospective applicants (especially those from out of state who would marvel at the novelty of the thing). That’s what happened when the Portland Streetcar famously built the line through the plaza of Portland State University 25 years ago.

Funny how UMD initially fought the Purple Line and tried to block it, like Duke University did with their proposed light rail.

UMD is definitely going to be boosted by the PL. The main immediate benefit will be a more regular connection from the metro station than the current shuttles. But also, UMD is expanding into the Discovery Disctrict, and there's two stops there. Students, faculty, and staff will have free rides in the 5 stops around UMD, so I expect those to be heavily used (that portion will also be the slowest part of the PL due to all the students crossing the tracks, hopefully they will be safe).

And I didn't even mention the increased ease to go to, or commute from, SS and Bethesday. I fully expect the PL will become a critical part of the regional infrastructure a few short years after opening.

Commuting from Bethesda will take one hour on the Purple Line, station to station. That will not be a favored option by anyone who cares about their time.

Bethesda to the middle of UMD campus will be 35 min station to station.

Correction, 35 min to the edge of campus on Adelphi Rd, 39 to the middle of campus.

And how much time to get to Bethesda station from home? From a lot of Bethesda you can do that same trip from your house in 30 minutes.

If your point is that someone will live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, anyone that can afford that rent values their time and no one that values their time would waste it pointlessly on the Purple Line.

The people who livei n apartments in downtown Bethesda are not the primary targeted demographics for the purple line. The purple line will be primarily for people who live in PG County, Takoma Park, Silver Spring, White Oak who have to travel to work over in the Bethesda area. People that can't afford to live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, but who have to work in Montgomery County. These are people who have spent hours on busses or on the Metro to go down into the city and back out the other way, or people who have to negotiate with a family member for use of a shared car. Going the other way, it is for people who live in Montgomery county, but are going to school at UMD. This will get a ton of cars off of the overly congested Beltway and East-West Highway and get those roads less crowded for those who will still commute by car.

What are these jobs you speak of? Bethesda has attracted one major employer in the past two decades and that employer is having trouble filling its office. More recently, landlords have torn down office buildings to put up housing for people who commute to DC. The number of commuters at UMCP has dropped by about half in the past two decades and a lot of those still come from north of campus, not east or west.

The Purple Line is solving problems from 20 or 30 years ago. How many years will it take to break even under even the most favorable benefit calculations? The money would have been better spent creating a better link with NoVa and getting Walter Reed and NIH commuters off of 355.

What are these jobs? The minimum wage workers at Giant, Safetway and Trader's Joes. The barristas who make your lattes at Starbucks. The janitorial staff for the various businesses and buildings in Bethesda. People who work at the desk or housekeeping at the Hyatt Regency and the Hilton. Those who work at the Dunkin Donuts and the clerks at the gas stations and convenience stores. Nannies for local families. There are thousands of low income staff at many of the businesses in the Bethesda and Chevy Chase area who can't really afford to live in the Bethesda/Chevy Chase area. A significant number live in PG county or eastern Montgomery County and may commute via the green line down and the red line back out. Or take busses. But WMATA has been cutting many bus lines over recent years. My spouse now has full-time telework because my spouse cannot drive to work and the bus that spouse used to take to work was canceled by WMATA.

I have this feeling that you live in Montgomery County and are a NIMBY. I live in PG County and the Purple Line is very popular in PG County as one more way to make jobs in Montgomery County more accessible. I know a number of people who work in lower wage positions in Silver Spring or Bethesda areas who can't wait for the line to open up to solve some of their commuting issues. These people cannot afford to live in Bethesda and right now and looking forward to having a new mode of public transportation that goes around the beltway rather than as a spoke into town.

Do you think those jobs are going to generate 74,000 trips a day? That was the usage assumption when the Purple Line was approved.

And why do you focus on low wage workers? I’ll bet you’re a NIMBY who doesn’t want to live near poor people and you just expect them to commute from other places to make your latte and clean your bathrooms.

Think about all the trips you make that aren't (1) the trip from home to work or (2) the trip from work to home. Even after covid. If you want to know what's outdated, it's the assumption that the only trips that count are the work commute trips.

The Purple Line was never designed nor intended to replace non-work trips. And no one, except for some small niche of people that live in downtown Silver Spring without a car and want to eat/shop in Bethesda (and criminals), would use it for non-work purposes. You are obviously someone that does not have children. People that have children have two types of non-work trips, one is going shopping and the other is driving their kids around to their various activities. The Purple Line will replace neither for anyone.

Complete nonsense. Of course it was designed to enable non-work trips as well as work trips. Of course it was intended to enable non-work trips as well as work trips.

I do have children. I'm sorry that your life with children is evidently so limited. It usually gets better once the children get a bit older and more self-sufficient. By the time they're in middle school or high school, they can even use transit to get around, like buses - or the Purple Line, once it opens.

You clearly do not live in Montgomery County if you are saying that your kids are self sufficient getting around on Ride On buses. That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard.

I live in Montgomery County, which has a whole program of free fares for kids on RideOn and Metro buses, called Kids Ride Free. And why? Because lots of kids in Montgomery County use the bus to go places.

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/dot-transit/kidsridefree/index.html

You’re obviously lying. Because Ride On buses are notorious for not showing up. Doesn’t matter if fares are free if the bus never comes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was looking at the Google Map someone made of the Purple Line route. It looks like it will really benefit Univ of Md with three stops and the connection to Metro. I think the Purple Line will raise the profile of the school among prospective applicants (especially those from out of state who would marvel at the novelty of the thing). That’s what happened when the Portland Streetcar famously built the line through the plaza of Portland State University 25 years ago.

Funny how UMD initially fought the Purple Line and tried to block it, like Duke University did with their proposed light rail.

UMD is definitely going to be boosted by the PL. The main immediate benefit will be a more regular connection from the metro station than the current shuttles. But also, UMD is expanding into the Discovery Disctrict, and there's two stops there. Students, faculty, and staff will have free rides in the 5 stops around UMD, so I expect those to be heavily used (that portion will also be the slowest part of the PL due to all the students crossing the tracks, hopefully they will be safe).

And I didn't even mention the increased ease to go to, or commute from, SS and Bethesday. I fully expect the PL will become a critical part of the regional infrastructure a few short years after opening.

Commuting from Bethesda will take one hour on the Purple Line, station to station. That will not be a favored option by anyone who cares about their time.

Bethesda to the middle of UMD campus will be 35 min station to station.

Correction, 35 min to the edge of campus on Adelphi Rd, 39 to the middle of campus.

And how much time to get to Bethesda station from home? From a lot of Bethesda you can do that same trip from your house in 30 minutes.

If your point is that someone will live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, anyone that can afford that rent values their time and no one that values their time would waste it pointlessly on the Purple Line.

The people who livei n apartments in downtown Bethesda are not the primary targeted demographics for the purple line. The purple line will be primarily for people who live in PG County, Takoma Park, Silver Spring, White Oak who have to travel to work over in the Bethesda area. People that can't afford to live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, but who have to work in Montgomery County. These are people who have spent hours on busses or on the Metro to go down into the city and back out the other way, or people who have to negotiate with a family member for use of a shared car. Going the other way, it is for people who live in Montgomery county, but are going to school at UMD. This will get a ton of cars off of the overly congested Beltway and East-West Highway and get those roads less crowded for those who will still commute by car.

What are these jobs you speak of? Bethesda has attracted one major employer in the past two decades and that employer is having trouble filling its office. More recently, landlords have torn down office buildings to put up housing for people who commute to DC. The number of commuters at UMCP has dropped by about half in the past two decades and a lot of those still come from north of campus, not east or west.

The Purple Line is solving problems from 20 or 30 years ago. How many years will it take to break even under even the most favorable benefit calculations? The money would have been better spent creating a better link with NoVa and getting Walter Reed and NIH commuters off of 355.

What are these jobs? The minimum wage workers at Giant, Safetway and Trader's Joes. The barristas who make your lattes at Starbucks. The janitorial staff for the various businesses and buildings in Bethesda. People who work at the desk or housekeeping at the Hyatt Regency and the Hilton. Those who work at the Dunkin Donuts and the clerks at the gas stations and convenience stores. Nannies for local families. There are thousands of low income staff at many of the businesses in the Bethesda and Chevy Chase area who can't really afford to live in the Bethesda/Chevy Chase area. A significant number live in PG county or eastern Montgomery County and may commute via the green line down and the red line back out. Or take busses. But WMATA has been cutting many bus lines over recent years. My spouse now has full-time telework because my spouse cannot drive to work and the bus that spouse used to take to work was canceled by WMATA.

I have this feeling that you live in Montgomery County and are a NIMBY. I live in PG County and the Purple Line is very popular in PG County as one more way to make jobs in Montgomery County more accessible. I know a number of people who work in lower wage positions in Silver Spring or Bethesda areas who can't wait for the line to open up to solve some of their commuting issues. These people cannot afford to live in Bethesda and right now and looking forward to having a new mode of public transportation that goes around the beltway rather than as a spoke into town.

Do you think those jobs are going to generate 74,000 trips a day? That was the usage assumption when the Purple Line was approved.

And why do you focus on low wage workers? I’ll bet you’re a NIMBY who doesn’t want to live near poor people and you just expect them to commute from other places to make your latte and clean your bathrooms.

Think about all the trips you make that aren't (1) the trip from home to work or (2) the trip from work to home. Even after covid. If you want to know what's outdated, it's the assumption that the only trips that count are the work commute trips.

Errands aren’t going to drive ridership to the projected level. Only the presence of new major employers will do that. Instead of making up unrealistic claims about people doing their errands using the purple line, focus on improving business conditions so that Bethesda and Silver Spring attract more jobs. None of the things that the left YIMBYs want will happen without more jobs and yet at every turn you ignore the problem or support ideas that make it worse.

Exactly. And the Purple Line on its own will not attract new businesses. What will attract new businesses is better access to NOVA. Yet the left YIMBYs are NIMBY when it comes to that issue, which should be a priority for economic development.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Bethesda Row started to suck when Barnes and Noble was replaced by Anthropologie

Would say the same about Georgetown, with the B and N being replaced by a Nike store. This one is on shoppers' habits though (Amazon)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

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Anonymous wrote:I was looking at the Google Map someone made of the Purple Line route. It looks like it will really benefit Univ of Md with three stops and the connection to Metro. I think the Purple Line will raise the profile of the school among prospective applicants (especially those from out of state who would marvel at the novelty of the thing). That’s what happened when the Portland Streetcar famously built the line through the plaza of Portland State University 25 years ago.

Funny how UMD initially fought the Purple Line and tried to block it, like Duke University did with their proposed light rail.

UMD is definitely going to be boosted by the PL. The main immediate benefit will be a more regular connection from the metro station than the current shuttles. But also, UMD is expanding into the Discovery Disctrict, and there's two stops there. Students, faculty, and staff will have free rides in the 5 stops around UMD, so I expect those to be heavily used (that portion will also be the slowest part of the PL due to all the students crossing the tracks, hopefully they will be safe).

And I didn't even mention the increased ease to go to, or commute from, SS and Bethesday. I fully expect the PL will become a critical part of the regional infrastructure a few short years after opening.

Commuting from Bethesda will take one hour on the Purple Line, station to station. That will not be a favored option by anyone who cares about their time.

Bethesda to the middle of UMD campus will be 35 min station to station.

Correction, 35 min to the edge of campus on Adelphi Rd, 39 to the middle of campus.

And how much time to get to Bethesda station from home? From a lot of Bethesda you can do that same trip from your house in 30 minutes.

If your point is that someone will live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, anyone that can afford that rent values their time and no one that values their time would waste it pointlessly on the Purple Line.

The people who livei n apartments in downtown Bethesda are not the primary targeted demographics for the purple line. The purple line will be primarily for people who live in PG County, Takoma Park, Silver Spring, White Oak who have to travel to work over in the Bethesda area. People that can't afford to live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, but who have to work in Montgomery County. These are people who have spent hours on busses or on the Metro to go down into the city and back out the other way, or people who have to negotiate with a family member for use of a shared car. Going the other way, it is for people who live in Montgomery county, but are going to school at UMD. This will get a ton of cars off of the overly congested Beltway and East-West Highway and get those roads less crowded for those who will still commute by car.

What are these jobs you speak of? Bethesda has attracted one major employer in the past two decades and that employer is having trouble filling its office. More recently, landlords have torn down office buildings to put up housing for people who commute to DC. The number of commuters at UMCP has dropped by about half in the past two decades and a lot of those still come from north of campus, not east or west.

The Purple Line is solving problems from 20 or 30 years ago. How many years will it take to break even under even the most favorable benefit calculations? The money would have been better spent creating a better link with NoVa and getting Walter Reed and NIH commuters off of 355.

What are these jobs? The minimum wage workers at Giant, Safetway and Trader's Joes. The barristas who make your lattes at Starbucks. The janitorial staff for the various businesses and buildings in Bethesda. People who work at the desk or housekeeping at the Hyatt Regency and the Hilton. Those who work at the Dunkin Donuts and the clerks at the gas stations and convenience stores. Nannies for local families. There are thousands of low income staff at many of the businesses in the Bethesda and Chevy Chase area who can't really afford to live in the Bethesda/Chevy Chase area. A significant number live in PG county or eastern Montgomery County and may commute via the green line down and the red line back out. Or take busses. But WMATA has been cutting many bus lines over recent years. My spouse now has full-time telework because my spouse cannot drive to work and the bus that spouse used to take to work was canceled by WMATA.

I have this feeling that you live in Montgomery County and are a NIMBY. I live in PG County and the Purple Line is very popular in PG County as one more way to make jobs in Montgomery County more accessible. I know a number of people who work in lower wage positions in Silver Spring or Bethesda areas who can't wait for the line to open up to solve some of their commuting issues. These people cannot afford to live in Bethesda and right now and looking forward to having a new mode of public transportation that goes around the beltway rather than as a spoke into town.

Do you think those jobs are going to generate 74,000 trips a day? That was the usage assumption when the Purple Line was approved.

And why do you focus on low wage workers? I’ll bet you’re a NIMBY who doesn’t want to live near poor people and you just expect them to commute from other places to make your latte and clean your bathrooms.

Think about all the trips you make that aren't (1) the trip from home to work or (2) the trip from work to home. Even after covid. If you want to know what's outdated, it's the assumption that the only trips that count are the work commute trips.

Errands aren’t going to drive ridership to the projected level. Only the presence of new major employers will do that. Instead of making up unrealistic claims about people doing their errands using the purple line, focus on improving business conditions so that Bethesda and Silver Spring attract more jobs. None of the things that the left YIMBYs want will happen without more jobs and yet at every turn you ignore the problem or support ideas that make it worse.

What are you talking about? The Purple Line is getting built, whether or not you think people will use it for errands.

None of the advocates want to answer the original question that prompted this part of the discussion: when will the Purple Line deliver a net positive economic benefit?

My off the cuff guess is 25 years. It takes time, and it can be a gamble.

Despite the huge investment, the 40 year old Baltimore Subway Link has not brought the promised economic benefits. One could argue that’s because the system was not built out as originally planned. But, while that’s a good assumption, we really don’t know.

So you have no idea but you still support the Purple Line. This is why we waste money on infrastructure and have no economic growth.

We only have the models to go by, and the models showed oodles of economic growth. That’s why the thing is getting built. No one can predict the future. But growth takes time.

The models they used pretty much looked at generic $6 billion investments in that area and didn’t account for the difficult business environment that the county government has created in comparison to its neighbors. Left NIMBYs are so gullible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was looking at the Google Map someone made of the Purple Line route. It looks like it will really benefit Univ of Md with three stops and the connection to Metro. I think the Purple Line will raise the profile of the school among prospective applicants (especially those from out of state who would marvel at the novelty of the thing). That’s what happened when the Portland Streetcar famously built the line through the plaza of Portland State University 25 years ago.

Funny how UMD initially fought the Purple Line and tried to block it, like Duke University did with their proposed light rail.

UMD is definitely going to be boosted by the PL. The main immediate benefit will be a more regular connection from the metro station than the current shuttles. But also, UMD is expanding into the Discovery Disctrict, and there's two stops there. Students, faculty, and staff will have free rides in the 5 stops around UMD, so I expect those to be heavily used (that portion will also be the slowest part of the PL due to all the students crossing the tracks, hopefully they will be safe).

And I didn't even mention the increased ease to go to, or commute from, SS and Bethesday. I fully expect the PL will become a critical part of the regional infrastructure a few short years after opening.

Commuting from Bethesda will take one hour on the Purple Line, station to station. That will not be a favored option by anyone who cares about their time.

Bethesda to the middle of UMD campus will be 35 min station to station.

Correction, 35 min to the edge of campus on Adelphi Rd, 39 to the middle of campus.

And how much time to get to Bethesda station from home? From a lot of Bethesda you can do that same trip from your house in 30 minutes.

If your point is that someone will live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, anyone that can afford that rent values their time and no one that values their time would waste it pointlessly on the Purple Line.

The people who livei n apartments in downtown Bethesda are not the primary targeted demographics for the purple line. The purple line will be primarily for people who live in PG County, Takoma Park, Silver Spring, White Oak who have to travel to work over in the Bethesda area. People that can't afford to live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, but who have to work in Montgomery County. These are people who have spent hours on busses or on the Metro to go down into the city and back out the other way, or people who have to negotiate with a family member for use of a shared car. Going the other way, it is for people who live in Montgomery county, but are going to school at UMD. This will get a ton of cars off of the overly congested Beltway and East-West Highway and get those roads less crowded for those who will still commute by car.

What are these jobs you speak of? Bethesda has attracted one major employer in the past two decades and that employer is having trouble filling its office. More recently, landlords have torn down office buildings to put up housing for people who commute to DC. The number of commuters at UMCP has dropped by about half in the past two decades and a lot of those still come from north of campus, not east or west.

The Purple Line is solving problems from 20 or 30 years ago. How many years will it take to break even under even the most favorable benefit calculations? The money would have been better spent creating a better link with NoVa and getting Walter Reed and NIH commuters off of 355.

What are these jobs? The minimum wage workers at Giant, Safetway and Trader's Joes. The barristas who make your lattes at Starbucks. The janitorial staff for the various businesses and buildings in Bethesda. People who work at the desk or housekeeping at the Hyatt Regency and the Hilton. Those who work at the Dunkin Donuts and the clerks at the gas stations and convenience stores. Nannies for local families. There are thousands of low income staff at many of the businesses in the Bethesda and Chevy Chase area who can't really afford to live in the Bethesda/Chevy Chase area. A significant number live in PG county or eastern Montgomery County and may commute via the green line down and the red line back out. Or take busses. But WMATA has been cutting many bus lines over recent years. My spouse now has full-time telework because my spouse cannot drive to work and the bus that spouse used to take to work was canceled by WMATA.

I have this feeling that you live in Montgomery County and are a NIMBY. I live in PG County and the Purple Line is very popular in PG County as one more way to make jobs in Montgomery County more accessible. I know a number of people who work in lower wage positions in Silver Spring or Bethesda areas who can't wait for the line to open up to solve some of their commuting issues. These people cannot afford to live in Bethesda and right now and looking forward to having a new mode of public transportation that goes around the beltway rather than as a spoke into town.

Do you think those jobs are going to generate 74,000 trips a day? That was the usage assumption when the Purple Line was approved.

And why do you focus on low wage workers? I’ll bet you’re a NIMBY who doesn’t want to live near poor people and you just expect them to commute from other places to make your latte and clean your bathrooms.

Think about all the trips you make that aren't (1) the trip from home to work or (2) the trip from work to home. Even after covid. If you want to know what's outdated, it's the assumption that the only trips that count are the work commute trips.

Errands aren’t going to drive ridership to the projected level. Only the presence of new major employers will do that. Instead of making up unrealistic claims about people doing their errands using the purple line, focus on improving business conditions so that Bethesda and Silver Spring attract more jobs. None of the things that the left YIMBYs want will happen without more jobs and yet at every turn you ignore the problem or support ideas that make it worse.

Exactly. And the Purple Line on its own will not attract new businesses. What will attract new businesses is better access to NOVA. Yet the left YIMBYs are NIMBY when it comes to that issue, which should be a priority for economic development.

The better access to Va will happen between the PG County and Alexandria economic power centers when the Blue Line Bloop gets built. The tri-state priority was always rapid transit across the Wilson Bridge (not the American Legion/Cabin John), which is why the Wilson Bridge was built with dedicated space for that. There is no momentum for rapid transit between Bethesda and Tysons, although I would support that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Bethesda Row started to suck when Barnes and Noble was replaced by Anthropologie

Would say the same about Georgetown, with the B and N being replaced by a Nike store. This one is on shoppers' habits though (Amazon)

The Georgetown Nike store just closed and it will become a flagship Barnes and Noble with Cafe. Should open this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was looking at the Google Map someone made of the Purple Line route. It looks like it will really benefit Univ of Md with three stops and the connection to Metro. I think the Purple Line will raise the profile of the school among prospective applicants (especially those from out of state who would marvel at the novelty of the thing). That’s what happened when the Portland Streetcar famously built the line through the plaza of Portland State University 25 years ago.

Funny how UMD initially fought the Purple Line and tried to block it, like Duke University did with their proposed light rail.

UMD is definitely going to be boosted by the PL. The main immediate benefit will be a more regular connection from the metro station than the current shuttles. But also, UMD is expanding into the Discovery Disctrict, and there's two stops there. Students, faculty, and staff will have free rides in the 5 stops around UMD, so I expect those to be heavily used (that portion will also be the slowest part of the PL due to all the students crossing the tracks, hopefully they will be safe).

And I didn't even mention the increased ease to go to, or commute from, SS and Bethesday. I fully expect the PL will become a critical part of the regional infrastructure a few short years after opening.

Commuting from Bethesda will take one hour on the Purple Line, station to station. That will not be a favored option by anyone who cares about their time.

Bethesda to the middle of UMD campus will be 35 min station to station.

Correction, 35 min to the edge of campus on Adelphi Rd, 39 to the middle of campus.

And how much time to get to Bethesda station from home? From a lot of Bethesda you can do that same trip from your house in 30 minutes.

If your point is that someone will live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, anyone that can afford that rent values their time and no one that values their time would waste it pointlessly on the Purple Line.

The people who livei n apartments in downtown Bethesda are not the primary targeted demographics for the purple line. The purple line will be primarily for people who live in PG County, Takoma Park, Silver Spring, White Oak who have to travel to work over in the Bethesda area. People that can't afford to live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, but who have to work in Montgomery County. These are people who have spent hours on busses or on the Metro to go down into the city and back out the other way, or people who have to negotiate with a family member for use of a shared car. Going the other way, it is for people who live in Montgomery county, but are going to school at UMD. This will get a ton of cars off of the overly congested Beltway and East-West Highway and get those roads less crowded for those who will still commute by car.

What are these jobs you speak of? Bethesda has attracted one major employer in the past two decades and that employer is having trouble filling its office. More recently, landlords have torn down office buildings to put up housing for people who commute to DC. The number of commuters at UMCP has dropped by about half in the past two decades and a lot of those still come from north of campus, not east or west.

The Purple Line is solving problems from 20 or 30 years ago. How many years will it take to break even under even the most favorable benefit calculations? The money would have been better spent creating a better link with NoVa and getting Walter Reed and NIH commuters off of 355.

What are these jobs? The minimum wage workers at Giant, Safetway and Trader's Joes. The barristas who make your lattes at Starbucks. The janitorial staff for the various businesses and buildings in Bethesda. People who work at the desk or housekeeping at the Hyatt Regency and the Hilton. Those who work at the Dunkin Donuts and the clerks at the gas stations and convenience stores. Nannies for local families. There are thousands of low income staff at many of the businesses in the Bethesda and Chevy Chase area who can't really afford to live in the Bethesda/Chevy Chase area. A significant number live in PG county or eastern Montgomery County and may commute via the green line down and the red line back out. Or take busses. But WMATA has been cutting many bus lines over recent years. My spouse now has full-time telework because my spouse cannot drive to work and the bus that spouse used to take to work was canceled by WMATA.

I have this feeling that you live in Montgomery County and are a NIMBY. I live in PG County and the Purple Line is very popular in PG County as one more way to make jobs in Montgomery County more accessible. I know a number of people who work in lower wage positions in Silver Spring or Bethesda areas who can't wait for the line to open up to solve some of their commuting issues. These people cannot afford to live in Bethesda and right now and looking forward to having a new mode of public transportation that goes around the beltway rather than as a spoke into town.

Do you think those jobs are going to generate 74,000 trips a day? That was the usage assumption when the Purple Line was approved.

And why do you focus on low wage workers? I’ll bet you’re a NIMBY who doesn’t want to live near poor people and you just expect them to commute from other places to make your latte and clean your bathrooms.

Think about all the trips you make that aren't (1) the trip from home to work or (2) the trip from work to home. Even after covid. If you want to know what's outdated, it's the assumption that the only trips that count are the work commute trips.

The Purple Line was never designed nor intended to replace non-work trips. And no one, except for some small niche of people that live in downtown Silver Spring without a car and want to eat/shop in Bethesda (and criminals), would use it for non-work purposes. You are obviously someone that does not have children. People that have children have two types of non-work trips, one is going shopping and the other is driving their kids around to their various activities. The Purple Line will replace neither for anyone.

Complete nonsense. Of course it was designed to enable non-work trips as well as work trips. Of course it was intended to enable non-work trips as well as work trips.

I do have children. I'm sorry that your life with children is evidently so limited. It usually gets better once the children get a bit older and more self-sufficient. By the time they're in middle school or high school, they can even use transit to get around, like buses - or the Purple Line, once it opens.

You clearly do not live in Montgomery County if you are saying that your kids are self sufficient getting around on Ride On buses. That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard.

I live in Montgomery County, which has a whole program of free fares for kids on RideOn and Metro buses, called Kids Ride Free. And why? Because lots of kids in Montgomery County use the bus to go places.

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/dot-transit/kidsridefree/index.html

You’re obviously lying. Because Ride On buses are notorious for not showing up. Doesn’t matter if fares are free if the bus never comes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was looking at the Google Map someone made of the Purple Line route. It looks like it will really benefit Univ of Md with three stops and the connection to Metro. I think the Purple Line will raise the profile of the school among prospective applicants (especially those from out of state who would marvel at the novelty of the thing). That’s what happened when the Portland Streetcar famously built the line through the plaza of Portland State University 25 years ago.

Funny how UMD initially fought the Purple Line and tried to block it, like Duke University did with their proposed light rail.

UMD is definitely going to be boosted by the PL. The main immediate benefit will be a more regular connection from the metro station than the current shuttles. But also, UMD is expanding into the Discovery Disctrict, and there's two stops there. Students, faculty, and staff will have free rides in the 5 stops around UMD, so I expect those to be heavily used (that portion will also be the slowest part of the PL due to all the students crossing the tracks, hopefully they will be safe).

And I didn't even mention the increased ease to go to, or commute from, SS and Bethesday. I fully expect the PL will become a critical part of the regional infrastructure a few short years after opening.

Commuting from Bethesda will take one hour on the Purple Line, station to station. That will not be a favored option by anyone who cares about their time.

Bethesda to the middle of UMD campus will be 35 min station to station.

Correction, 35 min to the edge of campus on Adelphi Rd, 39 to the middle of campus.

And how much time to get to Bethesda station from home? From a lot of Bethesda you can do that same trip from your house in 30 minutes.

If your point is that someone will live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, anyone that can afford that rent values their time and no one that values their time would waste it pointlessly on the Purple Line.

The people who livei n apartments in downtown Bethesda are not the primary targeted demographics for the purple line. The purple line will be primarily for people who live in PG County, Takoma Park, Silver Spring, White Oak who have to travel to work over in the Bethesda area. People that can't afford to live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, but who have to work in Montgomery County. These are people who have spent hours on busses or on the Metro to go down into the city and back out the other way, or people who have to negotiate with a family member for use of a shared car. Going the other way, it is for people who live in Montgomery county, but are going to school at UMD. This will get a ton of cars off of the overly congested Beltway and East-West Highway and get those roads less crowded for those who will still commute by car.

What are these jobs you speak of? Bethesda has attracted one major employer in the past two decades and that employer is having trouble filling its office. More recently, landlords have torn down office buildings to put up housing for people who commute to DC. The number of commuters at UMCP has dropped by about half in the past two decades and a lot of those still come from north of campus, not east or west.

The Purple Line is solving problems from 20 or 30 years ago. How many years will it take to break even under even the most favorable benefit calculations? The money would have been better spent creating a better link with NoVa and getting Walter Reed and NIH commuters off of 355.

What are these jobs? The minimum wage workers at Giant, Safetway and Trader's Joes. The barristas who make your lattes at Starbucks. The janitorial staff for the various businesses and buildings in Bethesda. People who work at the desk or housekeeping at the Hyatt Regency and the Hilton. Those who work at the Dunkin Donuts and the clerks at the gas stations and convenience stores. Nannies for local families. There are thousands of low income staff at many of the businesses in the Bethesda and Chevy Chase area who can't really afford to live in the Bethesda/Chevy Chase area. A significant number live in PG county or eastern Montgomery County and may commute via the green line down and the red line back out. Or take busses. But WMATA has been cutting many bus lines over recent years. My spouse now has full-time telework because my spouse cannot drive to work and the bus that spouse used to take to work was canceled by WMATA.

I have this feeling that you live in Montgomery County and are a NIMBY. I live in PG County and the Purple Line is very popular in PG County as one more way to make jobs in Montgomery County more accessible. I know a number of people who work in lower wage positions in Silver Spring or Bethesda areas who can't wait for the line to open up to solve some of their commuting issues. These people cannot afford to live in Bethesda and right now and looking forward to having a new mode of public transportation that goes around the beltway rather than as a spoke into town.

Do you think those jobs are going to generate 74,000 trips a day? That was the usage assumption when the Purple Line was approved.

And why do you focus on low wage workers? I’ll bet you’re a NIMBY who doesn’t want to live near poor people and you just expect them to commute from other places to make your latte and clean your bathrooms.

Think about all the trips you make that aren't (1) the trip from home to work or (2) the trip from work to home. Even after covid. If you want to know what's outdated, it's the assumption that the only trips that count are the work commute trips.

The Purple Line was never designed nor intended to replace non-work trips. And no one, except for some small niche of people that live in downtown Silver Spring without a car and want to eat/shop in Bethesda (and criminals), would use it for non-work purposes. You are obviously someone that does not have children. People that have children have two types of non-work trips, one is going shopping and the other is driving their kids around to their various activities. The Purple Line will replace neither for anyone.

The purple line replaces having to drive your kid to spots along the purple line, like Bethesda or Silver Spring or SSIMS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was looking at the Google Map someone made of the Purple Line route. It looks like it will really benefit Univ of Md with three stops and the connection to Metro. I think the Purple Line will raise the profile of the school among prospective applicants (especially those from out of state who would marvel at the novelty of the thing). That’s what happened when the Portland Streetcar famously built the line through the plaza of Portland State University 25 years ago.

Funny how UMD initially fought the Purple Line and tried to block it, like Duke University did with their proposed light rail.

UMD is definitely going to be boosted by the PL. The main immediate benefit will be a more regular connection from the metro station than the current shuttles. But also, UMD is expanding into the Discovery Disctrict, and there's two stops there. Students, faculty, and staff will have free rides in the 5 stops around UMD, so I expect those to be heavily used (that portion will also be the slowest part of the PL due to all the students crossing the tracks, hopefully they will be safe).

And I didn't even mention the increased ease to go to, or commute from, SS and Bethesday. I fully expect the PL will become a critical part of the regional infrastructure a few short years after opening.

Commuting from Bethesda will take one hour on the Purple Line, station to station. That will not be a favored option by anyone who cares about their time.

Bethesda to the middle of UMD campus will be 35 min station to station.

Correction, 35 min to the edge of campus on Adelphi Rd, 39 to the middle of campus.

And how much time to get to Bethesda station from home? From a lot of Bethesda you can do that same trip from your house in 30 minutes.

If your point is that someone will live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, anyone that can afford that rent values their time and no one that values their time would waste it pointlessly on the Purple Line.

The people who livei n apartments in downtown Bethesda are not the primary targeted demographics for the purple line. The purple line will be primarily for people who live in PG County, Takoma Park, Silver Spring, White Oak who have to travel to work over in the Bethesda area. People that can't afford to live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, but who have to work in Montgomery County. These are people who have spent hours on busses or on the Metro to go down into the city and back out the other way, or people who have to negotiate with a family member for use of a shared car. Going the other way, it is for people who live in Montgomery county, but are going to school at UMD. This will get a ton of cars off of the overly congested Beltway and East-West Highway and get those roads less crowded for those who will still commute by car.

What are these jobs you speak of? Bethesda has attracted one major employer in the past two decades and that employer is having trouble filling its office. More recently, landlords have torn down office buildings to put up housing for people who commute to DC. The number of commuters at UMCP has dropped by about half in the past two decades and a lot of those still come from north of campus, not east or west.

The Purple Line is solving problems from 20 or 30 years ago. How many years will it take to break even under even the most favorable benefit calculations? The money would have been better spent creating a better link with NoVa and getting Walter Reed and NIH commuters off of 355.

What are these jobs? The minimum wage workers at Giant, Safetway and Trader's Joes. The barristas who make your lattes at Starbucks. The janitorial staff for the various businesses and buildings in Bethesda. People who work at the desk or housekeeping at the Hyatt Regency and the Hilton. Those who work at the Dunkin Donuts and the clerks at the gas stations and convenience stores. Nannies for local families. There are thousands of low income staff at many of the businesses in the Bethesda and Chevy Chase area who can't really afford to live in the Bethesda/Chevy Chase area. A significant number live in PG county or eastern Montgomery County and may commute via the green line down and the red line back out. Or take busses. But WMATA has been cutting many bus lines over recent years. My spouse now has full-time telework because my spouse cannot drive to work and the bus that spouse used to take to work was canceled by WMATA.

I have this feeling that you live in Montgomery County and are a NIMBY. I live in PG County and the Purple Line is very popular in PG County as one more way to make jobs in Montgomery County more accessible. I know a number of people who work in lower wage positions in Silver Spring or Bethesda areas who can't wait for the line to open up to solve some of their commuting issues. These people cannot afford to live in Bethesda and right now and looking forward to having a new mode of public transportation that goes around the beltway rather than as a spoke into town.

Do you think those jobs are going to generate 74,000 trips a day? That was the usage assumption when the Purple Line was approved.

And why do you focus on low wage workers? I’ll bet you’re a NIMBY who doesn’t want to live near poor people and you just expect them to commute from other places to make your latte and clean your bathrooms.

Think about all the trips you make that aren't (1) the trip from home to work or (2) the trip from work to home. Even after covid. If you want to know what's outdated, it's the assumption that the only trips that count are the work commute trips.

Errands aren’t going to drive ridership to the projected level. Only the presence of new major employers will do that. Instead of making up unrealistic claims about people doing their errands using the purple line, focus on improving business conditions so that Bethesda and Silver Spring attract more jobs. None of the things that the left YIMBYs want will happen without more jobs and yet at every turn you ignore the problem or support ideas that make it worse.

Exactly. And the Purple Line on its own will not attract new businesses. What will attract new businesses is better access to NOVA. Yet the left YIMBYs are NIMBY when it comes to that issue, which should be a priority for economic development.

There is literally new economic development going on at Chevy Chase lake where there will be a purple line stop. Amazon Fresh, apartments, ice cream, wine, etc...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was looking at the Google Map someone made of the Purple Line route. It looks like it will really benefit Univ of Md with three stops and the connection to Metro. I think the Purple Line will raise the profile of the school among prospective applicants (especially those from out of state who would marvel at the novelty of the thing). That’s what happened when the Portland Streetcar famously built the line through the plaza of Portland State University 25 years ago.

Funny how UMD initially fought the Purple Line and tried to block it, like Duke University did with their proposed light rail.

UMD is definitely going to be boosted by the PL. The main immediate benefit will be a more regular connection from the metro station than the current shuttles. But also, UMD is expanding into the Discovery Disctrict, and there's two stops there. Students, faculty, and staff will have free rides in the 5 stops around UMD, so I expect those to be heavily used (that portion will also be the slowest part of the PL due to all the students crossing the tracks, hopefully they will be safe).

And I didn't even mention the increased ease to go to, or commute from, SS and Bethesday. I fully expect the PL will become a critical part of the regional infrastructure a few short years after opening.

Commuting from Bethesda will take one hour on the Purple Line, station to station. That will not be a favored option by anyone who cares about their time.

Bethesda to the middle of UMD campus will be 35 min station to station.

Correction, 35 min to the edge of campus on Adelphi Rd, 39 to the middle of campus.

And how much time to get to Bethesda station from home? From a lot of Bethesda you can do that same trip from your house in 30 minutes.

If your point is that someone will live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, anyone that can afford that rent values their time and no one that values their time would waste it pointlessly on the Purple Line.

The people who livei n apartments in downtown Bethesda are not the primary targeted demographics for the purple line. The purple line will be primarily for people who live in PG County, Takoma Park, Silver Spring, White Oak who have to travel to work over in the Bethesda area. People that can't afford to live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, but who have to work in Montgomery County. These are people who have spent hours on busses or on the Metro to go down into the city and back out the other way, or people who have to negotiate with a family member for use of a shared car. Going the other way, it is for people who live in Montgomery county, but are going to school at UMD. This will get a ton of cars off of the overly congested Beltway and East-West Highway and get those roads less crowded for those who will still commute by car.

What are these jobs you speak of? Bethesda has attracted one major employer in the past two decades and that employer is having trouble filling its office. More recently, landlords have torn down office buildings to put up housing for people who commute to DC. The number of commuters at UMCP has dropped by about half in the past two decades and a lot of those still come from north of campus, not east or west.

The Purple Line is solving problems from 20 or 30 years ago. How many years will it take to break even under even the most favorable benefit calculations? The money would have been better spent creating a better link with NoVa and getting Walter Reed and NIH commuters off of 355.

What are these jobs? The minimum wage workers at Giant, Safetway and Trader's Joes. The barristas who make your lattes at Starbucks. The janitorial staff for the various businesses and buildings in Bethesda. People who work at the desk or housekeeping at the Hyatt Regency and the Hilton. Those who work at the Dunkin Donuts and the clerks at the gas stations and convenience stores. Nannies for local families. There are thousands of low income staff at many of the businesses in the Bethesda and Chevy Chase area who can't really afford to live in the Bethesda/Chevy Chase area. A significant number live in PG county or eastern Montgomery County and may commute via the green line down and the red line back out. Or take busses. But WMATA has been cutting many bus lines over recent years. My spouse now has full-time telework because my spouse cannot drive to work and the bus that spouse used to take to work was canceled by WMATA.

I have this feeling that you live in Montgomery County and are a NIMBY. I live in PG County and the Purple Line is very popular in PG County as one more way to make jobs in Montgomery County more accessible. I know a number of people who work in lower wage positions in Silver Spring or Bethesda areas who can't wait for the line to open up to solve some of their commuting issues. These people cannot afford to live in Bethesda and right now and looking forward to having a new mode of public transportation that goes around the beltway rather than as a spoke into town.

Do you think those jobs are going to generate 74,000 trips a day? That was the usage assumption when the Purple Line was approved.

And why do you focus on low wage workers? I’ll bet you’re a NIMBY who doesn’t want to live near poor people and you just expect them to commute from other places to make your latte and clean your bathrooms.

Think about all the trips you make that aren't (1) the trip from home to work or (2) the trip from work to home. Even after covid. If you want to know what's outdated, it's the assumption that the only trips that count are the work commute trips.

Errands aren’t going to drive ridership to the projected level. Only the presence of new major employers will do that. Instead of making up unrealistic claims about people doing their errands using the purple line, focus on improving business conditions so that Bethesda and Silver Spring attract more jobs. None of the things that the left YIMBYs want will happen without more jobs and yet at every turn you ignore the problem or support ideas that make it worse.

Exactly. And the Purple Line on its own will not attract new businesses. What will attract new businesses is better access to NOVA. Yet the left YIMBYs are NIMBY when it comes to that issue, which should be a priority for economic development.

I don't understand. Are you saying that Montgomery County's economic development policy should focus on making it easier for people to get to northern Virginia? Because if so, that's really ... something.

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Anonymous wrote:I was looking at the Google Map someone made of the Purple Line route. It looks like it will really benefit Univ of Md with three stops and the connection to Metro. I think the Purple Line will raise the profile of the school among prospective applicants (especially those from out of state who would marvel at the novelty of the thing). That’s what happened when the Portland Streetcar famously built the line through the plaza of Portland State University 25 years ago.

Funny how UMD initially fought the Purple Line and tried to block it, like Duke University did with their proposed light rail.

UMD is definitely going to be boosted by the PL. The main immediate benefit will be a more regular connection from the metro station than the current shuttles. But also, UMD is expanding into the Discovery Disctrict, and there's two stops there. Students, faculty, and staff will have free rides in the 5 stops around UMD, so I expect those to be heavily used (that portion will also be the slowest part of the PL due to all the students crossing the tracks, hopefully they will be safe).

And I didn't even mention the increased ease to go to, or commute from, SS and Bethesday. I fully expect the PL will become a critical part of the regional infrastructure a few short years after opening.

Commuting from Bethesda will take one hour on the Purple Line, station to station. That will not be a favored option by anyone who cares about their time.

Bethesda to the middle of UMD campus will be 35 min station to station.

Correction, 35 min to the edge of campus on Adelphi Rd, 39 to the middle of campus.

And how much time to get to Bethesda station from home? From a lot of Bethesda you can do that same trip from your house in 30 minutes.

If your point is that someone will live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, anyone that can afford that rent values their time and no one that values their time would waste it pointlessly on the Purple Line.

The people who livei n apartments in downtown Bethesda are not the primary targeted demographics for the purple line. The purple line will be primarily for people who live in PG County, Takoma Park, Silver Spring, White Oak who have to travel to work over in the Bethesda area. People that can't afford to live in an apartment in downtown Bethesda, but who have to work in Montgomery County. These are people who have spent hours on busses or on the Metro to go down into the city and back out the other way, or people who have to negotiate with a family member for use of a shared car. Going the other way, it is for people who live in Montgomery county, but are going to school at UMD. This will get a ton of cars off of the overly congested Beltway and East-West Highway and get those roads less crowded for those who will still commute by car.

What are these jobs you speak of? Bethesda has attracted one major employer in the past two decades and that employer is having trouble filling its office. More recently, landlords have torn down office buildings to put up housing for people who commute to DC. The number of commuters at UMCP has dropped by about half in the past two decades and a lot of those still come from north of campus, not east or west.

The Purple Line is solving problems from 20 or 30 years ago. How many years will it take to break even under even the most favorable benefit calculations? The money would have been better spent creating a better link with NoVa and getting Walter Reed and NIH commuters off of 355.

What are these jobs? The minimum wage workers at Giant, Safetway and Trader's Joes. The barristas who make your lattes at Starbucks. The janitorial staff for the various businesses and buildings in Bethesda. People who work at the desk or housekeeping at the Hyatt Regency and the Hilton. Those who work at the Dunkin Donuts and the clerks at the gas stations and convenience stores. Nannies for local families. There are thousands of low income staff at many of the businesses in the Bethesda and Chevy Chase area who can't really afford to live in the Bethesda/Chevy Chase area. A significant number live in PG county or eastern Montgomery County and may commute via the green line down and the red line back out. Or take busses. But WMATA has been cutting many bus lines over recent years. My spouse now has full-time telework because my spouse cannot drive to work and the bus that spouse used to take to work was canceled by WMATA.

I have this feeling that you live in Montgomery County and are a NIMBY. I live in PG County and the Purple Line is very popular in PG County as one more way to make jobs in Montgomery County more accessible. I know a number of people who work in lower wage positions in Silver Spring or Bethesda areas who can't wait for the line to open up to solve some of their commuting issues. These people cannot afford to live in Bethesda and right now and looking forward to having a new mode of public transportation that goes around the beltway rather than as a spoke into town.

Do you think those jobs are going to generate 74,000 trips a day? That was the usage assumption when the Purple Line was approved.

And why do you focus on low wage workers? I’ll bet you’re a NIMBY who doesn’t want to live near poor people and you just expect them to commute from other places to make your latte and clean your bathrooms.

Think about all the trips you make that aren't (1) the trip from home to work or (2) the trip from work to home. Even after covid. If you want to know what's outdated, it's the assumption that the only trips that count are the work commute trips.

Errands aren’t going to drive ridership to the projected level. Only the presence of new major employers will do that. Instead of making up unrealistic claims about people doing their errands using the purple line, focus on improving business conditions so that Bethesda and Silver Spring attract more jobs. None of the things that the left YIMBYs want will happen without more jobs and yet at every turn you ignore the problem or support ideas that make it worse.

Exactly. And the Purple Line on its own will not attract new businesses. What will attract new businesses is better access to NOVA. Yet the left YIMBYs are NIMBY when it comes to that issue, which should be a priority for economic development.

There is literally new economic development going on at Chevy Chase lake where there will be a purple line stop. Amazon Fresh, apartments, ice cream, wine, etc...

You seem to have a lot of trouble understanding the scale of development and job growth necessary to justify the Purple Line. The Amazon Fresh doesn’t even employ cashiers and the ice cream store only has 2-3 people working in it at a time.