Reply to Bethesda Row after the Purple Line Opens?

Forum Index » Metropolitan DC Local Politics

Reply to "Bethesda Row after the Purple Line Opens?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The Purple Line will be slower than existing rail service from Silver Spring to College Park. You think that because it’s not a bus that makes it okay and not a colossal waste of money?

For all of the most obvious use cases, it will either be the same or slower than existing transit. What’s the point of this thing?

[/quote]

The most obvious use case, in fact the original use case, is Bethesda-Silver Spring. 8.9 minutes on the Purple Line, 21 minutes (or more, depending on traffic) on the J2 bus.[/quote]
11 Billion dollars to take a few thousand people per day 4 miles 12 minutes faster.

[/quote]

Just wait 'til you hear about highway projects![/quote]
Actually, there is a highway project nearby that provides a great competitor.

MD-200 aka the ICC is 29 miles, cost $2.4 billion to build, serves 35 million vehicles per year and generates over $60 million per year in revenue which means that the capital costs will be paid off in 20 years.

There will never be a transit project that is anywhere close to this successful.

So please tell me more about highway projects. [/quote]

There are people in my friend group that are anti rail transit and pro highway. But I always point out that DC would be a much less attractive and livable city if the spaghetti network of freeways was built over the city, demolishing the historic rowhouse neighborhoods and towns like Takoma Park that we all enjoy today. Instead we have Metro, while not perfect it has brought numerous economic benefits to the city, including the revitalization and beautification of commercial streets like 14th.

Over the long term perhaps the Purple Line will revitalize communities like Langley Park. Already the historic neon Flower Theater Marquee was restored in anticipation of the Purple Line. I don’t expect fast suburb to suburb RER type service (Paris), but it will still serve as a vital connection between neighborhoods along the route, spurring economic development. [/quote]
The purple line had limited transit utility because it’s slower and less convenient than driving. So it’s unlikely that it will transform anywhere significantly. However, the best case for Purple Line transformation is probably downtown Silver Spring. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics