Reply to Bethesda Row after the Purple Line Opens?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]11 billion dollars for a train as slow as a bus![/quote]

I mean, it's not.

But yes, the Purple Line should have cost much, much, much less. And it would have cost much, much, much less, if not for

1. the ICC
2. Robert Ehrlich's delays
3. lobbying by the Columbia Country Club and the Town of Chevy Chase
4. frivolous lawsuits by Chevy Chase residents
5. an objectively terrible judge who sat on one of the frivolous lawsuits
6. Larry Hogan's gross mismanagement

Opponents of the Purple Line have only themselves to blame for the high cost of the Purple Line.[/quote]
The Purple Line has several at grade crossings. So yes, it’s just a glorified bus that is a waste of dedicated right of way.

Blaming the ICC, which is the model for highway projects, for the Purple Line cost escalation is hilarious.

I note that you leave out O’Malley, MDOT and proponents who also have a lot to answer for.

- Extending the Purple Line to New Carrollton for no obvious reason is a massive waste of money that proponents demanded. It should have never extended beyond College Park. Billions upon billions wasted on superfluous land acquisition, track, additional stations, moving utilities, and additional rolling stock for no obvious reason. Additionally, the number of stations in PG County is ludicrous and significantly increases travel times.

- Using a bogus ridership projections to justify light rail over BRT due to increased O&M for buses at those ludicrous levels of utilization is another major factor that has delayed the project and escalated costs. Ridership projections never supported the additional capital cost for light rail until O’Malley and MDOT asked the consultants to take another look and miraculously new projections were produced that were ludicrous on their face and to this day neither the raw data nor model have been released because MDOT claims that it’s proprietary. They claim, with a straight face, that it will net 75,000 per day that won’t cannibalize existing transit ridership.

Whatever costs you attribute to “NIMBYs” delays and project management don’t hold a candle to cost escalation that Maryland political corruption added to the project. [/quote]

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