Reply to Bethesda Row after the Purple Line Opens?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]According to the U.S. Dept of Transportation the Purple Line will travel times by 40% and eliminate 17,000 auto trips daily. Those are the benefits. So even the auto-dependent should benefit from less road congestion.

Crime uptick would be minimal in my opinion, since it is relatively slow transit, not conducive to successful getaways.

Overall the pros outweigh the cons, otherwise why would a republican governor publically support it? [/quote]

It will never break even. The annual cost of the purple line for MD (net of fares collected) will be around $194.7 million. This means that the average cost per car trip avoided is $31.2. That is a very poor use of funds and it will not save the taxpayers money in comparison to driving or expanded bus routes. [/quote]

Roads don't break even either so no worries.[/quote]

The cost to MD for these 17,000 daily trips is drastically more expensive than it would be using or bus or passenger vehicle transportation. MD spends $285 per person per year on roads.  The total cost of this 17,000 daily vehicle traffic (using avg. VMT per person each day) is around $48,450,000 annually, the cost of the purple line metro extension per year is $194,700,00. This transportation method is at least 4 times as costly using the most generous assumptions. I did not even adjust for the fact that the average trip displaced by the the metro is shorter than 25 miles and that passenger vehicles often contain multiple people. [/quote]

Now add in the cost of externalities unique to driving such as climate change road deaths and emergency response crews.[/quote]

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