Projected Purple Line ridership is high

Whatever happened to the Purple Line?
Originally uploaded by rllayman

From the Action Committee for Transit:

Preliminary ridership estimates released tonight by the Maryland Transportation Administration show that the Purple Line will rank high compared to light rail projects in other cities, with which it must compete for Federal funding.

MTA's computer projections show that the Purple Line can carry between 42,000 and 47,000 riders per day. This compares with an average of 31,400 for other projects now under consideration in the Federal Transit Administration's approval process.

Federal funding decisions are not based on ridership alone, but also consider cost, commuters' time savings, and economic development potential. MTA will release numbers for all Federal criteria when it issues a draft environmental impact statement next spring. Still, the high ridership numbers are an excellent sign for the future of the Purple Line.

The range of 42,000 to 47,000 is for MTA's "medium" and "high" light rail options. A "low" option analyzed by the MTA had lower ridership and offered negligible cost savings compared to the "medium" option.

Daily ridership projections for competing light rail projects, compiled by Tom Autrey of the Montgomery County Planning Board staff, are as follows:

• Denver West Corridor - 28,300
• Portland South Corridor - 45,500
• Norfolk - 6,500
• Seattle University Link Extenstion - 40,200
• Sacramento South Corridor - 11,300
• San Francisco Central Subway - 44,700
• St Paul/Minneapolis Central Corridor - 43,300
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Purple Line Open Houses:

All meetings are from 5:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007
College Park City Hall
4500 Knox Road
College Park, MD 20740

Monday, December 10, 2007
Langley Park Community Center
1500 Merrimac Drive
Hyattsville, MD 20783

Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Cafeteria
4301 East-West Highway
Bethesda, MD 20814

Thursday, December 13, 2007
(Snow Date: Tuesday, December 18, 2007)
West Lanham Hills Recreation Center
7700 Decatur Road
Landover Hills, MD 20784