The Purple Line fight continues

From the Action Committee for Transit:

STATE FINDS FLAWS IN BUS ALTERNATIVE TO PURPLE LINE

Deep flaws in the bus route alternative to the Purple Line backed by the Town of Chevy Chase are revealed in a new letter from Maryland Transportation Secretary John Porcari.

Purple Line backers see the letter as added confirmation that light rail is the best solution for improving transportation between Bethesda, Silver Spring, College Park, and New Carrollton. New figures show light rail could carry 68,000 riders per day.

Under the Town's plan, diesel buses would run next to the Capital Crescent Trail in Silver Spring. The buses would avoid the portion of the trail that adjoins the Town, instead following Jones Bridge Road and Woodmont Avenue into Bethesda.

A report by the Town's consultant, Sam Schwartz PLLC, argued that transit could move almost as quickly on Jones Bridge Road as along the light rail by having lights turn green whenever a bus approaches. The Porcari letter points out that this is impossible where Jones Bridge Road crosses Connecticut and Wisconsin Avenues because these heavily traveled roads would be hopelessly snarled by frequent red lights. The letter also identifies additional errors in the Schwartz report.
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It's really worth reading the letter, which raises something we haven't thought of. WMATA is likely to manage the Purple Line once it is ready for operation, and it appears that MTA anticipates that Purple Line fares will not be calculated separately from the subway, but as a part of a consolidated fare structure linking heavy rail (subway) and light rail trips into one fare.

2. Action Committee for Transit is really great. Along with the Sierra Club Metro DC Healthy Communities campaign, they have kept the Purple Line concept (first proposed in the early 1990s by Mark Jenkins, then writing for the Washington City Paper, in a cover story that I wish the City Paper would put online) alive, and are responsible for getting it back on the table when 3 years ago, pending the approval of the Inter County Connector by the Ehrlich Administration, it was all but dead.

3. Now if they could get Virginia to take up planning a continuation of the Purple Line into the Reston/Tysons area.

Sierra Club image.