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The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board voted unanimously today to add the Purple Line to its long-range transportation plan, a key approval in the lengthy process to build the new line. Whether the proposed 16-mile line connecting Bethesda to New Carrollton will be light rail or bus rapid transit is still an open question, but a decision on that could happen as early as the end of the summer, assuming the next step, an environmental review process, doesn't drag on and on.
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Great. Now they only have to terminate with extreme prejudice every member of the Chevy Chase Neighborhood Association, who've been standing in the way of every attempt at expanding mass transit through their precious country club for the last 20 years.
I'd offer my services, but I'm no longer licensed to terminate in MD. Thank you, Parris Glendenning.
One small step for public transportation, one giant leap for civilization.
Okay, let's cut to the chase on this. Any transit option is - right now - most likely a pathetic waste of money.
Why? The answer is simple. No one - no supporter of any option - has any idea what use/ridership will be, not for light rail, bus rapid transit, any other option.
Not a single taxpayer was asked by anyone in the entire planning process "if they would ride" a particular option, how it would benefit potential riders, etc. Instead, people were asked if they "support" one option or another and computer models were used to "estimate" ridership. I would love to be corrected, but I personally asked anyone who would listen if they could share the consumer research data on who would ride/use the different options etc. I was continually presented with computer model analysis of “similar” environments and how many people said they “supported” a particular option.
Let me ask you this. If you – personally – were starting a business, would you:
a) Ask people what product they would “support” or vote for?
b) Survey and interview your target market to understand what product they wanted and would pay money for/buy?
If you answered a), I have some land to sell you!!
You do not have to take any side of this argument to realize and admit how insane spending $1, let alone hundreds of millions to billions of dollars, on any of the options is without taking the most simple (and inexpensive by the way) of steps - thoroughly surveying, analyzing, and understanding who will use a particular option, with what frequency, how riders make choices and tradeoffs with their transportation needs, dollars, time, etc.
Whatever is built, please be clear, it will be built with absolutely ZERO understanding of how people may or may not actually use it. Whatever is built, it will be done so based on political values and not on what should be the determining factors – consumer research on who will use it!!
We have no idea if people will ride light rail, bus rapid transit, etc. We just know what people - most of whom would not ride either option by the way - would vote to build.
I do have a preference on the issue, but that is irrelevant. If the proper research is done and it says build light rail, build the outer Purple Line, implement bus rapid transit or whatever, I am in!!
Congratulations on inefficiently spending many many millions of taxpayer money while also ruining a very nice tract of tree lined trail property forever based on none of the facts that matter!!
Nice work!! Good luck Governor O’Malley on explaining this one 20 years from now!!