Bleg: Vote Light Rail

For those of you that support better transit in Maryland, the Post is doing an online survey of preferred options for the Purple Line.  Light Rail is handily winning, but since polling is rare for this sort of thing, it’s worth a little effort to run up the margins.  So far there’s less than 900 votes, so if ten of you vote we can move it a percentage point closer to 90%.  Pretty dang simple since it’s a one question poll, assuming you have a Post login already, but I’m assuming most of you that live in the area do.

Now as to the content of the article.  It’s a piece by Katherine Shaver noting the substantial support for light rail despite higher cost.

Here’s the summary of the arguments:

The state's study estimated that by 2030 bus rapid transit would generate as many as 58,900 daily trips while light rail would attract as many as 68,100. A light-rail line's capacity also could be increased more easily than a busway's, supporters say.

Most important, rail supporters say, fixed tracks attract developers who want to ensure that people have a fast and permanent way to ride transit to their shops, restaurants, condominiums and office buildings…

Busway supporters say a bus rapid transit system would bear little resemblance to the lumbering buses to which Washingtonians are accustomed. The buses are sleeker and roomier, proponents say, and outperform traditional models by using exclusive lanes and stopping much less frequently, only at designated stations.

I think the key argument is capacity.  The buses are basically maxing out around 60k whereas Light Rail can go a good deal higher.  Basically you can only run any sort of transit so often, so once you hit that point raising capacity means longer vehicles which means rail.  There are busways in the DC Metro area that certainly could use moves towards bus rapid transit, but in an already developed area like the DC Metro area it’s so dang politically hard to get the designated right of way, even for busses, that you might as well fully exploit it.  This is particularly the case when you have a county owned right of way like the Georgetown Branch which is perfect for rail because it was already a rail line in the past.

Anyways, please take a minute to vote.  The more overwhelming the margin, the easier to convince officials of public support.

Comments

[Moti]

This would be great if it actually happens. I could so have used the Purple Line when I lived there. I have indeed voted.

This seems to be a problem wherever I go in North America, though. We need more public transit just about everywhere. At least this is a realistic program I can support (and maybe use next time I visit down there).

[Greg Sanders]

So you find the situation in Canada isn't much better? I've ridden public transit in a few of the major cities and gone around via VIA but don't have a firm impression on the quality vs. say Europe.

[Moti]

Oh, it's better here, I think, and in Toronto, as well, but it could still be improved. There have been proposals here in Montreal to extend the blue line west, for instance, that would help a lot. But I suppose I shouldn't complain much; I'm pretty much set, as everyday life goes. I think further west, it's not as good, but I haven't been there, so I don't really feel qualified to say.