Steve Burns
WMAL.com

WASHINGTON – (WMAL) It’s far from the first time the Purple Line has been declared nearly dead, after years getting held up in court. But the latest ruling to delay the project could be a fatal blow, given the current makeup of the White House and Congress. It has opponents celebrating, and advocates of the line pulling out all the stops in a last-ditch effort to save the project.

Judge Richard Leon on Monday ruled planners did not adequately take into account a decline in Metro ridership over the past few years when forecasting the Purple Line’s ridership. The Purple Line is not affiliated with WMATA, but would connect to four of its stations along the route in Bethesda, Silver Spring, College Park, and New Carrollton. Supporters called the ruling “absurd” and “flawed,” given that leaders anticipate Metro to be on a much better footing by the time the Purple Line would open in 2022, and especially by the time the Purple Line is expected to hit peak ridership in 2040.

Federal funding is in place through September, but it’s unclear how long the appeal process may take.

If Congress can override President Trump to support the Purple Line once, Montgomery County Council President Roger Berliner said, they can do it again.

“My belief is Congress will continue to stand by the Purple Line while we work through this legal process,” he told WMAL.

Still, opponents of the line like Ajay Bhatt of the Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail, the original plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said this is an opportunity to take stock of the project and look at other options.

“There’s a technological revolution going on today in transportation,” Bhatt told WMAL. “Many companies are talking about automated vehicles in a shorter timeframe than what the Purple Line’s first trip would be.”

Bhatt said the original cost doubling should have been reason enough to restart the studies. Regardless, he said, the project needed to be put on hold.

“Fortunately, we have a third branch of government that takes a look at this, because the politics behind this obviously pushed it too far,” he said.

Bhatt said Bus Rapid Transit had been identified as being more cost-effective, but Purple Line advocates like Ronit Dancis of the Action Committee for Transit said that ship has sailed.

“This has been studied repeatedly, and that issue is closed,” Dancis told WMAL. “That’s just a completely out of touch suggestion. You get so much more bang for your buck if you do a light rail line rather than buses.”

Plus, Dancis said, anyone who suggests Metro’s falling ridership means fewer transit riders region-wide should see the current conditions on her daily commute from Bethesda to Silver Spring.

“I can tell you that whatever Metro ridership is doing, those buses are still full and folks are still going east-west, suburb to suburb.”

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