On Light Rail, Maryland Looks to Phoenix For What’s-to-Come

In an effort to understand what residents along the Purple Line—a planned light rail system that will connect suburbs in Maryland—the Washington Post looked to the changes affected by a similar line in Phoenix, Arizona.

What Phoenix now offers — more reliable public transportation, another alternative to gas-guzzling vehicles, new development rejuvenating areas around stations — is what the Maryland Transit Administration envisions for a 16-mile Purple Line between Bethesda and New Carrollton. State planners have said they expect to be granted federal permission this summer to do more detailed engineering on the $1.93 billion project. It’s still unclear where construction money would come from.

The message of the July 9 story was clear: if the Purple Line is anything like Phoenix’s—and it should be, with Maryland officials employing the consulting firm used by the City of Phoenix, a firm that wowed with their attention to detail and passenger comfort—residents will love the train, but can expect significant growing pains.

Those pains include extended construction work that will inhibit movement along busy urban corridors, which will hurt businesses along the corridor.  There is also a safety issue, with light rail cars sharing road with automobiles unused to their presence.  Finally, there is the cost of the line itself; Maryland transportation officials estimate that in addition to the $1.93 billion construction and engineering costs, there will be an $18 million annual operating costs.

Critics view these factors as reasons enough not to have built the line, pointing to buses as a cheaper alternative.

The public has a far different story to tell about the line, however, praising its efficiency and on time performance while voicing hopes for extension of the line.

That story is echoed in ridership figures, with the line averaging 39,000 per weekday—a figure which exceeds projections by 51 percent.  And businesses along the corridor that were able to weather the hassle of construction have seen their property values shoot up and residential development return to once economically desolate areas.  Phoenix transit officials have also been able to dramatically reduce fender-benders along the route through a coordinated public awareness campaign, cutting collisions from 52 in the first year of operation to 25 the following year.

Perhaps the most telling testimony comes from an official who was the biggest detractor of the Phoenix light rail line in the planning and construction phases.

Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman (R) said he initially objected to taxpayer subsidies for light rail. But he said he changed his mind after seeing the transformation of a dilapidated stretch between downtown Phoenix and Tempe. The city of Tempe had spent “tens of millions of dollars” over three decades trying to attract the kind of investment that the light rail line drew in just a few years, he said… “As a transportation investment,” Hallman said, “the payment back to the community pretty well takes care of the investment.”