Have you ever walked 20 minutes in the snow to the College Park Metro Station, bickering the whole time with a disgruntled boyfriend or girlfriend, just to wait another 20 minutes for a train on the outdoor platform as the wind cuts through you like butter, angry because you have to transfer at Fort Totten and then must wait even longer in the cold for a Red Line train to Silver Spring because your significant other wants to go see some effing indie film (that you of course haven’t heard of) because High School Musical 3 at the Beltway Plaza movie theater just wasn’t good enough? Don’t you wish there was a solution that didn’t involve the words “It’s not you; it’s me?”
There is! Say hello to the Purple Line, 16 miles of relationship-, internship- and sanity-preserving mass-transit goodness. There are numerous environmental benefits, as well, but this project could improve your life so much that Mother Nature will be purple with jealousy. If, and when, this sucker comes to fruition, everyone from students to faculty to tailgaters will have an easy, one-seat ride from the campus to Bethesda’s insanely expensive shopping to Silver Spring’s restaurants to New Carrollton’s certifiable connections to Amtrak. Going home for Thanksgiving? Whether you’re from Rockville or Long Island, the Purple Line can take you there.
Set to start running by 2015 at the earliest, the Purple Line will be either a rapid bus line (as seen in Pittsburgh and Boston) or a light-rail line (as seen in Baltimore and Philadelphia). It will utilize existing tracks and extra rights-of-way on local roads to cut a path across Montgomery and Prince George’s counties just inside the Beltway. The vehicles are a little slower than those used on the other five Metro lines, but they’re not powered by an electrified third rail, meaning they can run in the middle of a street like a trolley. With four Purple Line stops on the campus, skipping class will never be easier.
I know what you’re saying: There’s gotta be a catch. How’s this thing so magically convenient? Well, unlike other Metro lines, the Purple Line doesn’t go anywhere near Washington. As it’s currently set up, the Metro only accommodates people who live in the suburbs and commute to Washington, just like planners meant it to when the system was designed 40 years ago. Commuting from College Park to Washington by train is easy and fast – but going from College Park to Silver Spring or Bethesda is time-consuming, filled with long rides, transfers and a sneaking suspicion that your date’s going to ditch you for someone with a car.
If you enjoyed waiting two hours to vote last week, you’ll love testifying at a public hearing for the Purple Line today, right here in College Park. One of four being held throughout the area, the meeting – from 5 to 9 p.m. at Ritchie Coliseum – will give people the opportunity to tell the Maryland Transit Administration what they think about the project before they make a final decision about how the project is designed and built.
Truth be told, you (and your boyfriend or girlfriend) will probably not be here when the Purple Line finally rolls into the campus. It’s disappointing that a brief college fling can’t withstand the test of time the way a Metro line can, but generations of future lovebirds will thank you for making their movie dates that much more bearable.
Dan Reed is a senior architecture and English major. He can be reached at reeddbk@gmail.com.
