GREETINGS

FROM THE

FUTURE

As residents of Montgomery County continue to struggle with the antiquated, 1960s-era transportation network our elected officials have left us with, I have new statistics from another part of the country where transportation is moving forward.

Valley Metro Rail in Phoenix, Arizona has proven again the potential of light rail transit. It is a 20 mile line that, importantly, connects popular destinations, according to Trains magazine's John Diers.

Diers' report offers the following statistics:

Ridership is 6,000 riders-per-day over projections, and expected to reach 45,000 by 2020

35% of the line's riders are new to mass transit

12 ton-a-day reduction in air pollution

Average revenue of businesses along the line increased 13%, while business revenues off of the line declined 16% during the same period.

One other thing about Phoenix, like many other jurisdictions, elected officials have had the guts to put specific transit projects on the ballot for voters to approve expenditures, bonds, or new revenue. Unlike around here.

These numbers suggest that optimistic predictions about the long-overdue Purple Line and CCT have some basis in fact. But those are just the beginning, along with many equally-overdue highway and road improvements or projects.

Send this message back in time to our county council and state government, who have run all of their budgets into the ground with tax-and-spend policies, while ignoring the serious issues of our time.