Another local politics post that is less relevant to readers not living in the local jurisdiction (unless they live in a bordering jurisdiction) follows.
This tweet came into my notifications on May 23, 2022.
https://twitter.com/justupthepike/status/1528085839724552192?s=21&t=NdWiFI7KLx4rn5GAn8q9Cw
sharing this link
by Peter James a Montgomery County, MD county executive candidate. No party disclosed in candidate disclosure.
https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/opinion/opinion-the-purple-line-debacle-could-have-been-avoided/
These 2 tweets replied.
https://twitter.com/benharris_1/status/1528200170256617478?s=21&t=NdWiFI7KLx4rn5GAn8q9Cw
https://twitter.com/beyonddc/status/1528208156467527680?s=21&t=NdWiFI7KLx4rn5GAn8q9Cw
Peter James was reviving the same automated, driverless, transit vehicle technology 'solution' to traffic congestion and individual mobility. The labor costs to operate and maintain it are dismissed and minimized by contracting the work out in order to kill union organizing for dignified pay packages.
In April 2003 G Stanley Doore spoke about essentially the same 'solution' to a group of civic associations all over Montgomery County, MD. Mostly the members are single family homeowners whose primary interest is maximizing their resale profit to replace lower than expected retirement investment returns. The homeowners might have, and as housing prices move ever upward, spent early retirement savings on a down payment. Homeowners are cash-poor for retirement savings as much as long term renters are cash-poor for either retirement savings or first home purchases absent large income increases or generational wealth transfers (inheritances and gifts).
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G Stanley Doore died in April 2020.
In a July 30, 2008 letter in the out of business Gazette G Stanley Doore continued his support of monorail to appeal to opposition to Purple line rail routing through downtown Silver Spring. Copy-paste your humble blog author grabbed before the Gazette closure added because there's nothing to link to.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Look, up in the sky! It’s the Purple Line
Wayne Avenue residents oppose the Purple Line at street level, however, they suggest taxpayers pay an additional $420 million to the projected $1.63 billion capital cost to put it underground (‘‘Wayne Ave. residents sign-on to Purple Line opposition,” July 16 [2008] article).
So, how about building a driverless, elevated moonbeam-monorail system?
A driverless elevated monobeam rail transit system has major benefits: (1) It costs much less to build than going underground. (2) It has the capacity nearly that of Metrorail. (3) It avoids adding to road congestion. (4) It’s safer, since it won’t kill or maim people or damage property like surface-based light rail transit systems have done in the past. (5) It’s faster since it can go up to 70 mph in urban areas and over 200 mph between cities. (6) It’s less expensive and faster to build and is about 60 percent less expensive to operate. (7) It’s lighter weight than trolley and therefore takes less electricity and less cost to operate. (8) It’s quieter since it uses flat steel wheels on cushioned flat rails. (9) It uses an elevated 6.6-foot wide beam for two-way simultaneous travel. (10) It can go through environmentally sensitive areas with little disruption. (11) It takes less surface space without damaging the area except for a pylon about every 110 feet. (12) It would be more convenient and rider-friendly than trolley. (13) It could pay for itself within 20 years using Metrorail fare rates.
The added $420 million to go underground to the already projected capital cost of the 16-mile Purple Line could be used to build an additional 10 miles of a two-way elevated monobeam structure, or it could reduce the cost of the proposed $1.63 billion Purple Line capital cost.
G. Stanley Doore, Silver Spring
On June 7, 2007 on page T19 in the Montgomery Extra Thursday local news section the Washington Post printed this letter
Why do planners still insist on destroying the Capital Crescent Trail for the Purple Line?
Adding more stations to the proposed Purple Line [Montgomery Extra, May 31] to serve more people is a good idea. However, building it along the trail is a very bad idea since it doesn't add many riders, as would the route via the National Institutes of Health and the expanding National Naval Medical Center where Walter Reed Army Medical Center is being built.
Fixed-guideway light rail trolley is a very bad idea. A bus rapid transit busway is far better than a fixed guideway because buses could enter and exit the bus travel lanes from many points, whereas rail cannot. Fixed-guideway rail would require people to bus and transfer to rail and then transfer from rail to bus to get to specific destinations. Busways avoid this.
Moreover, hybrid diesel-electric buses have more torque for better acceleration, and they have energy recovery that conventional buses do not have. And diesel-electric buses can get up to 40 percent more miles per gallon of fuel. These factors place light rail trolley at a considerable disadvantage compared with the advantages of bus transit, which can serve more people.
Elevated monorail systems (new and existing) around the world locate stations about a kilometer apart (0.62 miles), which is comparable to the new Purple Line proposal. Monorail systems are mostly elevated to get out of the way of surface travel and congestion, and they provide better land use. They are also safer.
Driverless elevated monobeam (cantilevered monorail) costs about 70 percent less than light rail trolley and buses to operate, and therefore monobeam can pay for itself, including construction costs, in less than 20 years. And monobeam has nearly the capacity of Metrorail. A study by the Montgomery County government recommended that elevated monobeam be considered in any transit planning. Why isn't it?
At least now planners are beginning to look more at serving the public. However, they need to go much further.
G. Stanley Doore
Silver Spring
making the outright opposition to the light rail purple line. That opposition has succeeded in raising the costs if not stopping the construction and scrapping the project entirely.
Peter James May 2022 article is simply digging up the same old, failed, proposals as G Stanley Doore. Let Doore and his driverless monorail ideas for Montgomery County, MD rest instead of restating them for the benefit of Peter James' candidacy for county executive.
