Maryland students unite to avoid District
Posted by: Anna Bank in District News, Transit
Metro map with proposed silver and purple lines
University of Maryland-College Park students have formed a new campus organization in hopes of drumming up support for the Purple Line, a proposed Metro line that would connect the Red, Green, and Orange Lines and keep suburbanites from ever having to enter the dirty District:
Student government president Jonathan S. Sachs, said the “Terps for the Purple Line” coalition is “one of the broadest we’ve seen.” It includes the campus NAACP chapter, Black Student Union, Latino Student Union, Hispanic Heritage Coalition, Graduate Student Government and the campus chapter of the Maryland Public Interest Research Group (PIRG).
It’s not surprising that such a diverse array of student groups has signed on (who wouldn’t want to cut down on travel time?), but it’s a strange cause for short-sighted college students in general, since the Maryland Transit Administration fact sheet (PDF) says that the construction would begin at the absolute earliest in 2012 (between friends: 2020.)
Metro map by Eric Fidler
Entries (RSS)
July 25th, 2008 at 9:25 am
On the other hand, a primary beneficiary of the project will be students either living on campus or nearby. Already, less than 50% of commuters to campus drive, meaning many are taking transit. This is something students know well, but our administration has been slow to realize.