"Our over-reliance on cars and $4-per-gallon gasoline has led us to dig a really deep hole for ourselves. The Purple Line is the ladder that helps us climb up out of this hole toward the light of rational land use, friendly commutes and a stable climate." Mike Tidwell, director of CCAN


10 Reasons the University of Maryland Community Should Support the Purple Line on Campus Drive
February 28, 2008
  1. To put UMD on the map as an institution that is visionary and more forward-thinking than its aspirational peers. The Purple Line will help create the campus core envisioned in the Master Plan. A stop near the Stamp Student Union will help unify the campus and be the core of a higher-intensity and more attractive center of activity for students, faculty, staff and visitors.

  2. To improve the aesthetics, efficiency, and safety of Campus Drive. The Purple Line will help transform Campus Drive from a congested, automobile-oriented roadway into a beautiful boulevard that serves pedestrians, bicyclists and transit-users by providing them with a safe and reliable route through campus.

  3. To create a more sustainable transportation system. The Purple Line will be the centerpiece of efforts to reduce the reliance on private automobiles and to allow the campus to grow without a direct increase in congestion and demand for costly parking.

  4. To allow more fans to support the Terps without their cars. The Purple line will be a short walk from Chevy Chase Field at Byrd Stadium, Ludwig Field and the Comcast Center providing easier access to games/events with less disruption and gridlock on campus roadways and parking facilities.

  5. To create a healthier campus community. Emissions from private automobiles and buses degrade the air quality in the center of campus (particularly when vehicles are idling in traffic or making short trips across campus). The Purple Line, in tandem with a quality shuttle bus system, will provide a transportation option that is more environmentally friendly, and will promote more daily physical activity through walking and bicycling to/from transit stops.

  6. To foster education and more equitable educational opportunities by allowing students to travel to campus efficiently and safely without needing a car, and by allowing students to obtain internships and jobs in the region without incurring the substantial expense of a car (cost of car purchase, maintenance, insurance, and parking).

  7. To reduce the demand for parking and wider roads on campus. The Purple Line will help preserve green space and will allow existing surface parking lots to be converted to more important academic uses .

  8. To more closely tie UMD to the metropolitan region. The Purple Line will allow the campus community to better use the resources in our area, while enabling more area residents to participate in campus events at venues such as the Clarice Smith Center for the Performing Arts (a short walk from the Center Campus stop), Ritchie Coliseum and the new Birchmere Music Hall (adjacent to the East Campus stop).

  9. To ensure that East Campus is developed as a state-of-the-art transit-oriented development. The Purple Line will encourage developers and their financial investors to meet the vision that the campus community has established (of downtown Princeton, NJ or Palo Alto, CA)

  10. To aid in the successful completion of the M Square Research Park which will have its own Purple Line stop.



68,000 riders each weekday is huge! Counting down to completion of Purple Line DEIS; Latest news: Latest News; How you can help



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We need you to help keep the Purple Line a state and county priority. Write a letter, make a call or send an e-mail in support of the Purple Line today. See: Contact List