Group Calls for Gas Tax Increase to Fund Purple Line

The activist group  in Silver Spring is calling on Maryland legislators to raise the gas tax during its July special session so that the Purple Line project can proceed.

Purple Line Now, a nonprofit organization formed in 2002, proposed a gas tax hike to help replenish the transporation trust fund.

"Maryland motorists have been getting a cheaper and cheaper ride since 1992, the last time the gas tax was raised," Purple Line Now member Ralph Bennett said. "Gas prices have fallen 60 cents since April—now is the time to add a small amount to the price of gas to fund the transit projects and roads all Marylanders need."

Funding the Purple Line will affect more people than working on gambling legislation during the special session, according to the letter from the group. 

"At the top of the state's priority list is an unsustainable shortfall in transportation funding which cannot be ignored any longer," the letter reads. "The failure to act on this matter will have catastrophic economic ramifications for each of the state's 24 jurisdictions and every resident of our Free State."

The letter also includes signatures from Red Line Now, Action Committee for Transit, Suburban Maryland Transportation Alliance and Corridor Cities Transitway Coalition.

Two of the 21 planned stops on the 16-mile Purple Line would be located in Riverdale Park—one at Kenilworth Avenue, the other at the University of Maryland's M Square Research Park.