Activists Push Gas Tax for Purple Line

The activist group in Silver Spring in support of the Purple Line is calling on Maryland legislators to raise the gasoline tax during a July special session so that the proposed transit line linking Montgomery and Prince George's County can proceed.

Purple Line Now, in a letter to the General Assembly, proposed a gas tax hike to help replenish the state's 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 in an interview. "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."

Without the revenue a gas tax would bring in, the in Baltimore, reported last month.

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

"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 included signatures from Red Line Now, Action Committee for Transit, Suburban Maryland Transportation Alliance and the Corridor Cities Transitway Coalition.

The Corridor Cities Transitway is a proposed north-south line from the Shady Grove Metro station to the COMSAT facility near Clarksburg. Last month,  rather than light rail.