Bus “super stop” on Columbia Pike. Photo from Arlington County.

Last week, outrage erupted against Arlington’s $1 million “super stop,” which will initially serve buses and eventually the county’s planned streetcar line. Streetcar opponents took this as an opportunity to attack bus stop and rail project alike as wasteful and expensive. But they themselves had just argued for fancier, pricier bus stops.

An April Fool’s post Monday portrayed the county agreeing to upgrade buses instead of building the streetcar, and streetcar opponents making an immediate reversal to denounce what they had previously demanded. The satire came much closer to the truth than readers likely realized.

The main argument against rail in Arlington has been that a bus could deliver the same quality of transit at much lower cost. But here, the county actually tried to give bus riders a rail-like travel experience — and the bus cheerleaders are aghast.

Peter Rousselot, the leader of the anti-streetcar group Arlingtonians for Sensible Transit, promised last October that extra-long buses on Columbia Pike (which he calls Bus Rapid Transit, although it lacks many features that BRT advocates usually promise) “could have the same type of permanent stations as the streetcar, same look and amenities in the same locations as the streetcar.”

Other Arlington streetcar opponents agree. County board member Libby Garvey says BRT could accomplish all the goals of a streetcar line, and the Taxpayers Association insists that BRT “will perform virtually identical” to the streetcar.

But what happens when a rail station-like bus stop actually gets built on Columbia Pike? Rousselot calls the $1 million dollar bus stop “superexpensive.” Garvey is similarly unimpressed and uses the bus stop as an argument against the streetcar. The Taxpayers Association is, of course, outraged.

Actually, there is little extravagance on the Columbia Pike super stop in the context of rail-like transportation. Brad McKee talks to people who have actually designed stations to better understand that project. Building a full-scale transit station requires underground utility work, lighting, new curbs, and materials strong enough to stand up to heavy outdoor use for decades. The million dollars Arlington spent is a bare minimum; costs can run up to $5 million or even more.

McKee points out that the Washington Post reporter asked random people on the street if a million dollars was too much for “a bus stop.” Rousselot, Garvey, and the Taxpayers Association had just been pushing for a “rail-like” station for buses. They then turned around and argued that “a bus stop” shouldn’t cost so much. Which is it?

It’s hardly uncommon to see transit opponents, in search of political cover, promote Bus Rapid Transit — or some kind of bus that they can call BRT. Up to now, the prime example in our area was former Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich’s proposal to replace the Purple Line with a bus bypassing Columbia Country Club. But Arlington’s let’s-call-it-BRT claque set a new standard last week. It takes nerve to issue loud denunciations when you’re given exactly what you claim to want.