The Seattle Times article
“I-405 Misery” lamenting the sorry state of commuting on the eastside
identifies the problem “more people in their cars”. Yet they fail to mention the obvious fix is
to convince more commuters to use public transit. Instead, Sound Transit is spending our precious
transportation dollars on Prop 1 Central Link extensions that will have a
minuscule effect on I-5 transit ridership, none at all on I-405 transit, and East
Link will actually reduce transit capacity across I-90 bridge.
A single 70-ft
articulated bus can accommodate 119 riders. 100 bus trips could eliminate 10,000 cars from the freeways
and the roads connecting work centers around the area. Parking spaces near where people
live would replace those near where they work. The problem is to find where to add the parking spaces
and what bus routes are needed to connect the local P&R with the work
locations.
Someone needs to
survey employees at all the work centers in the area. Find out where people would like to leave their car or be
dropped off and when and where they would like to commute. Some may need their cars at work or
where improved bus service is not practical. However, surely these results will identify a large number of
commuters who would chose transit, if provided with additional parking spaces
and bus service, to justify the cost of the improvements.
While it may not "solve" the "I-405 Misery" problem, it will surely ease it, something the billions spent on Prop 1 will never do.
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