The Feb 13th Seattle
Times B1 page article “Trump’s
budget would slash money for region” should be welcome news, at least regarding
the cuts to Lynnwood and Federal Way light rail extensions. First of all, why was the federal money
needed since the 2008 Prop 1 was sold to voters as funding light rail extensions to Mill Creek, Redmond, and
Federal Way? Sound Transit’s
initial claim a poor economy forced them to truncate the extensions has been
replaced by the claim the improved economy has dramatically increased their
costs, necessitating federal help.
While it’s not clear what
precipitated the funding cut, anyone with a modicum of competence would have
recognized the stupidity of extending Central Link to Lynnwood and Federal
Way. The reason being that
Central Link is routed through a
Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (DSTT) that limits the number of vehicles per
hour.
The PSRC 2004 Technical Workbook, “Central Puget Sound
Region High Capacity Transit Corridor Assessment” concluded the DSTT station
lengths limit trains to four cars and that safe operation requires a minimum of
4 minutes between trains, or 60 light rail cars per hour. The PSRC
Technical Workbook also concluded the capacity of the 74-seat light rail cars was
limited to 148 riders for a total capacity of 8880 riders per hour
(rph). A fraction of what’s needed to meet both current and future
transit requirements
What’s “maddening” (quoting Rogoff”) is Sound Transit’s failure
to recognize spending billions extending Central Link does nothing to increase its
limited transit capacity into Seattle.
Whatever riders the extensions add will displace those currently using
Central Link. The extensions
increased operating costs without the added capacity will either require a huge
fare increase or very large subsidy to cover fare-box revenue shortfall.
Even more “maddening” is Rogoff’s decision “Lynnwood Link will be completed whether it gets federal money or not, the question
is when”. What Rogoff and Sound Transit
fail to recognize the “when” commuters in Lynwood (and presumably much later in
Everett) get some help, need not be that far into the future. They could have helped them years ago
by adding parking with access to bus routes needed to attract more commuters to
public transit. They’ve neglected
to do so to the point where fewer
commuters rode buses between Everett and Seattle in the third quarter of 2017
than in 2014.
The parking problem is exemplified by a Nov. 1st, 2016, Seattle Times article reporting
"19,488 cars occupied park-and-ride facilities each weekday in Snohomish,
King and Pierce Counties” with “51 facilities next to express bus or train
stations that were at least 95% full”. Yet the article reports Sound
Transit waits until 2024 to begin spending $698 million of the $54 billion
they’ll spend on ST3 extensions adding a measly 8560 parking spaces over the
next 17 years. ‘’
Even without the federal funding Sound Transit could well afford
spending $350 million over the next 3-4 years creating five 1000-stall parking
lots with access to I-5 between Lynnwood and Everett with bus service to
Seattle. Commuters could pay a
monthly or yearly parking fee to assure access to a stall and bus route to
cover operating costs, allowing others to ride free. The 12/03/17 post detailed how the parking fees would
provide capacity for 20,000 more commuters each day.
If 20.000 commuters, who previously drove cars during the 2-hour morning and
afternoon peak commutes, rode buses, the five Pay-to-Park lots could reduce traffic volume
by up to 10,000 vehicles per hour; equivalent to adding 5 lanes of
freeway. (The highway capacity benefits would drop to 4 lanes if 20% of
the bus riders rode during off-peak hours.) Limiting non-transit access to +3HOV during peak commute
would facilitate bus transit times.
Two-person carpools and GP lane commuters would benefit from “added capacity”.
Clearly Rogoff has another option to insisting “Lynnwood
Link will be completed
whether it gets federal money or not, the question is when”. While he may or may not provide
effective leadership for extending light rail, he apparently hasn't recognized the limitations resulting from routing the light rail spine through the
DSTT. (e.g. his up to 120,000
daily ridership projections for Central Link ST3 extensions through Lynnwood to
Everett.)
Sound Transit’s failure to recognize the need to add thousands of additional parking stalls with access to increased bus service during his tenure has failed to provide commuters with the access to public transit needed to reduce roadway congestion. The entire area will benefit if the Trump budget cuts provide the incentive to do so.
Sound Transit’s failure to recognize the need to add thousands of additional parking stalls with access to increased bus service during his tenure has failed to provide commuters with the access to public transit needed to reduce roadway congestion. The entire area will benefit if the Trump budget cuts provide the incentive to do so.
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