A Transit System That Works

The previous post detailed the Seattle Times Traffic Lab failure to recognize Sound Transit’s decision to use Prop 1 funds to extend Central Link routed through the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (DSTT) prevented it from ever having the capacity needed to reduce congestion on I-5 and I-90 corridors into the city.  That even Central Link’s limited capacity was of “dubious value” since the two DSTT stations can’t provide the platform space riders need to access Central Link trains during peak return commute.  That the fare box revenue from Central Link's limited capacity will require a huge subsidy to cover the longer route operating costs.

It’s unlikely any tunnel under Seattle could provide the transit capacity into the city to reduce congestion on I-5 and I-90, or stations with sufficient platform space needed to access light rail trains for their return commute. However, a single freeway lane can achieve 45 mph if traffic is limited to 2000 vehicles per hour.    A 70-ft articulated bus can accommodate up to 119 sitting and standing riders so a bus-only lane or an HOT lane with fees set to limit vehicles to what’s required to achieve a target speed could easily provide fast, reliable transit capacity into and out of Seattle.

Egress from and access to the bus routes in Seattle could be expedited with an elongated T/C along 4^th Ave.   Each bus route could have one or two designated drop off locations on one side for egress in Seattle and one or two designated pick up locations on the other side for the return commute.  The designated drop off and pick up locations rather than "on demand" would expedite both egress and access.  They would still likely be more convenient for most commuters than the DSTT stations and would avoid the huge “hassle” of trying to get access to trains at the stations.

While increasing transit capacity into Seattle and expediting egress and access there is relatively easy, providing access to the increased capacity into Seattle is more problematic.   The DC Metro Orange line referred to in an earlier post had more than 3500 parking stalls at the New Carrollton P&R.  Presumably parking at the other four stations along that line and along the other five lines into DC were similar.  

Contrast that with Sound Transit, who despite the fact all the P&R’s with access to I-5 and I-90 have been full for years, has refused to significantly increase parking since Prop 1 was passed ten year ago.  Instead they recently began implementing “a new parking management strategy” where 50% of parking in existing P&Rs is reserved for “late arrivals,” eliminating parking for half the current early riders.  Their only plan for improving bus service, spending $300 million on an I-405 T/C, doesn’t include any parking for access.

Again, while additional bus service can be added relatively quickly, Sound Transit’s decade long failure to add parking has dramatically increased cost to where it now costs more than $50,000 to provide a commuter with parking for transit access.  Clearly reducing congestion on the area’s roadways requires better ways to increase access to transit into Seattle.  

One option would be for Sound Transit to turn all the existing P&R's into T/Cs, each able to accommodate waiting buses and stalls for cars to drop off and pick up commuters.  Each T/C would serve as the interface between local buses collecting commuters from near where they live with express bus routes into Seattle. The cost of providing a commuter with access via a local bus route to the P&R T/C would be a tiny fraction of what would be required to implement and maintain a parking stall for their car at an existing or new P&R.  The local routes and the P&R T/Cs could also begin adding transit access far sooner than any added parking.

Sound Transit could survey all those who commute into Seattle to determine how to schedule local routes to and from each P&R T/C.   Routes into Seattle could include stops at one or more suburban T/Cs. In some cases the local buses would be routed directly into Seattle.  As stated earlier each bus would have one or two dedicated drop off and pick up locations to facilitate egress from and access to transit there.

The bottom line is Sound Transit is spending billions on Prop 1 light rail extensions that don’t increase transit capacity into Seattle.   They fail to add the parking needed to access even this limited light rail into the city or the platform space at stations in Seattle needed to access light rail out of the city.

Sound Transit has already been allowed to spend nearly ten years and billions on a fatally flawed transportation system.  They need to be "persuaded" to begin implementing a transit system that works and that could begin doing so in 2-3 years.