Seattle Times Abides Sound Transit Board Incompetence

Previous posts on this blog have opined Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff”s 2019 Budget Long-Term plan for 2017 should have been a “wake-up” call for those concerned about the area’s congestion.  That his past three years as CEO were just the precursor for his plans for the next 23.   That the Seattle Times Traffic Lab refused to acknowledge Rogoff’s plan for “building the most ambitious transit system expansion plan in the country” will do absolutely nothing to reduce the area’s congestion.  That the Sound Transit Board should recognize that failure and terminate Rogoff. 

Instead, the Dec 15^th Seattle Times B1 page article announced the Sound Transit executive committee had “unanimously approved” a three-year contract that includes a $16,000 bonus in addition to an 11% increase raising his salary to $364,000.   Apparently the entire 18-member Sound Transit Board will approve the $16,000 bonus this week.  Board Vice-Chair John Marchioni said of Rogoff, “Peter has done a great job in building relationships with other governments” for “the most ambitious transit project in the United States right now”. 

The Sound Transit Board’s decision to give Peter Rogoff a new three-year contact continues their decade-long failure to effectively direct Sound Transit. The dictionary defines a board as “a group of persons who manage or control a business”.   Board members are normally selected because they have demonstrated the level of competence required to direct the business.  Those owning the company (e.g. stock holders) can vote to replace them if not satisfied with their direction.

However, residents (owners) in this area have no say in who serves on the board, despite having to pay for funding Sound Transit.  While most members have been elected to some position, there is no requirement they have the competence needed to effectively direct transit policy.  

Instead the Sound Transit Board’s response to CEO Rogoff’s 2019 Budget long-term plan for 2017 to 2041 shows they fail to understand what’s required to reduce the area’s congestion.   That Rogoff clearly doesn’t understand the fundamentals of effective public transit.  It appears more and more likely he was hired as a reward for the initial FHA Lynnwood grant rather than for any level of public transit competence. 

During his nearly 3 years heading up Sound Transit he’s played a major role in getting voter approval of ST3 "Prop 1 and Beyond” funding.  However much of that support was predicated on his claims for anticipated extension ridership that were sheer fantasy.  The irony is whatever ridership they do attract will reduce access for Seattle residents whose 70% approval enabled ST3.

Rogoff has apparently never recognized the PSRC concluded in 2004 that light rail routed through the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (DSTT) will always be limited to 8880 riders per hour in each direction.  (His 2019 Budget claim for ~500,000 weekday riders in 2041 ignores that reality)  That even this capacity will be of limited value without access from additional parking or adequate platform space at DSTT stations.  (His approach to adding access is limited to waiting until 2024 to begin adding 8560 parking spots over the next 17 years.) 

Rogoff’s tenure as CEO has not only resulted in Sound Transit continuing to waste billions on light rail extensions to Northgate, Angel Lake, and Bellevue, he has continued their decade-long failure to increase transit bus capacity.  The 2019 budget he presented to the board in October continues his failure to increase bus ridership until at least 2041. 

Rogoff’s current contract expiring next month could have provided the board with an opportunity to replace him.  Again, his October 2019 Budget’s long-term plan for 2017-2041 should have exemplified his incompetence to board members.  During his tenure, ST3, which was enabled by the legislature to provide $15 billion over 15 years has evolved into plans to use $64 billion in taxes to implement a $96 billion transit system expansion. 

The board should have recognized the billions he plans to spend on light rail won’t increase transit capacity into the city but will reduce access for current riders.  That operating costs with the extensions will either require an increase in fares or a large subsidy to cover the fare-box revenue shortfall.  Clearly the Sound Transit board’s decision to continue Rogoff as CEO reflects a lack of competence regarding public transit.

However the Seattle Times Traffic Lab, purportedly created to “dig into the region’s thorny transportation issues,” should have recognized CEO Rogoff’s ST3 plans for 2017-2041 were not “a promising approach to easing gridlock”.   The Times lack of concern in the December 15^th article continues their years of abiding Sound Transit incompetence.  The entire area will pay a heavy price for as long as they continue to do so.