Tolls That Could Work

The January 21^st Seattle Times Traffic Lab article “Poll: Tolling downtown Seattle, freeways deeply unpopular” typifies their failure to recognize both why tolls are so unpopular and how they could be used to reduce congestion throughout the area. 

Tolls are unpopular because, unless commuters have an alternate way to reach their destination, the only thing they do is increase the cost of commuting.  It shouldn’t take a $1.2 million study to recognize that reality. 

If Mayor Durkan thinks “people will really like a city that does not have as many cars in the downtown area” the way to do so is not a toll but an alternate way to commute into the city.    The only viable way of doing so is to increase public transit capacity into the city.

Unfortunately neither the Traffic Lab nor Mayor Durkan apparently recognize Sound Transit plans to spend $96 billion over the next 23 years extending a light rail spine routed through the Seattle tunnel that will do absolutely nothing to increase that capacity.   That, even worse, they plan to continue their decade-long failure to increase transit capacity that could reduce congestion with added bus routes until at least 2041.   

Not only do they fail to add bus routes, all the P&R’s with access to I-5 or 1-90 have been full for years.   Commuters need either added parking or local bus routes to existing or new T/Cs with express bus routes into Seattle or Bellevue.  It’s those express bus routes that could take advantage of tolling to assure fast, reliable commute times.   

Tolls could be used to limit traffic on an HOV lane to where those willing to pay don't exceed what's needed to assure desired velocity, typically 2000 vehicles per hour (vph) for 45 mph.  (It’s not clear why doing so is called HOT presumably for High Occupancy Tolls.) Raising tolls avoids the congestion when more than 2000 carpoolers use the HOV lane.

(Unfortunately the WSDOT perverts HOT implementing it on 2 lanes on I-405.   The additional HOT lane increases congestion on the remaining GP lanes to where more than 2000 drivers are willing to pay the tolls, slowing both HOT lanes.  They ignore the fact that two HOT lanes have increased congestion on GP lanes and failed to provide the 45 mph requirement for much of the commute between Lynnwood and Bellevue.)

A 70-ft articulated bus can accommodate 119 sitting and standing riders.  If 100 of the 2000 vph were high-capacity buses more than 10,000 commuters would have access to transit each hour.  (A bus only lane onto Manhattan accommodates 900 buses an hour).  That’s the equivalent of adding 5 lanes of roadway.  The added reliable transit capacity could not only make it more attractive to many, those not choosing to ride buses will face less congestion on other lanes; lowering the tolls needed to limit HOT traffic to 2000 vph.

During peak commute 10 new or existing T/Cs could have 10 direct express bus routes every hour along toll lanes on each route into the city.  Their egress and access in Seattle could be facilitated by one or two designated drop-off locations along a 4^th Ave limited to buses with similar provisions for the return trip.  And more bus routes could be added when and where needed.

Commuters throughout the area could take advantage of the added capacity; and relatively soon.  Compare that with what they will get from Sound Transit CEO Rogoff‘s plans and the Traffic Lab approach to tolls; another year of increasing congestion and billions more wasted on fatally flawed light rail extensions.