Ending a Decade of Sound Transit Board Failure.

Sound Transit policies over the last 10 years reflect what happens when a “Board of Directors” of a public transit organization fails to provide effective “direction”.   Board members of most companies are selected because they have demonstrated a level of expertise needed to help direct company policy.   Those owning stock in the company can vote to replace them if not satisfied.

The Sound Transit Board actions during the past decade show they lacked the competency to provide effective public transit system “direction”.   Yet little can be done to replace them.  They were selected by County Executive, Dow Constantine, because they concurred with his “pie in the sky” response to the 2015 legislation enabling the ST3 vote:  

“What we can do is create light rail to take you where you want to go, when you want to go, on time, every time, for work, for play, for school”    

A competent Sound Transit board would have been aware of a 2004 PSRC Technical Workbook, High Capacity Transit Corridor Assessment”. Sound Transit funded the study and 4 of those participating were Sound Transit Staff members. The 168-page Technical Workbook provided the results of a comprehensive comparison of the ability of 7 different high capacity transit modes to meet the area’s future transit needs.

It concluded the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (DSTT) limited light rail capacity to 8880 riders per hour per direction (rphpd).  It doesn’t take much public transit competency to recognize 8880 rphpd is only a fraction of what’s needed to meet area’s transit needs. That it made no sense spending billions extending light rail beyond UW to Northgate and beyond, and even less splitting that capacity between extensions across I-90 Bridge or beyond SeaTac.

The board compounded their decade of incompetency regarding light rail with a decade spent neglecting to increase Sound Transit bus transit capacity.  Annual bus revenue hours in 2008, 10,290,367, only increased to 11,991,374 in 2017.  They also neglected to add parking despite the fact all the P&R’s with access to bus service have been full for years. 

Instead the board demonstrated more incompetence approving a proposal to “manage access to transit” as a way to overcome “crowded early buses and empty buses later”.  Rather than increasing either bus service or parking they approved allowing commuters pay to reserve 50% of parking stalls in existing P&Rs for late arrivals; ending access for 50% of early commuters.

The latest example of Sound Transit Board incompetence is their approval of CEO Peter Rogoff’s 2019 budget.  It details why the past decade of billions wasted on light rail extensions is only a down payment for Rogoff’s long-term plans.  That between 2017 and 2041 Rogoff plans to spend $96 billion implementing what he proudly proclaims is the “most ambitious transit system expansion in the country”.  That the budget continues Sound Transit’s decade-long refusal to increase access to bus transit and makes claims for future light rail ridership that dwarf DSTT capacity.

Any competent transit board would’ve used Rogoff’s 2019 budget as grounds for termination.  The Sound Transit Board chose to reward him with a big raise and extended his contract for another three years.

The board needs to "re-direct" Sound Transit.  It needs to be transformed from a light rail construction company into one that facilitates increased bus ridership.  Rather than overseeing the planning and construction of light rail extensions Sound Transit should  survey workers in Seattle, Bellevue, and Overlake.  Find out where they live and when they need to commute to and from their workplace. 

Use the data to decide how best to provide commuters with access to transit.  Is it be better to fund a new or expanded existing P&R or a local bus route from near where they live to an existing P&R?  Use the survey data to determine when and where to route both the local buses to and from the P&R and from the P&R, to and from work.

Purchase additional smaller buses for the local routes and more high-capacity buses for direct routes from and to P&R.  Facilitate egress and access in Seattle with an elongated T/C with designated stations for each route to drop-off commuters on one side and pick up on the other.  The costs and time required would likely pale in comparison to the billions and years the Sound Transit CEO Rogoff’s 2019 budget proposes. 

The bottom line is the Sound Transit Board failure a decade ago to recognize the DSTT limits on light rail capacity has already resulted in needless billions and years wasted on light rail extensions.  They need to recognize those billions and years wasted pale in comparison with the cost and years wasted if CEO Rogoff is allowed to proceed with his 2019 budget long term plans.  That Sound Transit needs to be transformed from a light rail construction company into an organization that facilitates increased bus transit ridership. 

A decade of Sound Transit Board incompetence is enough!