Sound Transit's "Air of Haughtiness"

(I submitted the following to the Bellevue Reporter and am posting it since they may not use it and to reach those who don’t have access if they do.)

Sound Transit’s “Air of Haughtiness”

The Bellevue Reporter’s Oct 25^th recognition I-976 “is not about rebar spikes and rail stations, it’s about an air of haughtiness of Sound Transit decision-makers” is surely justified.  However, Sound Transit’s “air of haughtiness” goes way beyond MVET taxes. 

Their 2019 budget plan will require Seattle Transit service area residents pay $64 billion in taxes between 2017 and 2041 for “Prop 1 and beyond” light rail extensions, primarily to replace buses with light rail trains. Sound Transit simply refuses to recognize that congestion on the area’s roadways is not due to too many buses. 

Sound Transit’s “air of haughtiness” is exemplified by their “bus intercept” plan agreement with Mercer Island. It halves current I-90 corridor bus routes and terminates them at the island light rail station.  Commuters from even that reduced number of buses will inundate the station and limit island commuter access to East Link.  Those able to ride buses will be forced to endure the hassle of transferring to and from East Link for commutes into and out of Seattle.  Those unable to do so will add to congestion I-90 corridor commuters already face.    

Even worse, east side commuters and residents will both have to pay hundreds if not thousands each year in ST3 taxes for Sound Transit Central Link extensions to Lynnwood and beyond, and to Federal Way and beyond.  This despite the fact they’ll rarely use them and that replacing buses with trains only increases transit operating costs and nothing to reduce congestion. 

However, Sound Transit’s “air of haughtiness” went too far with their response to RCW81.104.100 requiring they consider “no-build” HCT alternatives.  They claim East Link didn’t need to comply and they never considered adding Prop 1 bus routes along I-5 as a “no-build” alternative.  East side residents should use those failures to initiate a class action suit forcing Sound Transit stop the East Link “bus intercept” and use their ST3 funds to add bus routes rather than fund light rail extensions

As the editorial concludes, “I-976 is not about fixing roads, repairing bridges and saving lives, it’s about Sound Transit, its past, present and future”.  The east side future should include ending Sound Transit “bus intercept” and more funds for buses.