The January 28th Seattle Times exemplifies the paper’s willingness to abide if not abet the Sound Transit approach to the area’s congestion problems. The front-page article reports, “Sound Transit says its trajectory is financially unsustainable." That CEO Rogoff blamed the problem on “an increase in passengers who ride without paying.” The paper neglected to mention Sound Transit attempts to use “ambassadors” resulted from a belated recognition of their inability to implement “fare paid zones” at stations. A "Risk Assessment" issue in several 2020 Agency Progress Reports.
However, the October 2021 version of Sound Transit’s “2022 Financial Plan and Proposed Budget” included a “pie chart” of Revenues & Other Financing Sources for 2022. Passenger Fare Revenue in 2022, $36.5 million, made up 1% of total projected revenue. "Fares and Revenue" made up only 7% of the budget over the entire 2017 to 2046 period. Thus, it’s hard to understand why the Times would abide claim any loss from those not paying the fare is “financially unsustainable.”
The concern over funding makes it even harder to understand the rationale for a page A8 article in the same paper; “Triple-deck $287M Kirkland interchange OK’d”. It reported:
Sound Transit board members approved a $287 million deal Thursday to fund a unique triple-decker interchange on I-405
The interchange announcement was included in the Sound Transit list of documents as:
M2022-05
Construction Agreement with the Washington State Department of Transportation for the Design-Build Delivery of the 1-405/NE 85th Street In-line Freeway Station for the I-405 Bus Rapid Transit Project (PDF Document 177 kB) Published date: 01/27/22
Sound Transit describes a “Freeway Station” as:
Stations allowing buses to stop within the freeway right of way to quickly pickup/unload riders
The premise being commuters will be able to walk to or use buses to and from station on freeway to access and exit buses to and from Bellevue. Those using the Street interchange will need buses.
M2022-05 implements the I-405 “Freeway Station” with the following:
Authorizes the chief executive officer to execute a construction agreement with the Washington State Department of Transportation for the design-build delivery of the I-405/NE 85th Street Interchange and In-line Freeway Station for the I-405 Bus Rapid Transit Project, in the amount of $271,000,000 with a 6 percent contingency of $16,260,000 for a total authorized agreement amount not to exceed $287,260,000
M2205-05 Includes the following “Background”
The Interstate 405 (I-405)/NE 85th Street Interchange and In-line Freeway Station is part of the overall I- 405 BRT project identified in the voter-approved ST3 Plan.
The Interchange and BRT stop will be opened in 2026, before the I-405 BRT North line to serve these existing transit routes.
The project proposes to replace the existing two- level cloverleaf interchange at NE 85th Street with a three-level interchange and construct local improvements along NE 85th Street and its intersection with 114th Avenue Northeast/Kirkland Way.
The memorandum concludes WSDOT has already begun:
Working closely with the Sound Transit BRT team, the City of Kirkland, and King County Metro, WSDOT has completed conceptual design and draft Request for Proposals documents through three previous task orders with Sound Transit.
This interchange raises all sorts of questions. For example, why add the stop? While the “in-line” station minimizes the time for the stop, it still adds travel time for all those using the four I-405 intermediate stations between Lynnwood and Bellevue.
Especially since Kirkland residents have not demonstrated any need. Their only access to transit has been a T/C in the city and a South Kirkland P&R near SR 520. The T/C buses are routed across SR520 to University or into Seattle. Why does Sound Transit claim Kirkland commuters need the 85th St station to catch a bus for the ride into downtown Bellevue”?
Even the Seattle Times earlier raised concerns with a Sept 6, 2018, article headlined:
Sound Transit is taking a $300 million gamble on a new I-405 bus station in Kirkland
The article concludes:
Sound Transit’s own models said the station would lure only 300 daily riders at first, and fewer than 1,000 per day by 2040, unless population and jobs grow alongside.
A surge of apartments or office towers can make the station more useful, but the transit board didn’t require density in ST3, and Kirkland hasn’t changed its land-use zoning.
The bottom line is the nearly $300 million Sound Transit plans to spend on the 85th Street in-line interchange will still lengthen the Lynnwood-to-Bellevue commute time. It also exemplifies their decade long "Field of Dreams" approach to transit stations, "If we build it, they will come", in this case by buses.
If CEO Rogoff is concerned about lack of fare revenue making Sound Transit's "trajectory financially unsustainable" he should end plans to spend $300 million adding the 85th Street interchange. Use the money to increase fare revenue by adding access to existing stations with adding parking or local bus routes. That eliminating the stop will reduce I-405 travel times, benefitting far more commuters than it hurts, especially if the money is used to add access to existing stations.
