Bellevue Should Sue Sound Transit

The video of the Sound Transit Board January 26^th meeting exemplifies the need for a transit performance audit.  This post details why the Bellevue City Council should take legal action to mitigate the effects of Sound Transit incompetence on eastside.

 They should sue to prevent Sound Transit from implementing the East Link Starter Line between Redmond Technology Center (RTC) and South Bellevue P&R.  There currently is a B Line Rapid Ride Route from Redmond to Bellevue. Metro describes it as:

 

Metro's all new RapidRide B Line brings a new world of rapid transit to the Eastside. This is Metro's fastest and easiest way to travel, with service so frequent you don't even need a schedule.

The route provides commuters within walking distance of 11 stops with access to transit between RTC and Bellevue TC.  Access to the Starter Line would be limited to 4 stops with parking available at 300 stalls at 130^th station.  The schedule currently calls for “10-min all day,” though its not clear what “all day” means.  

 

The Starter Line between Bellevue T/C and South Bellevue P&R includes a stop at East Main that lacks parking for access.  Starter Line riders would transfer to and from ST550 at the P&R for the commute into and out of Seattle.  ST550 is currently routed along 110^th Ave to Bellevue T/C through downtown Bellevue with access at 6 stops along route to P&R.  During peak commute the buses run every 5 minutes. 

 

A Sound Transit CEO Timms Dec 8^th blog post had stipulated that ST550 would continue along with Starter Line to and from P&R.  However, the January 26^thpresentation included the following:

 

Examining opportunities to partially restructure ST Express Bus service to complement Starter Line

 

Clearly an attempt to terminate ST550 at South Bellevue.  The result being the only commuters with access to transit from Bellevue would be those within walking distance of Bellevue T/C and East Main Station.  That all commuters would be forced to transfer from ST550 to Starter Line at South Bellevue for the ride into Bellevue.

The bottom line is the Starter Line needlessly duplicates existing transit service with far better access between RTC and South Bellevue P&R. The Bellevue City Council should take legal action to prevent Sound Transit from implementing a Starter Line that terminates RapidRide B Line at RTC, ST550 at South Bellevue P&R, and forcers riders to transfer from buses to light rail for the trip into Bellevue.

 

 

 

More Reasons for JTC ST Audit

The previous post urged the Washington legislature’s Joint Transportation Committee (JTC) require an audit of Sound Transit Board plans for reducing I-5 and I-90 congestion into and out of Seattle.  This post details why anyone with a modicum of transit system competence who viewed the video of the Boards System Expansion Committee’s January 12th meeting would recognize they need an outside audit.

The meeting video included several Lake Forest Park residents raising concerns with Sound Transit’s plans for a bus access to transit (BAT) lane for the 1.2-mile portion of SR522 Stride S3 Line through their residential area..   They thought the approximate 2 minute transit time reduction didn’t justify spending more than $200M (a 2021 estimate) that will change forever the Lake Forest Park persona.   

 

Sound Transit Staff later presented a chart showing the Stride S3 Line would reduce PM peak Shoreline to Bothell from 54 minutes to 39 minutes in 2042.  Other charts showed the plan  included removing more than 400 trees and confiscating portions of more than 20 private properties.  They estimated the Lake Forest Park BAT segment would save an average of 2.3 minutes on the Shoreline to Bothell PM peak weekday compute.  The System Expansion Committee unanimously approved Sound Transit proceeding.  

 

An outside auditor would “likely” conclude that the costs of adding the Lake Forest Park BAT far exceeds the “benefits” of not adding 2.3  minutes to 39 minute transit travel time from Shoreline or the far longer total travel time from Seattle. Especially since the time savings would be less in 2027 when the Stride S3 Line began.

Others expressed concern over the way Sound Transit was proceeding with plans for a tunnel under Seattle and a light rail station in Chinatown. They asked for additional time and to consider other options. The expansion committee didn't respond. An outside auditor would likely suggest the "option" of terminating the Ballard Link at Westlake and avoid the cost of a second tunnel and the need for light rail station at Chinatown.

The video included the expansion committee approving Motions No M2023-03 requiring Bellevue to share in a firefight access door in the Bellevue downtown tunnel and M2023-04 requiring Bellevue, Mercer Island, and Redmond to pay for emergency responder training needed for the startup of the East Link and Downtown Redmond Link Extensions.  An outside audit would likely ask why the 3-block long Bellevue Tunnel needs a fire access door since the 4-mile Northgate Tunnel doesn’t.  Also, why there’s been no mention of Seattle being asked to fund emergency responder training.

 

The video also exposed Sound Transit’s latest response to the need to delay East Link to redo light rail track attachments. That without access to Operation Maintenance Facility (OMF) East Sound Transit needed to limit Lynnwood Link trains to 8-minute headways.   That when East Link begins operation the Lynnwood Link would have 4-minute headways during peak operation, but both Link 1 Line and Link 2 Line will both have 8-minute headways. 

 An audit would "likely" conclude 4-car light rail trains every 8 minutes on either Line won't have the capacity needed to reduce multilane freeway capacity into Seattle.  Especially since they intend to use both Lines to replace bus routes.  That Sound Transit should use the East Link delay to enable terminating the route at the Chinatown Station that would allow both Link Line 1 and East Link to have 4-minute headways.

Instead the video showed the System Expansion Committee approving spending up to $6M to maintain the option to use the delay to spend up to $6 million  to implement a Starter Line between Redmond Technology Center and South Bellevue Park and Ride.  The final decision to authorize opening passenger service on East Link Starter Line was anticipated in October 2023.  That revenue service would start in Q2/2024 .

 

Again, none of the committee members asked questions as to how many riders they expected with the Starter Line.  An auditor would note  that those commuting from Redmond to Bellevue had better access with existing Rapid Ride Route.   That ST550 in Bellevue  had better access than Starter Line and avoided the need to transfer at South Bellevue P&R.  Also that very few commuters returning from Seattle will choose to transfer to Starter Line for the route into Bellevue.

The bottom line is Sound Transit has managed to avoid disclosing Northgate Link ridership was a fraction of the 42,000-49000 riders projected. However, when East Link debuts the problems will be so obvious that no Sound Transit "disclosure" will be needed. Thus, the debut delay from June 2023 to 2025 summer allows Sound Transit to spend additional billions on fatally flawed "voter approved" extensions. 

The Legislatures JTC should require a Sound Transit audit that could result in  expediting the West Seattle and Ballard extensions, debunk the need for a BAT lane in Lake Forest Park,  a second tunnel under Seattle, and the need for a Chinatown Station.  That Sound Transit should  terminate East Link at Chinatown, stop the folly of the East Link Starter Line,  and more to mitigate Sound Transits Expansion Committee incompetence.

The JTC constituents and the entire Sound Transit service area surely deserve it. 

Legislature’s JTC Should Audit Sound Transit

Several posts on this blog have urged the Seattle Times ask legislators to require a performance audit of Sound Transit’s plans to use light rail to reduce I-5 and I-90 congestion into and out of Seattle.  They’ve all been ignored.  This post is an attempt to convince the legislators Joint Transportation Committee (JTC) to use their oversight authority to require Sound Transit do so.

It's not the first time the JTC committee has required Sound Transit action. In 2008, they had concerns over the fact that East Link was the first attempt to put light rail on a “floating bridge”.  The problem was assuring the “expansion joints” connecting the floating and fixed portions of the bridge could withstand the loads from light rail trains.  

In Sept 2005, the WSDOT thought they'd demonstrated the I-90 Bridge/light rail compatibility using flat bed trucks to simulate light rail cars. The JTC was not satisfied because they commissioned an independent review team (IRT) to evaluate the bridge design with light rail.  (The FHA had similar concerns concluding “additional work to be done to determine if it is feasible to design an expansion joint to accommodate light rail”.)

 

The result was nearly ten years after they’d “demonstrated” the I-90 Bridge could withstand the loads, an August 22, 2015, Sound Transit Blog reported the contract with Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) had expanded to $56M. to finish the design.   The blog reported Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen’s response was to accuse Sound Transit of incompetence and implored future East Link riders to “carry a life jacket”.

 

Sound Transit’s subsequent actions are surely worthy of outside review. For example, they no longer publish “Service Delivery Quarterly Performance Reports”.  They provided details as to Service Provided, Boarders, Operating Costs, and Fare Box Recovery for each transit mode. The Link Light Rail data included riders added at each Link Station. 

 

An audit could reveal how many of Sound Transit’s predicted 41,000 to 49,000 Northgate Link daily riders added got on at the three Link Stations.  An audit could predict how many of the Sound Transit 37,000 to 57,000 riders would be added by the extension to Lynnwood.  Or whether Sound Transit was justified in predicting extensions to Lynnwood, Federal Way, and Redmond will increase ridership from 18 million in 2022 to 62 million in 2026?  

 

An audit could question the wisdom of Sound Transit routing East Link trains through DSTT eventually to Mariner P&R near Everett.  Consider whether the Ballard Link should be terminated at Westlake Station avoiding the need to spend billions on a second tunnel under Seattle.  

Most important an audit could consider whether the “voter approved” extensions will reduce I-5 and I-90 peak-hour congestion.  How much will the extensions add to cost during off-peak operation and reduce fare box recovery?  How will the riders added by extensions affect access for current riders?

 

The bottom line is the Sound Transit Board has used ST3 approval in 2016 to spend $54B by 2041 on a transit system expansion to currently plan spending   $149.1B by 2046 implementing the expansion. That's surely worthy of an outside audit.  Especially since it ends up with a $30B tax-based debt and ST3 taxes that end in 2041. The JTC should require the audit.

 

 

  

Federal Funding Doesn't Fix Lynnwood and Federal Way Problems

 An earlier post responded to the Seattle Times request for what headline readers would like to see with “Seattle Times Concede 'Voter Approved' Extensions Won’t Reduce Congestion”.  That’s not likely to happen since the year ended with a December 28th Seattle Times Traffic Lab article “Feds give Sound Transit a cash advance for 2 light-rail projects”.   

 The article heralded Senators Patty Murray and Maria  Cantwell efforts resulting in the $3.2B Federal Way extension getting $329M and the $3.3B Lynnwood Link getting $254M in 2023. A  substantial increase from the anticipated $282M Federal Grant for the year in Sound Transit’s 2023 Financial Plan and Proposed Budget.  

The headline failure and the added federal funding indicate neither the Traffic Lab nor the senators recognize that 4-car light rail trains don’t have the capacity for the ridership needed to reduce multi-lane freeway peak hour congestion.  Also, that the Sound Transit service area doesn’t have the parking needed to make up for the lack of access from those living within walking distance of light rail stations.   

The Northgate Link debut demonstrated the lack of access limited ridership to a fraction of Sound Transit’s 41,000-49,000 daily ridership projections.  Whatever ridership it did attract reduced access for University Link riders.  Thus, neither of the two extensions will add the transit ridership needed to reduce I-5 peak-hour congestion into or out of Seattle.  That operating costs for the longer route lengths will make them too expensive to operate during off-peak.   

For example, the Northgate Link’s 4.2-mile extension from UW Stadium added  $1012 per trip, dwarfing fare box revenue during off-peak operation,  Those costs will be doubled by the 8.4-mile Lynnwood Link and 7.8-mile Federal Way Link, further reducing off-peak fare box revenue recovery.    The Lynnwood Link ridership will be limited by the fact that the Northgate Link already provided transit into Seattle for most of the those with access to parking and bus routes.    

Thus, while the link added 1000 stalls at the two Shoreline stations, ridership added will be a tiny fraction of the 37,000 to 57,000 projections. Again, any riders the extension does attract will further limit peak-hour University Link access.    

The Federal Way Link will add to the loss of Link 1 Line capacity from the decision to route half of the DSTT trains across I-90 Bridge.  While its opening date has been delayed, the lack of parking for access limit ridership to a fraction of projected 29,000 –34,000 by 2026.  Again, whatever riders the three stations add further reduces Central Link peak-hour access  

The bottom line is the added Federal Funds may reduce any problems in funding the Lynnwood and Federal Way extensions.   However, Sound Transit and the Seattle Times Traffic Lab need to recognize the funds do nothing to change the fact that neither extension will do anything to reduce congestion, they’ll only increase their operating costs.  

Another Year of I-405 Delay

 

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  The previous post detailed why the year 2022 exemplified another year of Sound Transit failure to reduce I-5 and I-90 congestion into and out of Seattle.  This morning’s trip from Eastgate to and from SeaTac prompted this post detailing the WSDOT failure to reduce I-405 congestion.   

   

  I was fortunate in being able to use the HOV lane in both directions.  Those not able to were forced to endure miles of stop and go, particularly on the return trip.  It’s a problem that more than 5 years ago a Seattle Times Dec 25, 2017, article indicated WSDOT had plans to alleviate. It included the following excerpts:

    

  In 2019, work crews on Interstate 405 will start building a new lane in each direction between Renton and Bellevue, as part of a series of changes that aim to improve traffic flow on what officials call Washington’s worst corridor for congestion.  

  
  Then, five years later, the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) will open the new lanes, and an existing one each way, to traffic as express toll lanes, extending the interstate’s current tolling system between Lynnwood and Bellevue that opened in 2015. 

  
  WSDOT will spend $1.22 billion on the upcoming project, funded by the statewide gas-tax increase approved by the Legislature in 2015. 

   

  Again, three years after work was to begin, nothing has.  I-405 commuters deserve better.