South End and East Side Cities Should Sue Sound Transit to Terminate Line 2 Link at CID.

The previous post urged Bellevue sue Sound Transit to prevent them from implementing an East Link Starter Line.  This post urges South End and East Side cities to take legal action to force Sound Transit terminate the East Link extension at the Chinatown/ID light rail station (CID).  The action is needed to prevent the Sound Transit System Expansion Committee from implementing plans to limit Line 1 Link from Angle Lake and Line 2 Link from Redmond to 8-minute headways for routes into Seattle during peak operation.  

 

It's never been clear why Sound Transit wanted to route both Line 1 and Line 2 Links from CID to Lynnwood.  Safe operation through Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (DSTT) requires 4 minutes between trains (Per PSRC).  Limiting Line 1 and Line 2 Links to 4 car trains every 8 minutes limits light rail to 30 cars per hour. Sound Transit’s 74-seat light rail cars are rated as able to accommodate 148 riders. 

 

Thus, both transit Lines can only accommodate 4440 riders per hour.  A fraction of the capacity needed for Line 1 and Line 2 Links to reduce peak-hour I-5 and I-90 congestion into Seattle.  Sound Transit’s East Link website had predicted 50,000 daily riders.  (Their 2008 East Link DEIS had predicted 18,000 to 24,000 people per hour.)

 

The way to increase capacity is to terminate Line 2 Link at CID and allow Line 1 Link trains to operate every 4 minutes between Angel Lake and Lynnwood with capacity up to 8880 riders per hour. (It currently has 8 minutes between trains during peak operation.)  Line 2 Link could also have the 8880 riders-per-hour capacity across I-90 Bridge. Terminating the Line 2 Link at CID would also eliminate potential problems with safely merging on their returns from the two different routes.

 

Operating schedules including number of cars in each train and frequency of routes could be adjusted to meet both peak and off-peak demand.  A potentially significant operating cost savings for Line 2 Link since each car’s ~$30 per-mile light rail car adds $840 to 14-mile round trip.  Terminating Line 2 Link at CID would allow commuters to transfer to Line 1 Link for the route through DSTT to UW or beyond.  It would also make the return much easier for east side riders to access to Line 2 Link commuters at the CID station.

 

The bottom line is the current Line 1 Link schedule for 8 minutes between trains (and 4440 riders per hour) “suggests” that the lack of access to the Northgate extension has limited ridership to a fraction of Sound Transits 41,000 to 49,000 website prediction.  (Sound Transit refuses to release the ridership added by the three Link stations). The lack of access to the Lynnwood extension will likely limit ridership added to a similar fraction of the 37,000 to 57,000 predictions. Terminating Line 2 Link at CID would end sending un-needed and very expensive capacity for those riders. 

 

The need to redo light rail track attachments has delayed the June 30^th East Link debut demonstrating the problems with routing both Lines through DSTT.  South Seattle and east side cities should take legal action to “persuade” Sound Transit to use the delay to terminate Line 2 Link at CID.  It's something a competent Seattle Times Traffic Lab would do but hasn't.