Lynnwood Link’s Community Transit Losers

The previous post questioned how Sound Transit could limit Lynnwood Link riders to avoid current Line 1 Link riders losing access during peak commute onto Seattle. I looked forward to seeing the video of the Sept 12 System Expansion Committee’s response to the Links Aug. 30th debut.   As of today, the 17^th it still hadn’t been “livestreamed”.  

My guess is they finally recognized the need to limit Lynnwood ridership. A problem the Community Transit exacerbated with their Sept 14^th plan to use the Link to replace all the 400 routes into and out of Seattle.   Commuters from Stanwood, Marysville, Lake Stevens, Mukilteo, Edmonds, Mill Creek and others all lost access to routes directly into and out of Seattle. 

While ridership for the 400 individual routes was limited (unavailable?) their combined ridership during peak commute depleted if not exhausted Line 1 capacity from Northgate and beyond to Westlake. Commuters forced to transfer to and from Line 1 trains also lost access to the far more convenient and far less crowded bus stops for egress and access in the city than the DSTT. (They add to the 25,518 July riders arriving and 10,699 departing at Westlake.) It's also not clear how those transferring from buses to Line 1 trains will pay the fares to Community Transit and Sound Transit. 

Community Transit continues to route ST510 every 15 minutes during peak commute from Everett into and out of Seattle.  It bypasses Lynnwood with stop at Mountlake Terrace and multiple stops on 5^th Ave on the way in and 4^th Ave on the return.  They’ve initiated ST515 from Lynnwood that also stops at Mountlake Terrace with routes every 10 minutes during peak commute with the same multiple stops in Seattle. However, they are both a “drop-in-the bucket” when it comes to resolving Line 1 problems.

The bottom line is the Community Transit decision to replace 400 bus routes into and out of Seattle exacerbates the Line 1's lack-of-capacity problem. That former 400 bus riders and 4-car trains every 10 minutes could essentially end access for current Line 1 peak hour commuters.  They need to delay ending 400 routes until they have trains every 4 minutes.  Replacing bus routes reduces transit capacity into Seattle and adds to their 4-car light rail trains inability to reduce peak hour multilane freeway congestion, costs too much to operate off peak and does nothing to reduce GP travel times. 

Their commuters deserve something better