Downtown Redmond Light Rail Extension

The January 31 Seattle Times Traffic Lab article “A pair of new light rail stations to open in Redmond this spring” announced the May 10th opening with “fanfair”.  It was likened to the Sound Transit Starter Line debut when “dignataries gave speeches around 11:00 am. and crowds could enter the new stations at noon”.  Sound Transit had previous approved spending $42 milliion “activating” the Starter Line, so its not clear how much will be spent  on “fanfair”

The 3.4mile extension from Redmond Technology Station to downtown Redmond adds 6.8 miles to round trip to Bellevue T/C.  Sound Transit budgets light rail cars at ~$30 per mile. Thus, a 2-car trainl will cost $408 for the round trip. Maintaining trains every 10 minutes from 5:30 a.m.to 9:30 pm requires 96 round trips or ~$40K per weekday.

The article report the Eastside Starterline has attracted 3,000 to 6000 average daily riders is belied by boarding reports for 5640 boardings at the 8 stations, the highest for the year.  They presumably reflect inbound and return boarding for 2820 riders and concern, “its common to see only a few people per railcar.”

The lack of Starter Line riders is undoubtedly due to commuters having access to King County Metro’s RapidRide B.  It’s routed from Redmond Transit Center (RTC) through Redmond Technology Station (RTS) to Bellevue Transit Center (BTC) with 25 stops along route.  The 10 stations inbound between RTC along 156th Ave and 8th ST with route through Bellevue to BTC provides commuters more access to and from transit than Starter Line.

The RapidRide B from RTS to RTC provides a similar advantage with 10 stops, including 3 in Redmond and along 148th Ave compared to only 2 added by light rail route from RTS to Downtown Redmond.  However, the additional stops for access with KCM RapidRide B routes results in longer commute times.  The current Starter Line schedule shows 13 minutes from RTS to Bellevue T/C vs 26 minutes with RapidRide B.  

The lack of Starter Line riders suggests access is more important than time.  An obvious concern for whether the access with the 15 minute  RapidRide B route from RTC to RTS will outweigh the shorter time with 1 stop from downtown Redmond.

The bottom line is the May 10th debut of the Downtown Redmond link will “likely” reconfirm the results of the 2024 Starter Line and Lynnwood Link debuts.  That providing access to light rail trains doesn’t assure light rail train riders. Another warning concerning spending billions on future light rail  "spine" extensions, a tunnel from Ballard, and a 2nd Duwamish Bridge from West Seatte.