The July 7th front page Traffic Lab column, “Why light rail from Seattle to Bellevue is years late” concludes “few will remember that it was late to be finished”. The losers are the 50,000 daily passengers who haven’t been able to use the full corridor. The “late problem” being the need to redo the track attachments and assigning responsibility. Sound Transit will “double the typical number of practice trips, 20 days of running full time every eight minutes” to assure successful revenue service early next year.
The Traffic Lab apparently believes those currently riding buses into and out of Seattle will welcome the need to transfer to the 2 Line on Mercer Island for the commute. That those using the ST550 route’s 10 stops for access to transit will welcome the need to walk to Bellevue T/C or East Main for access to 2 Line trains.
The Traffic Lab ignores Sound Transit’s light rail capacity problem with trains limited to 4 cars. Each 74-seat car can accommodate up to 148 riders, 592 per train. With 8 minutes between trains, 2 Line capacity is limited to 4440 riders per hour (rph). Accommodating 50,000 daily passengers with trains limited to 4440 rph will require very long days.
The Traffic Lab also ignores the cost of providing that service. Routing 2 Line trains from Downtown Redmondd Station (DRS) to and from the International District Station(IDS) will add 36 miles of revenue service. At `$30 per mile a 4-car train will cost $4320 per trip. Trips every 8 minutes for 8 hours,10 minutes for 8 hours, and 15 minutes for 4 hours will require 122 trips, costing $527,040 daily. If the “50,000” passengers paid the $3.00 fare, Sound Transit would still have to fund the remaining ~$350,000 daily.
The Traffic Lab also ignores problems with merging 2 Line trains with returning 1 Line trains. A 2004 PSRC study, funded by Sound Transit, concluded safe operation required 4 minutes between trains. How does Sound Transit assure a minimum of 4 minutes between Line 2 trains from Redmond and Line 1 trains initially returning from Angel Lake, later from Federal Way, and eventually from Tacoma.
Other concerns are the 4-car trains will double the noise of Starter Line’s 2-car trains. Sound Transit will have to reduce the 4-car train velocity to avoid violating Bellevue noise limits. The Washington State Department of Ecology has determined all light rail lines generate toxic pollution in stormwater runoff. How does Sound Transit keep the runoff from polluting Lake Washington?
The bottom line is being late isn’t the 2 Line’s only problem
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