Another Sound Transit Boondoggle

 The August 7th Executive Committee Meeting Agenda Included the following Business  Item:

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For Recommendation to the Board

B. Motion No. M2025-36: Adopting principles and a process to help guide the Board on how to best achieve the planned outcomes of the Enterprise Initiative work, including an update to the current system plan (Sound Transit 3) and long-range finance plan.

 

The motion, the apparent result of a Board Retreat & Initiative Overview, was unanimously approved, included the following purpose:

 

Begin establishing shared principles and priorities that will inform decision making.

The 5 pages of the 24 page report,  detailing “35 Years of Sound Transit in 5 Eras”, would seem to suggest it was a little late to “begin establishing shared principles”.

 

Sound Transit has a staff that in 2025 included1572 position and $957 million in funding.  For years they’ve spent millions on Transit Advisory Groups and outside consultants.  They spent $600,000 hiring a Megaproject Manager who recently persuaded the board to spend up to $500 million on a MOTAC agreement over 7 years on some 15 outside consultants.  Again, all to better the process for creating the light rail spine.

 

The Enterprise Initiative concluded with the following Key Takeaway:

 

We have already made successful generational investments, and our voter-approved system is approximately 50% complete today.

 

The Executive Council meeting justified that conclusion with a chart showing 1 Line Weekday Ridership per Station with Northgate and Lynnwood extensions had increased to 5000 daily. However, the June Ridership Report for the 6 stations along I-5 totaled 15,954, 2660 per station.  A fraction of the up to 70,000 Sound Transit had projected for  Northgate and Lynnwood 1 Line ridership. 

 

Riders added by the Federal Way extension later this year and the 2 Line route across I-90 bridge next year won’t justify the cost of implementing the light rail spine route from Lynnwood to Redmond.  Sound Transit can’t ensure returning 1 Line and 2 Line trains will provide the 3 minutes of headway promised at the International District Station.  That neither Ballard nor West Seattle light rail routes to Sodo will attract sufficient riders to switch to light rail for the commute into Seattle to justify the more than $20 billion cost and 15 year disruption. 

 

The bottom line is Sound Transit’s “successful generation investments” on current I Line extensions have failed to meet ridership expectations.  The ridership from 1 Line route to Federal Way this fall and the 2 Line from Redmond next year will “likely” replicate those results debunking the need for further extensions.  Those extensions will presumably add to current “power sensitivity" operating delays.

 

Thus, spending whatever it takes Sound Transit to implement Enterprise Initiative to “better create their product” won’t improve light rail's ability to reduce congestion.