Federal Way Debut “Benefits

Sound Transit’s Fall/Winter Progress Report heralded the Federal Way Link Extension debut on Dec. 6.  A project that began construction in 2020, cost $2.5 billion, will provide trains every 8–15 minutes, 5 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week.  An estimated 18,000 to 23,000 riders are projected for the 8-mile extension At $30-per-mile car operating cost, the resulting 4-car, 8-mile extension's 122 round trips will cost $234,240 daily  

A previous post detailed why Sound Transit blundered when they extended light rail tracks to Federal Way.  That commuters in the area already had bus service with better access to routes into the city and more convenient stops in Seattle for their commute both into and out of the city.  That whatever access to light rail trains the extension provides doesn’t assure ridership. Thus, Federal Way Link ridership will “likely” be less than predicted.

The December 6^th debut will again demonstrate other problems with Sound Transit’s light rail extensions and 4-car trains.  They don’t have the capacity for the riders needed to reduce multilane roadway peak hour congestion and cost too much to operate off-peak. That the cost of stations providing access to light rail trains dwarfs the cost of bus current riders, especially during peak commute.

The bottom line is the Federal Way December 6^th debut will, like the Lynnwood Link debut, demonstrate Sound Transit’s light rail problems.  That light rail tracks should never be extended beyond Federal Way, knowledge that benefits the entire Sound Transit service area.