Sound Transit's Line 2 Debut

 As expected the January 24th Seattle Times  front page included the Traffic Lab article, ‘Long awaited launch is set for light rail linking Seattle and Bellevue” set for March 28th. The article expounds on all the benefits resulting from finally having light rail connections across I-90.  A January 23rd Sound Transit News Release and January 22nd Seattle Times Traffic Lab articles have detailed how the extension will operate, creating a fully integrated regional light rail  system. 

Yet there’s little evidence this "integrated regional light rail  system”.can  reduce congestion. The problem is 4-car light rail trains lack the capacity to attract the riders needed to reduce multi-lane roadway peak hour congestion and cost too much to operate during off-peak.   Sound Transit should have never been allowed to use the I-90 center roadway for light rail.  Doing so precluded two-way BRT with 10 times light rail capacity, 10 years sooner, at 1/10^th the cost. 

Sound Transit compounded the capacity problem by using light rail to replace bus routes across the bridge and routing the trains through DSTT to UW and beyond. They initially estimated 50,000 riders would use light rail.  It’s unclear how many Starter Line riders will be added by the extension and the 2 Line stops on Mercer Island and Judkins Park in Seattle. 

They compounded the operating problem by using the line to provide half the trains to Lynnwood.  How do they assure the 2 Line routes returning from downtown Redmond will be able to safely merge with the 1 Line routes from Federal Way prior to entering DSTT?

Replacing ST550 from downtown Bellevue will end eastside commuter access to transit  at 6 stops between Bellevue T/C and South Bellevue Station and 7 stops in Seattle along 4th Ave. There’s also concern that plans to terminate I-90 corridor buses on Mercer Island to commute into and out of Seattle will dissuade many current transit riders. The Washington Department of Ecology has also raised concerns the stormwater from the tracks could pollute Lake Washington.

The March 28^th debut will also add to Sound Transit’s operating cost. (The January 22^nd board meeting approved increasing the 2026 budget, they’d approved in November, by $60 million, to complete the extension.)  At light rail car cost $30 per mile, the 30-mile trip from CID to Downtown Redmond and back will cost $900 per car, $3600 for 4-car trains. Sound Transit’s schedule for trains every 8 minutes during peak times and 10-15 minutes off peak from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. will require about 120 trips for a cost of about $432,000 daily. The resulting cost per rider awaits the ridership results, something they haven’t released from the Federal Way extension

The bottom line is the March 28^th 2 Line debut will demonstrate its limited ability to operate with 1 Line to Lynnwood, attract the riders needed to reduce I-90 corridor congestion, and what its operation costs. A precursor to future light rail ST3 extension results