The much-ballyhooed cross-lake 2 Line service has begun. Like all of Sound Transit’s debuts, the Seattle Times Traffic Lab project touting all the riders during service debuts or special events, and with details about how people will be able to use the extensions.
Yet they neglect to “dig into” Sound Transit’s real problems. That its board is made up of well-minded, elected mayors or council members, each getting over $200,000 in compensation for serving as directors. They rarely, if ever, used public transit and likely never for a regular weekday commute.
They have a staff with a 2026 budget of $1,138,903,000 with 1914 positions, $595,038 per position, yet spend hundreds of millions annually getting outside support. The result has been that the $54B voters approved for ST3 in 2016 has more than tripled to $185B in Sound Transit’s 2026 Approved Budget and Financial Plan.
The 2026 budget summary includes the following regarding the $205 M spent providing transit service:
Sound Transit delivers transit services through a combination of
strategic partnerships with regional transportation agencies and
direct operations:
• T Line is the only mode operated directly by Sound Transit.
• The remaining modes are operated through agreements with
the following partners:
o King County Metro for Link Light Rail.
o King County Metro, Community Transit, and Pierce
Transit for ST Express Bus.
o BNSF Railway for Sounder Commuter Rail.
The budget’s system expansion spending totaled $1,885 M with $995 M expanding the link, the total ~$2.1B, a 50% increase from 2025. The 261-page 2026 document provides mind-boggling details about how the money has been and will be spent on projects ranging from South Tacoma Access Improv to West Seattle Link Extension. They generally include details as to Program Scope, Authorized Allocation, Budget Year Activities, Allocation by Phase and Allocation by Subarea for funding until 2031, future funding and Total.
The budget’s Appendix J: Debt Obligation Schedules details how they intend to pay off the bonds issued from 1999 and beyond to fund the projects. Sound Transit’s normal approach has been to pay only the bond’s interest will be paid off in 2046, those from 2021 in 2050.
The ultimate example was the budget’s schedule for paying off the Outstanding TIFIA and RRIF loans used for funding the East Link, OMFE, Northgate, and Downtown Redmond projects. The ~$3.5 B total loan principle will be paid down ~$20 M annually until 2039. In 2040 the payments increase to ~$100 M annually until as late as 2058. More than 15 years after the 2041 end date for taxes the voters approved for Prop 1 ST3 in 2016.
The bottom line is Sound Transit essentially farms out its transit service and pays others to implement the transit system expansion. The fact they still need a staff with more than 1900 positions and $1.1B budget indicates their colossal boondoggle continues
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