Sound Transit Ignores Northgate Link Debacle

Previous posts on this blog have opined the legislature’s Joint Transit Committee (JTC) should require an outside audit of Sound Transit plans for 522 Stride S3 though Lake Forest Park, the need for a 2^nd tunnel under Seattle, and a new CID station.  That Bellevue should take legal action to keep Sound Transit from implementing an East Link Starter Line.  That the east side and south Seattle should take legal action to force Sound Transit to terminate Line 2 Link at CID. 

 

This post opines the the January 26^th Sound Transit Board plan for operating the Lynnwood extension demonstrate they don’t’ recognize public transit’s goal should be to provide transit for those who can’t drive or chose not to drive and to reduce congestion for those that do drive.  Instead, Sound Transit has taken the position their goal is to implement “voter approved” extensions.  

 

The Board exemplified that failure by choosing to ignore the results of the first “voter approved” extensions, the October 2021 Northgate Link debut. Sound Transit has refused to release quarterly Service Delivery Performance Reports showing ridership added by the three link stations.  

 

However, the best indication is that ridership was a fraction of the 41,000-49,000 they’d predicted.  That using the Link to replace bus routes reduced transit capacity into Seattle, did little to reduce HOV traffic, nothing to reduce GP lane congestion, and added $1000 to operating cost for the round trip to and from Westlake station.

 

The January 26th meeting Sound Transit clearly ignored those results when they approved the Lynnwood extension operating plan. The “voter approved” 8.5-mile extension, costs $2.7B, and exacerbates all the Northgate Link problems. 

 

It doesn’t increase the capacity of the Line 1 Link, yet they use it to replace additional bus routes into Seattle, further reducing transit capacity into the city, little to reduce HOV congestion and nothing for GP lanes. The additional transferees further reduce access for other Line 1 Link commuters.  The 8.5-mile adds $2000 to the Northgate Link for the trip cost, to and from Westlake Station. 

 

The bottom line is Sound Transit has refused to release Service Provided Performance results riders for the three Northgate Link stations.  The Jan 26^th Sound Transit Board decisions indicate they’ve ignored that data. The result will be a Lynnwood Link debut that dwarfs the Northgate Link debacle.  

It's unfortunate it’s going to take until summer/fall 2024 to demonstrate the result.  Hundreds of additional millions will be spent on "voter approved" light rail spine extensions that add to the problem rather than on Ballard and West Seattle extensions that would increase transit capacity and ridership into Seattle.