Sound Transit and Traffic Lab Ignore Starter Line Debacle

The May 8^th Sound Transit System Expansion Committee Livestream video exemplifies the Board’s approach to creating “the largest transit system in the country”: “If we build it, they will come.” The April 21^st Seattle Times Traffic Lab front page had claimed the 27^th East Link Starter Line debut would “change how Eastsiders think about getting around”. The Bellevue mayor claimed “Everything that you have seen happen in Bellevue over the last ten years has been because of the promise of light rail.

The article detailed how commuters would use each of the 8 stations.   Subsequent articles detailed how the commuters should pay for ride. An April 26^th post raised doubts as to whether the Starter Line would attract the 4000 to 5700 riders claimed.  

Thus, on a couple of Wednesdays on my way to play bridge I stopped by the BelRed station around 10:15 am. On both occasions there were less than 30 cars in the 300-stall lot.  While there, two trains on the route to Bellevue stopped but no one got on and the two light rail car trains were essentially empty.  On subsequent Thursdays after hitting golf balls at Bellevue driving range, I stopped by BelRed around 8:30 am.  Again, the lot had very few cars, didn’t see anyone get on or off, and very few riders in train cars. 

 After breakfast at Chase’s Pancake House, I stopped by the South Bellevue T/C at 9:45.  The bottom floor with access to ST550 had about 50 cars. However, there were no cars on top floor with access to Starter Line. While there I did see two people get on though didn’t notice anyone getting off.   

The lack of apparent riders prompted my interest in the May 8^th video. That the System Expansion Committee meeting could include the results of nearly two weeks of the Starter Line operation.  They had approved spending $42 million to activate the line and a schedule for 2-car trains every 10 minutes for 16 hours a day.  At $30 per-mile-per-car, the 6.6-mile extension would cost $78,000 per day.  

However, the Sound Transit Board and Seattle Times Traffic Lab had never released results of the October 2021 Northgate Line debut showing riders added were a fraction of the 42,000 to 49,000 projected. Thus, the interest in the May 11^th livestream release of the System Expansion Committee meeting.

It didn’t take long. The meeting began with the CEO calling the April 27^th opening day ceremonies a huge success. He detailed all the luminaries who had attended, that they’d given out hundreds of Orca cards, and that 35,000 had rode the Starter Line.  He concluded by thanking all those who had contributed to making the debut a success and expressed confidence that future Lynnwood and Redmond Link extensions would be equally successful.  And the Board’s System Expansion Committee members seemed to relish the success

The bottom line is the Seattle Times has again neglected to follow up previous articles heralding Starter Line debut with someone checking out actual ridership.  However, that failure is dwarfed by the fact that the Sound Transit CEO and the Committee responsible for how to proceed with spending $145B apparently wasn’t concerned that "they'd built it but few riders came."

An ominous debut for Terri Mestas, the new Megaproject hire, who was introduced during the meeting.