This year like last year 2024 was another year of Sound Transit demonstrating a failure to effectively respond to the area’s roadway congestion. That 2023 was a year of delay in demonstrating Sound Transit’s plan for a light rail spine won’t reduce congestion into Seattle. It ended with CEO Timmes leaving, “likely” because she recognized the 2024 East Link Starter Line and Lynnwood Link debuts will demonstrate Sound Transit’s failed approach to public transit.
That similar concerns by potential transit system CEOs found by Sound Transit’s outside search organization resulted in Sound Transit going to “in house” selection The result was a new ST CEO, and another year of folly.
It began with another year of Sound Transit not recognizing King County Metro, Snohomish Community and Pierce County Transit already provided bus transit to commuters that could have been increased to meet future needs. That 4-car light rail trains don’t have the capacity to reduce multilane freeway peak hour congestion and cost too much to operate off peak.
That using light rail trains to replace bus routes reduced transit capacity into Seattle, does nothing to reduce GP lane congestion, and riders added by extensions reduce access for current riders. There was never any justification to spend hundreds of millions on light rail extensions beyond UW Stadium, across I-90 bridge, or beyond SeaTac airport.
The April 21 Seattle Times Traffic Lab front page article “Eastside’s newest startup: Light rail line finally arrives” claimed it “will change how Eastsiders think about getting around” with 70.000 residents living within a mile of Starter Line stations. Yet the 3425 weekday boardings for the 8 stations in November indicated only 1712.5 average riders, a fraction of the 4000 to 5700 predicted.
Sound Transit made a similar claim that 80,000 residents living within a mile of one of the Lynnwood extensions would attrack 24,000 to 35,000 riders. Yet, in November, only 6643 commuters boarded at one of the extension's 4 stations. That most boarders were former bus riders whose routes were terminated at one of the stations. Terminating bus routes does nothing ro reduce I-5 GP congestion and reduces transit capacity into Seattle.
Thus, the cost of extending light rail tracks and routing 4-car trains to and from Lynnwood far exceed any benefits from reduced congestion. Extending light rail to Everett just adds to the problem. That the extensions across I-90 Bridge and beyond SeaTac will “likely” face similar problems.
The lack of riders on Starter Line and Lynnwood Link in 2024 also demonstrated another Sound Transit problem, the failure of their apparent “Field of Dreams” premise, “if we build light rail riders will come.” It's "unlikely" the number of commuters choosing to use light rail link from Ballard to SODO will justify spending more than $12 billion for the link and second tunnel. That the number of West Seattle commuters choosing to use light rail won’t justify spending more than $6 billion for a second bridge over Duwamish Waterway from Alaska Junction to SODO.
2024 was also the year Sound Transit decided to no longer release the monthly Agency Progress Report. Ending nearly 10 years of 180 pages summarizing projects and major contracts status, risks and perfoarmance for capital projects. Each project had a Project Summary, Key Project Activities, Closely Monitored Issues, Project Cost Summary, Risk Management, Contingency Management, Project Schedule, and Staffing. Needed details reflecting Sound Transit’s response to Starter Line and Lynnwood Link lack of ridership.
2024 ended with the Board approving the Sound Transit 2025 Proposed Budget and Performance Plan. The 2025 Budget Summary lists "Administrative" expense as $34,259,000 and $141,365,000 as "Administrative-agency admin support" expense. Yet the 2025 budget’s Appendix C: “Departments and Staffing Budgets” details budgets by department total $957.5 million for 1572 positions gives an average cost per position in 2025 of $609,000. It’s not clear why the difference in the Appendix and the board whose 18 members who receive an average of more than $200,000 in compensation (from somewhere) never queried the difference..
The 2025 Budget also included Appendix I: Debt Obligations reporting they were only paying interest for several years on some of the bonds outstanding as of Dec 31,2023. That all of those bonds would be paid off in 2046. Five years after 2041, the end of ST3 taxes voters approved in 2016. What was new in 2024 was Sound Transit’s 5/28/2024 getting TIFIA and RRIF loans totaling $1.5 billion that won’t be paid off until 21/31/2061, and twenty years after 2041
The bottom line being 2024 was another year of Sound Transit failures not recognizing light rail trains inability to reduce roadway congestion and that access to light rail doesn't assure ridership. That they approved a 2025 budget with "questionable" Staff budgets and borrowed money requiring repayments well beyond their authority to do so.
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