The March 28th Seattle Times Traffic Lab article, Constantine confirmed Sound Transit chief Executive picked as new Sound Transit Leader” is hardly a surprise. It’s not that his tenure as Sound Transit Board member and Chair has demonstrated any competence regarding public transit. The more likely reason being those making the selection recognized Constantine would continue to pursue the Board’s “Fantasy Lind” approach to public transit.
That Constantine as CEO will continue abetting a decade of transit board failure to understand what constitutes effective public transit. That public transit’s goal should be to provide transit for those unable or unwilling to drive in sufficient numbers to reduce congestion for those that do drive. Any potential CEO with a modicum of transit system competence would recognize 4-car light rail trains can’t accommodate enough transit riders to reduce multilane freeway peak hour congestion and cost too much to operate off-peak.
Neither the Board nor Constantine recognize additional bus routes along restricted access lanes into Seattle could provide the capacity needed for peak hour congestion and flexibility to meet off-peak congestion operating costs. That money spent extending light rail could have been spent adding parking with access to bus stations or local routes from where commuters live to bus stations.
Again, any potential CEO with a modicum of transit system competence would recognize Sound Transit should not have extended light rail beyond UW Stadium across I-90 Bridge, or beyond SeaTac Airport. At this point limiting damage require ending light rail spine to Everett and Tacoma. Yet Constantine was selected because of his support for the spine
Presumably, continuing with Sound Transit’s last Agency Progress Report 126.8 “full time monthly employees” were working on the Everett extension despite ridership for both the Northgate and Lynnwood extensions that was a fraction of projections. Most of whom were bus riders forced to transfer from bus routes to light rail, doing nothing to reduce I-5 congestion into Seattle.
The Everett extension expenditures, a small part of the 1572 positions and $957.5 million budgeted for staffing in Sound Transits 2025 Proposed Budget and Financial Plan that doesn’t include funding for those driving or maintaining their light rail cars or buses,
Neither Constantine nor the Board recognize the 2024 Starter Line and Lynnwood Link debut ridership results also debunked their “field of dreams approach” that extending light rail assures ridership. Thus, not only should they not extend to Everett. They should recognize that neither the Ballard to SODO or West Seattle to SODO light rail extension will attack the riders needed to justify the cost of creating the tracks and operating the trains.
The bottom line a competent transit system CEO would recognize a light rail spine for 4-car trains doesn’t have the capacity needed to reduce freeway congestion into Seattle. That using light rail trains to replace bus routes reduces transit capacity along the entire route. That having access to light rail doesn’t mean sufficient riders to justify spending billions boring a second tunnel under Seattle or second Duwamish Waterway Bridge,
That Constantine’s appointment assures Sound Transit continuing the “country’s largest transit system expansion” that doesn’t reduce roadway congestion. That the area's taxpayers are getting very little from the $700 they currently pay for Sound Transit, a number Constantines appointment will increase. The "likely" lack of riders with the Downtown Redmond extension in May and the results of Sound Transit continuing to use Line 2 trains for half the routes to Lynnwood this winter will be the next to validate the concerns.
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