Sound Transit’s “Daring Feat “:Problems

The Friday, March 27th Seattle Times culminated a week of using itsTraffic Lab project to expound on the benefits of Sound Transit’s 2 Line March 28th cross lake debut: A “Daring Feat” of light rail trains “Riding on Water”. This post is another attempt to detail its problems.  It began after a 3-year attempt failed to persuade the Bellevue City Council to disallow the 10 permits in the Sound Transit 2008 DEIS they needed to implement East Link. 

That failure led to this blog in 2012.  It began with a post “doubting” Sound Transit's 2008  DEIS claim East Link would have a peak-hour capacity of up to 18,000 to 24,000 people per hour (pph)”. That Sound Transit's confiscation of the I-90 bridge center roadway for light rail precluded 2-way BRT routes with 10 times light rail capacity,10 years sooner, at 1/10th the cost.

Sound Transit's light rail route into Bellevue also ignored Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation's environmental policy that “Precluded approval of a transportation project that adversely affects waterfowl and wildlife refuges unless the impact is de minimis”.  They spent millions shielding homes across Bellevue Way but nothing to protect the quiet solitude of the Mercer Slough Park. The route into Bellevue needlessly destroyed the city’s persona as “the city in the park”. The Washington Department of Ecology also raised concerns the stormwater from the tracks could pollute Lake Washington.

Sound Transit’s decision to limit 2 Line operation to 2 cars trains every 8 minutes will  limit capacity to ~2500 riders per hour, a fraction of DEIS predictions.  Rather than use East Link  to add transit capacity into Seattle, it will be used to replace existing bus routes. Cross lake commuters forced to transfer to and from light rail on Mercer Island will inundate the city.  Being the last eastside station those transferring there and island commuters attempting to board will likely lose access during peak commute.

Routing the 2 Line on the cross-lake extension adds to Sound Transits operating costs. At light rail car costs of $30 per mile, the 2 car, 30-mile trip from CID to Downtown Redmond and back will cost  $1800. Sound Transit’s schedule for trains every 8 minutes during peak times and 10-15 minutes off peak from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. will require about 120 trips for a cost of $216,000 daily. The resulting cost per rider awaits the ridership results, something they’ve refused to release in the ridership report for beyond December. 

Sound Transit’s decision to use 2 Line for half the trains to Lynnwood complicates its operation. 2 Line trains returning from Redmond will have to merge with 1 Line trains from Federal Way.  Safe operation typically requires 4 minutes between trains.  Assuring a safe interval between the two trains when they merge to enter the DSTT could  limit their schedule and reduce capacity.  

 

The bottom line is that any benefits from Sound Transit’s “Daring Feat” of trains “Riding on Water” are not without many problems.  One problem being the Traffic Lab may herald the number of opening day riders but unable to report on the number of commuters the following week.