Commentary: Sound Transit’s forever taxes — what are you actually getting?

While we welcome the news that Sound Transit’s light rail line (ST2) now reaches Lynnwood, we think people should know what they are actually getting for the $1,800 annual cost the average family is paying in Sound Transit’s forever taxes[1]. So, before we commit to adding another 62 miles of Sound Transit’s light rail (ST3), still in the planning stages, let’s look at the actual costs and benefits when it’s completed in 2048. According to our federally mandated planning agency, the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) by 2050, even with full build out of light rail:

– Traffic congestion increases 54%[2]

– Only 3% of the region’s 24,000,000 trips a day by car, transit, ferry, walking, bike, will be on Sound Transit trains. [3]

– Greenhouse gas emissions will decrease only 6% below 1990 levels, well below the region’s goal of an 83% reduction. [4]

In 2016, the ST3 ballot measure was priced at $54 billion. Today it is at $148 billion and counting. For those non-math folks, a billion is a thousand millions.[5]

It’s time to hit the brakes on Sound Transit.

Finish the light rail projects under construction, but before any further planning of ST3, the Washington State Legislature needs to hold ST accountable. If you agree, please sign our petition to the Legislature and share the petition with others. The petition asks the Legislature to:

1. Pause planning on all ST3 projects.
2. Require all Sound Transit Board members be directly elected by district.
3. Conduct an objective cost-benefit analysis of all viable ST3 alternatives.

 What would alternatives to ST3 look like?

– Use a fraction of the construction budget to modernize street infrastructure, traffic signals and bus features to make expanded RapidRide BRT service more frequent, faster, and reliable. This could cover many more neighborhoods than a single light rail line in a few years rather than decades.

– Get more people to existing transit stations and eliminate transit deserts by providing more vanpools, carpools, electric bikes and on-demand micro transit van services like Metro Flex.

– Electrify buses and micro-transit vans.

– Ask the Legislature to hold Washington State Department of Transportation accountable on its promise to keep the 310 miles of HOV lanes moving at 45 miles per hour at least 90% of the time.

– Start planning for autonomous vehicles to provide service where there isn’t enough demand to support bus service. The technology is already being tested in several cities.

– Increase security presence on routes that need it.

For more information and documentation, see Promises vs. Reality on our smartertransit.org website. And, to understand why these projects continue to get funded despite their cost and ridership numbers, see our “Contracts” report toward the bottom of our website under “Learn More.” It turns out the cost is the benefit, with real estate firms, developers and hundreds of companies making millions and billions of dollars.

Why haven’t you heard about these numbers until now? Between 2007 and 2015, leading up to the ST3 vote, Sound Transit spent over $40 million on public relations and marketing.

Some other facts you may want to know.

– We love trains, but in order for them to be cost effective, you need very high densities. New York City has 29,000 people per square mile. Seattle has about 9,000 people per square mile. Tacoma, Everett and our suburbs have about half that.

– Light rail is called “light” because of its capacity, not weight. They are actually very heavy because they have to withstand impacts with road vehicles. They are not “grade-separated” like the Amtrak trains or subways (heavy rail). As a result, they present a hazard to cars and pedestrians. Elevating or tunneling them to avoid interruptions to service becomes prohibitively expensive and environmentally destructive.

Along with signing the petition, please:

1. Contact your County and State Legislators. See the League of Women Voters if you don’t know who they are at https://www.lwvwa.org/who-represents-you.

2. Send a note to Gary Horcher, investigative reporter at KIRO and respectfully ask that KIRO start covering this major story. ghorcher@kirotv.com.

3. Forward this information to friends, family, neighbors, colleagues.

4. West Seattle is first on the list of ST3 projects now. Please see Rethink the Link for how you can help save homes, businesses and sensitive areas with a very viable alternative.

5. Join our coalition – See contact info on our smartertransit.org website.

— By John S. Niles & Maggie Fimia

Co-Chairs, smartertransit.org

Sources

1 https://ofm.wa.gov/sites/default/files/public/dataresearch/pop/special/rta.pdf;

https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/united-states/quick-facts/washington/average-household-size#map

2 PSRC’s 2050 Transportation plan, Appendix H, pg. 24

3  “Justification information:”

https://smartertransit.org/justification-for-smarter-transits-analysis-of-2050-rail-transit-mode-share-for-the-central-puget-sound-region/

4 https://www.psrc.org/media/5942 pg. 7, (see 3rd and 4th bar)

5 https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/sound-transit-ceo-julie-timm-is-leaving-her-post/(Paragraph # 7)

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. For more information see Charles Prestrud’s Post: The West Seattle Link Extension has gone off the Rails
    Blog CHARLES PRESTRUD Oct 8, 2024
    https://www.washingtonpolicy.org/publications/detail/the-west-seattle-link-extension-has-gone-off-the-rails

    The West Seattle extension approved by voters in 2016 was to cost 2.3 billion. ST just announced that it will be closer to $7 billion. Ridership estimates are abysmal. His conclusion: “In 1996, 2008, and 2016 Sound Transit sold voters on the idea that building a light rail system was the solution to the region’s growing transportation needs. Now the FEIS for West Seattle extension project shows that the agency’s rigid adherence to light rail has become the obstacle to consideration of far more cost-effective alternatives. ”

    The other ST3 projects: Federal Way to Tacoma, Lynnwood to Everett and Bellevue to Issaquah and Ballard to Downtown Seattle have the same very low additional ridership and much faster and less expensive alternatives we could implement. Please contact your elected officials and ask them to hold ST and PSRC accountable.

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