by PITF Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief John Niles
Regional planning agency
I was motivated to attend Transportation Choices Coalition (TCC) Friday Forum on July 20, 2012 at Sound Transit headquarters because it was advertised as an event where the agency’s CEO would answer “all your questions.” As prelude to asking Question 1, I indicated verbally to TCC Executive Director Rob Johnson, the moderator, as well as the rest of the room, that I had four more questions, and awaited my turn to ask them following others. However, Mr. Johnson cut the Forum short by 20 minutes -- at 1:10 P.M. instead of 1:30 P.M. and did thus did not let me ask the last four of five question I had prepared and brought to the Forum.
Here's the one I did get to ask:
Question asked: What's the substance and timing of Sound Transit plans to bring the cost per passenger mile of Sounder commuter rail below the cost per passenger mile on existing parallel public bus routes? This requirement of state law was claimed during planning in the 1990s to be achievable. Is superior cost efficiency for Sounder over buses still considered possible, and does Sound Transit have a plan to get there? [Asked by JN and answered by the CEO – Sound Transit believes the market served by this route is not mature and is taking market research action to come up with additional activities to attract more riders. She also indicated that the legal requirement is not an issue for the present because the train in question passed a legal review before it started, and was implemented with voter approval.] For further background and the PITF take on this issue, click here to read "Sound Transit's Commuter Train Between Everett and Seattle Costs so Much that it's Illegal."
Following the abrupt end of the event, I went forward and handed
CEO Joni Earl the remaining four questions in
writing and she courteously indicated that she would respond in the near future. The
answers came within a few days in an email. I would rather have had a
spontaneous response in a public forum from the Sound Transit top manager instead of staff-scrubbed written responses,
shown below in
Question asked: Has a particular track bridge design for the transition of
the East Link light rail tracks onto and off of the I-90 bridge
been selected for the required testing at the U.S. Government’s Colorado
Springs train testing facility, and in what future month do you now estimate that
this testing will take place?
Questions asked: Certain staff at Sound Transit and Puget
Sound Regional Council know that the respective official future ridership
forecasts for rail transit by the two agencies are radically different: Specifically, Sound Transit’s claimed
ridership for ST 2 in 2030 is double what PSRC forecasts for ten years later in
2040 with both ST2 and ST3 implemented.
When will Sound Transit staff be offering an explanation?
Question asked: The Sound Transit financial plan shows the agency’s tax
collections from 2013 to 2040 will total 36 billion dollars. As the expected
achievement from that investment, Puget Sound Regional Council in the official
Metropolitan Transportation Plan forecasts a rail market share of about 1% of motorized
trips in the region in 2040. What other expected performance improvements does
Sound Transit expect will result from collecting and spending 36 billion
dollars over three decades, mostly for building, operating, and maintaining
light rail and commuter trains?
Question asked: A number of older Seattle residents tell me they want more
parking at light rail stations. They want to drive, park at a station, and then
ride light rail, rather than walk, bike, or bus between their home and the
station. Hills, weather, and winter
darkness are mentioned as issues in wanting to use a car to get to the train. I
explain in response about the policy and financial constraints limiting station
parking in City of Seattle, but is there anything else to be said as
explanation about so little parking at light rail stations?
Return to the Public Interest Transportation Forum home page.
Last modified: August 05, 2012