This got me thinking about some of the awesome things going on in Seattle, Tacoma, and Portland. This year is the 10th anniversary of the Portland Streetcar. Tacoma is almost done with an additional stop on their streetcar line. Portland will open the east side line next year. Seattle is starting on their First Hill Streetcar, now, soon, it is kind of in the works. So the expansions, albeit slow by historical standards, continue onward! Overall, congratulations are due to the north west in general! This part of the country, to put it simply, kicks ass!
I’ve given Seattle (specifically Metro and Sound Transit) a lot of crap over the years. Overall they do an ok job, I do think they spend WAY too much money on what they’re building. For whatever reason Sound Transit just keeps on suggesting these cut and cover, dig and cover, elevated, and tunnel bore type routes which are insanely expensive. They’re building light rail like it is heavy rail, which puts light rail in the heavy rail price range without the carrying capacity. This leaves me perplexed. This also leaves the Seattle area with very little light rail that could be serving hundreds of thousands of riders by now if it didnt’ get stuck every time it is up for vote or pulled off the “build queue” because it is so blasted expensive.
As I’ve said before, there are prime examples of how to use light rail to our south and north of the city. Vancouver BC carries more people on light rail than the entire Seattle Metro System, and it is only a couple of lines. Portland carries over a hundred thousand people a day on its line, with a per ride cost that is vastly lower than Sound Transit Link Light Rails costs now or will ever cost even with additions. All of this amounts to a lot of scary budget problems and other concerns that I have about Sound Transit.
Overall, it looks more like this whole light rail effort of Sound Transit’s is somewhat misplaced, overpriced, and won’t actually serve to create or expand town centers in core areas that it will serve.
The Positive
Looking at the east side line provides a glimpse into an amazing service potential. Uninterrupted by traffic, unencumbered by the inefficiencies of diesel, hybrid power, or even rubber on road concerns Bellevue could be connected 365 days a year through almost any conditions. Cold weather concerns in this area wouldn’t even bother light rail, the destructive nature of chained tires on buses goes away for this route. Increased capacity to move people between Bellevue and Seattle increases by a substantial percent.
Over a period of 30 years of operation, the net cost of light rail, even with some of the above mentioned design cost concerns, would be equivalent to that of similar bus operations with lower capacity. (Keep in mind this is in comparison to the usual 18-22 years it usually takes for light rail to recoup and become cheaper than equivalent bus service, after which light rail only becomes a smaller and smaller cost compared to equivalent bus service)
Additionally the amount of “choice” riders will increase based on empirical ridership numbers. The town centers that are served (Bellevue and Seattle) will gain foot traffic that, some realize, is vastly more valuable and less costly to service than auto based traffic. The Overlake Transit Center area, pending Microsoft maintains itself as a dominant employer in the area, will become even more intensely utilized. In addition Microsoft itself could probably even woo additional talent from downtown (which it often desperately wants to do – re: Connector).
The Questions
In the end though, will this work? Will Seattle be able to provide the funds for this? Will Seattle get enough support from the Federal Government? Is the potential payoff even worth it compared to a cheaper implementation of light rail? Why is Seattle, at least by action, ignoring lessons learned in Denver, Portland, San Francisco, and Vancouver? Will people really use the system in enough numbers to validate its massive cost per mile? Already auto based transportation is draining this country of monetary resources, inefficiencies, and now we continue to fall into hock to support it. But can we do better with well built transit services? Will we recoup enough efficiencies from this to save so much of our decaying standard of life? Will Seattle’s (via Sound Transit) ongoing attempts to build out light rail actually build up the town centers within this city?
What’s your take? I’d love to know. Please comment! Cheers 🙂
A year ago (ok, a few days shy of a year ago) I moved to Seattle and located in the Belltown Neighborhood here:
To the east there is a highway, also known as Aurora, which blocks be from easy access to the eastern region and South Lake Union. I can get there, but it isn’t an enjoyable walk. It is absolutely not pedestrian friendly. To the south I must cross Dexter. This often takes 1-3 minutes depending on where in the light cycle I arrive at the street. There are literally thousands upon thousands of cars that go by on this street everyday, often at a crawling snails pace. The traffic management on the road is horrible. With the junction of this road and 99/Aurora it made walking to the east or south, a rather unwieldy notion. To the west are numberous parking lots and buildings, often closed at 5 pm making for an uninteresting walk in that direction. To the north are numerous empty building and electrical grid facilities, that then open to a rather bleak and dangerous street to cross that has 30mph+ traffic coming into downtown from I-5.
Needless to say it makes one used to pedestrian friendly streets and high livability standards rather frustrated. The casual walk basically dissappeared. Well, I now have a solution.
I’m moving to Ballard.
There is a little less transit, but the options I do have a much better route. What I mean by that is the buses aren’t the violent or problematic #358 or #5. I can jump a #18, #17, or even a #15 or #28 with a little walk. Groceries, parks, coffee shops, music stores, and more are all within a short walking distance. I’m ecstatic to be getting near a livable area again. Don’t get me wrong, Belltown is nice, it has its charm, but it isn’t anywhere near as livable as Ballard, Fremont, or Capital Hill. I looked at all those place previously, including my review of Madrona and Ballard. After much discussion it came down to Ballard having the right stuff. Last but not least, my new commute, not bad at all. 🙂
So in the future, the ole’ Transit Sleuth here will have a few tales and adventures in the northern lands of Ballard here in Seattle. Stay tuned, it’ll be a blast. 🙂
So far I’ve checked out a number of neighborhoods in Seattle. The winners of “awesome” so far are Ballard and Capital Hill. I’ll admit there are a few others that I haven’t been able to check out thoroughly yet. One of those is Alki Beach area. Another is some of the northern neighborhoods, even some of the southern or other western neighborhoods. My questions is, what other neighborhoods should I check out Seattleites? I know there have to be more hidden gems, but I don’t know exactly where to look and the “end of lease” time on the apartment is coming up. I do like the close proximity to downtown that Belltown provides, BUT, it’s not exactly what I’m looking for. I want my preferred mix of art, culture, music, ease of access (re: transit without nasty Interstates/major highways nearby making a racket).
Transit Sleuth 