The Federal Way City Council unanimously voted that they want light rail to Tacoma from Seattle, and not the scaled-back proposal the council is considering for ST2. In the scaled-back proposal, light rail would stop at South 200th street in Des Moines,, while in the proposal that was part of Prop 1 last November it would continue all the way to Tacoma.
This is a touchy subject, as many Seattle-based environmentists did not support light-rail south from Tacoma. The Stranger’s Erica Barnett, for example, thought building rail in “rural” areas (her word, Federal Way is far far from rural, but whatever) would encourage sprawl. Of course, I disagree.
I’d prefer a package with more light rail, but I would prefer over that a package that would pass. I do think that light rail south makes more sense than North, and it might not be a bad idea to put .5% with rail South, East and North to Shoreline, and express bus service for Snohomish.
Do you happen to watch the Sound Transit meetings? They’re super informative.
On the 24th, apparently, Sound Transit will report to the board what sort of things with light rail can happen if we move to 0.5%. It sounds like south to Highland CC and east to Overlake TC (Microsoft, not the hospital). Northgate is the only terminus option from what they’ve said (given the 10 year time-table), but there’s a possibility that it could open earlier. There’s also a possibility that downtown Bellevue would open earlier with 0.5%. Tune in!
My favorite part was seeing one of the council members lecture the board about attendance when Ron Sims was fussing about things — seeing as this meeting was the first one Sims had been to in months. I like what he’s doing with bus service, but I don’t understand his problems with light rail. Is it really just sales taxes or what?
I’ve watched the last couple. I Though that Ron Sims was being very coy at last week’s. I call shenanigans.
I loved that part, too. Claudia Thomas is awesome.
Of course the Federal Way council wants light rail to Federal Way. How is that remarkable? Every city wants their piece of regional investments, and all the discussion is about how to spread the money, not how to serve transit riders.
But going south makes more sense than going north? On what possible basis?
I’m not a big fan of going much past 145th to the north, since the market north of there is mostly peak oriented and one-directional, making it a great bus market and a poor use of a high capital cost rail solution. But at least the peak volumes would be respectable just because the bus volumes there are already respectable. Snohomish County riders would be able to reach more King County destinations, and the travel time would be competitive (though not substantially faster than buses using the express lanes and making no stops.)
But the south? The market there is equally peak-oriented and directional, there is little density, and the bus travel time will be faster the farther south you go. Dragging all south corridor riders up MLK Way, with a ton of intermediate stops, the billions in rail investment will net a slower trip with the only theoretical benefits being the intended effect on land use. I’d be surprised if even ST would cut their Federal Way express bus service once rail was in place.
Even the expected land use benefits are not necessarily a benefit — since density around rail stations in other car-oriented places has generated far more auto trips than transit ones. Rail by itself doesn’t make an area like Federal Way pedestrian friendly unless there are other pressures for that going on too.
What would be the purpose? I don’t get it!
If the line ever reached Tacoma, it would be a park-and-ride for Seattle-bound riders, not a high capacity connection between major centers. It wouldn’t even go into downtown Tacoma – you’d have to transfer to get there from light rail. And you’d have three high capacity modes to choose from for the Seattle to Tacoma trip – bus, light rail and commuter rail – all to serve a very (relatively) small number of riders who travel that full distance. Tacoma would be better off building an LRT line to serve Tacoma than to put all of their money into three commuter services to Seattle.
Please, PLEASE stop using “Snohomish” and “Snohomish County” interchangeably. Snohomish is a city at the intersection of US 2 and SR 9; Snohomish County is the entire county to the north of King County. Consistent misuse of these names implies misunderstanding of transportation issues faced by the communities to the north.
Some funny things happen if you link California in West Seattle to downtown by going south on California, east to Georgetown, and then north to SODO.
First, you get some very high-speed running east to Georgetown, and north to SODO, partly because of no intermediate stops, and partly because of the ease of building a completely grade-separated right-of-way.
Second, you can also go east from Georgetown to Othello, thus creating transit to the industrial district for both West Seattle and the Rainier valley.
Third, you can also go south from California to Burien, Des Moines, and Federal Way. These communities are not stupid. They’ve watched Bellevue, and they will permit skyscrapers in their city cores.
And on this route again, creating a grade-separated ROW with few stops for high-seed running wouldn’t be that hard.
As for the idea that people will drive five miles to the station and park their cars, instead of driving thirty miles to Seattle, well, that’s a feature, not a bug.
Quasi-
I think you are missing the point of a Tacoma link. There already is a quick (ish) line where people can park and ride and get into Seattle: Sounder.
The light rail line is the start of a Tacoma network, and it is only logical to start it to the north.
Its main purpose is to connect Tacoma to Federal Way, Star Lake, Des Moines, and Sea-Tac. It connects all those places to Seattle which is well and good, but it isn’t the sole purpose. Tacoma (and Federal Way to some extent) will become much more popular destinations in their own right as the country continues the trend of seeing people move back into the cities.
I also think you are underestimating the psychology behind rail. People will ride rail even though if it’s marginally slower. It’s more comfortable and satisfying. If you had a choice between driving an ’85 Toyota 45 mins in traffic vs a Porche for 1 hour on open freeway, what would you choose?
Your point about dense development creating more auto trips than transit is irrelevant, if it is true. The fact that we are creating an environment in which people can use mass transit AT ALL is an improvement to what otherwise could have been auto only. Not to mention this isn’t about pushing people out of cars, but rather creating an environment in which people have real lifestyle choices and aren’t forced to love the automobile or face the bus.
As much as I would like to see light rail go to Federal Way, I generally agree with the notion that we need something less expensive that will pass. People today are feeling poorer than ever, and things will most likely only get worse by the time we go vote.
Also, I also think that a line to Shoreline should be a higher priority than to Federal Way… because the Southend has Sounder. (Although I agree that the whole point of light rail is not just commuting, it is a major factor.)
What the Federal Way City Council asked for is that Sound Transit present two plans for public comment — one that extends light rail to Highline Community College and one that is a complete build out of the system. The idea is that people should be able to comment on distinct packages, not virtually identical ones.
I think because people know more about Seattle and Bellevue, they sometimes make uninformed comments related to other communities in the region. At 90k people, Federal Way is the third most populous city in the region (slightly smaller than Bellevue – 116k & Everett – 101k and twice the size of Redmond and Kirkland). FW has four new highrises (three over 24 stories) planned for its downtown. It is the fifth most densly populated city in the region (more dense than Bellevue — Des Moines is second, behind Seattle). It has the highest transit usage in South King County.
There are 6 cities with a population over 50,000 south of Seattle (Tacoma, Federal Way, Kent, Renton, Auburn and Lakewood); and only two to the north (Shoreline and Everett)and one to the east (Bellevue).
Lastly, I don’t see what’s wrong with putting up for vote a plan that is complete. If it fails, then put up a smaller plan. At .5%, the amount we would pay every year is the same. The only difference is the duration.