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After all these years, with irrefutable evidence that “all door access” in the Ride Free Area saves millions of dollars annually in operating costs, the pinchpennies are at it again.

Since the Link trains will be stopping at the same platforms in the DSTT as do the buses and will follow them through the bored sections between the stations, they will be operating at the same speed as do the buses. There is no information I can find on the web identifying which routes stop at which bays in the tunnel (a SERIOUS oversight), but one can assume that you are smart enough to have the trains stop at the “front” bays so they can move out in front of any buses which might be delayed for wheelchair loading.

However, since the trains are limited to the guideway, if a bus passing through the tunnel in the previous pulse stopping at the “back” bays has been delayed long enough for a wheelchair at a station, the train will have to stop in the bored sections to allow it to clear the path. So there will be no fully reliable higher level of service for the rail vehicles than the buses that remain. For the person traveling from University Street to the ID/Chinatown station for an Asian lunch, the elapsed time will normally be exactly the same. Yet one type of vehicle will charge $1.75 for the trip while the other will be free. That is stupid.

If you have aggressive fare inspection you will alienate your riders by embarrassing them on the platforms, and if you don’t you will net very little revenue.

It seems to me that an agency as smart as yours could not make such an egregious error were it not that you are setting the stage for removal of the Ride Free service from the tunnel buses.

The penny pinchers always win in the end, don’t they?

Perhaps it has to do with the enforcement? They’re worried about making it “Ride Free but you need to have a ticket or ORCA card indicating that you got on in the Ride Free Area so everyone who tries to sneak onto Link without paying can’t just claim that they only got in on Ride Free,” I guess. And I guess there could be an issue with transfers being somewhat complicated, as if you only rode in the Ride Free Area you wouldn’t have transfer credit. It doesn’t seem that difficult, though.

They must be assuming that a significant percentage of people love rail so much that they’re going to ride the train instead of the bus. After all, isn’t that part of the justification for Link anyway, since it’s not going to be much faster than the 194 for getting to the airport? (Shorter head times between cars, yes, faster transit time once moving, not as much.)

Again, rail is not free in Downtown Seattle. 99 Waterfront Streetcar never was. And if the Sounder ever opens a stop at Pier 70, it will not be free for travel from King Street either.

My “hate” for the “homeless” is based on many many years of urban living, ’cause guess what: they usually aren’t.

Besides, will there really be any effective Fare Inspection in the tunnel? Most people who want to ride for free between Westlake and the ID will get away with it. Just post some signage so the tourists don’t get miffed; Bus is Free, train is not. Heck, the 99 Waterfront Benson Street Car (remember that?) was not free even though all of its service was once inside the RFA.

I don’t know what Sound Transit’s agreements for security and police response to Link are. Hopefully it is somewhat better than what Metro operators have to deal with.

Many of the bus drivers are opposed to the RFA anyway.

Another option being considered will do away with the RFA in the DSTT altogether. In my opinion, buses collecting fares in the tunnel will be the real slowing factor.

I just don’t believe that. It has to be spin meant to create a false choice that led to this decision. Let’s run the numbers:

If 2,600/day is less than 10% of ridership, then the rest of the ridership is at least 23,400 people. Take a quarter and multiply it by two trips a day per person, and that’s $42,700,000 a year. What Greg Walker and yourself are claiming is that letting 10% of the riders ride a short trip in the tunnel costs an extra $42.7M a year in janitorial costs? Even at $50,000 a year, that’s a full-time staff of 85 janitors for this 10% alone. That means the entire janitorial staff is 850 people! I had no idea Seattlites were so messy.

Personally, I would eliminate fares in the tunnel once Orca is adopted and start to increase cash fares vs. Orca, and spend the saved money on additional bus service in the city. But I don’t know if that’s totally the right thing to do.

The vast majority of riders in the tunnel are going to have transfers or passes, or are leaving downtown, though, so it shouldn’t affect them.

Does anyone know the current reimbursment to Metro from the DSA?
Then the question has to raised, who will pick up the tab for all the riders that choose a free bus, rather than pay $1.75 to ride the train.
Maybe ST should pay for that.