I just moved out of his district or else I’d run against him in the next election. I would lose, but at least I would call him out on his anti-transit positions. I think it’s all about reminding him that his re-election depends on satisfying his constituents, not just his campaign donors.

What the state government should have provided was cover for the funding, i.e. bond guarantees. In the pre-recession days, we could have had a much better rating than we get with just the 3 county rating. It would have freed up money paid in interest for capital equipment & materials.

Portland has built for less density, and they’re paying for it in overcrowding on the MAX already. We’ve got a much larger downtown core than they do, twice the tall buildings, and we’re growing faster than they are.

The state government should be providing the level of funding they do in Portland. Just because we’ve chosen to spend more at the local level doesn’t mean we shouldn’t get state funds – it means we want it more, and want it done right, so perhaps the state should start backing us up before our legislators start seeing challengers?

Behind the curve refers to the fact that we’re so far behind where we need to be. The overbuilding is a contributor to this.

If you want to know why Portland’s built so much light rail and we’ve built so little, go down there and look at how they construct their facilities.

Portland’s MAX is built like a combination street car and interurban railroad, which is essentially what light rail is.

Central Link is built like a high-frequency metro line, saddled with claustrophobia-inducing light rail trains. This is really no surprise, as if you take a look at Tacoma Link, it’s a standard LRT line that uses streetcars!

Brian Bradford
Olympia, WA

Which is it? My bus the 101 is constantly jam packed even with the downturn in the economy. I’m lucky to get a crush standing spot on it going home.

Light rail at a mere 14 miles of track can hardly be called “overbuilt”. One street car in the Lake Union area for a mere 1.5 miles of track “overbuilt?” Gone is the waterfront street car even though the tracks and stations are all there.

Washington State has the best public transportation in the US. Sure, mass transit wise we’re overbuilt and behind the curve, but as for basic mobility there is no equal.

I ask to be corrected on this argument. Tell me of another state that has the transit coverage, service quality, and reasonable fares that we do.

The fact that transit in Washington State is largely locally funded (except for redistribution of federal grants with state monies for rural and regional mobility projects) is immaterial.

The idea that a state government provides funding for a skeletal transit system while the local government shifts little or no money, is not a superior implementation to our own.

Brian Bradford
Olympia, WA

Don’t these people realize what an adverse impact shutting down the ferry system or privatizing it would have on Kitsap, Island, Jefferson, Clallam, and San Juan Counties? Sure cut off their economic and transportation lifeline, but how about we do the same to whatever counties the complainers live in?

Furthermore due to the Navy facilities in Bremerton, Bangor, Keyport, Manchester, Whidbey, and Indian Island the Federal government has a rather large interest in maintaining a majority of the State Ferry runs.

A glaring example of a project that should have gotten stimulus money is the 14th Ave South bridge. This thing is going to be closed by the engineers or fall in the water before it gets replaced. I believe it has one of the lowest condition ratings of any bridge in the country that is still open to traffic (3 out of 100).

Nobody look at the seawall replacement that isn’t high enough for 2100 sea level increases…

So at some nebulous time in the future we may or may not fund transit, when other states saw fit to fund it here? Just goes to show you how bad our legislators are.