Which do you prefer?
ST2.1 doesn’t have nearly as much light rail, in the .5% scenario only as far as Northgate, Highline Community College and Overlake Transit Center/Microsoft and in the .4% only to Northgate, 200 St Des Moines and Overlake Hospital. But it does build it much faster, that last projects would open in 2020.
So which do you prefer? More light rail or sooner light rail? Sounder and express bus or light rail to Tacoma?
I strongly value sooner. It’s not like we can’t vote for more rail by the time it’s finished.
me too, the sooner the better. I’ll be 38 in 2020, I’ll be 48 and uninterested in 2030.
Depends where you live, I suppose.
If you’re in Ballard or W. Seattle, 2.1 is great because you’ll get to ST3 faster, where they pretty much have to build to those places. Indeed, anywhere left to ST3 in King County is better off.
The East Link people are better off.
The ones who probably get screwed, IMHO, are people in Pierce and Snohomish. But then, that’s what they get for voting against something that’s “too big” when a project of that size is the only way the rail gets to them in the first place.
Here is a strategic suggestion, go small first and wait for the federal government to change transportation policy. They are going to do it soon in order to favor more GHG, VMT reducing projects. At some point there will be more money available from the feds for these projects and less for highways. If you have more money from the feds, the money you raise goes further. So pass the small package, then help change the federal process so you get more out of the deal.
Sooner is more in the long run. If we keep each piece small enough, we can add them more frequently and end up with more than if we try one big package spread out over a longer time. I’m hoping that we can vote for ST3 in 2010 or 2012.
I do think Tacoma’s getting a raw deal.
Sooner, smaller. For many of the reasons mentioned above. We can vote on more in 2010 and if all goes well we will have a somewhat better federal government.
However, I have serious doubts that people outside of Seattle/Bellevue will vote to bus themselves.
Sooner, while gas prices are $4/gal.
Well, I’m pretty sure you can cross ‘falling gas prices’ off your “things to worry about” list…
Sooner is better. Also, I think the Sounder corridor is more important than light rail to Tacoma. Hopefully Sounder will become all-day service.
Sooner, definitely.
Pick the rail links that’ll have the most/best ridership, and build them. Having something running and working will make subsequent lines more palatable for the voters. Seeing is beleiving; ‘big bang’ plans have the problem of seeming more expensive and attaracting criticism from everywhere at once.
We’re Americans; we love installment plans!