Each Link car has 74 seats, with room for another hundred and twenty or more standing. The trains can run up to four cars, so that’s as many as 296 seats, and 800 total riders.
In 1974, BART began operation in the Trans-bay tube under the San Francisco Bay. Also, the Seoul Subway first opened that year, and that system now already has ten lines. 1974 was the last year electric trains ran on the Milwaukee Railroad that connected Chicago to Seattle
Link’s launch is in just 74 days.
by GREG NICKELS, Mayor of Seattle and Chair of the Sound Transit Board
With just over ten weeks until Sound Transit Light Rail opens, this is my fourth installment on how we got here.
After the three County Councils agreed to place the RTA plan on the ballot, the RTA’s first actual service began on January 28, 1995. Called TRY Rail, this demonstration of commuter rail service carried passengers between Tacoma and Seattle for a few weeks and then between Everett and Seattle. In total, 35,000 passengers rode TRY Rail. Commuter rail was one of the elements of the ballot measure.
The first vote to decide Mass Transit for King County in 25 years (and the first ever for Pierce and Snohomish Counties) was scheduled for a March 14, 1995 Special Election. In addition to commuter rail, the plan contained a mostly surface light rail system connecting Tacoma to Seattle, north to Lynnwood (actually 164th St SW) and east across Lake Washington to Bellevue and Redmond.
The campaign in favor was called “Citizens for Sound Transit,” and the opponents, “Families Against Congestion and Taxes.” Early polls looked favorable with some 60% of respondents likely to vote yes. According to the Pro campaign FAQ:
There are basically two opponents: Ed Hansen, the Mayor of Everett and Kemper Freeman, Jr., a Bellevue developer. Mayor Hansen opposes this project because it doesn’t include light rail to Everett – in other words, it’s not enough. Freeman opposes this plan because he thinks it’s too much.
The campaign was nasty and the proponents often found themselves on the defensive, responding to FACT’s charges that the ($6,700,000,000) cost was too high (compared with buses and freeways), the ridership numbers inflated and it would not put a dent in congestion.
Despite carrying King County 50.3% to 49.7%, getting 61.7% in Seattle and winning in Lake Forest Park and Mercer Island, the measure got only 42.8% in Bellevue, lost Pierce County and did so poorly in Snohomish County (especially Everett) that Prohibition looked popular in comparison. It went down RTA district-wide 46.5% yes to 53.3% no. The region rejected mass transit. History repeated itself – mass transit was once again treated by many politicians in Olympia and the region as political roadkill. It looked like another dead end for rail transit.
The mayor’s previous installments: Counting Down to Link, Light Rail’s Beginnings, 81 Days
The DJC is reporting that the Port of Tacoma and Port of Seattle are going after stimulus cash for rail projects along the I-5 corridor that should help ease freight congestion along the BNSF line. These would also ease congestion and increase on-time performance for Amtrak Cascades. The four projects they want money for are:
These do seem like good projects for stimulus money if they can reduce congestion for both freight trains and Amtrak service.
75% is the share of construction costs for Forward Thrust the Federal Government would have paid. King County taxpayers would have had to come up with just 25%.
In late 1975, construction started on Atlanta’s first MARTA line, the East-West line. The Urban Mass Transportation Administration – the Federal Agency that become the FTA – gave MARTA the $600 million it had set aside for our area’s failed Forward Thrust that year. Operations on the West line began in June of 1979, and began on the West Line in December of 1979.
Update from Ben:
Amusingly enough, while looking for light rail related ’75s’, I found another countdown from a year ago – here’s a post made when Phoenix’s light rail had 75 days left as well. I think everyone gets excited about having a new transit system!
Also, New Jersey Transit’s SEPTA’s (thanks) light rail system has 75 stations.
Less than eleven weeks to go!
The NYC Transit Museum opened in 1976.
The Memorandum of Agreement on Interstate 90 was also signed in 1976.
Here’s a tangent: I’ve been reading over more of the I-90 documents, and I’m no lawyer, but it looks to me like the state committed to building the facility to be converted to rail. The state was the lead agency on the project, and that memorandum says:
The I-90 facility shall be designed and constructed so that conversion of all or part of the transit roadway to fixed guideway is possible.
So, let’s say we find some significant barrier to conversion. Doesn’t that mean the state will be obligated to make it right, as their responsibility was to make it possible? We’ll see what happens between now and November 1st.
H/T: Oran.
On Friday Metro unveiled a new website design, which as far as I’m concerned is a major improvement on previous versions, in particular the extremely wordy one that immediately preceeded it.
The “Reports” tab is a godsend to transit wonks like us. In this respect I believe they’re leapfrogging ST’s site, which has long been the gold standard for planning documents.
Frank at Orphan Road pretty much says everything else that needs to be said.
This post originally appeared on Orphan Road.
Impressive as it sounds, the $8 billion promised by the Obama administration for high-speed rail isn’t really not all that much money, right? With the California’s system along looking like a $40 billion project, the $8 billion, spread across thousands of miles and a dozen or more corridors, is a proverbial drop in the bucket.
But I don’t think that’s the right way to think about the money. Rather, the $8 billion is a game-changer, a catalyst. It’s about shifting the conversation. In the months since the money was announced, municipalities all over the country have been scrambling to put together proposals, to explain why their region is ready for HSR. Take a look at this recent set of headlines from The Infrastructurist:
- Proposed Texas HSR network would cost $10-$20 billion, help with Houstons Olympic bid, and facilitate hurricane evacs. (Houston Chronicle)
- Obama touts a high speed rail connection between Des Moines and Chicago. Up to 79 mph! (KCCI)
- US is a half century behind Europe and Japan rail-wise, says head of Washington state rail program. (BBC)
- Travel writer: Would I use high speed trains? Im thinking the answer would be no. Not unless they were cheap and seriously fast. (Atlanta Journal Constitution)
- Kansas City should be a key national hub for a national high speed rail network, says KC rail booster. (KC Tribune)
- High speed rail is on the horizon for Minnesota: A discussion of the opportunities and challenges on MN Public Radio.
- Editorial: Nevadas congressional delegation should fight hard to make fancy gambling trainas Sen Jim DeMint calls the LV – LA rail proposala reality. (Las Vegas Sun)
- If you live in LA, youll have a couple of opportunities to show public support for the state HSR project next week. (CAHSR Blog)
Simply by chasing the pot of gold, these local politicians have had to meet with rail advocates and contractors, talk to constituents about the benefits or rail, convince the local chamber of commerce to get on board, draft feasibility studies and long-range plans, etc., etc. Even if they don’t get one single federal dollar, they’ve started to create an internal constituency and a set of stakeholders who are interested in pursuing HSR.
This post originally appeared on Orphan Road.
Via Erica Barnett, I see that King County Metro’s site has gotten a bit of a facelift. I like how they’ve bubbled up some of the more important content right there on the home page (like the trip planner). Sadly, it appears that the redesign is only skin-deep, as clicking on any of the links takes you to an interior page that’s pretty much unchanged. Nice top-level navigation bar even goes away, which is kind of a usability no-no.
Still, a solid effort, and hopefully only a first step. One new feature worth noting is the “Eye on your Commute” blog, which Metro explains thusly:
Just as traffic reporters alert motorists of spot problems on roadways, Metros own transit reporters are launching another online product, Eye on Your Metro Commute. As part of the pilot project, they will monitor information coming into Metros Transit Control Center during daily morning and afternoon commutes and will share what they are hearing. Our reporters will be looking for spot problems that could delay or disrupt bus service. Those delays could be caused by a major accident, road closure, or significant transit operational issue. Updates will then be posted on Metro Onlines home page. You can also subscribe to an RSS feed to receive the updates on your PC or small-screen mobile device.
Metro Transit General Manager Kevin Desmond explains Metro’s new web tools.
Eye on Your Metro Commute will operate Monday through Friday from 6 a.m.- 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.-7 p.m. The pilot will run through the end of 2009 and may be extended following an evaluation of the service.
So, despite the fact that it’s hosted on WordPress, it’s not really a blog, per se, but more of an alert service. I guess we shouldn’t expect any pictures of LOLcats to be posted at 3am. A nice use of free tools, in any event, and I’ve added the feed to the news feeds on the right.
Hopefully I’ll be more accurate with this one!
Last year, Salt Lake City’s UTA ordered 77 vehicles from Siemens, reportedly the largest light rail vehicle order ever in the US. I don’t know if we’ll beat that – I think it depends on whether we order all of our 2020 vehicles at the same time.
1977 marks the year that the Washington State Department of Highways became the Washington State Department of Transportation. Thirty years later, they still mostly build highways.
Initiative 348 also came in 1977 on the heels of the creation of WSDOT and the implementation of a 2 cent per gallon gas tax. It was basically an early version of I-912, the Eyman attempt to roll back the 2005 Transportation Partnership Account (the 9.5 cent gas tax).