Sounder Station Access Open Houses

10 Replies to “Sounder Station Access Open Houses”

1. Whatever they end up doing, hopefully it will spur demand, lowering costs and eventually lead to more service. I don’t remember how often the S-bahn from Heidelberg to Mannheim came, but it was frequent enough that I never needed a schedule. That Seattle-Everett, Seattle-Tacoma can’t pull that off is a shame.

2. I think in order for sounder to become an all day affair, you’d probally have to double track the Union Pacific line to move the freights from the BNSF to dedicate that solely to passenger.

   If the sounder stations had structured parking like Lakewood or Tacoma Dome, charging a modest $2-5 wouldent be a bad idea. execution could be similar to that of vancouver BC’s Canada Line at Bridgeport Station, where the neighboring casino charges you $2 to park there for the day (and will refund your $2 if you come in after work and play the slots!). Of course at our stations you would have to accept ORCA for convience in addition to cash/credit at the pay stations. than have a monthly parking pass, or use e-purse for parking if people so desire.

3. More bus route which run get to the Tukwillia station would make that station worth using.

   And yeah they should charge a minimum fee at the parking lots once they start to fill up. $2/day would be nominal and would encourage people who can walk or ride a short bus to a station to do it.

   1. Tukwila is surprisingly functional, actually – between the 110 and 154 commuter routes and the 140, the Sounder feeds a substantial and fairly stable bus-riding population at Tukwila.

4. In regards to charging for Sounder parking: under different circumstances, I would agree, but the current nature of Sounder makes it a poor choice.

   Yes, the best solution would be reliable transit connections so that people can walk to their nearest arterial and grab a bus to the station. But this is a logistical pipe dream, at least in the present and near-future. Sounder isn’t always the fastest option, either, and multiple modal transfers aren’t terribly attractive to most riders (I know I wouldn’t be thrilled with bus-train-bus twice a day).

   Sounder riders aren’t a fluid parking population. They come in the morning, go in the evening, and have station coverage over much larger areas than bus service can hope to connect them to. Because the monthly-vs-single ride fare calculations don’t provide anything more than a small incentive to get monthly passes (an issue that sorely needs to be addressed – a commuter-oriented service should have a commuter-oriented fare structure) and ride regularly, charging for parking may destroy this incentive entirely – driving Sounder riders off the train and putting more SOVs on the highways at rush hours.

   1. downintacoma,

      If you “drive riders off the train”, you’re doing it wrong. The whole point is to have the same number of cars parked there, but improving the number of people who access it in other ways.

      1. Of course: I entirely agree, and its the problematic linchpin in my (and any) argument. The question I have is how to make this realistically work without alienating the current riders to the point of giving up on transit. (I’m sure it’s entirely possible; paid parking is hardly a new concept. I’m just considering the issues.)

         My main concern is that Sounder has a broad coverage area per station, (Tacoma and Auburn are prime examples) that is realistically difficult to cover with transit options. Yes, efforts have been made (with visible and measurable success; the South Hill connector in Puyallup, and bus ridership in the Auburn Valley stations), but the fact is that it suffers from that age-old transit ‘gotcha!’: lack of density. Buses connectors can’t cover everyone; this is a structural problem thanks to years of sprawl, not because the funding doesn’t exist (which, right now, it doesn’t). A little financial incentive to consider transit options is a good thing; however, those options must exist in a form which regular commuters would be willing to use them.

         It’s one of those big-thinker transit problems, really – how to get more people to ride the train while finding other ways to get them there with comparable ease and cost.

         (There is also the philosophical/economic question of how to improve job location – living closer to work usually means a shorter trip, but that’s a discussion for another time.)

      2. downintacoma,

         I reject the frame that this is punishing Sounder riders. The availability of a space when you arrive is a huge benefit to people who value their time and a predictable commute.

         If you genuinely have no option but to drive to the station, pricing is a Godsend because it keeps the people down the street out of the lot.

      3. Martin,

         I see your point, paid parking as a means to discourage those who do have transit options available from driving in order to preserve spaces for those who don’t. (Improving connecting services is a related issue, but not directly relevant to this thread.)

5. Well, I will say there is one old truth: without sidewalks very few people will walk to the station. Most of the stations have sidewalks in the immediate vicinity connecting to the immediately adjacent areas. But Tukwila, not so much. Perhaps the planned new Tukwila station will fix that.

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