Jan

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How Can Seattleites Get Modern Transportation Alternatives?

Filed Under metro transit 

Are you paying $500 a month to park downtown? Or are you, like me, riding a packed-out bumpy, infrequent bus? Why is that our alternative to the more and more costly automobile commute? Really, can’t we do better?

Did you know that King County exports gas tax dollars for roads to many other poorer counties in Washington? We’re the only county to have the surplus dollars to do that.

And even within King County, Seattle doesn’t get a good shake. When a Federal Judge turned over Metro Transit to the King County Council, that body voted to limit Seattle to 20% of the sales tax dollars for in-city transit service hours. The East Side and South King County get 40% each. Hasn’t Metro built out its system to the limits of the urban sprawl by now? Don’t the majority of bus trips in King County begin or end or being and end in Seattle? Hey, give us a break!

Lately Seattle has been trying many things to obtain true big city quality transit alternatives.

The late lamented Seattle Monorail established, and then extinguished, a separate district to fund in-city, off the street, mass transit with a Motor Vehicle Excise Tax slice. But the engineering was so awkward and inflexible that the project couldn’t adapt to the amount of funding available. There went tens of millions of dollars that could have bought us better bus service or at-grade rail or streetcar service.

Then our deregulated “free enterprise” economy went south. Bus rider numbers increased more than 20% over two years. A transit agency’s dream? No, a nightmare, as prices for the polluting diesel fuel skyrocketed, then crashed, then began a new rise this year.

Seattle voters spearheaded the “yes” vote for Metro’s three, yet to be implemented, “bus rapid transit” routes into downtown: West Seattle, Ballard/Uptown, and Aurora. These are regressively funded by new sales tax, but are scheduled currently to begin service in 2011-2012. Why so long? Meanwhile expect long waits and bumpy rides.

At the same time Seattle voted to tax itself on property, commercial parking lots, and employers (by number of employees) to improve key arterials, fix up streets and sidewalks, and buy – yes! buy — more than our 20% share of Metro bus service hours.

In November, 2008 King County voters spearheaded a really big decision to fund major extensions of the Sound Transit Link Light Rail slated to open this year from downtown to SeaTac Airport. At this time the new destinations include Lynnwood, Redmond, and Federal Way.

This January the City, County, and State executives finally agreed on an Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement: a surface Alaskan Way, downtown avenue and street improvements, improved access to the I-5 freeway at Spokane and Mercer Streets, and some more transit. Included in the transit are proposed Central Line, a First Avenue Streetcar service connecting Pioneer Square, Pike Market, downtown, and Belltown, to Seattle Center. Since Sound Transit cancelled the First Hill light rail station, the yes vote for extending Sound Transit light rail includes funding for a streetcar service linking Pioneer Square, First Hill, and Capitol Hill. So by extension the Central Line links to both the existing South Lake Union Streetcar to east Lake Union and to Capitol Hill’s Broadway.

Well, isn’t this boring, and isn’t this a shaky, variously funded mix. Is this our best try for excellent big city transit that will really relieve our main roads at peak travel hours?

In a period of US history when our national government is reducing taxes while fighting wars, the costs of transportation are shifting more and more to states, counties and cities.

We’ll need to find out how to pay for the needed improvements for all kinds of transportation, in-city, regional, inter-city, and international.

There are some viable alternatives: the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax, abhorred by Tim Eyeman, variable hour tolling, bonding against future tax revenues in districts with improved land values. The latter is the funding that built Portland’s Max Light Rail.

Talk to your State Representatives and Senators. Let them know that better transportation planning is needed and better funding is the key.

Comments

One Response to “How Can Seattleites Get Modern Transportation Alternatives?”

  1. Dan on February 1st, 2009 10:27 pm

    John,

    I agree! Distressing to me is the disconnect between population growth and transit service in Seattle. Those areas taking the growth do NOT get more transit service.

    We have to link land use, population growth and transportation tightly to make sure we are making the best decisions with limited resources.

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