The Coalition for Effective Transportation Alternatives (CETA) has issued a report card on Sound Transit. The Unsound Train people get a GPA of 1.0
Sounder Commuter Rail FIt's been an expensive education.
Tacoma Link Light Rail C
Central Link Light Rail F
Regional Express Buses C
Read the whole thing.
UPDATE: The primary author of the report card is Emory Bundy, who has one of the more interesting resumes you'll come across --
a former professor of political science at Oberlin College and University of East Africa. He has served as head of the staff of a member of Congress and as the Director of Public Affairs at King Broadcasting Company during 1969-83. He has also served as a member of the staff of a major foundation focused on environmental affairs. He is an avid bicyclist and does not own an auto.Yes, a man who likes alternatives to automobiles and recognizes that light rail is not a particularly good alternative. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at May 02, 2005 11:14 AM | Email This
I also have heard a state official complain that Sound Transit sent in documents for permit review to the state agency, when clearly the engineering had not been adequately done to issue the permit. This head of a to be un-named state agency group basically said that his group was being asked to provide consulting engineering supervision and that Sound Transit was too lazy to manage its own design efforts. He felt he had been badly abused by Sound Transit leaning on him and his limited staff.
Yes, Sound Transit deserves a failing grade and a grade point average of 1.0 is unfortunately passing, but indicative of the mess that Puget Sound is likely to end up getting.
Posted by: Bob on May 2, 2005 11:23 AMAt least get a conservative, er, tightwad, to run this boondoggle. And then, if money is being wasted it won't be wasted at the pace it is right now.
Or as my favorite contractor said when he was forced to start a job before the weather conditions were ideal and therefore only put one crew on the job, "it is better to lose a little than a lot".
Posted by: swatter on May 2, 2005 12:33 PMYour ass is toast come November.
Posted by: Rex on May 2, 2005 12:35 PMIn my book, if you're on time and on budget, that's a "C" - meets expectations. Only if you're under budget and early do you get a "B" or an "A". All aspects of it are "F" in my opinion.
Posted by: Wayne on May 2, 2005 12:58 PMAlso, the construction crews are working round the clock where they can, and I am seeing signs of progress on Central Link. They could wait a few months and waste more money if they wanted, but they are doing what they can while waiting for the mole to arrive for the tunnel through Beacon Hill.
Also, Light Rail will come to Sea-Tac Airport in 2009, about 6 months after Central LINK goes on line.
Also, ST Express now uses 45 foot MCI Coaches on the Tacoma-Seattle run, which are from the same manufacturer that Greyhound buys from, but without the luxury of having a restroom, so they can add 2 more seats.
Posted by: MASSTRANSITFAN on May 2, 2005 01:22 PM"The potential is obvious from Seattle's ancient monorail system--which, in spite of its installation nearly four decades ago, actually operates at a profit"
Aghast.
Emory Bundy shoots down Stefan's anti-monorail position.
Posted by: M&M on May 2, 2005 01:29 PMI thought they were awfully generous. My reaction to what I read was OH MY GOD!!! How come heads aren't rolling? Where is the MSM on this fiasco? Are they so in love with liberals that they can not recognize when they do something this horrifyingly stupid and wrong?
Joel Connelly has been sent the link by yours truely. Let the excuse making and finger pointing begin.
San Francisco Muni carries over 300 million a year(many from other Bay Area communities), with 60 million of them on Light Rail(they call all lines streetcars, even though the F-Line is the only true one). Funy thing is, that MUNI was once an all-rail system. The J,K,L,M, and N lines were the last survivors in the seventies, when the double-deck subway put them underground. They have the F-Line, and the Cable Cars.
Portland Trimet Carries 91 million riders, 30 million riders on MAX, and again, those 30 million are carried on just three lines.
The reason why rail costs so much, is it is hard to replace something you lost. Rail once worked, so good, that GM thought of it as a threat. GM did not oppose commuter rail, because they were the ones supplying the Locomotives.
Posted by: MASSTRANSITFAN on May 2, 2005 01:42 PMSound transit has no money to run a line to the airport; ala Narita, Heathrow, Copenhagen, Schiphol, etc, etc.
They claim to be able to run to within 1 mile and put us on shuttle buses; their direct connect aspirations are unfunded.
Posted by: righton on May 2, 2005 02:05 PMOne other thing, why was no one charged with 'professional malpractice' or fraud for this scandal?
Posted by: JDH on May 2, 2005 03:04 PMSponsors MUST provide a performance bond for EVERY ballot measure prior to it’s being placed on the ballot. Should the measure not be, shall we say, as advertised then it is the bonding agency and not the taxpayers who would be left 'holding the bag.'
If there was no one willing to bond the project, then that should tell you something.
One other thing, why was no one charged with 'professional malpractice' or fraud for this scandal?
Josef at Josef's Public Journal has more detail, including my back of the envelope analysis with respect to the Sounder commuter rail part of the program.
Posted by: Ironman on May 2, 2005 06:34 PMWe WILL have a regionally, coordinated and world-class transit system---WHEN we have Scotty's transporter. Stick around.
Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on May 2, 2005 07:17 PMAs for Light Rail ridership not being good, here are the numbers from MUNI's website. San Francisco has been trying to win back the riders they lost a long, long time ago, and they are succeeding.
2001-2002 Yearly Ridership
Motor Coach
98,614,739
Trolley Coach
78,773,571
Streetcar*
47,898,268
Cable Car
7,729,162
Total:
233,015,740
MUNI's job is to move people, and they get passengers from other systems, Caltrain, BART, Golden Gate Transit(Buses and Ferries), AC Transit(Cross Bay Buses).
The Asterisk in the Streetcar ridership figure just said that MUNI had to include the F-Line, which is a historic streetcar line that uses old PCC Streetcars, and a mix of older ones. The FTA wanted it, but MUNI considers them seperate, in fact, the cars are restored by a non-profit group, and then MUNI puts them in service. One thing is certain, in Frisco, non-Diesel Burners get more riders than Diesel Buses.
Posted by: MASSTRANSITFAN on May 2, 2005 09:51 PM"Free" transit is never free. I'm not saying it's never appropriate, just that it's never free. Look at the cost/benefit, and ask yourself if paying over $119.40 (each way) for a trip on the Sounder is really worth it. That comes to $238.80 round trip. The buses do a better job, averaging between $5-$7 each way, but even so, is it worth it? Considering that roads are also subsidized, a responsible approach to transportation would be to fund whichever options are the most cost-effective and beneficial to society. I would be genuinely (albeit pleasantly) suprised if any Sound Transit project were to fare better than roads.
Posted by: Daniel Kauffman on May 3, 2005 12:42 AMEven if they connect, what good will it do? A slow, semi direct train will take an hour; who other than airport workers would ever use it?
As for Muni in SF; gee, a super dense city gets train riders, duh. Go compare Renton/Tukwila densities to SF routes that muni serves...
Posted by: righton on May 3, 2005 06:46 AMI ride the Sounder Commuter Train on a semi-regular basis, and it is usually pretty full - most seats are taken. I can't imagine WHERE they would put the additional 2 million boardings! Every time I have ridden the train, it has been at least 65% full. So I can't understand how it would be projected to have that many boardings, when the train is already near capacity.
Is that just an unrealistic projection? (They didn't bother to count how many seats are on each train?) I don't get it..
Posted by: AnonymousCoward on May 3, 2005 07:22 AMWe were told when we barely voted for this abortion that there was enough contingencies to handle any and all cost overruns. There would be no need for more money.
I say trash this system. It is better to lose a little money than a lot.
Posted by: swatter on May 3, 2005 08:12 AMWorse if you say, ok any one year 1mm riders. I think weekends are very light, so for lazy math, say its 6 days of riders per week. 1mm riders by 312 days is 3205 riders per day. Divide by half, if you assume all are round trip people.
So we take 1600 people off the freeway, and spend $1.32 billion doing so. That's $825,000 per person!! I say buy them all a cheap house in Wenatchee and you'd be better off!!!
Posted by: righton on May 3, 2005 08:23 AM