Yet another report reveals that the Monorail is hopelessly munted: "Shortened monorail route may not save enough". Nevertheless, the Monorail Board has hired an expensive messiah to try to postpone the inevitable: "Transportation pro to lead monorail temporarily" -- at a cost of only $38,400 a month.
Stop the insanity! Just shut the thing down all ready. And vote for Jim Nobles for Monorail Board
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at August 18, 2005 10:40 AM | Email ThisUn-freaking-believable!!!!!!!!!
My only consolation is that I live in Bellevue.
Posted by: C. Oh on August 18, 2005 10:58 AMEven the Democrats who don't agree that we should fix our roads (no not by building an expensive tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct) and remove HOV lanes, etc., would rather see this kind of money spent on mass transit that actually goes somewhere, like the I-5, I-90, or other important cooridors, etc.
Let's kill this damn Disney ride already. Sheesh.
Posted by: Jeff B. on August 18, 2005 11:01 AMMark D
Posted by: Mark D on August 18, 2005 11:39 AMPlus, they have responsibility for the existing 1 mile monorail. This system is running far too efficiently and is not costing the city enough. Why, take a look at the trolley car if you want to see a real money hole. The existing little monorail should emulate that!
Posted by: BananaLand (aka Iguana) on August 18, 2005 11:52 AMThis is a big reason why busses are empty, Light Rail is barely used, and the monorail (if built) will never work. Aside from every other inconvenience, many people are just unwilling to walk farther than they have to. This is as true for parking lots as it is for bus/train/monorial stations.
Posted by: Mark D on August 18, 2005 12:06 PMI can't see a doubling of population but that is the reason the planners are planning for these mass transit 'white elephants'. They are seeing the day in the far, far distant future where mass transit makes sense for us.
Posted by: swatter on August 18, 2005 12:17 PMI called a buddy who is working on a light rail thing in another state. He was incensed...largely because HE had thought about applying for it and decided not to. Three months' work and he'd make what he makes now for the year.
Geez...I bet Ballmer doesn't make that kind of green (not in salary, anyway)...
Posted by: SnoCo Voter on August 18, 2005 12:49 PMDemolish the convention center downtown and widen I-5.
Even with double the population, you aren't going to change the behavior of people at all. My point was that if people aren't willing to walk an extra 15 feet but are willing to wait an extra minute for someone else to pull out while they sit there...getting people to walk to a bus/monorail/trian station or from that station to where they need to be is a real up-hill battle.
1.)The busses we have now go much closer to peoples homes and much closer to where they need to be than either light-rail or the monorail would. There is plenty of excess capacity on the busses.
2.)Traffic on the roads and freeways is a disaster now.
3.)People still choose to drive themselves rather than ride the empty busses.
Posted by: Mark D on August 18, 2005 12:53 PMForty-one thousand, five hundred ninety-two dollars! Unreal.
Ka-ching!
Posted by: Mr. Grabbit on August 18, 2005 01:32 PMAirfare: $500 (probably doesn't use expedia.com or some other site to get the cheapest rate.)
Hotel: $600 ($150 a night X 4 nights) Unless he stays at Sea Tac Value Inn $47.80 a night. :)
Car: $169 - 314 per week (Full Size Car depending on rental agency)
Meals: $50 per diem (not sure what rate the agency sponcering him uses, so just a guess)
Misc.: Your guess.
This is per week. So add anywhere from $1000 to $1300 per week to the bill.
Your tax dollars at work! :)
Posted by: Tim R on August 18, 2005 03:19 PMA little over 200 years ago, a bunch of americans got together and started a war over taxation without representation.
"What the government makes is mandatory, what the citizens make is entirely negotiable"
Consulting: If you're not part of the solution, there's good money to be made in prolonging the problem.
Posted by: Mr. Grabbit on August 19, 2005 08:22 AM