you could always move to the raineer valley, or lobby for light rail on your route...


an 8 car train leaving every 7 minutes gives you a lot of riding options.

I'd rather lobby for a system that isn't the most expensive, least effective of all the options.

Light Rail and the Tunnel Debacle are entirely different issues...and your opinions about Light Rail are dead wrong.

I'd be happy to tell you some truths about it, if you'd like.

Fish on...

Todd

geez Todd - since when do you need to ask to express your truth?


the darkside is getting lame... next thing you know, Sol Duc will say something smart and KK will say something nice

I'm not going to bother if someone who doesn't know where the light rail runs, doesn't know where the parking is for it, and likely has never even ridden on it once, but is full of opinions and "facts" about it, doesn't have any interest in being educated about it.

Fish on...

Todd

Dunno...rather than 'Hooking it and using Google to talk wisely about something I absolutely nothing whatsoever about I can only go on what I see.

I take my lady to the train station every morning where she commutes into the city, all the way to Westlake Center where her office is.

Sometimes the train goes right by because it is too full to stop...other times "not full" trains go by so that folks on the following stations have the chance to get on a train.

The train goes by every 7 minutes and by the time it gets to the downtown stations...of which there are many, which is not "none", by far...they are all completely full.

The station I drop her off at has 700 spots, and they have opened up another lot up the street for overflow that has another 200...all 900 of those spots are full every single workday morning by 7am. Lots of folks park on the surface streets around the stations so they can take the train.

Opening up a new lot a few more miles south on the line will more than double the amount of parking spots for commuters to use.

It's not just that way during peak work day times...81 days per year it happens again for every single home Mariner game...and for every single home Seahawk game.

To a lesser extent it happens for Husky games, but plenty of folks take the train into the city and then take the bus from downtown out to UW.

I have taken the train into the city maybe eight or ten times...never during peak work times, a couple of times around lunch time, and the rest in the evenings for Mariner games and whatnot...and the train has been full or almost full every time by the time it gets downtown.

I usually end up standing so that someone else can have the seat I've been in for the first half of the ride.

I have no idea how much that reduces pressure on congestion or parking downtown, but I know for sure that it is a positive for both.

If you are actually...actually, not just partisan hackery talking point actually, but really actually...concerned about congestion then something that is proven to work...the light rail system...should obviously be expanded, and it should be expanded a LOT.

If you "see" 2 or 3 people on the trains then you are either blind, or making it up. I suspect the answer is "making it up", though a quick visit to your eye doctor would let you know for sure which one it is

Fish on...

Todd

Buses don't drive very well thru our completely logjammed roads during peak times...the trains whizz right on thru.

It's ok to not like light rail, or whatever, just make sure you don't like it for actual factual reasons other than "I saw it on Fox News" reasons

Fish on...

Todd

Todd, I know a bit more about this than what Google has to say. Been following it since day 1 and in attendance of many of the meetings until i moved out of the city. First, the EIS for this project said that statistically zero cars would be removed from the roads with link light rail. Their ridership would be pirated from existing bus routes. Is that a good use of many billions of dollars?

Second, until recently there was proposed to be zero dedicated parking along the line because the thought was the line would be some sort of magnet for development. Developers would flock to the area to build all sorts of housing whose tenants would fill the trains. That hasn't happened.

So, for the short term, parking has been made available. Still, nobody rides it and we pay. Add to that what's happening with the tunnel and we have a multiple billion dollar congestion fix that hasn't removed a single car from the roads and has added zero alternatives for anyone who sits in traffic. But, this wasn't about solving traffic problems, it was about creating jobs... long term jobs that have no end in sight. Not my idea of a successful transportation project. Your view may differ.

This goes back a ways.


Light-rail commuters can park all day in pay lots in Rainier Valley after all, under a policy change announced in a news release Monday by Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn.

McGinn said the city will suspend enforcement of an ordinance that prevents all-day parking in lots near Link stations.

The parking limits were put in place to encourage mixed-use, densely populated development near the stations so people would walk to them, a long-term goal the mayor still supports, said spokesman Mark Matassa. A second reason was that when the stations were being planned, city officials promised neighborhoods the stations would not result in a flood of new traffic. Restricting parking, the reasoning went, would achieve that goal.

But until the economy rebounds, and the new development arrives, McGinn said, "It's good for local businesses and commuters to be flexible now" so the city should allow paid all-day parking in existing lots.

If you think "no one is riding light rail" then you are 100% wrong.

Every single train is either full or nearly full all day, and that's one train every 7 or 8 minutes.

Every single train every 7 or 8 minutes is two buses that aren't further snarling traffic, even if your assumption that no cars are being removed from traffic is true (which I believe it's not...I live with someone whose car is not in traffic every day thanks to light rail).

I see this with my own two eyes every single day.

Fish on...

Todd

For a fraction of the cost, make the carpool a dedicated bus lane with dedicated offramps and park and rides.

Light rail might be a good alternative if it was designed to get cars off the roads. Downtown to SeaTac does nothing for people in King, Pierce, or Snohomish counties. That line, even if expanded will have zero impact on people's commutes. 99.999% of the people still have no option with many billions spent. Where does the rest of the money come from to actually help move people along the major corridors people are using now?

Not quite sure what the reference to Fox has to do with anything.

I really liked the Bart system in the bay area the last time I visited our walnut creek office...

It did smell pretty bad and was a bit on the loud side, but you can get around pretty easily and never see the inside of a car.

"We're gonna need a bigger drill"

They shoulda sprung for the Bertha model with reverse!!!

Light rail is great for those that commute into the city. The system is mostly designed to leave your car outside the city and than ride in. Why would you need dedicated car parking downtown? That defeats the purpose.

The trouble with traffic out here is it will never get better because there are so many new residents all the time. I don't think there is any easy solution that takes into account for population growth. And you have to include population growth in British Columbia because they come to Seattle in droves.

The real problem though is that Seattle is a town full of millionaires and none of them want to ride public transit. In a way I don't blame them but at the same time don't bitch about traffic and build a crazy expensive tunnel so you can drive to downtown Seattle easier. The cost of that tunnel will eclipse the costs of more public transportation but than you cant drive your SUV right into downtown in a fancy tunnel. That apparently is the American dream.

Yep, you can tuck your sandy 'giner away now, because the tunnel is only ~1/8 completed. I'm sure in 2020 we'll still be using this thread to rant about the next big unforeseen issue, and none of us want to see your sandy 'giner again 'till then.. An issue which could have likely been avoiding by not trying to tunnel through regrade along a waterfront in earthquake country with unproven drilling methods underneath and alongside century-old buildings in the first place. God forbid if they should run into another pile of shells which might be a 2000 year old indigenous archeological site where we'll have to call in the archeologists to conduct a month long evaluation of that pile of shells with paint brushes.

LOL....

If you look into who wanted that tunnel, who lobbied for the tunnel, and who uses the road it is intended to replace, you will see it serves a certain demographic that has a crap load of money.

If you follow the history of mass transit in Seattle and who has worked against it, you will see a lot of powerful, wealthy folks who will never use mass transit.

Seattle politics is polluted by people with so much money they work against ordinary folks.

I'm sorry you are such a crotchety old idiot. Must have been a tough life for you. Sounds like all hay and no oats and now you are out to pasture.

I'd say there is a bit of a difference between a certain demographic and a town full of millionaires. Which is it?