We Can Afford No More Delays: Expand Light Rail Now

A London Underground Strike is looming, and users of the system are bracing for "three days of misery" as a result.

You may recall that in 2005, New Yorkers had to deal with a two day transit strike that brought the city to a near halt, and affected millions of commuters.

I wrote back then:

To those that scoff at urban and city transit and the effect it would have on traffic in Seattle, perhaps you haven't been paying much attention to the disruption caused when effective transit systems in other cities come to a halt, such as when the London bombings caused the shutdown of the Underground in July, or the recent transit strike in New York paralyzed commutes.

Effective transit systems attract users. People will leave their cars parked at home if they have a system that can compete with roads. One line alone will not do the job - you need a number of lines that reach out to enough neighborhoods and together create a transit system. Buses have to compete with cars on roads, and on their own they cannot replace the benefits of a transit system that runs on tracks above or below grade.

Even when the transit systems are in the headlines because of negative news such as a strike, it only reminds us of what we are losing when they are not available, and what those cities that don't have transit systems have been missing.

Sound Transit is now considering running a new ballot measure in November to vote on the expansion of their light rail system. A recent survey drew heavy favor for such a measure now, as opposed to waiting another couple of years. Puget Sound commuters are increasingly recognizing the benefit of using public transportation and Sound Transit ridership is growing at a healthy clip of 12.5% in 2007.

No one likes the disruption such strikes create, but when they happen, and the service is suddenly unavailable, that's when we truly discover how much we rely on and need public transportation. A full articulated bus of commuters is going to take 60 or so cars off the road, and a light rail train will take three times that many vehicles off the road. When those are suddenly unavailable, not only does road congestion rise dramatically, but commute times increase significantly, fuel usage spikes and nerves fray. Add the cost of parking at many destinations, if you can find an available spot, and potential tolling and you're looking at a very expensive commute.

We are rightfully concerned about the cost of building a light rail transit system, but we neglect to consider the cost of not doing so. Each year we wait is another year of wasted opportunity, and another year the price to build will increase as raw materials and right of ways become more expensive. Link Light Rail will open later next year, and transform how many people commute to work from the southern Seattle neighborhoods, as well as how many people get to and from the airport. Once the University Link is added (construction is to begin later this year) dozens of minutes will be cut from the journey between Capitol Hill and Husky Stadium.

The issue is that it takes too long to build these projects, so we can't continue to waste more time debating them to death. We must get a ballot measure in front of voters as soon as possible so we can get started on growing the system eastward and north. Otherwise we're eventually going to become paralyzed like London and New York are when their transit systems are unavailable - except in our case it won't just be for two or three days, it will be all the time.