Mr. Hirt seems to miss the fact that “rapid transit” is a generic term not to be used in arbitration. Still, he makes a comparison with the RATP Paris Metro, a 100+ year old system that runs in one of Europe’s largest cities.
Mr. Hirt is comparing an apple to a watermelon. He also misses Mr. Gillis’ point about the costs of bus service versus rail. Bus service does require less capital investment, but operates at much higher marginal costs through labor, operating, maintenance, and other variable expenses.
What does Mr. Hirt propose for bus service once oil sells for $200 or $300 dollars a barrel? The reason why King County Metro and Sound Transit have one of the lowest farebox recovery ratios in the country is because our transit system is almost entirely bus based. Sales tax revenue plugs the remaining funding gap, which relies on the currently diminishing consumer tax base. Other transit systems that have a larger rail mode share have much higher farebox recovery.
Mr. Hirt also argues that the conversion of the center I-90 roadway to fixed guideway rail will “force” commuters to use the outer bridge. It should be reminded that the center lanes are currently only for high-occupancy vehicle use, yet has Mr. Hirt ever seen the center express lanes congested on a regular basis?
Who are these commuters that will be “forced” to use the outer bridge? Under WSDOT?s R8A project, these commuter carpools will simply shift to the newly added HOV lanes along the outer roadways in both directions. Furthermore, they need not worry about traveling in the peak direction, as the express lanes currently incentivize.
East Link travels through not only the Bellevue Way corridor and Downtown Bellevue, but also along the Bel-Red Corridor, the Overlake-Redmond 520 corridor, and to the Redmond city center. The entire line connects major population and development centers and Mr. Hirt ignores the fact that future transit-oriented development and growth will contribute to East Link’s ridership.
His argument attempts to formulate a scenario where a large share of riders coming from Issaquah and Eastgate will somehow be jamming the freeways to get to a rail station, but in reality will be more likely to continue existing commuting habits, at least until a line reaches Issaquah far in the future.
East Link is a necessary investment for the region’s long-term transportation future. Opponents of this idea quarrel about the cost and effectiveness now, but forget that the benefits of rail extend far into future generations.
Sherwin Lee, Bellevue
