Before retiring, I was a regular bus rider to downtown Seattle for many years and parked in the now infamous South Bellevue Park and Ride.

My fellow bus riders and I knew that the South Bellevue Park and Ride would close when the light rail project commenced construction. We also knew that all of the park and ride facilities on the Eastside, including Mercer Island, were maxed out.

Therefore, we knew that Sound Transit would need to be very creative to replace the park and ride capacity; something beyond getting 30 spaces here and there at church parking lots. So, where has this creativity been all of these years? For example, they could have explored partnering with private parking companies or developers to finance the building of parking garages in key locations, which could then be turned over to these companies upon completion of the project.

Over the years, I have seen nothing that shows any leadership, or creative planning on the part of Sound Transit to address this looming parking crisis. Instead, they appear to be stuck on square one, desperately searching out church parking lots.

Greg Schuler

Bellevue