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March 4, 2007

Sound Transit Tour

Back in September, I attended a family barbecue and wound up chatting with Martin, an old friend of the family. After we got past the usual, gosh-haven't-seen-you-in-three-decades kinds of conversation (holds hand 3 feet from the floor: "wow, you were just this high!"), we got to talking about what we were up to these days. Turns out that Martin is a fellow UW MBA alum (Class of '81, yo) ... and a Program Manager at Sound Transit.

(Yes, that Sound Transit. The conversation immediately took a veering, hard right turn into transit nerdery.)

Martin runs the rail systems (e.g., the Sounder Commuter Train) at ST, and, at one point, offered to "show me and Elaine around a bit sometime."

(Oh ... silly man. So totally gonna call you with an offer like that.)

Thus, on Thursday, Elaine and I found ourselves taking a super-cool tour of Sound Transit. We met Martin at Union Station (in all its gorgeous, restored splendor - history available here), caught the Sounder down to Tacoma, and then rode the Tacoma Light Rail system for the length of the line.

This was both an incredibly cool way to spend an evening, as well as a glimpse into what kinds of transit investments are going on in the community. Specifically:

• Sounder Rail. The Sounder is a classic, heavy-rail train system that runs between Seattle and Tacoma. It's relatively limited at the moment, with just four runs going Tacoma -> Seattle in the mornings, and four going Seattle -> Tacoma at night. Despite the low frequency, the trains are busy -- we had trouble finding a seat, and it was clear that the bulk of our fellow commuters were used to using their time productively. The ride from Seattle to Tacoma takes you through Kent and Puyallup, dropping you safely at the Tacoma Dome station about an hour after you started. The trains are clean and comfortable, with tables to work on and overhead spaces for bags and whatnot. If I lived in the South End and worked downtown at, say, Amazon (whose offices are right next to the northern terminus at King Street Station), the Sounder would be my preferred method of getting to work.
• Light Rail. Seattle's airport-to-downtown Light Rail project is under construction (opening 2009), but Tacoma has a baby system up and running now. Tacoma's rail is best thought of as an in-city "starter" or "demonstration" system; it runs from the Tacoma Dome Station to the Convention Center, past a couple of museums, the UW Tacoma campus, and a growing nightlife district. Like the 16th Street rail system in Denver, Tacoma's system is designed to get people up and down a specific corridor, thus stimulating economic development and providing a convenience to the public. Its relatively short length (about 1.3 miles) and good frequency (about every 10 minutes) makes it more like a street-level Seattle Monorail. For all that, it was a great experience - the ride is free, the trains are clean and quiet, and the stations look great. We hopped off and enjoyed some burgers and brew at a pub along the tracks. (And if you're interested, Tacoma uses overhead-electrified rail instead of an electrified third rail. I assume this has to do with safety - since the rails are at street level, and pedestrians can/do walk on them, overhead electrification prevents, uh, accidents.)

What's terrifically exciting about all this is the forthcoming Sound Transit 2 vote in November.

Today, Sound Transit is underway with construction of the core regional light rail line (airport to Downtown). This line is in the process of being augmented (with a $750M federal grant) to go north and get to Capitol Hill and the University of Washington campus.

ST2 will (among many other things) expand the regional light rail system dramatically, boosting the total number of miles to 60. It will connect Seattle's downtown to Lynnwood, Redmond (specifically the Overlake Transit Center, aka "The Microsoft Stop"), and Tacoma -- all through light rail. You can see a map of this on the ST site.

As a rail guy, I obviously find the prospect of ST2 incredibly exciting - doubly so after Thursday's tour. I'm telling you, with a comprehensive system like this, people will have a much easier time getting around our region, regardless of how packed the freeways are. Want to get from Bellevue to downtown Seattle? 20 minutes. Seattle to the airport? 25 minutes. And along the way, we'll get economic development and services to accommodate all the new investment.

It's one thing to go to London and see the Tube - it's quite another to see it coming together in Seattle.

I strongly recommend doing the Tacoma Light Rail thing if you have the opportunity. It's simple, slick, and gives a good taste of what we have to look forward to when Link opens in 2009.

Can't wait.

Posted by Gavin Shearer at March 4, 2007 6:44 PM. Posted to Politics | Transit.

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Posted by: Judy H. at March 4, 2007 11:43 PM

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