r/soundtransit

How soon could fare gates be implemented? As I've said in other places, fares will not get light rail to ballard West Seattle Tacoma or anywhere else.

They can help keep our stations clean though.

Concerns i have about gates are:

Accessibility. How would those with mobility issues navigate the system?

Safety. At stations such as sodo othello and belred how to prevent people from walking on the tracks (this should be a conversation on its own, given the reputation of thesee corridors)

Tap to exit? I think tapping out at lynnwood Redmond and federal way isn't a bad idea. It's how it works in LA

Also support for transitgo needs to be included or a phase out period (personally I think it can go but that's off topic here)

Lead time for youths to get orca cards so they don't have to pay

Anyone else bothered by the announcements every single stop from megan rapinoe. Omg do it every other stop at least

I keep waiting for the news to report on this so I can just post the article, but it's been three days and none of the outlets I follow have done so. So I guess I'll do it myself.

At the beginning of the year, Sound Transit's annual budget said, "[P]rojections estimate $34.5 billion in cost savings or new funding required to fully fund the ST3 program." Last Thursday, on May 7th, Sound Transit reported that the various cost-savings efforts over the last year have lowered that number to "$11-13B for capital investments that aren’t currently affordable". Sound Transit, in typical Sound Transit fashion, buried the good news in a bullet point on slide 37 out of 46, so the Board had to ask them to clarify, but their answer did confirm that the deficit is, in fact, way down.

Additionally, in a follow up question to the above, Sound Transit acknowledged that "the lack of dates creates this impression that things will not happen" and said "we can commit to bringing additional information relative to the time impacts [on "not currently affordable" projects]" by the board meeting on May 28th (see this timestamp from the video above). It remains to be seen exactly what that "additional information" will look like -- Boardmember Kristina Walker suggested date ranges, but the agency's answer sounded like they were thinking of a list of scenarios.

The headlines about how the current proposal still stops short of getting to Ballard are also true, of course. The proposal we saw Thursday isn't where it needs to be. It's important to keep going, to have an actual plan to build all the damn trains, not just hope and good intentions. It's also important to acknowledge the progress that has been made. Overly-negative misinformation only serves the car lobby.

Sound Transit is planning to end the Sounder N Line in just seven years! (Source) See page 5. They hid it there like nobody would notice. Making adjustments to planned services like Everett Link or Tacoma Link or whatever else is one thing, but ending an EXISTING and OPERATING rail line is absurd. The Sound Transit board are criminals if they are truly going to strip a service that voters APPROVED and PAID for

Edit: I wrote to the local news about this issue and I encourage anyone else who would like Sound Transit to operate the services that we pay for to do the same

Yesterday I took the Eastlink rail for the first time and it has exceeded my expectations in many different ways. 1/ the park and ride at South Bellevue is easy to get in and out of, big, and well organized. 2/ the trains are clean and frequent 3/ security in the stations was top-notch. There was the usual “subject in distress” on the platform of the International District station and he was taken care of by a team of security folks. At every station at least one security guard was looking after the well-being of the passengers. 4/ the ride is comfortable and quick. The overall commute that driving would have taken 45 minutes and cost gas, hassle and parking fee was a pleasant 20 minutes reading a book.

Well done.