I received an overview of Proposition 1 in the mail yesterday, which King County residents will be voting on November 6th. Seattle PI has a decent overview here.
As of this writing I'm voting against it, mainly because of the significant new highway construction that is part of the legislation.
The mailing says it will save drivers time from Bellevue to Renton on 405 (15 min), Mill Creek to Lake Stevens on SR9 (15 min) and Auburn to Renton on SR167 (8 min). There will also be HOV lanes added to 520 plus a light rail track. Then, the mailing says that it will increase Sound Transit ridership by 170,000 people daily because it will save people time.
This is the major disconnect for me. An increase in Sound Transit ridership means that people who currently drive to Seattle will need to switch to public transportation. But why would people change from driving to riding if their driving commute times drop because we have more roads? When I-5 had its month-long constuction this summer, Metro ridership jumped double digits. It's not because folks suddenly became environmentally-conscious or suddenly liked the bus, it's because it became more convenient. And if we make driving more convenient I simply don't buy that people will make the switch to Sound Transit anyway.
About 48,000 people ride Sound Transit daily and about 350,000 ride Metro. This plan assumes that there is a 50% ridership increase over 25 years when Prop 1 construction of light rail happens.
I'm going to go back to the simple idea of simply increasing bus service. Make the buses more convenient by having them run more often. Upgrade them with wireless access and/or TVs. I think people will use them. And the great thing? You don't need to wait 25 years to see if this plan works. Buy a couple of buses and modernize a single route. Take mine. Please take mine, the 27, and upgrade service to every 10 minutes and see how much ridership increases. The great thing???? If you're wrong go to plan B.
BTW -- I'm not against everything in Prop 1, I'm for the safety improvements to roads and whatnot but as a whole I say no to Prop 1.
Interested in your comments... and BTW this is a good blog.
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I think I'm with you on this one John. Prop 1 just seems too big and without enough focus on actually solving the problem. Want to ease congestion? Provide incentives for people not to drive. Offer convenient public transportation, encourage carpooling, raise the price of gasoline, and add tolls to congested roadways. It's not rocket science, but it's likely political suicide. Remember when I-90 was going to solve all of Seattle's cross-lake traffic woes? How long did it take for those lanes to become filled up? What's different know? What's changed that should make us believe that widening the corridors and adding more lanes will actually create any lasting relief? What was it that Einstein said about insanity? Oh yeah, "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
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