Sounder Stations add friendly faces; no word on ballot

New Sounder station agents add friendly faces to daily commutes

April 07, 2008

Today, many Sounder commuters were greeted by Sound Transit’s new station agents on the train platforms. These new Sounder staff will be at each Sounder station to assist customers with things like buying tickets, directions, information about delays and emergencies, or help for disabled passengers. Station agents had their first official day on the platforms on Friday.

As Sounder ridership continues to grow rapidly, new riders in particular can sometimes use a hand buying tickets and navigating the system for the first time. Station agents will provide an added level of on-site customer service for Sounder riders.

“Sound Transit’s steps to make sure customers get the service they deserve gives them yet another reason to climb aboard and leave the traffic behind,” said Sound Transit Board Chair and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. “We’re making it easy for people to improve their commutes and protect our natural environment.”

The biggest ridership increase among Sound Transit’s three modes was on Sounder commuter rail, with a 27.4 percent increase in 2007. This represents the fourth biggest commuter rail ridership increase in the nation for 2007, and was achieved in part by significant service increases Sound Transit implemented last year. New service included one new round trip on the north corridor serving Everett, Edmonds and Seattle and two on the south corridor serving Tacoma, Puyallup, Sumner, Auburn, Kent, Tukwila and Seattle. South corridor service increases included the first “reverse commute” train that runs from Seattle to Tacoma in the morning and returns northbound in the evening.

More Sounder trains will be added in September 2008, and Sounder ridership is expected to continue to grow. Sound Transit is currently working with the region’s communities to evaluate service priorities for a ballot measure in 2008 or thereafter to expand the regional transit system. Options include increasing Sounder service on the Tacoma-Seattle corridor by 90 percent by running more trains and longer trains. As more and more Puget Sound residents discover the convenience and comfort of Sounder commuter rail for their daily commute or for attending special events like Mariners and Seahawks games, station agents will be there to help make their Sounder ride safe, convenient, and comfortable.

The station agents will also help manage stations by reporting maintenance issues and offering an additional security presence. Having station agents allows for Sound Transit to re-deploy the fixed post security guards, offering greater flexibility to security staffing. Sound Transit will continue to use the roving patrols and police patrols at certain stations. The station agent program is in addition to our established security program and brings an additional presence to the stations.

Station agents will be at every Sounder station each weekday morning and for special event trains. On weekday afternoons, station agents will be at the seven Sounder stations along the south corridor between Seattle and Tacoma. A station agent will serve the new Mukilteo Station when in opens later this year.

Sound Transit doesn't know how to run a railroad based on Sounder North disaster

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 30, 2003

Coalition for Effective Transportation
www.EffectiveTransportation.org
P.O. Box 33045
Seattle WA 98133
206 365-CETA (2382)

Contact: Maggi Fimia
_________________________
Sound Transit's "preliminary agreement" with Burlington Northern doesn't live up to promises

The recent announcement by Sound Transit about their "preliminary agreement" with Burlington Northern to run commuter trains from Seattle to Everett sounds like good news. Unfortunately, but true to form, Sound Transit's declaration of victory really is another admission of defeat.

What voters were promised in the 1996 Sound Move Plan:
1) Cost-sharing contracts with BN within two years of vote.
2) Track and facility costs of $107 million (1995 dollars)
3) 4 stations including Bond St., Edmonds, Mukilteo and Everett Multimodal (additional $25 million 1995 dollars)
4) 6 trains each way during commute time between Seattle and Everett
5) Daily boardings of 2400 to 3200 Seattle to Everett and 10,600 to 14,000/day Seattle to Lakewood.
6) Service to start within 5 years at the most.

What Sound Transit is delivering seven years later:
1) A "preliminary agreement" with BN, not unlike the preliminary agreement with the Port of Seattle for where the light rail line would go -- not signed, not decided, not funded.
2) Track and facilities costing $224 million plus interest -- again, not decided.
3) 1 station, Everett multimodal, one temporary platform in Edmonds and an "eventual" stop in Mukilteo.
4) 1 train each peak period- with maybe four, if there is an actual agreement.
5) Daily boardings for the Seattle to Lakewood/Tacoma service are 14,000 per week, not per day.
6) Service will not start for at least 7 years after the vote, more like 9 years for anything more than one train each way per day.

Questions for Sound Transit:
1. Where is this extra money supposed to come from?
2. Why is an actual Agreement taking so long?
3. When will these other stations and services really happen?
4. Has anyone actually seen this Preliminary Agreement?
5. What effect does ST controlling the 21-mile Nisqually/Tacoma track have on the State Inter-City Rail project?

Assessment:
This Agency has no idea how to "run a railroad."

Sources: The Sound Move Ten-Year Regional Transit System Plan pages; 21, A-3, C-19, D-5 and the Sound Transit announcement 5/28/03

Sounder North will be a dismal financial failure

Nov 2004
Sounder North Costs Per Ride

Calculations of "cost per ride" for Sounder North, based upon Sound Transit estimates of capital costs, O&M costs and ridership estimates. All cost and ridership estimates are from Sound Transit's 2005 financial plan (as of November 2004), adjusted to 2005$. The cost-per-ride outcomes assume that all riders are new riders to transit, and it also assumes that 100% of the capital investment is of benefit to those riders.

Annualized Capital Cost is calculated per FTA guidelines. That annual cost is constant throughout the life of the project and does not vary with ridership. The primary set of O&M annual costs represent a 22-year average from service inception (2004) thru 2025, as do the ride estimates. The average total cost per ride during that 22-year period would be $70 of which the rider pays about $2.50 leaving $67.50 for public subsidy. Annual public subsidy = $67.50 x 2 rides/day x 250 days per year = $33,700.

But current costs per ride are far greater than the long-term average. The column highlighted in bright yellow shows the calculations for the current 2005 year: Cost per ride - $276; rider fare - $2.46; public subsidy - $273.44 per ride = $136,700 per year.

The cost per ride falls dramatically as more train runs are added and ridership supposedly soars. Just as we are finding for Sounder South, I believe future ridership is significantly overestimated. The rest of the sheets show the supporting calcs converting ST YOE$ estimates to 2005$ estimates. The 2005$ estimates were then summed and averaged.

Tacoma Light Rail is still free; only grows by 4%

Last updated March 10, 2008 10:44 p.m. PT
Sound Transit ridership rose 12.5% in 2007
Gasoline prices, new services cited for increase

By LEVI PULKKINEN
P-I REPORTER

Seattle-area commuters turned to mass transit in record numbers in 2007, boosting local ridership well above the national average, according to a study released Monday.

Light rail ridership accounted for much of the increase nationally, a fact that has some Puget Sound transportation planners anticipating even greater increases locally when the region's first light rail system comes online in 2009.

"We think this region is really ready for light rail," said Linda Robson, a spokeswoman for Sound Transit, the three-county transit agency building the light rail line.

Sound Transit saw ridership increase 12.5 percent in 2007, compared with a national increase of about 2 percent, according to the American Public Transportation Association, an international organization representing the transit industry.

Riders, pushed by rising gas prices and new services, took about 1.5 million more trips on express buses and commuter trains operated by Sound Transit.

The King County Department of Transportation saw the number of rides increase by 7.5 million, amounting to a 7 percent increase over 2006.

Robson said Sound Transit saw its largest increases in use of the Sounder commuter train, which runs on existing rail lines between Tacoma and Everett. The agency added several runs last year, including morning and evening trains for Seattle-area commuters who work in Tacoma.

In a statement, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels credited new services and skyrocketing gas prices with the increases.

"Each year more and more people discover that taking transit is better than dealing with rising congestion and high gas prices," said Nickels, who is chairman of the Sound Transit board. "We will continue focusing on keeping those ridership numbers climbing. ... There is a lot riding on our success."

Nationally, public transportation use has increased 32 percent in the past 12 years, according to the association's statistics. The number of miles traveled on U.S. highways increased 24 percent during the same period.

Last year's increase outpaced Sound Transit projections, Robson said, and early ridership figures this year seem to be a repeat of that success.

Part of the reason for the local increase might be the partial closure of Interstate 5 for repaving work in August. During a two-week period, Sounder trains made extra trips to accommodate passengers who normally would drive the highway and averaged about 2,700 more fares per day than in July on its Tacoma-Seattle trains during the project.

The Elliott Bay Water Taxi, Washington State Ferries and Metro buses all saw increased ridership during the construction.

Robson said the agency is looking forward to an even greater increase after December 2009, when the light rail line between Seattle and Sea-Tac Airport is completed.

The first leg of light rail connecting downtown Seattle with Tukwila is expected to open in July 2009, with the airport connection to follow months later, Robson said.

Sound Transit projects that its ridership will double after the completion of the Seattle-to-airport line.

"Every time we add service for any of our modes, we see an increase in our ridership," Robson said. "Higher gas prices are certainly encouraging people to explore other ways of commuting."

The agency also expects to begin work later this year on a rail extension connecting the University of Washington with the airport-bound line. About $100 million for the project, which would come into service in 2016, is included in the Bush administration's proposed budget for fiscal 2009.

Metro Transit spokeswoman Linda Thielke said the King County agency saw its biggest increases in vanpool ridership and on recently reorganized routes in South King County. On an average weekday last year, riders took 365,000 trips on Metro buses and vans.

"There just seems to be a real pent-up demand out there," she said.

WHERE WE RANK

COMMUTER RAIL, BY PERCENT INCREASE IN RIDERSHIP SINCE 2006:

1. Nashville, Tenn. -- 258 percent

2. Santa Fe, N.M. -- 97 percent

3. Harrisburg, Pa. -- 41 percent

4. Seattle -- 27 percent

5. Oakland, Calif. -- 14 percent

National average -- 5 percent

BUS SERVICE

1. Seattle -- 8 percent

2. Denver-- 7 percent

3. Minneapolis -- 5 percent

National average -- 1 percent

LIGHT RAIL AND TROLLEYS

1. New Orleans -- 129 percent

2. Denver -- 66 percent

3. St. Louis -- 27 percent

4. Philadelphia -- 26 percent

5. Kenosha, Wis. -- 19 percent

Seattle -- 4 percent*

National average -- 6 percent

*The 1.6-mile Tacoma Link streetcar was the only light rail operating in the Seattle area in 2007

Sounder North is a bust; Too expensive, too few riders

Sounder North Costs Per Ride 5/20/05

>> View charts | Explanation of charts:

The attached charts show calculations of "cost per ride" for Sounder North, based upon Sound Transit estimates of capital costs, O&M costs and ridership estimates. All cost and ridership estimates are from Sound Transit's 2005 financial plan (as of November 2004), adjusted to 2005$. The cost-per-ride outcomes assume that all riders are new riders to transit, and it also assumes that 100% of the capital investment is of benefit to those riders.

The first worksheet summarizes the finding for Annualized Capital Cost per FTA guidelines. That annual cost is constant throughout the life of the project and does not vary with ridership. The primary set of O&M annual costs represent a 22-year average from service inception (2004) thru 2025, as do the ride estimates. The average total cost per ride during that 22-year period would be $70 of which the rider pays about $2.50 leaving $67.50 for public subsidy. Annual public subsidy = $67.50 x 2 rides/day x 250 days per year = $33,700.

But current costs per ride are far greater than the long-term average. The column highlighted in bright yellow shows the calculations for the current 2005 year: Cost per ride - $276; rider fare - $2.46; public subsidy - $273.44 per ride = $136,700 per year.

The second and third sheets show the year by year estimates where the cost per ride falls dramatically as more train runs are added and ridership supposedly soars. Just as we are finding for Sounder South, I believe future ridership is significantly overestimated. The rest of the sheets show the supporting calcs converting ST YOE$ estimates to 2005$ estimates. The 2005$ estimates were then summed and averaged.