Lingua Urbana

[Bill Hirt, who was the target of my letter to the editor of the Bellevue Reporter, kindly fired back.  Here is my response to his letter, which I will link if posted.  This may be a lengthy battle and I will not continue to cross-post my letter submissions, so follow the Bellevue Reporter's Letters to the Editor section.]

Rendered conception from ST of East Link on I-90

Despite his advocacy for a bus-only transit system, Mr. Hirt’s assumption on East Link frequencies is incorrect.  By the time the line opens, 4-car trains will be used, accommodated by 400 foot long platforms.   At this time, most, if not all, bus routes will be excluded from tunnel use, so light rail trains will have exclusive access to the downtown tunnel.  Does Mr. Hirt regularly take the bus?   If he does, he would know that most riders would be overjoyed at waiting a maximum of only 15 minutes (assuming his estimation of headways frequencies is correct).

Comparing Link to Sounder is laughable; the latter is a long distance commuter rail system that uses diesel-electric locomotives which incur variable costs that fluctuate with the cost of oil.   Link, on the other hand, uses EMUs (electric multiple units) which are powered by overhead catenary wires.   Furthermore, Mr. Hirt should take note that Sound Transit incurs additional costs by contracting the Burlington Northern Sante Fe company to operate Sounder, as it is their railway that is being used.

Mr. Hirt wonders why WSDOT could not “spare us the cost” of the center lanes, but the 1976 Memorandum of Agreement signed by the State to allow for construction of the bridge specifically stipulates that conversion of the center roadway to fixed guideway (rail transit) must be possible in the future (this is partly why Kemper Freeman’s suit against East Link holds no water).

Mr. Hirt uses Tukwila to assume that transit-oriented growth is questionable, but Central Link has only been open for one month.  Does he not understand that real estate development takes a number of years to come to fruition? Furthermore, Sound Transit and local municipalities have undertaken a proactive effort to ensure redevelopment around rail stations, as shown by the Sound Transit’s Capitol Hill TOD project, and Bellevue’s planning initiative for Bel-Red corridor redevelopment.

Mr. Hirt assumes that I only have the best interests of “downtown Bellevue, Overlake, and Redmond” at heart, however, I am a South Bellevue resident who commutes to Seattle regularly via the 554 and the 212.   Many other transit commuters that I ride with along this corridor are content with this mode, so what does Mr. Hirt mean by saying that “these commuters need help now!”?   Issaquah and Eastgate are adequately served by express and Metro commuter routes already.  If the problem is congestion, it’s the thousands of drivers of single-occupancy vehicles that should consider other modes of transportation if they want help.