You Need to See Spectacular Results of New Transit Opportunities
This is What Happens When People Focus — Revolutionary Choices — article two of a two-article series.
Introduction
Welcome back! It is great to have you on our journey to learn about Sound Transit. This is article two of a two-article series. In this article, we will look at Link Light Rail, Sounder Commuter Rail, Sound Transport Express, Stride Rapid Transit, Funding, Police, Ongoing or Completed Projects, Projects Under Construction, Funded Projects, Additional Information, External Links, Additional mass transit in the Puget Sound region Information on travel in Washington State We hope you are enjoying this series. Prepare now for the best and the rest of this story.
Link Light Rail
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The two lines of the Link Light Rail system have no direct connection — the 1 Line runs between Seattle, Tukwila, and SeaTac. The second line is called the T line and is in central Tacoma. Sound Transit — Wikipedia The traffic carried by this system marks it as the fourth busiest light rail system in the United States. Sound Transit. 2016. Retrieved 2016–03–29
Link trains run seven days per week at frequencies of 6 to 24 minutes. Stops are spaced close to each other. Most stations offer connections to nearby buses or a park-and-ride facility. Sound Transit — Wikipedia
The park-and-ride facilities are a parking lot with public transport connections. These facilities allow commuters and other people heading into the city centers to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system, or carpool for the remainder of the trip. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_and_ride
In King County, Metro has 132 park-and-ride facilities with 24,524 parking stalls. About half of the lots are leased from other property owners, such as churches. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_County_Metro
The link train system is planned for expansion to over seventy stations and 116 miles by 2041. When complete, there will be five lines serving all three counties. 1 Line trains are operated and maintained under contract with King County Metro and can carry more passengers, serving as the regional rapid transit system.
T Line trains are like streetcars, unable to be coupled into pairs. They are the only Sound Transit service directly operated and maintained by the agency rather than a contractor. Sound Transit — Wikipedia
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Sound Transit Express
Sound Transit Express provides a network of 24 limited-stop express bus routes. This offers regional service to cities in all three counties. The buses travel on state-maintained freeways using the high-occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV lanes). Sound Transit — Wikipedia
Some routes provide service seven days per week; others are limited and run only during rush hours. ST owns the bus fleet. Contracts with local transit authorities such as Community Transit, King County Metro, and Pierce Transit provide operations and maintenance. Sound Transit — Wikipedia
Stride Rapid Transit
Stride is the bus rapid transit system funded by the Sound Transit 3 ballot measure. It is scheduled to open in the late 2020s. Stride is planned to have three lines:
The S1 Line on Interstate 405 between Burien and Bellevue is scheduled to open in late 2028.
The S1 Line on Interstate 405 between Bellevue and Lynnwood will open in 2029.
The S3 Line on State Route 522 between Shoreline South/148th station and Bothell is scheduled to open in 2028. Sound Transit — Wikipedia
Funding
For its 2017 budget, ST expects annual revenue of $1.6 billion. Revenue comes from taxes, making up about 93%. Taxes, such as local sales, property, and motor vehicle excise taxes, are levied within its taxing district in portions of King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties. Passenger fares, investments, and advertising income comprise 7% of revenue. Sound Transit — Wikipedia
Sound Transit’s day-to-day operations were expected to lose $190 million in 2017. Tax revenues exceeded the capital improvement budget for the year, so the net loss was more like $131 million. Sound Transit — Wikipedia
Police
The King County Sheriff’s Office contracts with ST, and Deputies are assigned to ST, wear ST uniforms, and drive patrol cars with the ST logo. There is currently one chief, one captain, five sergeants, four detectives, 23 patrol officers, and a crime analyst assigned full-time to ST. Officers patrol ST property around Puget Sound, including vehicles (trains & buses) and stations. Sound Transit — Wikipedia
Ongoing or Completed Projects
A 3.5-mile extension of the Central Link light rail line named University Link opened in 2016. Construction took considerable time to complete. The construction began in 2009.
The underground line connects Seattle with the University of Washington via Capital Hill. The cost was just $1.9 billion. The Federal Transit Administration paid for about half the cost with a grant. Sound Transit — Wikipedia
Construction on a 1.6-mile extension of the Link Light Rail system, named the South 200th Link Extension, began in May 2013 and opened to the public in September 2016. The line is elevated for its entire route and connects Seattle–Tacoma International Airport to the new Angle Lake station and park-and-ride garage at South 200th Street in SeaTac. Sound Transit — Wikipedia
Another project, the Northgate Link Extension, was approved in 2008, and construction began in 2012. The line was opened in 2021. The project extended light rail from the University of Washington to Northgate Station. Two intermediate stops were added along a tunneled route in northern Seattle. Sound Transit — Wikipedia
A 2.4-mile extension of the T Line included seven stations that reached Hilltop, a Tacoma neighborhood. The cost of this project was $283 million. A further expansion is expected to open around 2040. The plans for this extension are to extend the line west on South 19th Street to the Tacoma Community College. Sound Transit — Wikipedia
Projects Under construction
The East Link Extension, or the 2 Line, is being built and will connect Seattle to Bellevue and Redmond using the Interstate 90 floating bridge. It is supposed to terminate at the Microsoft Redmond campus in Redmond’s Overlake area. Construction started in 2016 and will open in phases between 2024 and 2025. Sound Transit — Wikipedia
The Lynnwood Link Extension will further extend the 1 Line and 2 Line from Northgate to Lynnwood via stations at NE 145th Street, NE 185th Street, and Mountlake Terrace. In Fiscal Year 2017, Sound Transit received $100 million of the requested $1.2 billion federal funding. In Fiscal Year 2018, the project received another $100 million.
At the end of Fiscal Year 2018, the total $1.2 billion grant and $650 million in low-interest loans were approved by Congress, entirely securing the requested federal funding. Sound Transit — Wikipedia
The 1 Line will be extended with 7.8 miles of track and three new stations. This project is named the Federal Way Link Extension. This extension will run from Angle Lake station to Redondo/Star Lake.
Construction on the project began in 2020, and the new stations will be at Highline Community College, the Star Lake Park & Ride, and Federal Way Transit Center, following Interstate 5. Sound Transit — Wikipedia
Funded projects
In ST 3, voters approved $54 billion in funding in 2016; this will complete ST2. The funding sources will be combined with local taxes and federal grants over 25 years. This project will add sixty-two miles of light rail with the completed 116-mile system.
The system is expected to carry 500,000 riders per day. The plan also funds ST Express bus routes, adds three bus rapid transit lines, and expands Sounder commuter rail with longer trains, potentially better frequency, and two additional stations in Tillicum (near Joint Base Lewis–McChord) and DuPont. Sound Transit — Wikipedia
Additional Information
For additional information on transit systems, please see the sources below:
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sound Transit.
Additional mass transit in the Puget Sound region, please see: Mass transit in the Puget Sound region
Information on travel in Washington state:
- Sound Transit
- Government agencies established in 1993
- 1993 establishments in Washington (state)
- Intermodal transportation authorities in Washington (state)
- Bus transportation in Washington (state)
- Transit authorities with natural gas buses
- Transportation in King County, Washington
- Transportation in Snohomish County, Washington
- Transportation in Pierce County, Washington
Conclusion
This is the end of article two of a two-article series. In this article, we looked at Link Light Rail, Sounder Commuter Rail, Sound Transport Express, Stride Raid Transit, Funding, Police, Ongoing or Completed Projects, Projects Under Construction, Funded Projects, Additional Information, External Links, Additional mass transit in the Puget Sound region, formation on travel in Washington State. We hope you have enjoyed reading this story and will take a minute to let us know your thoughts. We would also love it if you joined our email group so that future articles I wrote will come to you without fail. Again, thanks for reading our articles; we look forward to hearing from you.