Introduction

In November 1996 citizens living in the central Puget Sound region of the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. voted to raise their local taxes and begin implementation of a ten year, $3,900,000,000 rail and bus plan to expand public transportation facilities and services. The plan -- now overrunning both the approved budget and the approved schedule -- is administered by a new public agency and special government district, the Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (RTA), later renaming itself Sound Transit. This region includes parts of three counties and the major Washington State cities of Everett, Seattle, Bellevue and Tacoma, with a total regional population of about 3 million.

This web site is maintained by a group of Puget Sound area residents who have since 1996 opposed certain parts of the Plan including light rail. We knew back then that voters were deceived about what they were approving, and we said so during the 1996 campaign. In December 2000, Sound Transit revealed that its Seattle light rail plan would cost $1,000,000,000 more than what voters approved, and take three additional years to build. As of summer 2008, the project is coming in at least triple the cost that voters approved, and important parts of the 1996 plan have been delayed until phase two is approved with a doubling of the Sound Transit sales tax. A phase 2 expansion plan was defeated at the polls by a margin of 56% to 44% in November 2007.  As of summer 2008, Sound Transit is trying again to double its taxes for more light rail, this time with a $23 billion expansion plan. 

This site presents information that bears on replacing light rail with other available options that would be implemented faster, cost less, and at the same time achieve better levels of mobility, environmental quality, economic vitality, and general welfare in the region than are currently anticipated in the official Plan. More on why we are doing this.

Sound Transit began limited daily commuter rail service from Seattle to Tacoma in September 2000, and began 1.6 miles of light rail service in Tacoma in 2003. According to the current schedule, Seattle light rail would open in 2009. The Seattle region already has an excellent bus-HOV transit system, organized by county, in which Sound Transit now operates express bus service. To learn more about the existing transit systems, click here. 

 See where Seattle's buses are right now via www.busview.org

Co-editors Nelson and Niles have conducted university-funded research on transit-oriented development. Check out a series of papers and presentations for the Transportation Research Board.

Co-editor Jerry Schneider operates another web site, Innovative Transportation Technologies.

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