John C.
Senior Member
Sound Transit's projections are the Yin to the Washington Policy Center's Yang on the argument. The truth is somewhere to one side or the other of the middle. Currently the work from home phenomena has taken a lot of high tech workers off the road and out of the usage of the trains. The other side is that the freeways are plugged as much or more now as they were before the pandemic. I have recently traveled south and north on I5 at rush hour and witnessed the mess. I know some people who have been affected by the high cost of fuel and the limitations of parking in the cities who jumped on the trains if they had that option. The fallacy of heavy and light rail is that it assumes everyone works on a schedule that fits the transit schedule. I've never worked for anyone that didn't have things like shift changes, overtime or even just crazy weather that would preclude catching a train or buss. The other issue is the last mile or two of travel. I don't mind a good walk when I want to take one. I'm not inclined to walk two or three miles in the morning and evening from a work site or have to run to catch a transport and again to catch a different type of transport in the morning or evening. I suspect the deciding consideration in the future, for people who have to travel to get to work will be the cost of a car, parking and fuel against the cost of mass transit and property taxes.
I currently don't plan on staying around here to find out how it works out.
I currently don't plan on staying around here to find out how it works out.