Before Washington taxpayers cough up more billions to fund Sound Transit’s latest offering (call it plan B), recall that these same geniuses guided us to where we are today – gridlocked. With just a dab of light rail, a dollop of heavy rail and maybe a dusting of monorail, we’re assured that our transportation mess will be improved.
Decades ago Olympia presented us with a network of buses and HOV lanes designed to carry us well into the 21st century. Subsequent decades of high gas taxes bought us new bus fleets, bus barns, HOV lanes, a bus tunnel, van pools and numerous park and ride lots. Old plan A, we are now told, must be replaced by plan B. So we’ll have choice.
As anyone can see, most off-peak buses run nearly empty; ditto HOV lanes. We love our cars. So, is plan A a failure? Maybe. Let’s find out. To conclusively test whether Puget Sound citizens will, at some cost point, choose buses, make all rides free. Purchase sufficient additional buses and expand routes to ensure frequent, clean, safe, 24/7 service. Fast-track more HOV lanes and park and ride infrastructure where needed. Then commit streams of buses to all major cultural and sporting events, Sea-Tac, shopping areas, large businesses – wherever people congregate and need transportation, from every neighborhood and park and ride lot.
I would gladly drive to a nearby park and ride to catch a free bus into Seattle, or to work, if I could be assured that another free bus would be there to get me back again, even if that return trip were at 2 a.m. As population demographics change, bus routes can too. And fare-free buses make poor petty-theft targets.
If free buses can’t lure taxpayers from their cars, we can still recoup part of our investment by hosting the largest used bus sale in our nation’s history, using the proceeds as a down payment on plan B. But if plan A succeeds, we’ll soon enjoy improved traffic flow and more money in our pockets!
Edmonds
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