Guest columnist
Sounder: a dependable, stress-free commute

By John Ladenburg
Special to The Times

	MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES Catherine Blackburn travels from Everett to Seattle each morning on Sounder. It's stress-free commuting for Blackburn, who works near Swedish Hospital.
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Every weekday morning, a Sounder train leaves Everett exactly on time. Inside, the passengers relax, read, work on laptops, snooze or simply drink coffee and enjoy the passing waters of Puget Sound and the snow-capped Olympic Mountains.

After a quick stop in Edmonds to pick up more passengers, the train arrives at King Street Station in Seattle — on time, regardless of the weather or congestion on the freeway.

That's the dependable, stress-free commute that Sounder commuters are enjoying today and will continue enjoying for generations to come, because Sound Transit purchased the rights to run Sounder on those north corridor freight tracks forever. That means our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will ride commuter trains and never again worry about paying another dime to access the tracks.

Having the foresight to take advantage of this new transportation corridor running through car-clogged Central Puget Sound is a tremendous achievement and cause for celebration.

But after only about three months of new service between Everett and Seattle, longtime Sound Transit critics are attacking Sounder ridership and costs, deliberately using misleading and inaccurate numbers. And for what purpose? Despite their ongoing attacks, the trains are running on time every weekday and will continue running and improving, just like the majority of people in this region want.

We can all agree that starting Sounder service north wasn't cheap. But let's use some perspective. Consider, for example, that the cost for Sounder operating rights on this 36 miles of dedicated right of way is about $7.1 million per mile, which is a bargain compared with the cost of building roads. For example, the cost per mile for expanding Interstate 405 is estimated at between $43 million and $51 million a mile; expanding I-5 between Northgate and downtown Seattle is between $75 million and $100 million per mile.

The bottom line is this: Sounder ridership will increase when more trains are added and word of the new service has a chance to spread. Sounder just recently announced that the train north will leave Everett Station 15 minutes earlier in the morning so passengers can more easily reach their jobs in Seattle. Sounder trains leaving Tacoma for Seattle will also leave at times that better suit our customers.

As track improvements are completed, more trains will be added in the north — eventually eight a day: four in the morning, four returning in the afternoon. More trains and new service from Lakewood are scheduled for the south corridor as well.

The evidence is very clear that Sound Transit is on track. After all the political fights and all the lawsuits, we are now at a point where the federal government has approved this system, the courts have approved it, the voters have said yes twice, and most importantly, 31,000 people are riding every day.

It's time now for those very vocal critics, who have fought the good fight, to move on. Those obsessed with tearing down rather than making better ought to begin working with leaders in the region and actually help build this public transportation system. We welcome them aboard.

Skeptics looking for a showcase of good public transportation infrastructure should look at Sound Transit projects in Pierce County. Sounder trains running between Tacoma and Seattle the past three years have carried well more than 2 million passengers. That's a lot of people who could be driving every day on I-5. Tacoma Link light rail, which started running last summer, opened on time and on budget. Ridership on Tacoma Link is already greatly exceeding expectations. ST Express buses quietly continue to connect Pierce County to the entire region every day.

The regional transportation system is being built. Endless criticism isn't going to stop it. Working together will make it better.

Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg is chairman of the Sound Transit Board of Directors.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company