In the same vein as our Dispatch from Olympia during this legislative session, TCC will now be writing regularly on the policy and advocacy related to Sound Transit 3. To sign up for updates click here.
In November 2016, residents in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties will vote on whether to expand high capacity transit (HCT) throughout the region. Next year’s ballot measure will propose a set of projects throughout the different counties that will collectively make up the next system package, known as “Sound Transit 3” or “ST3.”
Last week, the Sound Transit Board voted to advance a set of candidate ST3 projects for analysis. These projects will evaluated — both individually and in various combinations that represent different possible system packages — using measures such as ridership, cost, and travel time. At the same time, Sound Transit staff will also be analyzing projects using some more qualitative impacts of transit.
At TCC, we believe that expanding high-capacity transit can increase equity and economic opportunity, help the environment, and improve public health. Therefore, we’re working with Sound Transit — along with our social justice, environmental, and active transportation partners — to highlight and advocate for the projects that best meet these goals:
Equity & Economic Opportunity
Access to affordable and reliable public transportation helps people get to jobs and school. We want to prioritize projects that connect transit-dependent populations to job centers, schools and public services. Additionally, choosing to locate HTC in areas with the best transit oriented development and affordable housing potential means more families and individuals can live without a car, substantially reducing their transportation costs.
Environment
When residents choose to take light rail instead of driving a car, we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). When Sound Transit evaluates the anticipated reduction in GHGs for each project, we can build a system plan that has the biggest impact on climate change.
Public Health
The fewer people driving single-occupancy vehicles, the less ambient air pollution. Because vehicle emissions are associated with a variety of respiratory diseases and other illnesses, we’ll advocate for the projects that get the most cars off the road. Those who take transit are also more likely to bike or walk more minutes each day. This physical activity can decrease the risk of depression, diabetes, stroke, and more. We hope that Sound Transit can identify not only the anticipated reduction in vehicle miles traveled for each project, but also opportunities for improving non-motorized access to each new station. This analysis will help Board members pick projects with the biggest impact on community health.
We believe a system plan that serves dense, mixed-use neighborhoods and areas with the greatest TOD potential will take the most cars off the road, connect more people with opportunities to work and learn, and encourage additional walking and biking each day. Stay tuned during the next few months as Sound Transit compiles the first set of draft system plans and releases the results of their initial analysis.
