Sound Transit

The Link light rail system currently encompasses two lines with 21.95 miles (35.33 km) of track and 22 stations. The two lines, which have no direct connection, are Line 1 between Seattle, Tukwila, and SeaTac; and Line T in central Tacoma.[6] Link light rail trains carried 23 million passengers in 2017, averaging 71,058 on weekdays,[2] making it the 10th-busiest light rail system in the United States.

Link trains generally run seven days a week at frequencies of 6 to 24 minutes, with stops spaced closely together. Most stations offer connections to nearby buses or a park and ride facility.[5] The system is planned to expand to over 70 stations and 116 miles (187 km) by 2041, with five lines serving all three counties.[7] Line 1 trains are operated and maintained under contract with King County Metro and are able to carry more passengers, serving as the regional rapid transit system.[8] Line T trains are akin to streetcars, unable to be coupled into pairs, and are operated and maintained by Sound Transit staff (the only service in the system to not have operations and maintenance performed under contract).[8]^:54

Sounder is the regional commuter rail service managed by Sound Transit and has two lines that intersect at King Street Station in Downtown Seattle. Trains generally run during rush hours with limited service at other times, including weekend trains for sporting events. The North Line connects Seattle to Everett, stopping at two intermediate stations in Snohomish County. The South Line connects Seattle to Tacoma and Lakewood, stopping at six other stations.[9] Trains are operated under contract by BNSF Railway on leased tracks and maintained under contract by Amtrak.[10]

Sound Transit Express is a network of 28 limited-stop express bus routes providing regional service to cities in all three counties, primarily using a network of high-occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV lanes) on state-maintained freeways. Some routes operate seven days a week, while others are limited to rush hours only.[5] The bus fleet is owned by Sound Transit and buses are operated and maintained under contracts with local transit authorities (Community Transit, King County Metro, and Pierce Transit).

Two bus rapid transit lines, on Interstate 405 and State Route 522, are planned to open in 2024 and be known as "Stride".[11]

Sound Transit has 802 full-time employees as of 2017 and is headquartered at Union Station in Seattle.[1] The chief executive officer (CEO) of Sound Transit is Peter Rogoff, formerly the Federal Transit Administrator from 2009 to 2014. Rogoff was hired in 2015 and succeeded Joni Earl, a former city administrator who became Sound Transit CEO in 2001.[12]

The agency has three oversight committees that are filled by citizens from the Sound Transit district. The Citizen Oversight Panel oversees compliance to board policies and financial plans, and is composed of 15 members serving four-year terms after their appointment by the board of directors.[13] The Diversity Oversight Committee promotes employment and contracting opportunities for underprivileged groups and includes members representing community organizations and business organizations.[14] The Citizens Accessibility Advisory Committee has 15 members who represent passengers with disabilities, mobility issues, or are senior citizens. The advisory committee monitors the agency's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and other accessibility requirements.[15]

Sound Transit is governed by a board of directors with 18 members who are appointed based on their positions in regional and local governments. One seat is held by the Washington State Secretary of Transportation, while the remaining seventeen are allocated proportional to their population within the Sound Transit district, with each seat representing approximately 145,000 people.[16][17] The three county executives of King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties are members of the board and also appoint their remaining seats from local elected positions with approval of the county councils.[18]

The agency's policies are set by the board through their decisions, including maintenance of the long-range plan, budget, and project details. The full board meets at Union Station on the fourth Thursday of the month, which are open to the public and streamed online.[19] The board selects a Chair and two Vice Chairs to serve two-year terms and also assign members to four committees: the Executive Committee, Rider Experience and Operations, System Expansion, and Finance and Audit.[20] In the event that the Chair or Vice Chairs leave office or are otherwise unable to serve their full term, the vacancy can be filled by another member for the remainder of the term.[21]

As of 2020, the board members are:[22]

For its 2017 budget, Sound Transit expected annual revenue of $1.6 billion. 93% of that revenue to come from taxes, predominately local sales taxes, property taxes, and motor vehicle excise taxes, levied within its taxing district in portions of King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties. Passenger fares, investments, and advertising income make up the remaining 7% of revenue.

The agency has successfully passed three major ballot measures to fund system expansion, including Sound Move (1996), Sound Transit 2 (2008, and Sound Transit 3 (2016). Planning and construction of new light rail lines is anticipated to continue until 2041 under the Sound Transit 3 plan. Capital improvement projects will cost $1.3 billion in 2017.

Sound Transit's day-to-day operations were expected to lose $190 million in 2017. Tax revenues exceeded the capital improvement budget for the year, so the net loss should be $131 million.[23]

King County Sheriff's Office patrol car in Sound Transit Police livery.

Sound Transit contracts with the King County Sheriff's Office for police services. Deputies assigned to Sound Transit wear Sound Transit uniforms and drive patrol cars marked with the Sound Transit logo. There is currently one chief, one captain, five sergeants, four detectives, 23 patrol officers, and a crime analyst[24] assigned full-time to Sound Transit.

Sound Transit officers patrol Sound Transit property around Puget Sound including vehicles (trains & buses) and stations.

Throughout the 20th century, Seattle planners and voters rejected various proposals for rapid transit systems. The Forward Thrust program of the late 1960s produced two ballot measures for a rapid transit system that were unable to pass with the state-required supermajority for bonds. Federal funding that was allocated to the project was instead sent to Atlanta, Georgia, forming the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. The Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle (Metro), the regional water quality agency, took over bus operations in King County and the city of Seattle on January 1, 1973, after approval from voters in response to the failure of Forward Thrust.

The Puget Sound Council of Governments, an inter-county planning agency, partnered with Metro to complete a light rail corridor study in 1986. The regional transportation plan was amended the following year to include rail transit, and the Washington State Legislature formed a State Rail Development Commission to study a regional transit system with light rail, commuter rail and express buses.

The predecessor to Sound Transit was a 1995 ballot measure that was rejected by voters because of its $6.7 billion cost.[25] The first Sound Transit ballot measure passed in 1996 as the current mix of buses, commuter rail and light rail, at a cost of $3.9 billion. By proposing a much smaller light rail system, the remaining funds could be used for the two other services, ensuring that the entire Seattle area received services from the measure.

Sound Transit started out in scandal. The agency faced a crisis of financial mismanagement and poor planning, and federal officials ordered an audit in 2000 and pulled promised funding. After a series of executives resigned in 2001, Joni Earl took the helm and is widely credited with saving the agency. Largely, this was by being more realistic and being more honest with the public — reportedly she used the slogan "Optimism is not our friend." Largely due to her efforts, by 2003 Sound Transit received a clean financial audit, and was re-rewarded the funding lost two years earlier. Despite this, the earlier crisis required Earl to drop about one-third of the originally promised light rail line.[26]

Sound Transit 2 (ST2) was part of a joint ballot measure with the Regional Transportation Investment District entitled Roads and Transit, which was presented to Snohomish, King, and Pierce county voters on November 6, 2007. Sound Transit 2 would have made a number of mass transit related improvements, as well as a series of highway improvements.[27] These changes included almost 50 miles (80 km) in new light rail lines, four new parking garages, two new Sounder stations, a streetcar line connecting First Hill, Capitol Hill, and the International District, a transit center in Bothell, and two expansion studies, one for studying rapid transit across the SR-520 floating bridge and the other studying the use of the Woodinville Subdivision between Renton and Woodinville.[28] The ballot measure was defeated by voters.[29]

The Sound Transit Board on July 24, 2008 voted to put a reduced Sound Transit 2 plan before voters. It passed by large margins (58% to 42%) on November 4, 2008.[30][31] The financial plan for the measure shows $17.8 billion expenditure over 15 years, funded with a 5-10% rise in the regional general sales tax, which essentially doubles Sound Transit's revenue. Light rail service will be extended from the currently funded northern terminus at Husky Stadium north to Lynnwood. To the south, the tracks will continue from the current southern terminus at Sea-Tac Airport to the northern edge of Federal Way. The proposed East Link Light Rail will depart from Downtown Seattle and end in Overlake via Bellevue. A First Hill Connector (streetcar) was proposed from Capitol Hill station to the Jackson Street terminus of the former Waterfront Streetcar. In total, 36 miles (58 km) of new two-way light rail track were approved by this measure.[32]

Sounder Commuter Rail will receive longer and more frequent trains, for a 30% increase in service. Express Bus service will be immediately boosted (17% increase in service; 25 additional buses) and Washington State Route 520 will receive a bus rapid transit line. A new commuter rail line is proposed to run from North Renton to Snohomish if additional funding beyond the Sound Transit taxes is secured.[33]

Sound Transit 3 was a ballot measure that was approved by voters during the November 2016 elections in King, Pierce, and Snohomish in Washington. The $53.8 billion Sound Transit 3 plan will expand the existing Link light rail system to the suburbs of Tacoma, Federal Way, Everett and Issaquah, as well as the Seattle neighborhoods of Ballard and West Seattle. The local portion of the measure would be partially funded by increases in sales tax, motor vehicle excise tax, and property tax.

The resulting transit network after the completion of Sound Transit 3 will include 62 miles (100 km) of additional light rail serving 37 new stations; the entire, 116-mile (187 km) light rail system would carry an estimated 600,000 daily passengers. A Sounder commuter rail extension to DuPont and bus rapid transit lines on State Route 522 and Interstate 405 are also part of the package.[34] The package's projects would open in stages from 2024 to 2041.[35]

A new line known as East Link will connect Seattle to Bellevue and Redmond using the Interstate 90 floating bridge. It would terminate at the Microsoft Redmond campus in Redmond's Overlake area. Construction began in 2016 and is expected to finish in 2023.[38]

Northgate Link Extension, an expansion of the Link Light Rail system from the University of Washington to Northgate, was approved by voters in November 2008. The light rail line will link the University of Washington station to the University District and Roosevelt, finally terminating at the Northgate Transit Center. Construction began in 2012 and is expected to be completed by 2021.[39]

The Hilltop Expansion Project is currently under construction to extend the current Line T from the Theater District Station to St. Joseph Hospital, via Wright Park and Tacoma General Hospital along Stadium Way, Division Street, and Martin Luther King Jr Way.[40]

The Lynnwood Link Extension is expected to further extend the Red and Blue lines from the future Northgate stop to Lynnwood, via stations at NE 145th Street, NE 185th Street, and Mountlake Terrace. The extension is expected to be elevated along the entire route.[41] Despite concerns that President Trump's proposed budget could cut federal funding for the project,[42] in Fiscal Year 2017, Sound Transit received $100 million of the requested $1.2 billion in federal funding.[43] This funding was followed up in Fiscal Year 2018 with another $100 million.[44] At the end of Fiscal Year 2018, the full $1.2 billion grant, as well as $650 million in low-interest loans were approved by Congress, fully securing the requested federal funding.[45]

The Federal Way Link Extension is expected to extend Line 1 from Angle Lake station to Redondo/Star Lake, in a plan approved by the region's voters in November 2008. The project would add 4.8-mile (7.7 km) of track with stations at Highline Community College and Redondo/Star Lake. As the cost estimates have not yet been considered, the line is expected to be a primarily aerial line along SR 99. Final alignment and station designs are to be determined through the project level design and environmental review.[46]

Sound Transit 3 is an approved 2016 ballot measure that will expand Sound Transit services with $54 billion in funding (combining local taxes and federal grants) over a 25-year period beginning after the completion of Sound Transit 2. The measure will add 62 miles (100 km) of light rail, with the completed 116-mile (187 km) system carrying an estimated 500,000 riders per day.[47] The plan also funds Sound Transit Express bus routes, adds two Bus Rapid Transit lines and expands Sounder commuter rail with longer trains, potentially better frequency and two additional stations in Tillicum (near Joint Base Lewis–McChord) and DuPont.