Sound Transit

Sound Transit
Background
Locale	Puget Sound region, Washington
Transit type	Bus, Commuter rail, light rail
Number of lines	30[1]
Daily ridership	93,000 (weekday, 2012)[2]
Annual ridership	28 million (estimated, 2012)[2]
Chief executive	Joni Earl
Headquarters	Union Station, 401 S Jackson St, Seattle
Website	www.soundtransit.org
Call Centre	888-889-636
Operation
Began operation	September 19, 1999[1]
Operator(s)	Community Transit, King County Metro, Pierce Transit, BNSF Railway
Number of vehicles	350[1]

Sound Transit has been the popular name of Washington state's Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority since September 19, 1999.^[1] It was formed in 1996^[3] by the Snohomish, King, and Pierce County Councils. It operates express bus, commuter rail, and light rail service in the region and constructs capital projects in support and expansion of those services.

Express Bus

Bus #9610-K New Flyer DE60LF in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel

Sound Transit's express bus fleet is operated by local transit authorities Community Transit, King County Metro, and Pierce Transit. Its Regional Express Bus Service provides service to cities in all three counties, including Seattle, Redmond, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Issaquah, Lakewood, Bellevue, Auburn, Federal Way, Gig Harbor, Everett, Woodinville, and Tacoma.

Light Rail

Current System

Sound Transit's light rail system consists of a 1.6-mile (2.6 km) line in Tacoma called Tacoma Link and a 14.6-mile (23.5 km) line in Seattle, Tukwila, and SeaTac called Central Link.

Tacoma Link connects the city's Theater District, Convention Center, Union Station (a former train station now serving as a federal courthouse), and Tacoma Dome area.

Central Link runs between downtown Seattle and the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The initial section opened on July 18, 2009.^[4] The initial section runs through the Seattle's SoDo neighborhood, Beacon Hill, Rainier Valley, and portions of Tukwila. On December 19, 2009, the line was extended to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport through Tukwila and SeaTac.

Under Construction

University Link is a 3.5-mile (5.6 km) extension of the Link Light Rail system that is currently under construction. Construction on the line began on March 6, 2009, and is scheduled to be complete by 2016. The line will be underground for its entire route, and will connect downtown Seattle to the University of Washington via Capitol Hill. The cost of the extension is about $1.9 billion with half of the funding expected to come from a grant from the Federal Transit Administration.

Plans

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. Although Sound Transit is currently developing the schedule for final design and construction, it had already finished the North Link's Final Environmental Impact Statement as of April 2006. The light rail line will link the University of Washington station to Brooklyn and Roosevelt, finally terminating at the Northgate Transit Center. The Northgate station would further provide access to the Northgate Mall and Lynnwood, via the Lynnwood Link Extension Project. This line is expected to be completed by 2021, following the completion of the University Link in 2016.^[5]

Sound Transit is also in the preliminary engineering phase for an 1.6-mile (2.6 km) extension from the SeaTac Airport Station to S. 200th Street in the City of SeaTac. The track is expected to be on an elevated guideway, following primarily 28th Avenue S. The line is expected to be completed sometime between 2015 to 2030, depending on funding.^[6]

The South Corridor HCT (High Capacity Transit) Project is expected to extend Link Light Rail from the planned S. 200th Street stop 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.^[7]

Similarly, the Lynnwood Link Extension Project is expected to extend the line from the future Nortgate stop to Lynnwood, via stations at NE 145th Street, NE 185th Street, and Mountlake Terrace. However the Lynnwood Link Extension Project will rely primarily on federal grant money, for which Sound Transit still will need to complete the Alternative Analysis stage to qualify. Although this also means that the stations can be changed to reflect a number of scenarios, the Link Light Rail line is expected to be elevated.^[8]

Commuter rail

Sounder Commuter Rail, a commuter rail service between Everett and Seattle, and between Seattle and Tacoma is operated by BNSF Railway on Sound Transit's behalf. There are currently 7 peak-direction and 2 reverse commute round-trips daily between Tacoma and Seattle and 4 peak-direction round trips between Everett and Seattle. Sound Transit will eventually run up to 18 daily round-trips from Tacoma once all trackwork is completed by BNSF Railway. They also plan on extending service to South Tacoma and Lakewood by 2012.

Current and soon-to-open stations are:

Everett Station

• Everett Station
• Edmonds Station
• Mukilteo Station
• King Street Station (Downtown Seattle)
• Tukwila Station
• Kent Station
• Auburn Station
• Sumner Station
• Puyallup Station
• Tacoma Dome Station
• South Tacoma (opening 2008 bus service/2012 commuter rail)
• Lakewood Station (opening 2008 bus service/2012 commuter rail).

Sound Transit 2

2007 Vote

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.^[9] 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.^[10] The ballot measure was defeated by voters.^[11]

2008 Vote

The Sound Transit Board on July 24, 2008 voted to put a reduced Sound Transit 2 plan before voters. It passed by large margins on November 4, 2008.^[12] 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. Central Link Light Rail 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) is proposed from Central Link's 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.^[13]

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.^[14]

Fleet

Sounder Commuter Rail
	Mfg	Model	Length	Passengers	Purchased	Retired	Qty	Fleet Numbers
	EMD	F59PHI, 3000 horsepower	58'-7"	NA	1999	in service	11[15]	901-911
					2000	in service
					2001	in service
	Bombardier	Bi-Level Cab Car	85'	136 (seated)	1999	in service	18[15]	101 - 118
					2000	in service
					2001	in service
	Bombardier	Bi-Level Coach	85'	140 (seated)	1999	in service	40[15]	201 - 240
					2000	in service
					2001	in service
Link Light Rail
	Kinki Sharyo	Mitsui 1500V-DC Electric Traction	95'	200 (74/126)	2007	in service	35	101-135[16]
					2011	partially in service, delivered, testing[17]	27	136-162[18]
	Škoda	750V-DC Electric Traction	66'	56 (30/26)	2001	in service	3	1001-1003[19]
ST Express Buses
	Mfg	Motor	Length	Passengers (seated/standing)	Purchased	Status	Qty	Fleet Numbers
	Gillig Hybrid		40'	37[20]	2012[20]	in service[20]	25[20]	9122-9123 (Diesel) 9201-9222 (Hybrid Diesel/Electric)
	New Flyer D60LFR		60'	56 [21]	2010	in service	13[22]	9553-9565
					2011	in service	31[23]	9566-9596
					2012	in service	14	9800-9813
					2012	in service	5	51214-51218
	New Flyer DE60LFR		60'		2010	in service	15[22]	9637-9651
	New Flyer DE60LF	Cat C9 (Cummins ISL for 2008 models)/GMHybrid[24]	60'	57 (seated)	2005	in service	22[25]	9600-9621[26]
					2008		2[25]	9622-9623
					2009[25]	in service	13[25]	9624-9636
	New Flyer D60LF	Detroit Diesel Engines Series 50[27]	60.7'	60 (seated)	1999	Retired	25	9500-9524
		Detroit Diesel Engines Series 50[27]			2001	in service	12	9525-9536
		CAT (Caterpillar) C9 engine[27]			2005		16	9537-9552[27]
	New Flyer DE40LF	Cummins ISL	40'	37 (seated)	2003	in service	1[25]	9200[28]
	New Flyer C40LF	Cummins ISL C-Gas+ 250/280 HP?[29]	40.8'	39 (seated)	2001	in service	20	9400-9419[29]
	Gillig Phantom	Cummins M11+ Engine [30]	40'	45 (seated)	1999	Retired	70	9000-9069
		Cummins ISM Engine[30]			2001	in service	62	9070-9089
		Cummins ISL Engine[31]			2005			9090-9091[32]
		Cummins ISL Engine[31]			2008			9092-9121
	Motor Coach Industries D4500	Low emission Detroit Diesel EGR Series 60 NOx 2.5[33]	45'[33]	60 (seated)	2005	in service	13[34]	9700-9712
					2007[34]		7[34]	9713-9719
					2010[34]	in service	3[34]	9720-9722[35]
	Orion V	Cummins L10 260G[36]	40'	45 (seated)	1994	Retired in 2008; all buses auctioned	27	800-827[37]
					1995		2
Non-Revenue vehicles
	Mfg	Motor	Length	Passengers	Purchased	Retired	Qty	Fleet Numbers
	Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor	Ford Modular engine		N/A		in service
	Toyota Prius	Toyota NZ engine		N/A		in service

Police

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^[38] assigned full time to Sound Transit.

Sound Transit officers patrol Sound Transit train cars, stations, buses, and platforms all around Puget Sound.

Board of Directors

Sound Transit is governed by an 18-member Board of Directors, which sets policies and provides direction to the CEO and staff.^[39] By state law, the board includes the Washington State Secretary of Transportation and the King, Pierce, and Snohomish County Executives. These three executives also appoint other elected officials from their counties to the remaining seats on the board.^[40] For 2014, the board members are:^[41]

See also

• List of rapid transit systems
• List of rail transit systems in the United States

Notes

External links

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