Sound Transit continues to deliver with rollout of new Sounder service to Tacoma
From the Executive Director: We're pleased this evening to welcome a new contributor and staff member, Scott Gifford, to the Northwest Progressive Institute. This is his first post - expect many more to come!
Seven years ago, Sound Transit launched a regional commuter rail service known as Sounder, which allows thousands of Puget Sound residents to get to work without driving their cars and getting stuck in traffic. Sounder has two runs which each connect Seattle to other Puget Sound cities: a northern run which links Everett to Seattle, and a southern run which links Tacoma to Seattle.
At the time the service was launched, the right wing anti-infrastructure crowd insisted (and still does) that the Sounder runs were a waste of money, a pointless subsidy, and claimed people wouldn't ride them.
But they were wrong.
The partial closure of I-5 showed the amazing potential of rail transit for our region. Ridership jumped to almost 10,000 riders a day during the period of construction and remains at over 8,000 a day - on a system offering a limited number of trips per day, on tracks owned by Burlington Northern Santa Fe that are shared with freight trains.
People in this region ride rail and want rail.
Beginning September 24th, Sounder service will expand with two new weekday round trips in the south and one in the north. New trains will serve "reverse commuters" who travel from Seattle to Tacoma in the morning and back again in the evening.
The new City of Destiny service is so named to honor Tacoma's motto. Today, at a King Street Station unveiling, Sound Transit debuted a locomotive wrapped in a vintage red and gold design incorporating an artistic depiction of Tacoma's surroundings.
(Photo courtesy of Sound Transit)
By 2008, Sound Transit expects to have 9 daily round trips in the South, with 2 being reverse commute trains, and 4 running in the North. If Proposition 1, the Roads and Transit ballot measure, passes in November, Sounder will be expanded with 7 new or improved stops.
Seven years ago, Sound Transit launched a regional commuter rail service known as Sounder, which allows thousands of Puget Sound residents to get to work without driving their cars and getting stuck in traffic. Sounder has two runs which each connect Seattle to other Puget Sound cities: a northern run which links Everett to Seattle, and a southern run which links Tacoma to Seattle.
At the time the service was launched, the right wing anti-infrastructure crowd insisted (and still does) that the Sounder runs were a waste of money, a pointless subsidy, and claimed people wouldn't ride them.
But they were wrong.
The partial closure of I-5 showed the amazing potential of rail transit for our region. Ridership jumped to almost 10,000 riders a day during the period of construction and remains at over 8,000 a day - on a system offering a limited number of trips per day, on tracks owned by Burlington Northern Santa Fe that are shared with freight trains.
People in this region ride rail and want rail.
Beginning September 24th, Sounder service will expand with two new weekday round trips in the south and one in the north. New trains will serve "reverse commuters" who travel from Seattle to Tacoma in the morning and back again in the evening.
The new City of Destiny service is so named to honor Tacoma's motto. Today, at a King Street Station unveiling, Sound Transit debuted a locomotive wrapped in a vintage red and gold design incorporating an artistic depiction of Tacoma's surroundings.
(Photo courtesy of Sound Transit)
By 2008, Sound Transit expects to have 9 daily round trips in the South, with 2 being reverse commute trains, and 4 running in the North. If Proposition 1, the Roads and Transit ballot measure, passes in November, Sounder will be expanded with 7 new or improved stops.
