Offering frequent news and analysis from the majestic Evergreen State and beyond, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's unconventional perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Sounder packed like a can of sardines

Sitting on board Amtrak Cascades waiting to enjoy a congestion-free train ride south, I watched one of the morning Tacoma to Seattle Sounder trains come in, and man, was it packed tight.

It looked like there was hardly a spare bit of room on any car of the train - describing it as standing room only would be an understatement.

Sounder service is popular because (gasp!) people like commuter rail, which is something that the local anti-transit faction doesn't seem to understand.

Sound Transit has been expanding the service but it still can't meet demand - there simply aren't enough trains to accomodate everyone who wants to ditch a car and get out of traffic. Fortunately, there's something we in Puget Sound can do to ensure that Sounder is expanded: vote yes on Proposition 1 this fall, which includes funding for new Sounder stations, and paves the way for eventually adding more runs and trains (pending negotiations with BNSF).

Sound Transit 2 also extends Link to Tacoma, bringing light rail to neighborhoods not served by Sounder, offering more frequent service, and giving south sound commuters another way to travel through the busy Seattle to Tacoma corridor.

Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Too bad that I have to vote no on more roads. I am not confused. The legisdlature can not pull the wool over my eyes.

October 10, 2007 7:40 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home