Seattle Press on Line - Bundy Tells Fremont Rotary: Sound Transit Misleads Public on Bus Tunnel

Bundy Tells Fremont Rotary: Sound Transit Misleads Public on Bus Tunnel

Mar 07, 2001 -- Sound Transit used misleading data to show that the downtown bus tunnel would have a greater passenger capacity if it were converted to train-only use, Emory Bundy told the Fremont Rotary Club on February 20. Bundy, a leading and vocal critic of Sound Transit, is head of the Bullitt Foundation and a former news director at KING-5 TV.

"When they compare bus and train capacity, Sound Transit counts bus capacity only by seats," Bundy said, "but they count seats plus standing room for train capacity. That's how they come up with their figures of 32,000 passengers per hour for trains, but only 18,000 for buses."

Bundy spoke in Fremont Rotary's public issues forum, which invites political and business leaders to discuss important issues of the day. Recent speakers have included Washington State Labor Council President Rick Bender and Bob Royer of Seattle City Light.

Bundy said Sound Transit counts the remote possibility of a rail connection across the 1-90 bridge as a fact when estimating bus tunnel capacity. While Sound Transit assumes that a train will enter the bus tunnel every two minutes, the Rainier Valley line will have trains only every four minutes. "Where do these other trains come from?" Bundy asked. "They're coming from a proposed rail line coming across the I-90 bridge." Bundy asserted that such a rail line is technically and politically impossible, and would mean giving up an entire traffic lane on the bridge.

It is highly unlikely tracks will ever be laid on the I-90 bridge, he said. "They can't cut into the surface because of tension cables; they'd have to add a new layer of concrete, which would make the bridge too heavy. Trains on the bridge would violate promises the state made to Mercer Island residents when it obtained the right to build the bridge. Besides," he added, "Sound Transit is already years behind schedule and billions over budget. How can they possibly count an I-90 bridge link as a reality in evaluating bus tunnel operations? It's never going to happen."

Bundy concluded, "Conversion of the tunnel from buses to trains will reduce transit's ability to move passengers through Seattle's congested, hourglass-shaped core. It also will add to congestion on city streets by turning hundreds of rush-hour buses out of the tunnel."

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