Central Link Light Rail Facts
(and My Rebuttal)

The “facts” are from Sound Transit's web site ( www.soundtransit.org/linkrail/central/facts/facts.htm) in bold type. My rebuttal is in italic type.

 

A Sustainable Transportation Solution. The same argument applies to monorail.

• Link light rail will provide a high-capacity transit alternative to move thousands of people through one of the most congested corridors in the region faster and more reliably than current bus service. Light rail provides capacity, but at an average speed of 15-20 mph, light rail does not provide true rapid transit. Monorails can operate at higher speeds than light rail, and more reliably than both busses and light rail.
• The initial 14-mile central Link light rail line will create a new transportation corridor where 45,000 residents live and 170,000 jobs are located within one-half mile of station entrances. The same argument is true for monorail, but monorail is faster and will attract more riders.
• By 2020, the initial light rail line is projected to carry at least 42,500 riders a day — more than many other new light rail projects being built in the nation. But monorail will carry more people because it operates at higher speed and has other advantages that will attract more riders.

Providing a New Transportation Choice. Providing an Old Transportation Choice and Ignoring Better Ones.

• Light rail is a proven, cost-effective technology that is successfully operating in over 20 other North American cities. See the Light Rail Central Web site at www.lightrail.com for more information.
  Of course light rail is proven technology, after all it has been around for more than a hundred years! It is an old choice, the traditional way of providing mass transit. But now we have newer and better technology than old-fashioned light rail. As for the cities that already have light rail, how are they going to feel ten years or so from now when they realize how much better off they would have been it they had built monorail instead of light rail.
• Light rail is good for the environment. Electric light rail trains do not emit harmful contaminates into the air. And light rail trains are quiet, reducing noise pollution.
  Light rail and monorail both use electric power, so on that point they are equally good for the environment. But monorail is better overall for the environment because the higher speed and other advantages will do more to draw drivers away from their cars, thereby eliminating more auto pollution than light rail will. As for noise pollution, how quiet can steel wheels on steel rails be, compared to the rubber tires of monorail trains. And the light rail supporters don't mention the damage done to the environment of a neighborhood split in two by a pair of railroad tracks and all the homes and business torn down to make way for the railway.
• Light rail trains will operate frequently so riders won't even need a timetable and can get to their destinations sooner. True, and true for monorail also.

Part of a regional transportation network

• Light rail is one piece of a regional transportation system that includes ST Express regional buses, Sounder commuter trains, local buses, ferries and roads.
  One piece of a regional transportation system needs to be high-speed trunk lines to interconnect major centers of population, education, and employment. In the Seattle area this means high-speed high-capacity links between Seattle, Everett, Tacoma, Bellevue, Renton, and other areas. Imagine a light-rail link from Seattle to Everett, about 30 miles (45 km) with light rail trains that average 20 mph (30 kph) compared with monorail trains averaging closer to 40 mph (60 kph). Which one do you think would attract more riders? Somebody can drive up the freeway in about 30 minutes, take 90 minutes by light rail, or 45 minutes by monorail. Under congested conditions the highway trip can take much longer, but light rail and monorail should not be affected. But monorail takes half the time. Sound Transit’s Sounder heavy rail commuter trains between Seattle and Tacoma are a good solution, but operations are vulnerable to the needs of the railroad that owns the track. Building high-speed heavy rail tracks throughout the region would be a very expensive and environmentally disastrous solution. Sound Transit’s ST Express bus service is also a good alternative, but the capacity is limited and busses are also vulnerable to traffic congestion. Monorail is expensive, but less so than other high-speed high-capacity alternatives.
• Link light rail will allow some local buses to be redeployed and provide better service to neighborhoods with convenient connections to light rail. The same argument is true for monorail.
• Bicycling accommodations at light rail stations and aboard trains will expand traveling options for cyclists. Monorail trains can also be designed to accomodate bicycles, and the elevators to the stations can be built to accommodate bicyclists.

Building Livable Communities

• Link light rail can support growth management by helping concentrate population and employment density in areas served by transit.
  This argument favors monorail because of the higher ridership and faster service of monorail, and areas served by monorail will experience less noise, less disruption to passage of people and vehicles at the surface, and less danger to cars and people than those areas served by light rail.
• Construction of Link light rail will create more than 4,200 new direct and indirect jobs in the region.
  Because construction of a monorail is simpler than that of a light rail line, there would be fewer jobs in monorail construction. This also means taxpayers will pay less or get a longer route for the same amount of money. After the monorail is completed, the faster service and lower environmental harm will attract more new development than light rail would, so in the long run monorail would create more jobs than light rail.
• Safety and access issues are being addressed at every level in the planning.
  No matter how much safety of light rail is addressed, it is inevitable that from time to time a train will smash a car and pedestrians will be killed or lose limbs. It is really difficult to imagine that happening with monorail. Elevators at monorail stations will permit access by virtually all people.
  On surface streets, Link trains will travel at posted speed limits.
  This translates into slow service. Monorail operates independently of posted speed limits on streets down below.
• Art will be incorporated along the light rail line to reflect culture and character of local communities. The same with monorail.

 

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©2002 Robert M. Fleming Jr.
This page was last updated 13 March 2003.