{"id":24829,"date":"2016-08-26T17:26:54","date_gmt":"2016-08-26T17:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145710.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=24829"},"modified":"2016-08-26T17:26:54","modified_gmt":"2016-08-26T17:26:54","slug":"seattle-light-rail-ridership-grows-83-expansion-blows-away-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/seattle-light-rail-ridership-grows-83-expansion-blows-away-expectations\/","title":{"rendered":"Seattle Light Rail Ridership Grows 83% With Expansion, Blows Away Expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Driving in\u00a0Seattle or from Seattle to areas in the Puget Sound is a drive in congestion\u00a0— a\u00a0drive in overwhelming lanes and lanes of cars. Ridership has\u00a0boomed more than expected on light rail in Seattle, and perhaps this is a reason why. The regional transit authority now has more plans\u00a0to grow this more efficient option — plans\u00a0for the third phase of light-rail expansion.<\/p>\n

Next\u00a0City<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>points out that this\u00a0was the first expansion since the city\u2019s one-line system\u00a0opened in 2009. Could two more train stations result in\u00a0a healthy transformation in commuting habits in Seattle? Hope abounding, Next City<\/em> writes, “Local media got special tours of the extended line and wrote stories with headlines about the ways in which the new stations could ‘transform’ Seattle.”<\/p>\n

Four months after adding the lines, a significant increase in ridership appeared. The value of the transit option and new growth in \"IMG_2994\"<\/a>light-rail ridership proved itself and then some. Although many commuters are still in their cars in that awful rush-hour gridlock<\/a>, over\u00a0800,000 extra boardings were logged in May 2016 compared to May 2015.<\/p>\n

The Sound Transit May ridership report<\/a> showed over 1.77 million boardings on light rail in May 2016, which amounted to a whopping 83% increase over May 2015\u2019s boardings. There were\u00a0904,000 boardings in February — the last month before the expansion.<\/p>\n

Shefali Ranganathan, executive director of the Transportation Choices Coalition, mentioned that, though expecting increases, “we didn\u2019t expect to see those explosive ridership number.”\u00a0Time is part of the allure — it takes 10 minutes to get from Husky Stadium at the south end of campus to downtown Seattle, and just 4\u00a0minutes from Capitol Hill to downtown. Ranganathan says, “those are times no other form of transportation can match.” This is similar to the story in many European cities, where trams (aka streetcars), light rail, and heavy rail are often quicker than cars.<\/p>\n

As things hold steady, Sound Transit has tripled the number of three-car trains it\u2019s running. “Sound Transit is opening another station south of the airport later this year, then another three stations to the north by 2021.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThis proves there\u2019s a huge demand for faster ways to get from point A to point B,\u201d Gray says. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to plan for that even if it\u2019s 10 to 15 years in the future. That demand is not going to go away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Faster, and I expect safer as well. Fast +\u00a0safe is a good thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes when I\u2019m on the train I like to eavesdrop on people\u2019s conversation,\u201d says Ranganathan. \u201cI\u2019m surprised at how many people are talking about transportation and the transit system \u2026 asking \u2018how soon can we get to my neighborhood?\u2019 “<\/p>\n

CleanTechnica<\/em><\/a>\u00a0reported a few weeks ago on the Sound Transit 3 (ST3<\/a>)\u00a0plan\u00a0to add 62 miles of rail to the region. Implementation\u00a0will take place during the next 25 years. The lines will connect Tacoma, Seattle, and Everett. Next\u00a0City<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>quotes Shefali Ranganathan, who explains that the effort in Seattle is to focus on connecting neighborhoods to areas of employment. As it should be.<\/p>\n

Photo by\u00a0Oran Viriyincy<\/a>\u00a0(some rights reserved<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n

Related Stories:<\/p>\n

BMW Bringing Its DriveNow Car Sharing Program To Seattle<\/a><\/p>\n

Seattle\u2019s ST3 Plan Would Add 62 Miles Of New Light Rail Over 25 Years \u2014 What Are The Costs?<\/a><\/p>\n

Construction Has Begun On Denver\u2019s Latest Light-Rail Line Extension<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Driving in\u00a0Seattle or from Seattle to areas in the Puget Sound is a drive in congestion\u00a0— a\u00a0drive in overwhelming lanes and lanes of cars. Ridership has\u00a0boomed more than expected on light rail in Seattle, and perhaps this is a reason why. The regional transit authority now has more plans\u00a0to grow this more efficient option — …<\/p>\n

Seattle Light Rail Ridership Grows 83% With Expansion, Blows Away Expectations<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566],"tags":[667,526,1697],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Sound-Transit-Light-Rail.jpg",1024,768,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Sound-Transit-Light-Rail-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Sound-Transit-Light-Rail-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Sound-Transit-Light-Rail-768x576.jpg",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Sound-Transit-Light-Rail-800x600.jpg",800,600,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Sound-Transit-Light-Rail.jpg",1024,768,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Sound-Transit-Light-Rail.jpg",1024,768,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Cynthia","author_link":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/author\/cynthia\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Driving in\u00a0Seattle or from Seattle to areas in the Puget Sound is a drive in congestion\u00a0— a\u00a0drive in overwhelming lanes and lanes of cars. Ridership has\u00a0boomed more than expected on light rail in Seattle, and perhaps this is a reason why. The regional transit authority now has more plans\u00a0to grow this more efficient option —…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24829"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}