Prop. 1 Aftermath: What's Next for ST?
Mike Lindblom writes today in the Times that Sound Transit does not need to get permission from the legislature to get back on the ballot next year. This was the reason that many hypothesized the rapid re-emergence of a transit-only ballot initiative as early as next Spring.
Permission is one thing, protocol is another. I was going over this with a friend last night, and he reminded me that Sound Transit doesn't need any more enemies in Olympia right now. The knee-jerk reaction is going to be to blame the agency for the failure of Prop. 1.
Plus, there's more talk about creating the regional transit "super agency" that the Stanton-Rice report recommended earlier this year. Sound Transit has fought the creation of such an agency in the past, fearing that it would dilute ST's influence and create a huge new bureaucracy. If Sound Transit wants to keep lobbying against such an agency, it needs to stay in the legislature's (and the Governor's) good graces.
All of this is by way of saying that Sound Transit won't rush back to the ballot unless the legislature gives them the green light, or at least a wink and a nod.
- Frank's blog
- Login or register to post comments
The balkanized agencies that pass as transit or transportation agencies in Western (Metro, State Ferries, Sound Transit, Port of Seattle, etc.) all should be combined into a single agency with an elected body running it. Imagine if the Ferry system, the ports (and air ports), all the bus agencies, the state rail program, and Sound Transit were under a single agency ---
--- Greatly reduced overhead because only one top manager and one staff would be needed
--- A seat at the table for any decision (city zoning, new or wider roads, location of future development) made in the region
--- The ability to generate a single transportation plan for the whole region ignoring petty little bickering about that city got x amount and we only got y.
--- A single area wide fare and ticket structure
--- Combined scheduling through out the region
--- The Zoo wants to build a parking garage? --- why didn't they simply contribute to a new streetcar line from downtown past the zoo to Shoreline, less money and serve a whole lot more area (just a single example of how transit isn't looked at as an option)
Transit takes the back seat to the road hogs, Prop. 1 was a perfect example. As a region (Blaine to Vancouver) we need to focus on transit --- and we need to have a real transit agency to forward that agenda.
It's a compelling idea, I agree. But we're already working on a lot of interagency cooperation (on fares, we have PugetPass, for example) without actually combining agencies.
Martin at STB offers an interesting caution to "governance reform," which is basically that it will create a brand new huge bureaucracy that will have to spend a decade or so getting on its feet and making mistakes before it becomes effective. The question is whether it's worth it.
I think it's worthy of consideration, but it's not a slam dunk, necessarily. Thanks for the comment!