Greg Nickels
Posted on July 22, 2008
Filed Under Gaming | Comments Off
10 lame reasons to delay mass transit
9) True, the 15-year Sound Transit plan would add light rail, commuter rail and regional buses. If we wait two years, though, it might include hydrogen-powered, personal hovercrafts. That’d be cool.
So all we have to do is vote no on Sound Transit to vote yes on personal hovercrafts, fucking awesome.
5) Mass transit is popular. So popular, you may not have a seat on the bus. But standing all the way home improves your calf muscles and physical stamina. This strength-building exercise works even better in high heels.
I’ll have to correct him here, mass transit is already so popular the buses are full. Change that may not have a seat to “get to the stop at least 2 buses before the one you want, you’ll probably have to walk”.
3) By waiting two years, we can do the same project but spend about $1 billion more. With the price of everything going up — steel, concrete, gas — a delay will cost big bucks. But indecision is worth it. Isn’t it?
Spoken like a true democrat, our only point in this city is to spend more money anywhere possible. I don’t care how you spend it just spend more of it faster.
The investment would also expand and improve regional buses, increasing service in key corridors by about 12 percent overall, and up to 30 percent in some areas. New daily trips would be added to the Tacoma-Seatttle Sounder commuter-rail service. The cost: $69 a year for an adult, about the cost of a single tank of gas (see No. 1 above).
I have a co-worker who commutes from Tacoma. I wouldn’t recommend to anyone that they should move to Tacoma, but I do know that there’s thousands of people that commute from Tacoma to Seattle daily. Not only can we provide them with an affordable option of transportation but this would greatly reduce carbon emissions and save the freeways for cars that don’t run on gas (I don’t see the price of water going up in the next 50 years).
This plan makes too much sense, which is exactly why we should be voting for it. We can’t do jack shit without money, and a modest 0.5% sales tax increase might seem like a lot but for the benefits you’re getting a damn good deal. For an extra 10 bucks a month (assuming you spend as much as $2,000 on sales classified items each month, I don’t even spend that much) for 15 years ($1,800), we’ll get a transit system that actually works. Considering the boost that would create for tourism every business downtown should be actively campaigning to pass this measure.
Greg Nickels doesn’t always get it right, but he couldn’t be more right on this issue.
Powered by FireStats