The C is for Crank
Sound Transit Moving to One-Car Trains on Evenings & Weekends
Sound Transit announced today that it's moving to single-car "trains" (in quotes because one-car trains are essentially trolley buses) at night and on weekends and holidays, to save approximately $460,000 a year. More quotes: Sound Transit defines "night" as any time after 7:30 pm—a time when, I can say from personal experience, many people are just heading home from work. (Sound Transit spokeswoman Kimberly Reason says she'll get back to me with nighttime ridership numbers.)
Sound Transit's rider counts show that weekend ridership isn't significantly lower than weekday ridership (particularly on Saturdays). In July 2010, for example, the average Saturday ridership was 22,098; weekday ridership was 24,145, and Sunday ridership was 17,127.
Given the minuscule savings that will be realized by cutting the size of trains in half, those weekend numbers seem high enough to justify keeping two-car trains.
If Sound Transit wants to increase ridership (and they do: Ridership projections show 45,000 boardings per day by 2020), creating a situation where passengers are forced to cram into overcrowded trains isn't the way to do it.
The experience of riding an overcrowded train isn't pleasant. Although each two-car train theoretically has the capacity to hold about 300 riders, that's at crush capacity: Each car has seating for just 74 people. That's before you account for people with bikes (one-car trains hold a maximum of just two bikes on racks and two inside the train itself), luggage, and people in wheelchairs (each train has two areas for people with disabilities).
Hopefully, Sound Transit will weigh the benefits of expanded ridership against the cost savings from cutting trains in half and decide it's pennywise and pound-foolish to save a few hundred thousand bucks a year at the expense of gaining thousands of new riders.
Image via Seattle Transit Blog.
Sound Transit's rider counts show that weekend ridership isn't significantly lower than weekday ridership (particularly on Saturdays). In July 2010, for example, the average Saturday ridership was 22,098; weekday ridership was 24,145, and Sunday ridership was 17,127.
Given the minuscule savings that will be realized by cutting the size of trains in half, those weekend numbers seem high enough to justify keeping two-car trains.
If Sound Transit wants to increase ridership (and they do: Ridership projections show 45,000 boardings per day by 2020), creating a situation where passengers are forced to cram into overcrowded trains isn't the way to do it.
The experience of riding an overcrowded train isn't pleasant. Although each two-car train theoretically has the capacity to hold about 300 riders, that's at crush capacity: Each car has seating for just 74 people. That's before you account for people with bikes (one-car trains hold a maximum of just two bikes on racks and two inside the train itself), luggage, and people in wheelchairs (each train has two areas for people with disabilities).
Hopefully, Sound Transit will weigh the benefits of expanded ridership against the cost savings from cutting trains in half and decide it's pennywise and pound-foolish to save a few hundred thousand bucks a year at the expense of gaining thousands of new riders.
Image via Seattle Transit Blog.
