Question one: What is the LAST thing that Seattle Metro needs today? Answer one: To move from relatively cost-effective and adaptable bus transit to an expensive fixed route light rail system.

Question two: What's the plan? Answer two: To move from relatively cost-effective and adaptable bus transit to an expensive fixed route light rail system.

From the Metro King County Website:

http://www.metrokc.gov/mkcc/news/9911/Nickels_transitplan.htm

"Thats just the beginning," added Nickels. "If we dont move quickly, we will be forced to dismantle the nations premier transit system. We cannot allow this to happen. Those thousands of bus riders spilling into cars will freeze our already clogged transportation arteries." Nickels plan calls for:  Additional state and or federal funding to expand Sound Transits light rail to Northgate;  Begin planning for phase two of Sound Transit, and take it to ballot within 48 months;  A local option transit tax to restore cuts in bus service and save Metro;  A local option gas tax to fix roads, bridges, and bottlenecks such as the I-90/I-5 intersection;  Streamline the state Department of Transportation by giving the governor power to cut in half the number of agencies (450) currently managing or planning pieces of the transportation system.

-- Craig Carson (craigcar@crosswinds.net), November 24, 1999

Answers

The Metro #41 bus gets you from the downtown tunnel to Northgate so fast you dont have time to think about it. To spend bazillions to replace this extremely efficient bus system with a rail system is dumber than a box of rocks. But so is much other government waste.

-- Art Rathjen (liberty@coastaccess.com), November 26, 1999.

Well Art, if the light-rail IS built, it'll do the job at 14 MPH for a LOT more money.

-- Craig Carson (craigcar@crosswinds.net), November 26, 1999.

A box of rocks? God I hope nobody in Olympia reads any of these posts or they might start planning to build boxes of rocks....shhhhhhh!!

-- maddjak (maddjak@hotmail.com), November 27, 1999.