Dissent of the Day

From commenter colorfast in What the Eastside wants from ST3:

Parochialism will smother ST3 in the crib. The notion of restricting expenditures to within arbitrary geographic or jurisdictional boundaries that are invisible to real travel patterns is absurd. ST3 investments need to prioritize serving corridors where the highest travel demand exists today and in the future; these are pretty obvious because there aren't that many of them.

The whole point of expanding the rail network is to bring higher capacity to the most densely crowded travel corridors. This does two things: it improves the quality of travel in those corridors, and allows the lower capacity mode(s) to increasea/improve/expand the overall network by deploying further afield in greater frequency than is the case absent rail. It also delivers a third benefit: catayzing the land use policy vision underlying GMA.

A regional - not parochial - view is needed to accomplish the right things in ST3. ST and KCM need to sit down and figure out which corridors are ripe for rail in King County and which aren't, and then demonstrate how the two modes will complement each other in a network that provide intuitive connectivity.

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I don't think [parochialism is] imbedded in ST's DNA at all. More like a ball & chain. It comes from the local politicans far more than ST. "We want ours and screw everyone else" seems to be the mantra eminating from sub-area transportation forums, with local council types leading the charge. It's certainly ST's problem to solve, tho. The basic problem seems to be an inability within this metropolitan area among local pols to view things through the lens of trips people are taking every day rather than brick & mortar facilities located in their boundaries.