Seattle Area Rapid Transit Plans

Build a light rail station at N.E. 130th St.

Transit home page Elevated railways Monorail Surface light rail Subways

The Seattle area needs a good mass transit system with an integrated mix of different modes of transportation.

High-speed mass transit (rapid transit) would interconnect major centers of population and high-use destinations such as sports venues, concert halls, large schools, and major employers. Two key factors of high-speed mass transit are high passenger volume and relatively high speed of travel. The objective is to move a large number of people quickly between major origins and destinations.

In the Seattle area, the most likely routes for intercity rapid transit would be between Seattle and Everett, between Seattle and Tacoma, between Seattle and the Eastside, between Seattle and Bothell, and on the Eastside between Bothell and Renton.

Within Seattle, there should be routes connecting the downtown area with the northwest, southwest, southeast, and northeast parts of the city. There should also be east-west connector routes to permit cross-town trips without a need to go downtown to transfer.

These routes would be the ones with the most ridership. Where the ridership does not warrant the high cost of rapid transit, express buses can be used.

The best system of rapid transit is a subway system, however such a system is very expensive. Another solution in common use today is surface light rail. However light rail is not truly rapid and there are a number of problems associated with light rail. Another good system is elevated railways. The solution I prefer is monorail, because it costs less than any of the other systems and has a number of advantages.


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©2002 Robert M. Fleming Jr.

This page was last updated 16 May 2018.

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