We, the undersigned and taxpayers in the Puget Sound Region, demand that our Washington State Legislature, the governing body that created Sound Transit (ST) in 1993, hold the Sound Transit agency staff and its Board accountable. We ask the Legislature to: 

1.     Pause planning on all ST3 projects except those that are opened or already in construction.

2.     Conduct an objective cost-benefit analysis of all viable ST3 alternatives. 

3.     Require all Sound Transit Board members to be directly elected by voters based on district, and that those elections be publicly funded.

I, the undersigned, ask state lawmakers to take these actions to restore public trust in Sound Transit and to affirm transit and transportation outcomes voters were promised. 

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Voters passed ST3 in 2016 with an estimated price tag of $54 billion. The cost, which also includes massive overruns for their ST1 and ST2 projects, is now at $148 billion and counting. The car, property and sales taxes are forever taxes.

According to the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC), the federally mandated planning agency for our region, in 2050, even with full build out of ST3, we will see:

• Only 3% of all trips taken by car, transit, ferry, walking, bicycle will be on Sound Transit trains.
• A 54% increase in traffic.
• Only a 6% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from all sources. This number does not take into account the enormous amounts of forever CO2 emissions generated to build light rail. The goal for our Region is an 80% reduction.

These numbers come from the PSRC's  2050 Transportation Plan.

See below for links to their document.

Our Region needs a realistic and affordable plan to increase ridership, decrease single car drivers and lower greenhouse gas emissions. The federal government, Legislature and the Governor need to hold Sound Transit and PSRC accountable by halting any more ST3 planning, showing voters transit alternatives, and passing legislation to make the ST Board directly elected by district via publicly-funded campaigns.

Please sign the Petition and call your representatives in Olympia at 1-800-562-6000. You can locate your representatives at: https://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder

Note: You can choose to keep your name anonymous. Smarter Transit will not be releasing the names of signers or donors.

 
Smarter Transit is a pro transit, non-profit, non-partisan all volunteer,  organization. Your donation will help us print and distribute material and get our message out. Any amount is appreciated. You can donate by clicking here. 

 
References:

1. https://www.soundtransit.org/get-to-know-us/paying-regional-transit/regional-tax-information
2. https://smartertransit.org/justification-for-smarter-transits-analysis-of-2050-rail-transit-mode-share-for-the-central-puget-sound-region/
3. PSRC’s 2050 Transportation plan, Appendix H, pg. 24
4. PSRC’s 2050 Transportation plan, Appendix H, pg. 7