Sound Transit 2 - Plan Summary

On Nov. 4, 2008, voters of the Central Puget Sound region approved a historic Sound Transit 2 ballot. Sound Transit will deliver this program between 2009 and 2023.

Providing Mass Transit for a Growing Region

By the year 2030, growth will lead to a 35 percent increase in employment and a 30 percent increase in vehicle travel in the region. By 2030, the typical commuter could spend nearly an entire work week of additional time stuck in traffic. Starting in 2009, Sound Transit 2 (ST2), approved by voters on November 4, 2008, provides immediate funding for significant express bus expansions while launching major light rail, commuter rail and station access expansions. The plan is summarized here. Click on the topic for more details.

2030 Estimated Daily Ridership

Paying for the System

Cost

New tax approved A sales tax increase of five-tenths of one percent (0.5%), or five cents on a $10 retail purchase, was authorized within the Sound Transit District. Existing taxes Four-tenths of one percent (0.4%) Sound Transit sales tax, or 4 cents on a $10 retail purchase Three-tenths of one percent (0.3%) Sound Transit MVET, or $30 for each $10,000 of vehicle value, collected until 2028 Existing Sound Transit taxes are currently being used to build and operate Sound Move, the regional transit system approved by voters in 1996. With the approval of new funding, Sound Transit will also use these existing taxes to help build Sound Transit 2 projects. Finances Approximately 51 percent of Sound Transit 2's capital costs will be paid directly with cash revenues and grants. The finance plan funds the remaining cost by issuing long-term bonds at competitive interest rates during construction, expected to be 15 years. For each dollar borrowed, Sound Transit will pay an estimated $1.24 in interest, a typical ratio for borrowing by public agencies and consistent with industry standards for public projects. The Sound Transit 2 finance plan assumes $895 million in federal matching grants.

Timing

Voter approval authorized funding to immediately add 100,000 annual hours of expanded ST Express bus service starting in 2009. Projects will be brought into service after they undergo planning, environmental review, preliminary engineering, property acquisition, final design, construction, startup and testing. All of the projects are scheduled to be complete by 2023.

Sound Transit District

Sound Transit was authorized by voters in 1996 to provide regional bus and train services in the urban areas of King, Pierce and Snohomish counties, and is funded by taxes collected within the Sound Transit District.

*All figures in millions of year-of-expenditure dollars. Figures may not add exactly due to rounding.

Sound Transit 2's 15-year estimates include the estimated cost to plan, build, maintain and operate the system through 2023, including community planning, engineering, design, environmental mitigation, disability accessibility, station amenities, safety features, and contingencies for unforeseen expenses.

Requiring accountability to the public

Sound Transit 2 includes accountability measures to protect the public's investment and to roll back taxes after construction is complete. 

Binding tax rollback

After the Sound Transit 2 and Sound Move Plans are completed, taxes will be reduced to a level necessary to operate and maintain the system and pay associated debt service. The Sound Transit 2 Finance Plan estimates that by 2038, the tax increase approved by the voters in 2008 will not be needed and will no longer be collected.

Independent oversight

An independent Expert Review Panel (ERP) appointed by the state regularly reviewed the development of the Sound Transit 2 Plan as required by state law. The ERP affirmed that the technical details and assumptions used to develop the plan are reasonable and appropriate. The ERP reviewed methodologies for estimating costs, ridership projections, financial assumptions, and social, economic and environmental impacts. With voter approval of Sound Transit 2, the volunteer Citizen Oversight Panel will continue to conduct twice-yearly public review of agency projects and progress.

Performance audits

The Sound Transit 2 Plan includes a requirement to implement a performance audit program. This will build on Sound Transit's history of independent financial and performance audits through the years that demonstrate transparency and public accountability.

Taxes stay local

Sound Transit 2 will invest local taxes to benefit the area where they are collected. Taxpayers in each of Sound Transit's five geographic subareas pay for projects and services that benefit the people who live in that subarea.

Cost effectiveness

Benefit-cost analysis: A benefit-cost analysis prepared for the light rail element of the Sound Transit 2 Plan shows that within 10 years of completion, quantifiable public benefits will exceed the costs of construction. After 10 years, time and energy savings will continue to accumulate for decades more, exceeding costs by a ratio of 2.7 to 1, and generating an economic rate of return of 8.9 percent.
Farebox recovery: By 2030, the Sound Transit 2 Plan forecasts that 28 percent of system operating costs will be recouped by fares. The farebox recovery rate for the light rail system is 40 percent, making it the least expensive transit mode to operate. Cost of service: Future transit operations cost of service is projected at $92 million annually, stated in 2007 dollars. That translates to $1.61 per system rider or $3.97 per new transit rider.

Transit options promote sustainable, livable communities

Improving access to transit: The plan expands travel and job opportunities throughout the region. People who live, work and study in regional centers will be attracted to improved transit options. For example, one in five people use transit for work and college trips in the University District today; with Sound Transit 2, that number will increase to one in three by 2030. In Bellevue, that number increases by 50 percent, from 8 percent to 12 percent by 2030. The addition of 36 miles of light rail, plus expanded Sounder and ST Express service, will increase travel options and may make it possible to reduce the number of cars per household, the number of annual miles driven, and/or the cost of vehicle operation and maintenance.

Boosting the economy: Improving transit capacity and reliability allows employers throughout the region to attract a broader base of workers and have better access to goods and services. Increased transit use reduces highway delay for personal, business and freight travel.

Improving the environment: With studies suggesting that transportation is responsible for more than half the region's carbon footprint (generation of greenhouse gases), Sound Transit 2 helps the environment. The high-capacity transit system will take cars off highways and, compared to doing nothing, reduce the number of miles driven and fuel used each day – resulting in less air pollution and fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

Supporting livable communities: Throughout the United States, light rail stations help support the development of compact, urban, sustainable communities. Sound Transit 2 was developed to help achieve the land use and transportation demand management goals identified in Vision 2040 and Destination 2030, the region's long-range growth strategy and transportation plans. Vision 2040 and Destination 2030 make clear that our long-term transportation needs require a region-wide transit system that supports transit-oriented development around stations and serves our high-density population, employment and activity centers (such as Northgate, Bellevue and Lynnwood) with seamless connections between local transit, regional transit and ferries. Sound Transit 2 supports locally adopted land use plans by providing transit infrastructure to serve more dense development in population centers, helping the region absorb projected growth of more than 1.2 million new residents by 2030.

In 2008, the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) Executive Board unanimously found that the Sound Transit 2 Regional Transit System Plan conforms to the regional plans. Employment in urban Pierce, King and Snohomish counties is expected to increase by about 600,000 jobs. Sound Transit 2 will provide high-capacity transit service to over 75 percent of the employment in PSRC-designated urban centers in 2030.