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Community survey shows continued support for Sound Transit and light rail

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Nearly six out of 10 people polled in a recent community opinion survey of the Sound Transit district support Sound Transit and its services, compared to only 18 percent in the "low to no support" categories. Fifty-nine percent of those surveyed said they support or strongly support the agency's programs. That is one of the findings of a second annual community opinion survey conducted by Pacific Rim Resources and commissioned by Sound Transit. The survey involved interviews with 1,875 people - 375 within each of the five subareas of the Sound Transit district. It was done in early September to test public awareness of the agency and its public transit programs prior to the launch of Sound Transit's Sounder commuter train service. The margin of error is 2.3 percent across the full district, and 5.1 percent for subarea results.

Among other findings:

  • Moderate to strong support for Sound Transit has increased from 54% last year to 59% this year. The percentage indicating strong support grew by eight percent - from 26% last year to 34% this year.
  • Fifty-seven percent of respondents report a moderate to high level of support for the Link light rail program, with one in three people indicated strong support for Link light rail.
  • Support for Sound Transit's ST Express regional bus service and Sounder commuter rail has increased over the last year from 49% and 53% respectively, to 56% for both.
  • The overwhelming majority - 77% -- of those responding to a question about tradeoffs indicated that they prefer that Sound Transit funds be used where transportation problems are the greatest, even if it means that individual respondents' communities get less than other communities.
  • Fifty-seven percent of those polled expressed a preference for being asked to vote on a plan for extending the regional transit system while the first phase is being constructed, compared to 43 percent favoring completion of the current plan before being asked to extend it.

The annual marketing survey is conducted to gauge public awareness, support and expectations of the agency and its progress on implementing Sound Move, the ten-year program of regional transit improvements approved by the voters in 1996. This is the second survey to be conducted. The first was done in September 1999 just prior to the inauguration of ST Express regional bus to establish a baseline for comparison for this and future surveys. A summary report of the survey findings will soon be posted on Sound Transit's website: www.soundtransit.org/


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Sound Transit plans, builds and operates regional transit systems and services to improve mobility for Central Puget Sound.