Issues - A Smart, Efficient, Sustainable Transportation System for Seattle
We all feel the negative impacts of years of short-sighted and outmoded approaches to transportation planning in our city and our region. Today, we spend far too much time stuck in our cars in traffic. The high cost of moving freight on our congested roads adds to the cost of living for our citizens and hurts our companies. Our dependence on cars pollutes our air and threatens our environment.
The fact is that transportation is the second highest household expense for our families after housing. I believe that our failed transportation policies force too many families to spend too much on gas, insurance, and repairs for two cars when one could be enough, or no car at all.
It is possible to get around in Seattle without driving very much. I know because I’ve been a full-time bike commuter for almost 10 years and when I don’t ride my bike to get where I’m going, I usually take a bus. Typically, I use a car for less than 10 percent of my trips.
But it takes a lot of planning, patience, and some sacrifices. Our bus system isn’t as convenient or reliable as it should be. Our new light-rail system doesn’t reach enough neighborhoods. Too many of our roads weren’t built to be safe for bicyclists. Too few of our buildings offer showers or secure places to park bikes for people who want to cycle to work.
I believe we need to fundamentally transform the way we think about transportation in this city. We should begin by basing our approach to transportation on the needs of people, not cars. And instead of constantly trying to create capacity for more cars by building new roads, we need to take advantage of market mechanisms that reflect the real price of roads on our city and create incentives and a transportation infrastructure that offers smarter, more cost-effective, and healthier ways to move people and freight.
Here’s what we need to do to transform transportation in Seattle:
- Focus on making the best use of our existing roads and on using smart economic incentives to prioritize sustainable transportation alternatives. One example is tolling. Tolls help people make smart, cost-effective choices about how to get from place to place and the revenue they provide will enable us to increase transit service. When we invest in roads, it should be to make it easier, faster, and safer for freight, public transportation, and bicycles.
- Take steps to make bus service more frequent, more reliable, and more convenient. Even though we now have our first light-rail line, it will be years before light rail is a convenient transportation option for many Seattle residents. Today, we can make our bus system work better by adding more bus-priority and bus-only lanes; using technology to move buses through traffic lights more quickly and efficiently; and using platform payment systems that let people board buses more quickly.
- Promote bicycling by making our roads safer for bicyclists. I would also promote incentives that encourage new commercial buildings to add shower facilities and both residential and commercial buildings to include save, secure, covered parking for bicycles.
- Emphasize transit-oriented development based on land-use policies that create more opportunities for people to live, work, shop, and play where they are more likely to use public transportation, walk, or ride a bicycle. Building more housing within a half-mile of our new light rail transit stops is a good start.
In addition, I strongly oppose the planned deep-bore tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. This $4.2 billion plan fails to address the city’s critical transportation needs. It has no downtown on- or off-ramps and will do nothing to improve public transportation. Read more about why I oppose the deep-bore tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
Ultimately, we have to stop hiding the real cost of transportation. For decades, transportation policies have subsidized the cost of driving by favoring roads over other options. We’re now paying the price in the form of traffic that harms our city’s economic fabric and damages our health and the health of our environment.
I’ve seen how the right incentives can make a dramatic positive difference. As CFO of the law firm Stokes Lawrence, I eliminated the practice of providing free parking for employees. Actually, parking wasn’t free—it cost the firms tens of thousands of dollars every year. Within two years, 80 percent of the firm’s employees no longer needed monthly parking and many had found alternative forms of transportation that were cheaper, healthier, and more environmentally sustainable than driving. I see this as a useful lesson for how we can begin to address some of our current and future transportation challenges.
