Reality-BasedTM Political Numbers from Nicholas Beaudrot
Electoral Math
Reality-BasedTM Political Numbers from Nicholas Beaudrot
Glug Glug | Home | More Fuzzy Math From the Anti-Transit Flat-Earth Society
This fall we're gearing up for Yet Another Transit VoteTM, this time on Sound Transit 2: The Wrath of Light Rail as well as some road improvements. That means it's also time for anti-transit forces to kick in to high gear and, make stuff up.
The shadily named "Eastside Transportation Association" is running ads trying to convince you that no one will use the transit system, but there seems to be some accounting gimmicks going on. The ad claims "transit handles less than 3% of all the people on the road, and the experts' best projections ... doesn't increase it to 5%". This just doesn't add up. Projections show the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue-Everett population growing to roughly 4.6 million, while the new transit system will probably increase ridership to about 370,000 riders. By my count, that means transit's already serving 8% of the population, and an even higher percentage of adults. In reality, Seattle-Tacoma already has one of the most-utilized public transit systems in the country, but we have to make more investments if we want to keep up with the population growth.
What's more, November's ballot initiative is a vote on transit construction and road construction, with the overwhelming majority of roads projects going to suburbs and neighborhoods outside of Seattle. It includes a new 520 bridge, improvements on 405 and various 5XY roads in South King, Pierce, and Snohomish. Everyone gets something out of the package.
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updated by Nicholas Beaudrot on 08:03 11 September 2007
