Sounder Train Does Better When Parked

What a joke. This thing was a joke when they built it and, guess what? It's still a a joke. Mudslides cause the Sounder trains to stop running earlier this month....so guess what happened, the train's budget did better with them parked than if they had run! No surprise to those that knew this would be a resounding flop!

Slides cut Sounder ridership

By Scott PeszneckerHerald Writer

A string of mudslides that halted Sounder trains earlier this month also eroded a bit of the system's hard-earned ridership.

On the bright side, Sound Transit might not have lost any money - and maybe even saved a little - by keeping the trains parked, company spokesman Lee Somerstein said.

The trains' average boardings on weekdays between Everett and Seattle dropped from more than 700 to about 645 after the trains resumed on Jan. 17, Somerstein said Tuesday.
"It's down a little," he said. "I'm expecting it will come back up though, because it was on an upward trend anyway."

Somerstein said he isn't too concerned about fares lost during the six days the train was closed after Jan. 6, when the first mudslides happened between Mukilteo and Seattle. Fares don't make up a substantial portion of the system's revenue, he said.

Sound Transit might have broke even, or even saved money, while the $385 million trains were shut down, he said.

"We lose the fare revenue, but we save on fuel and maintenance," Somerstein said, adding that the system also didn't have to pay operating fees to Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, which owns the shoreline tracks.