Curley: Second Seattle bus tunnel better than traveling back 150 years on trains

A Seattle transit group is proposing a second bus tunnel downtown. While the word “tunnel” might worry Seattleites who feel exasperated by Bertha’s delay, KIRO Radio’s John Curley says at least it’s better than more trains.

The Seattle Times reports that with an expansion vote, Sound Transit is looking at establishing light rail routes between Ballard and downtown, Ballard and the University District, and the International District to West Seattle. But getting all three routes might not be possible, so grassroots transit group Seattle Subway is suggesting the agency consider a second bus tunnel to make sure all those areas are served.

If the new tunnel would mean an emphasis on buses over trains, Curley is on board.

“The fascination with 150-year-old technology never ceases to amaze me, that people seem to love trains better than buses.”

People don’t like trains better for logical reasons like say if they were more affordable or a more effective means of transportation, Curley says.

“They like the idea of being on a little train. It makes them feel like they’re in Europe or Disneyland.”

Maybe buses aren’t as cool as trains, but Curley says they’re far more efficient and versatile than an engine stuck on a track.

“You’d be able to take the bus out of the tunnel, have it come up on the road for a little while so everybody can get some fresh air, and then have it dive back down into the tunnel,” he says.

While some might say light rail is a new technology, Curley says he defines a train as “anything where there is a track and the thing is fixed on it, you’re heavily subsidizing it, and very few people are actually taking it.”

And, sure, subways work great for densely-populated cities that built them hundreds of years ago, but Curley says that’s not Seattle and more trains don’t make sense here.

“It’s a fixed route with an old, antiquated technology and it is ineffective and inefficient,” he says.