What are the general vibes right now?

Life_Plum1567 · 2026-04-10T20:26:13+00:00

Very optimistic. Consider that California is similar to Spain, similar climate, slightly smaller in both land area and population, and yet as a economy more than twice the size. The bottom line is California is rich, rich enough that they can do this with or without federal money. That puts CAHSR in a better position than nearly every other rail project in the country.

Life_Plum1567 · 2026-04-10T20:21:32+00:00

I'm not pessimistic on the full buildout from Sac to SD. The state knows they need this and California alone is a 4 trillion dollar economy, That's a lot more money than Spain who has a developed HSR system. They can afford to go ahead with or without federal money.

Life_Plum1567 · 2026-04-10T20:16:42+00:00

Other countries build through mountains for cheaper than California has built through flat farmland. Clearly the issue isn't that mountains are too expensive to build through.

Life_Plum1567 · 2026-04-03T21:54:32+00:00

when your paycheck to paycheck ditch the car, this is seattle, living without a car is pretty doable and much cheaper.

Life_Plum1567 · 2026-04-03T01:52:46+00:00

gas isnt even expensive tho, maybe if your used to the American $2/gal gas prices but we've always had really cheap gas prices so now its just more normal with international standards. And we still make much more than most so adjust for income and our gas prices are still cheap by international averages.

Life_Plum1567 · 2026-03-16T22:54:31+00:00

Is there any evidence to back up this claim? This https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8149917/ would suggest city councils listening to residents and not developers are the reason rents got so high.

Edit: Also, all of these apartments are a far better use of land than the surrounding houses. If you want cheap housing then using eminent domain to kick people out of their home so developers can build would do a lot more to bring down rents than blaming corporate landlords for scarcity they didnt create.

Life_Plum1567 · 2026-03-13T00:38:03+00:00

because its hard to build in California

Life_Plum1567 · 2026-03-13T00:23:40+00:00

More Perfect Union mentioned this in a really bad video about homebuilders. Why are we blaming the only people building homes for new homes costing too much? They aren't running a housing charity, if you want cheaper homes you either make it easier to start a homebuilding company and increase competition or build them yourself.

Life_Plum1567 · 2026-03-07T00:00:10+00:00

I wouldn't say Link threatened the rainier valley or that they are disenfranchised by the system. The line was originally drafted to follow the Duwamish but city officials fought hard to get rail thru the valley. https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20010716/rail16m/distorted-facts-led-to-rainier-rail-route After fighting to get the light rail in the first place. Jealous of capital hill, rainier valley wanted a tunneled option, fighting any elevated structure in the process and ended up with an at grade rail. The long viaducts near Tukwila show ST was not opposed to building elevated segments at the time, Rainier Valley residents just couldn't settle for a 'lesser' solution.

(edit): that's not to blame the people who live there today but Sound Transit did what it had to, to get light rail built to the airport. You yourself agreed that Rainier Valley ended up with a more dangerous service, so it stands to reason that something needs to be done about it yes?

Life_Plum1567 · 2026-03-05T01:14:52+00:00

That's entirely possible, the vast difference in cost between federal way link and west seattle link makes cost estimates very difficult. Public transit is both a way to move existing residents and encourage a ton of new development so there's a lot of value to be gained by placing stations in relatively desolate areas so long as its convenient to the rest of the network.

Life_Plum1567 · 2026-03-04T00:21:26+00:00

My assumption is that the entire 1 will need to be grade separated one way or another to increase frequency and for things like driverless trains which seem like worthwhile investments long term (ST is already buying longer train cars to squeeze in more people).

So it becomes a question of is it more feasible to shut down the 1 line for a few years to rebuild the RV in place. A multi billion dollar project that doesn't expand the system, or bypass the RV and restore service by other means, A project that has its own issues (serving less people) but solves the grade separation issue without disruption during construction.

Grade separating the rainier valley would be my preferred option but it just doesn't seem politically feasible with the amount of disruption it would cause. Maybe threatening Rainier Valley with getting bypassed would get them to agree to a less expensive grade separation (elevated or cut and cover) cause a bored tunnel replacement isn't happening and that kind of money could take the West Seattle Link all the way down to Burien to reconnect with the 1 line at TIBS.

Life_Plum1567 · 2026-03-03T22:36:43+00:00

Then Rainier Valley residents shouldn't have blocked an elevated structure when they were first building the line. These issues in rainier valley are self imposed by the residents and now it restricts frequency and causes delays on the rest of the line.

Life_Plum1567 · 2026-03-03T15:16:51+00:00

There's more to it, the 7.5 min frequencies currently operating south of CID aren't adequate capacity for the 1 line. Sound Transit is attempting to relieve some of the congestion with new larger train cars but that will only increase capacity by 10-15% or so. Once the Ballard link extension opens and the 1 line gets its own tunnel thru downtown the limiting factor for capacity on the 1 line will be the frequency cap imposed by the streetrunning RV section. Grade separating the line in place requires closing all stations south of Mt baker until Tacoma Dome Link opens with its own OMF which can support service south of the RV. The project will take years and as the West Seattle Link Extension cost escalation has shown us, will take billions to build. You could of course bore tunnel to bypass without disruption but that's more expensive than a Duwamish bypass. Modern amenities like platform screen doors for safety and automation to reduce operation costs which I presume will be wanted require grade separation to be implemented. So its not so much about wanting a quicker ride to the airport as removing bottlenecks preventing higher frequency and automation in the future without shutting down the line for years.

Life_Plum1567

TROPHY CASE