Passengers wait for the light rail doors to open at the Northgate station. (Photo by Nick Ng)
This is part 3 of the My Neighborhood News Network series on light rail arriving in Snohomish County. You can read part 1 here and part 2 here.
As Sound Transit prepares to open its 1 Line light rail extension into South Snohomish County Aug. 30, the transit agency faces the challenge of ensuring different demographic groups have equitable access to its services.
Sound Transit is legally required by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to monitor and address potential disparities in service delivery to minority, low-income and limited-English proficiency populations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and environmental justice mandates. This involves analyzing census data to identify the representation of these communities and evaluating the impacts of service changes or fare adjustments – a challenge compounded by the sharp decline in transit use due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before and after COVID-19
Before the pandemic, Sound Transit ridership was increasing, even though many transit systems in the U.S. were stagnant or declining. Ridership grew by about 150% from 2010 to 2019 due to an increase of 386,200 jobs and about 500,000 additional people in King, Pierce, Snohomish and Kitsap counties.
However, like other U.S. transit agencies, Sound Transit ridership overall — including light rail, bus and commuter rail — fell steeply during the pandemic. Ridership dropped by 83% – from 3.6 million riders in January 2020 to about 609,000 in April 2020.
Sound Transit, officially known as the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, operates a variety of transit services in the Puget Sound region of Washington state, including:
– Link light rail: A network of light rail lines that connect key areas in Seattle, SeaTac and surrounding regions.
– Sounder commuter rail: Commuter train services that run between Everett and Seattle (North Line) and between Lakewood/Tacoma and Seattle (South Line), providing weekday peak-hour services with limited weekend options.
– ST express bus service: A network of regional express bus routes connecting major cities and communities across the Puget Sound area.
– Tacoma link light rail: A streetcar service in Tacoma that connects the Tacoma Dome Station to downtown Tacoma.
On the light rail system – which at the time was running between the northernmost University of Washington station and southernmost Angle Lake station – weekday ridership dropped from 1.46 million in February 2020 to nearly 237,000 in April 2020.
In the fourth quarter of 2020, light rail ridership had dropped by 4.4 million, or 75.6%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2019. The average weekday boardings also dropped by 78.5%.
Meanwhile, weekday transit ridership fell by 79% and total boardings dropped 77.3% – presumably due to people working from home during the pandemic. Midday ridership saw a smaller decrease.
(You can check Sound Transit ridership trends from 2019 to the present on the agency’s website.)
“We aren’t seeing ridership on Link as heavily concentrated around commute times as we did pre-pandemic,” Sound Transit Public Information Officer John Gallagher said. “We’re fortunate, compared to other transit systems, in that ridership has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. But we are seeing that people are using light rail more to get around – to go to games or entertainment, do errands.”
Since September 2021, light rail ridership has gradually been increasing – up from 1.09 million to 2.08 million in December 2023, reaching pre-pandemic levels.
Special events do attract more light rail users. There was a spike in light rail ridership in July 2023 when Taylor Swift performed at Lumen Field along with the Capitol Hill Block Party and a Mariners game from July 22 to 24. About 100,000 additional people took light rail on that weekend alone.
In the first five months of 2024, nearly 10.5 million people used the light rail.
Transit communication
However, communication and cultural barriers can prevent people from hopping on board a light rail train.
Lynnwood resident Ana Alcázar said that she doesn’t have any family members or close friends who take the light rail because they don’t understand the system and its benefits. However, she said she uses light rail occasionally for travel to downtown Seattle for concerts and social events.
“Most of my acquaintances are Hispanics, and they do not understand how the light rail works because they don’t have access to that information [in Spanish],” Alcázar said. “Perhaps it would be helpful to do a visual (not only online) campaign to promote it in English and Spanish. These flyers could be distributed in resource centers or organizations so people [who] cannot or do not know how to navigate the system can receive the information physically and with easier access.”
Sound Transit must abide by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act in the Title VI Program Update, which “remove barriers and conditions that prevent minority, low-income and persons with limited English proficiency (LEP) from equal access to public services and programs.”
This requires the transit agency to tailor its outreach efforts, communication materials and accessibility measures to reach and serve diverse communities. For example, identifying areas with high concentrations of limited English proficiency residents assists the agency in providing targeted translated information and language assistance.
“Our website is available in more than 20 languages,” Gallagher said. “We have signage available in multiple languages throughout the system. When we solicit feedback from the public about projects, our online open houses are available in multiple languages as well. These may vary depending on the geographic area being surveyed. We also offer a phone line for people who do not speak English who need help navigating our services.”
The Sound Transit website offers more than 20 languages.
Sound Transit reported in its Title VI Program Update that the largest language groups using light rail – after English – are:
– Spanish (30.04%)
– Chinese (13.65%)
– Other Asian and Pacific Island languages (10.31%)
– Vietnamese (9.42%)
– Russian, Polish, other Slavic languages (7.65%)
– Korean (6.64%)
– Tagalog (5.11%)
In a 2024 Service Plan Phase One report, which included comments from 172 respondents, 97.3% of light rail users in the North Subarea (Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Shoreline, Northgate) responded that they speak English at home. Other languages include:
– Spanish (5.4%)
– Cantonese (4.1%)
– Mandarin (2.7%)
– Vietnamese (2.7%)
– Tagalog (1.4%)
– Korean (0.7%)
– Ukrainian (0.7%).
All data in the report was taken in July 2023.
Among 135 people responding who speak a language other than English, 39.3% reported that they are fluent in a non-English language and 57.8% reported that they speak only English. The remainder ranges from intermediate (1.5%), basic (0.7%) or not at all (0.7%).
Gallagher said that the Service Plan data isn’t a survey. Twice a year, Sound Transit proposes changes to their services where they ask people to submit comments.
“We are not actively surveying people for their input, but rather soliciting it,” Gallagher said. “The results are therefore going to be a lot smaller — people have to actively choose to submit comments — and also self-selected. For those reasons, self-submitted comments are not an accurate representation of ridership, especially compared to a comprehensive onboard survey, where we are talking to riders directly.”
Gallagher said that Sound Transit is currently conducting a survey through September with a much larger sample population, which may be released in the fall. “It’s impossible to predict the sample size; it really depends on how many people we are able to interview,” he said.
Income and work status
Sound Transit said that demographic analysis informs its efforts to ensure equitable distribution of transit routes and amenities, such as prioritizing service improvements in areas with higher proportions of minority or low-income populations.
In the same 2024 phase one light rail plan report, about 75% of the respondents surveyed who take light rail are employed full time. Those who are retired (11.6%) and the part-time employed (6.1%) make up the next majorities.
Among 149 respondents who are employed, those who earn $50,000 or more a year make up the majority of riders:
– 22.8% earn between $100,000–$149,000
– 17.4% earn $200,000 or more
– 10.7% earn $75,000–$99,999
– 6.7% earn $50,000–$74,999
– Nearly 21% of respondents said that they prefer not to answer.
Other demographic details include:
– Adults ages 25 and up make up the majority of light rail riders (89.2% out of 176 respondents). The highest percentages are those from ages 35 to 49 (26.1%) and ages 50 to 64 (27.3%).
– About 16% of 146 respondents have a disability.
– 70.3% say they take light rail even though they have reliable access to a working motor vehicle at home.
– 149 respondents identified themselves as:
- Male (61.1%)
- Female (27.5%)
- Non-binary (5.4%)
- Preferred not to say (5.4%)
- “Self-describe” (0.7%)
For race and ethnicity, 172 respondents identified themselves as:
– Whites/Caucasians (65.8%)
– Asians/Asian Americans (22.8%)
– Two or more races (8.7%)
– “Other” (5.4%)
– Blacks/Africans/African Americans (4.7%).
A two-person household makes up the majority of respondents (39.7% out of 146 respondents), followed by those who live alone (25.3%), four-person household (17.1%) and three-person household (13.7%). These household sizes include children.
The nonprofit Commute Seattle did a survey of 64,000 people in Seattle in 2022 and reported about 11.3 % of them took public transportation and earned a salary of $150,000 or more. Even before the pandemic, the Seattle Times reported in 2018 that higher-income earners ($75,000 or more a year) were more likely to use public transit than lower-income workers.
Commute Seattle highlighted several factors that likely incentivize people to use public transit, such as convenience of public transit locations, cost savings, environmental consciousness and employer incentives.
“In terms of differences in demographics post-pandemic: The current survey underway will provide us with greater detail,” Gallagher said. “We do know that during the pandemic, many riders were from populations dependent upon transit to get to work and appointments, while most office workers were working remotely.”
Edmonds resident Kim Gunning said that she currently takes the light rail at the Northgate Station once or twice a week – commuting there by bus via Community Transit – to attend events in Seattle, to travel to and from Sea-Tac Airport and occasionally as part of her evening commute.
Light rail testing in Mountlake Terrace Aug. 9. (Photo by David Carlos)
“Once the Mountlake Terrace station opens this fall, I anticipate using light rail exclusively for my morning and evening commute to work, four to five days a week,” she said.
Gunning lives near Lake Ballinger east of Highway 99. She and her family purchased their home because it is close to the Mountlake Terrace Station. She anticipates that it will cut her commuting time to her job in downtown Seattle by about 40% to 50%.
“As a non-driver, the expansion of light rail is especially important to me, but even the driver in my household is excited as they try to drive as little as possible,” Gunning said. “One concern I do have is whether the benefits of transit-oriented development will accrue to everyone in our community, [like] whether the gentrification of my Highway 99 neighborhood will increase and result in less economic and racial diversity. On the other hand, based on conversations I’ve had, I think the expanded light rail has the potential to increase diversity as folks who would not consider living in South Snohomish County because of limited mass transit options will now consider moving here.”
Examining the demographics along the light rail line in Seattle, data journalist Lena Han reported in The Urbanist that the poorer neighborhoods with a median annual household income of $60,000 to $80,000 are concentrated in three areas: the U District and University of Washington, from Pioneer Square to SODO and from Tukwila International Boulevard to Angle Lake. The wealthiest neighborhood is along the Roosevelt station, at more than $120,000 a year, followed by Capitol Hill.
Han reported that 61% of the residents in Roosevelt are homeowners compared to 10% in Pioneer Square and the International District/Chinatown. She showed a similar trend in racial diversity, where whites tend to aggregate in wealthier neighborhoods – with a few exceptions from Columbia City to Sea-Tac. “A southbound ride on the 1 Line is also usually a ride from a whiter neighborhood to a more racially diverse neighborhood,” Han wrote.
However, a 2020 study of 11 cities in the U.S. – with research conducted between 1990 and 2010 – found “no significant impact of new or expanded rail transit lines on metropolitan-wide income segregation.” (Seattle was not included in the study.) The researchers suggested that new rail transit does not significantly change neighborhood income profiles or citywide segregation trends. This supports other studies that show transit-induced gentrification and displacement are minimal. While wealthy neighborhoods might see some changes due to new transit investments, this is quite rare, the researchers reported.
Just as Kim Gunning is looking forward to catching light rail at the new Mountlake Terrace light rail station, Ana Alcázar said she is ready to ride light rail from the Lynnwood City Center station. “I don’t find it challenging to get to the station from where I live because I own a car and can get to the transit center,” she said.
Mountlake Terrace residents Ai-Chun Huang and her husband Yurii Haptor prefer to take the light rail instead of driving to Seattle because of parking issues. Since the Northgate station opened in 2021, they have been driving and parking there and catching the 1 Line into Seattle.
Mountlake Terrace residents Ai-Chun Huang (left), Yurii Haptor and their children look forward to the new light rail station. (Photo courtesy of Ai-Chun Huang)
“Light rail really helps me commute to downtown Seattle with easier access, and it also helps me explore more of the city by foot,” Huang said. “All my family members are looking forward to it. We won’t need to find parking near Northgate station, and it has been harder to find a spot for parking in Northgate, especially during weekends. I will also use them more often for traveling to other districts with my kids through the light rail. They love to take the light rail to see around the city.”
Haptor said that he used to take the light rail often to commute to and from work, but he is now riding it once a month. “My place of work changes as I commute,” he said. “I wish it could go to Paine Field Airport. Then I would probably be taking it again on a daily basis. I feel glad, grateful and respectful. It will unload the traffic on major roads like I-5. Overall, I love the idea of public transportation, even though I also drive a car. The only thing I wish is that it can develop with time to a level like the subway in New York or Chicago.”
For those like Gunning who do not drive, getting to light rail at Northgate has been more challenging. Being reliant on transit means she has to take one bus to the Mountlake Terrace Transit Center, then transfer to a second bus that will take her to Northgate. “[The] buses that connect to the [Mountlake Terrace] Transit Center are infrequent, especially on weekends,” Gunning said. “However, with the opening of the light rail, Community Transit routes will run more frequently, and I do not think it will be challenging to get to the station. On sunny days, I also have the option of walking from my home to the Mountlake Terrace station – a nice 25- to 30-minute walk and good exercise to boot!”
— By Nick Ng
Up next: Housing density, congestion and zoning.
