Future cost changes are unpredictable because building the rail line through highly developed Seattle is complex and the nature of required tunneling, demolition, and other construction is uncertain. Even further cost increases seem likely. Ride Free Express is predictable because new construction is minimal and operating buses and vanpools on existing roadways is a known quantity. A careful look at the figures from Sound Transit, even given existing assumptions, shows that it is much less cost-effective than Ride Free Express . Link Is Not Cost-Effective.
Link entails huge up-front capital costs.
Well over three billion dollars will be spent before Link carries a single rider. Ride Free Express Is Cost Effective. Ride Free Express will not require costly capital construction. Because it uses the existing roadways, with modest modifications to improve speed on HOV lanes and city streets, Ride Free Express can begin right away, without the huge capital investment of a rail line. Our traffic problems are regional and will require a regional solution.