The article goes through the math on public transit projects.
“Consider the 34-mile Sounder north line, which links Seattle to Everett. It was originally proposed as a six-train commuter service with six stops. But as costs shot up to $368 million from a projected $89 million, the agency cut back to four trains and four stations. About 1,100 riders use the line every weekday, far below the original forecast of 2,400 to 3,200 riders, for an average cost to the system of $330,000 per rider.”
“Sound Transit’s light-rail system, called Link, has also had its share of challenges. The 25 miles of light rail that voters were told would be completed by 2006 at a cost of $1.7 billion, have resulted in 23 miles of track which, when completed, will end up costing $5.2 billion.”
“The $2.6 billion spent so far on the starter light-rail line takes the rider from Westlake Station downtown to an airport station 0.4 mile from the terminal in 37 minutes. It replaced a bus that took less time and dropped passengers off right at the terminal. The system now in place has 29,000 passenger boardings a day, less than a third of the 105,000 boardings Sound Transit predicted it would have by 2010.”
“The Sounder south route from Seattle to Tacoma, for example, has been popular, resulting in a cost per average weekday rider of about $55,000 for putting the train in service. That’s relatively cheap compared to the $135,000 per rider that the Minneapolis-St. Paul transit system paid for its new commuter line”