Transit
Sustainable
% of Transit Fleet that is Zero-Emission
(Work in Progress)
Funded Capacity Expansion Projects as % of Projected 20-Year Demand
(Work in Progress)
Vehicle Miles Traveled per Capita in Transit-Served Areas
(Work in Progress)
Ridership Growth Rate vs. Capacity Growth Rate
(Work in Progress)
Key Points
• Sustainble Transit means a clean fleet and a system built for 20-year demand, not just today's ridership.
• A transit system that lets ridership outpace capacity growth risks becoming a victim of its own success.
• VMT per capita in transit-served areas is the direct test of whether transit-oriented housing is actually cutting car dependency.
• Goal: a fully zero-emission fleet and capacity expansion funded ahead of projected 20-year demand, not scrambling to catch up.
What is it?
Transit that is sustainable in the narrow sense of a clean fleet but not sustainable in the systemic sense of keeping pace with growth fails the housing strategies that depend on it. Housing built around transit access only works long term if that transit system is funded and planned for the demand that growing, transit-served neighborhoods will place on it twenty years out, not just for today’s ridership. VMT per capita in transit-served areas is a direct measure of whether transit-oriented housing is actually reducing car dependency, which is the entire premise behind building housing near transit in the first place. A transit system that lets ridership growth outpace capacity growth risks becoming a victim of its own success, with overcrowding and declining service quality undermining the very growth it should be accommodating.
Why Sustainable Transit Matters
Transit that is sustainable in the narrow sense of a clean fleet but not sustainable in the systemic sense of keeping pace with growth fails the housing strategies that depend on it. Housing built around transit access only works long term if that transit system is funded and planned for the demand that growing, transit-served neighborhoods will place on it twenty years out, not just for today’s ridership. VMT per capita in transit-served areas is a direct measure of whether transit-oriented housing is actually reducing car dependency, which is the entire premise behind building housing near transit in the first place. A transit system that lets ridership growth outpace capacity growth risks becoming a victim of its own success, with overcrowding and declining service quality undermining the very growth it should be accommodating.
Where We Want to Be
The goal is a fully zero-emission transit fleet across WA agencies, with electrification proceeding on a clear and funded timeline rather than an aspirational one. VMT per capita in transit-served areas should decline meaningfully relative to non-served areas, demonstrating that proximity to transit is actually changing how people get around. Capacity expansion should be funded well ahead of projected twenty-year demand rather than scrambling to catch up after overcrowding becomes visible, and ridership growth should be matched or exceeded by capacity growth, not the reverse. The vision is a transit system built with enough foresight that growth strengthens it rather than straining it, and clean enough that riding it is unambiguously the lower-impact choice.