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The Seattle Monorail Project

A Proposed Regional Monorail System

Arguments against monorail and my responses

My ideas for monorail system design

My ideas for routes

(PRT) Personal Rapid Transit

Vocabulary

Frequently asked questions

Links to other monorail sites

Contact me

These are some of the things I would like to see in a Seattle-area monorail system:

I oppose single-tracking Before the Green Line project was cancelled, one cost-saving proposal was to use single-tracking on parts of the line. I strongly favor use of dual-guideways (double-tracking) over the entire system with certain possible exceptions. Click here for details about why I oppose single-tracking.

I favor a variety of taxes paid by a broad spectrum of people. The tax to support the Green Line project was a motor vehicle excise tax (MVET), up to 1.4% of the value of each vehicle registered to Seattle residents. I feel this puts an unfair burden on car owners and that a more equitable system would include a lower MVET combined with other taxes such as a fuel tax, sales tax, and other taxes that would be put some of the burden on other people, including those that commute into Seattle from the suburbs. Click here for more about taxes.

Alignment should be the middle of the street whenever practical. The guideway can also be along either side of the street, leaving the center of the street clear, however I think the mid-street position has more advantages. Click here for more about alignment.

It should be an integrated part of the overall mass transit network: I think that the monorail system should be smoothly intergrated into the rest of the mass transit network. This means that the fare structure should be the same and that when a passenger pays a fare when boarding the monorail, bus, commuter train, streetcar, or light rail train, transfers will be issued that will be valid for transfer to other routes regardless of the mode of transportation used on that route.