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In my case, I am proud to represent a diverse district where people work hard, often at a minimum wage, often during the wee hours of the day-- or night.

The neighborhoods served by the Douglas Branch of the Blue Line-- areas like Pilsen, Little Village, Cicero and others-- are what we commonly refer to as working-class neighborhoods. By and large, their residents do not have access to a wide range of transportation options.

For

many, it is how they get to a job at a plant on the Southwest side for the early shift.

For others, it is how they return from a job bussing tables at a downtown restaurant.

For some--both young and old-- it is the major link which allows them to visit a doctor, either at community health facilities in the area or at the University of Illinois-Chicago hospital located along the route.

Whatever their diverse needs, they all need safe, reliable transportation. They need an effective and efficient public mass transit system.

The Douglas Branch, despite its age and current condition, represents their link to the rest of the city.

The Douglas Branch is more than a century old. Most of the line was constructed between 1895 to 1912. The line is six miles long and serves more than 27,000 passengers daily. Although some repairs have been conducted on the line on an ad hoc basis, there has been no significant systemic capital improvement. As a result of its age and deterioration, the Douglas branch has become increasingly difficult to operate safely and efficiently.

The CTA has taken steps during the last year which are of grave consequences. Service has been reduced drastically on the line, with weekend and late night service eliminated completely. Speeds have been reduced considerably along the route, making daily commutes frustrating and ineffective for many workers.

The CTA has made it clear that a thorough and speedy repair of the line is necessary to prevent the outright closure of the branch within the next decade.

Mr. Chairman and Mr. Sabo, I realize that much of this information is not new to you. As you may recall from the appropriations cycle last year, I appealed to each of you and to your colleagues on the full committee to make certain appropriations for the Douglas Branch in the FY99 budget.

As you recall, at that point, I asked for an appropriation as high as $30 million for the FY99 fiscal year. (For your record, I have included copies of letters which I sent to each of you last spring asking for such an amount).

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In the final FY99 appropriations legislation approved last fall, you and the Senate conferees generously allowed $3 million for the CTA, an amount designated for use on the CTA's plans for both the Douglas Blue Line and the Ravenswood Brown Line.

Although this was a fraction of my original request, I recognized and appreciated your reasons for arriving at that figure. As you and your staff explained to me, you wanted to ensure that the CTA had sufficiently completed the necessary design and engineering phases before releasing funds that would make possible the actual reconstruction stage.

I am hopeful that, as we begin the FY2000 process, this will be the case.

The CTA had made it clear to me that the $1.5 million which you provided to them for the Douglas Branch under the FY99 budget would be of tremendous help to them in completing that design stage. Therefore, I am confident that before we progress too much further into the FY2000 appropriations cycle, the CTA will have made significant and sufficient progress to warrant an appropriation which would allow them to begin the actual repair and reconstruction of the line.

Mr. Chairman, I hereby would like to put the committee on notice that I am requesting an appropriation of $30 million for the Douglas Blue Line for the Fiscal Year scheduled to begin October 1.

I believe that this figure is warranted, given the total authorization of $315 million called for in the TEA 21 legislation, and given that this represents the second appropriations cycle during the scheduled six-year duration of the legislation.

Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Sabo, please let me know what further steps I can take to provide you with the information and background material that will make your job easier as you address this item. Should you require written material, data or design from the CTA, please let me know if I can facilitate the delivery of such items.

Before I conclude I will add, very briefly, that although I clearly have a special priority project for which I am asking this panel to provide significant assistance, I also wish to advocate on a more general-- and less parochial-- level. That is, I urge you to fund public mass transit, in all parts of the country, as generously as you find it possible.

I remain concerned that the disparity between federal funds spent on highway transportation far exceeds the figures spent on mass transit. About a year ago, several of my colleagues joined me in urging the administration and Congressional leaders to reverse this inequity. At the time, we asked that the disparity be closed by a modest level, to no more than a four to one ratio of highway to transit funds by 2002. By our estimates, this goal would require an increase of about $7 billion for transit funding.

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I know that progress has been made in this area. However, I urge this subcommittee to make further strides. Mass transit is one major key to the future economic and environmental health of all the areas of the nation-- not simply urban areas, but, to a growing extent, suburban and even rural parts of the nation.

I deeply hope that we can continue to meet those needs.

Thank you, again, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Sabo for this opportunity to address these issues. As I said, I know that the task in front of you is a difficult one, and I know that you will approach it in a manner that is fair to all members.

I look forward to working with you on these matters during the months ahead.

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1999.

SOUND TRANSIT AUTHORITY

WITNESSES

HON. NORM DICKS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

HON. JAY INSLEE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

PAUL MILLER, CHAIR OF THE BOARD, CENTRAL PUGET SOUND REGIONAL TRANSIT AUTHORITY

DAVE EARLING, VICE CHAIR, CENTRAL PUGET SOUND REGIONAL TRANSIT AUTHORITY, EDMONDS CITY COUNCIL MEMBER AND BOARDMEMBER, COMMUNITY TRANSIT OF SNOHOMISH COUNTY

Mr. WOLF. We had announced earlier that it would be helpful if you could keep it within, we are kind of

Mr. DICKS. We are going to keep this within the 10 minutes, Mr. Chairman.

First of all, I want to thank Chairman Wolf and Ranking Member Martin Sabo, and the members of the Transportation Subcommittee for inviting us to testify here today.

First of all, I want to thank the chairman of the subcommittee for the past support of the Sound Transit Project. I also want to thank the chairman for sending out two of his staffers to see our project last August.

Sound Transit is a 10-year voter-approved project that will link together the Puget Sound region with a system of commuter and light rail express buses and HOV lanes. As you know, our region is consistently rated in the top five as having some of the worst congestion in the country, and the voters decided to tax themselves to alleviate this problem. In fact, a local contribution to this project as I understand it is approximately 80 percent. It is one of the highest of any ongoing project in the country.

Our funding request for Fiscal Year 2000 is large, but Sound Transit is a deserving project. I want to introduce Paul Miller, chairman of the Sound Transit Board and Tacoma City Council member. He will provide further details about the commuter and light rail portions of our request.

Then Congressman Jay Inslee will introduce Dave Earling, who will testify on the bus portion of our combined request. Thank you, and I look forward to working with all of you on this project of national importance.

Paul Miller.

Mr. MILLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee. I am Paul Miller, chair of the board of the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, also known as Sound Transit. With me as was mentioned is Dave Earling, our vice chair, and also Bob White, our executive director is here.

I am also pleased that Al Jackson of the Boeing Company and Julie Inman of the Microsoft Corporation, has joined us today to show the support of their companies for our proposal.

We appreciate the opportunity to testify before you today about our progress in addressing the mobility problems of the Central Puget Sound Region, and the assistance we need from the Federal New Starts Program in Fiscal Year 2000 to advance our effort.

We have testified before you in prior years about our 10-year Sound Move Plan, which will increase the capacity of our region's transportation system through a mix of light rail, commuter rail, high occupancy vehicle, expressways, regional express bus routes, and community connections.

Our region is frequently ranked as one of the most congested in the Nation. The implementation of our Sound Move Plan is critically important to keeping people and goods moving so that our economy, which plays a vital role in our Nation's economy, can remain healthy.

Washington State is the most trade-oriented State in the country, in Western Washington. It is home to many world-class corporations, including the Boeing Company, Microsoft, Weyerhaeuser, Price-Costco, Nordstroms, and Starbucks, just to name a few. Improving our region's mobility helps all of these companies compete in the national and international marketplace.

I am pleased to report to you today that Sound Transit is moving ahead on schedule and on budget to achieve our goals. This month our board will select a locally preferred alternative for our 24-mile central link light rail line. We will issue a final EIS late this summer, and will be ready to negotiate a full funding grant agreement with FTA on this line later this year.

With a projected 125,000 riders per day when it opens, and one of the highest local match rates in the Nation, we believe that our central link line ranks among the most cost effective New Starts in the country.

This spring we will begin stationing construction on our 40-mile Seattle Tacoma Sounder commuter rail line, and we will initiate service on this line in December of this year.

Our regional express bus project will be addressed in the joint testimony by Mr. Earling. Let's suffice it to say that we have already begun regional express bus service on two lines. We will add eight more routes this September, and when fully implemented we will operate 17 express bus routes. High demand for this service is shown by the 30 percent ridership increase we have experienced in just the last year on one of our routes.

For Fiscal Year 2000 we are seeking $74 million for our Sounder Commuter Rail Project and $69 million for our Link Light Rail Project from Section 5309 New Starts funds, in addition to our portion of the regional request for funding from the bus and bus facilities.

The light rail funding will be used for the capital costs associated with completing preliminary engineering beginning final design on our central link line. The commuter rail funds will help fund the 38 passenger rail cars and six locomotives we are procuring.

We appreciate the support that this subcommittee has given in the past. We believe you have made a wise investment. We are also pleased that John Blazey and Stephanie Gupta of your staff were able to be in Seattle to learn more about the work we are doing. We hope you can continue to give us the assistance we need to implement our plans as promptly and efficiently as possible.