It could take an entire decade, however, to complete a full capital improvement program to reverse years of decline in the 33-year-old tunnel - with new escalators, ventilation, safety technology and architectural repairs - for costs likely exceeding $200 million. Improvements are on the way, new Sound Transit CEO Julie Timm promises, such as security guards and cleaning teams, whose numbers are starting to grow this month. It's a sad condition, after Seattle won acclaim in the 2010s for boosting public transit use by 50%, unique among U.S. Office vacancies and work-from-home are the main reasons, but officials admit more people would ride if downtown stations were pleasant. Westlake Station, a central hub where 13,000 riders a day boarded Sound Transit light rail before COVID-19, has lost one-third of its customers. Passengers encounter people in mental health crises, unsure whether to get help or steer clear. On rare occasions, transit users have suffered assaults, the worst a year ago when a random attacker threw a nurse down a staircase at the International District/Chinatown Station. 14 that closed all four downtown stations all day. They've endured service shutdowns, like the electrical flaw in the emergency ventilation fans Feb. 19-Thousands of passengers who enter the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel learned a while ago to sidestep broken escalators marked by yellow barricades, avoid the fentanyl smokers huddled outside certain entrances and take shallow breaths inside fetid elevators.
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