> Passengers will load into electric skates, which access the Dugout Loop tunnel from the surface via a ramp or elevator.

So on the Western Terminus, the 'skates' are parked in a holding lot above the track, then individually lowered via an elevator onto the track as needed.

What I don't understand is why this design is advantageous to just having all the skates in a lot next to/on the same level as the track, and passengers just use an escalator to go down to the skate-parking level?

In my mind that would be more efficient, surely. Both cost efficient and mechanically efficient.