Open Thread 32: Rail Roundup
This article is brought you by the 1 Line, ST Express, Sounder, and the SLU streetcar.
The Link 1 Line reduction is ongoing through February 4th. Weekdays downtown service is 26 minutes; north of UW and south of SODO is 13-minutes. However, actual service has had some gaps that are 10 minutes longer than that, and have lead to crowded platforms. ST suggests traveling outside peak hours if you can; the busiest times are between 4 and 6pm. Weekends the downtown tunnel is closed, and a shuttle bus runs between Capitol Hill and SODO. See the link for the full (nominal) schedule and bus alternatives. STB commentators have seen workers replacing the next-arrival displays downtown, and single-tracking, while ST does track refurbishment and other maintenance in preparation for Lynnwood Link and Line 2.
The SLU Streetcar will be closed this weekend. Use buses C, 40, or 70 instead.
Sound Transit is proposing an interim ST Express restructure for Lynnwood Link this fall. It wants to continue route 510 between Everett and downtown Seattle peak hours, and add a new route 515 between Lynnwood and downtown Seattle every 10 minutes peak hours. This is to alleviate potential overcrowding on Link until Line 2 opens in 2025. Link will be 8-10 minutes". It's unclear whether that's still less than current service (8 minutes peak, 10 minutes off-peak, not counting the reduction above), or if they've solved the train-storage issue. The 512 and 513 may be truncated at Lynnwood, and the 511 deleted, but that's not certain yet. ST is taking email comments about this proposal until January 30th at servicechanges@soundtransit.org.
The results of the Sounder South expansion survey are out. It currently runs between Tacoma and Seattle peak hours, every 20 minutes in the peak direction, and 3-4 runs reverse-peak. In the survey, 90% of respondents prefer additional trips over longer trains. 81.6% want weekend service; 57% want more weekday service. 75.3% support reducing peak-hour service to shift runs to other times (contingent on BNSF approval"). That's a strong majority for the changes STB authors want to see.
Tokyo's urban-renewal mistake was a 1972 tower of detachable capsule apartments ($). It looks like a beehive of front-loading washing machines. Erected on the edge of the upscale Ginza district, Kurokawa's capsule tower reimagined minimal modern living. Each capsule was just large enough for a bed, closet, workstation, bathroom and a porthole window. Deluxe versions came with a built-in Sony stereo, [reel-to-reel] tape deck, color TV and digital clock." It was intended that each capsule could move with its owner to another location as needed, and capsules could be replaced every 25 without modifying the tower. Now the tower is demolished, and 23 of the tiny apartments have been refurbished and distributed as museum exhibits, airBnB's, or work/art spaces. The airBnBs are $1,400 a night, so start saving for the 4-capsule cluster or the future 5-capsule village, both outside Tokyo.
This is an open thread.