Midweek Roundup: between the rails
by Nathan Dickey from Seattle Transit Blog on (#783Y8)
News and commentary from the past week.
Reminder: most transit agencies will be running Sunday service on Labor Day (Sept. 7). Check your local agency's rider alerts.
News:- A deep dive into how the 2 Line became world's first floating passenger train(The Seattle Times, $; free via SPL).
- Sound Transit Board Greenlights Targeted Fare Gate Retrofits (The Urbanist)
- New park near the East Main station on the 2 Line will commemorate Bellevue's Japanese American heritage (The Seattle Times, $).
- Construction of the RapidRide I Line has officially begun (Metro Matters). Service scheduled to begin next year; Metro has a new website with more information.
- Bellevue has followed Seattle's example and lowered speed limits on all neighborhood streets to 20mph (The Seattle Times, $; free via SPL).
- Tamieko Cook is Metro's 2025 Operator of the Year (Metro Matters). Cook has driven many routes over 30 years of service but her favorite is Route 128.
- Everett Link Reaches Key Federal Approval Milestone (The Urbanist)
- European railways are laying solar panels between the rails (The New York Times, gift link).
- Will Rainier Valley Transit Riders Actually Benefit from the Proposed Rapid Ride R? (PubliCola)
- Op-Ed: The Washington Legislature Must Reform SEPA to Save the Growth Management Act (The Urbanist)
- Greater Seattle: Katie Wilson is to Jimmy Carter as Zohran Mamdani is to Barack Obama (PubliCola)
- Op-Ed: Seattle Press Are Concocting a False Narrative to Undermine Mayor Wilson (The Urbanist)
- Consider Where You Park an E-Bike in South Seattle, Blind and Deafblind Folks Say (South Seattle Emerald)
- The New Seattle Transit Measure Could Make Night Buses Function (The Stranger).
- Seattle Times' FYI Guy misrepresents ACS data again while comparing the change in average commute time from 2019 to 2024 in Seattle to other cities (The Seattle Times, $). The actual ACS 1-yr data shows average commute time in city of Seattle dropped 3.3 minutes between 2019 and 2024 (37.3 minutes to 34.0 minutes); average SOV commute time dropped 1.4 minutes (34.3 minutes to 32.9 minutes); average public transit commute dropped 2.2 minutes (48.2 minutes to 46.0 minutes). The SOV commute share stayed fairly flat (46.2 to 47%) while transit commute share dropped from 27.8% to 16.5%. In 2024, 18% of workers worked from home.
This is an Open Thread.