Seattle Transit Blog

From the SDOT blog: The 3rd Ave and Denny Way Signal Improvements Project will be modifying signals, updating existing trolley poles, and reconstruct the triangular block of 3rd Ave, Broad St, and Denny Way to improve transit operation and reliability in this part of downtown. Thus the beginning of the end for one of the … Continue reading "Denny Way & 3rd Ave bus improvements…finally"

There’s nothing that quite matches this community’s interests like open software in the service of transit. In a recent blog post, OneBusAway for Apple iOS maintainer Aaron Brethorst says that a complete rewrite of the software is ready for beta testing. For most of you, know that beta testing will expose you to some bugs … Continue reading "New OneBusAway for iOS"

Prepping parking rules for Climate Pledge Arena There has not been enough attention to the bad behavior by Renton and others in burden-shifting the homeless See also Mercer Island Federal Way Link 25% complete Train cafe cars are dumb Transit managers matter This is an open thread.

HB1304, which would allow existing monorail taxing authority to be used for light rail, happened to show signs of life at just about the time that ST3 projects sank into serious financial trouble. Inevitably, these two subjects have merged in the discourse. That’s unfortunate, because the bill is best thought of as solving a long-term … Continue reading "HB 1304: the solution to the next problem"

As the snow continues to blanket the region, it is high time we finally discuss a rather heated issue. Long-time transportation reporter Mike Lindblom at The Seattle Times offered this twish last winter: Should the transit agencies follow the sage advice of Mr. Lindblom, or continue past practice? Choose your side. And, no, you can’t … Continue reading "Weekend Snowpen thread: To heat or not to heat"

The Sound Transit System Expansion Committee received an update yesterday on the availability of new Siemens vehicles to support the beginning of service to Northgate this Fall. Significant risks remain, but progress has been made since a previous report in November. CEO Peter Rogoff expressed confidence that Northgate Link will open on the intended schedule. … Continue reading "Northgate LRVs on schedule, but risks remain"

Just end design review altogether Senate transpo package not as progressive as the House one Kenmore may speed up housing permits All Metro buses getting mask dispensers Stay Healthy Streets may run out of money West Seattle Bridge enforcement cameras are working 4th Avenue PBL to be extended SDOT completes its Covid-19 impact assessment for … Continue reading "News roundup: not as progressive"

On February 4, the ST Rider Experience Committee took up the longstanding issue of public restrooms on Link. Way back in 1998, a Board resolution mandated public restrooms at Union Station, Northgate TC, Everett, Tacoma Dome, Bellevue TC, and of course Sounder trains themselves. Since then, ST has added them at Seatac, Tukwila Link, Federal … Continue reading "ST to add public restrooms"

Over the last few years, Sound Transit has eased the region into the idea of paying for scarce parking spots at Transit Centers. Before the pandemic, it was possible to guarantee yourself a spot by paying a monthly fee, less if a carpool or a low-income driver. ST had issued 1,100 permits at 14 facilities, … Continue reading "Sound Transit to expand paid parking"

The first hearing for House Bill 1304 for grade-separated transportation was moved to Tuesday, February 9th, at 10 am. Register now for Seattle Subway’s pre-testimony seminar scheduled for Monday, February 8th, at 6 pm. As we noted last week, this bill will give Seattle the tools we need to solve a lot of problems. The … Continue reading "ACTION ALERT: Traffic is over… if you TESTIFY for it"

Last fall Sound Transit thought East Link construction would require three weekend closures in the 2nd Quarter of 2021 and two later in 2021 for testing. In last month’s East Link Extension update (pdf), which has nice photographs of progress at each station, next quarter will now see five closures, two of which are for … Continue reading "Two more Link closures next quarter; float still intact"

Seattle tweaking signals to favor pedestrians Sound Transit Board deliberates on the ST3 budget gap I-976 is gone, Seattle transit projects are coming back again Mountlake Terrace Transit Center rearranging for Link construction Vision Zero not zeroing ($) Northgate Link stations “substantially complete“ Pierce Transit has a new trip planner PSRC Passenger Ferry study is … Continue reading "News roundup: a bit of progress"

by PETER ROGOFF, SOUND TRANSIT CEO Completing critical transit investments that regional voters approved in 2016 will not only enhance our mobility, but increase our communities’ economic prosperity, environmental sustainability and social equity. Succeeding now requires us to come together to overcome lower revenue projections and higher cost estimates. As an agency and region, we … Continue reading "Realignment will simultaneously pursue expanded funding while focusing on challenges and opportunities to reduce costs"

In between the University of Washington and Interstate 5, there are three parallel local transit corridors: 15th Ave NE, University Way NE, and Roosevelt Way/11th Ave NE (Roosevelt for southbound, 11th for northbound). The former two are just a couple blocks apart and get a large transit volume. 15th Ave NE is decidedly more car-centric, … Continue reading "Let’s make The Ave a transit mall"

Part 3 of a three-part series [UPDATE: The hearing has been moved to February 9th. There is no updated link at this time.] We’re very excited to announce HB 1304, a bill to enable local rapid transit funding, is now live with its first hearing scheduled on Wednesday, February 3rd 9th at 10 am. This … Continue reading "The Next Big Step for a Seattle Subway"

Seattle and King County have a new bus service contract South OMF EIS coming March 5th, will be pivotal in getting ST to avoid/take responsibility for a landfill site A report from “brainstorming” ST realignment West Seattle Bridge is stable An interview with Metro GM Terry White and CT’s new CEO, Ric Ilgenfritz ($) Many … Continue reading "News roundup: good luck"

Part 2 of a series Sound Transit recently delivered some disappointing news about their estimates for ST3 project costs. When paired with decreased revenue due to Covid-19, the projected 50% increase to Ballard and West Seattle cost estimates present a gloomy outlook for the projects. There is a lot of hard work ahead, but it’s … Continue reading "How to deliver ST3 in Seattle"

Part 1 of a series As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, questions about whether transit will thrive post-pandemic have been floating around. In our long term view, the human tendency to gather and the need for urban mobility has not gone away. While the pandemic has paused life for a while, and Zoom has … Continue reading "The case for transit: 2021 edition"

Earthwork is the foundation which roads, whether highways or railways, are built on.

Better access to NE 130th and NE 148th Stations SBB on bike access to lots of stations Northgate train testing has started Complete streets in Bellevue ST donating land for affordable housing; you can comment Olympia floats a big transpo package Bellevue’s ADU rules are not good Peter Rogoff talks about ST3 woes West Seattle, … Continue reading "News roundup: President Amtrak"

As the Sound Transit 3 news gets worse and worse, Sound Transit 2 continues a stream of good news as the bulk of the projects converge on opening. Today, we found out the South Bellevue parking garage will open in September, which restores the spaces for route 550 and 241 riders, and then some. This … Continue reading "South Bellevue garage to open in September"

Sound Transit’s System Expansion Committee heard a deeper dive on the recent increase in costs for Seattle Link projects at their meeting Thursday. A long list of revisions to property costs and construction plans contributed to a more than $4 billion increase in the overall cost of the project just since last year. The incremental … Continue reading "Sound Transit committee gets a closer look at West Seattle & Ballard cost increases"

As the County returns to full economic life, Metro is ramping up service. In keeping with their normal service reorganization procedure, there will be a citizen advisory board: We are looking for participants for a workshop to provide input on how we prioritize what service to restore. Participants will: · Attend a virtual workshop in the first … Continue reading "Help guide Metro’s return to service"

Author and journalist Matthew Yglesias joins us to discuss his book, One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger.

Kirkland considers 300′ towers around BRT stations while Seattle tinkers with 4-story buildlings around Link; maybe suburbs deserve HCT investment more than Seattle Point Defiance Bypass testing resumes Learn about last century’s streetcars Redmond hiring a transportation manager [UPDATE: this position closed in September] C-Tran will turn off diesel engines where pollution matters most Senate … Continue reading "News roundup: resuming"

SDOT blog: Beginning today, January 11, 2021, the automated photo enforcement system on the Spokane St Swing Bridge (low bridge) will turn on, and unauthorized low bridge users will be subject to a $75 citation for every trip across the low bridge. To keep the low bridge clear for emergency vehicles – as well as transit … Continue reading "West Seattle camera enforcement coming this week"

Sound Transit has revealed sharply higher capital cost estimates for several ST3 projects that are in development but not yet baselined (i.e. the Board has not yet selected the alternative to be built or finalized the cost and schedule estimates). The worst news is in Seattle. The West Seattle to Ballard Link extension (WSBLE) is … Continue reading "West Seattle-Ballard Link costs revised more than $4 billion higher"

Free vanpools for West Seattle Uber prices rising due to new regulations on labor costs An excellent preview of the coming Transportation agenda ($) in the legislature Washington’s draft “Active Transportation Plan“ It’s likely it’ll turn out fine, but the fact that the I-90 bridge is so innovative is a cause for concern as well … Continue reading "News roundup: about right"

RapidRide R Concept via Metro Ashley Archibald reports some locals aren’t so sad Metro is shelving RapidRide R (Rainier): Much of the Rainier Valley community “doesn’t really want the RapidRide R,” Kidde [of Rainier Valley Greenways] said, adding that they don’t like the reduction in the number of stops, the removal of the Prentice loop … Continue reading "What’s the point of RapidRide?"

2020 was not… great, but 2021 will be a major year for transit openings and restructuring: Northgate Link will revolutionize transit in North Seattle beginning in September ST Express will have a ton of service changes at the same time as will Metro and Community Transit CT route 111 improves in March We should also … Continue reading "What to watch for: 2021"

As this tumultuous year comes to a close, it’s time to look back on what the year has brought us. It all started with Connect/2020, which now feels like a distant memory. From there, we saw COVID-19 spread throughout the world and into our communities, with major repercussions on all aspects of life in 2020 … Continue reading "Most read & commented STB posts of 2020"

Is the Bike Master Plan obsolete? A “diverging diamond” interchange ($) seems like it might help some I-5 chokepoints in Seattle; kudos to Lindblom for acknowledging bikes, pedestrians, transit, and climate in an article about Lacey roads (!) A transit-aware list of hiking possibilities Essential workers get free scooter rides ($) Submit public comment on … Continue reading "News roundup: diverging diamond"

Interesting Q&A with Metro GM Terry White ($) Point Defiance Bypass testing begins January 16th Covid-19 is causing all those Metro trip cancellations UW foot ferries are the best of a not-great bunch Improving access to U District Station New stimulus not great news for ST Almost half of helmet citations go to the homeless … Continue reading "News roundup: testing"

TransitCenter: This makes new bill more responsive to the specific budget problems each agency is facing due to COVID. Many regions underfunded in the CARES Act (like New York and Seattle) are now in line to receive proportionally more from this package. Others received aid greater than 75% of their operating costs in the CARES Act, so … Continue reading "Feds sending relief to local transit agencies"

In addition to formally approving lower concession fares for Sounder, last week the Sound Transit board approved a fare enforcement pilot which would replace fare enforcement security contractors with Sound Transit staff “fare ambassadors” with different uniforms and an emphasis on rider education and de-escalation. As part of the pilot, there will be no citations … Continue reading "ST suspends fare enforcement another year"

Using a city builder game to tell a story about the impact urban freeways have on the communities they run through (more on this at Strong Towns)

Each Link light rail station has a pictogram as a secondary identifier intended for people with limited English language proficiency. However well intentioned, the pictograms are poorly implemented and lack a logical system underlying their construction. The last time we wrote about pictograms was five years ago when Sound Transit unveiled the pictograms for U-Link … Continue reading "An alternative to Link station pictograms"

Article on signal timing ($) is rather incredulous about the pollution savings, as though making driving easier doesn’t encourage more driving (and therefore more emissions)Cascadia HSR vision process grinds onWelcome to Seamless SeattleRapidRide H (Delridge) slips to 2022Crossroads Connect expands its service area Big zoning reforms in EverettSomeday, only ads for tofu will be allowed … Continue reading "News roundup: seamless"

Yesterday, Metro announced “The Dash“, a new data visualization tool (also available in Spanish with other languages coming soon). Metro continues to lap other agencies in putting data about its service quality out in a timely and attractive format. If you’re just trying to catch a bus that won’t pass you by due to capacity … Continue reading "Metro’s new “The Dash”"

Metro’s Service Guidelines, enacted in 2011 and updated in 2016, were intended to depoliticize the allocation of bus service, replacing Council and Executive micromanagement with a set of objective standards distributing Metro resources across the County against consistent metrics. Since last year, Metro and the County have been working on revisions to the guidelines that … Continue reading "Updating Metro’s service guidelines"

Amidst discussions about the design and compromises of the Link Light Rail system, one aspect that gets relatively little attention is how exactly fares are calculated based on the distance traveled. While important, it is also never an urgent priority and can always be changed down the road (unlike things like the route and station … Continue reading "Reforming Link fares for a larger network"

SDOT updates us on RapidRide J (Eastlake) Highlights of the King County and Seattle transportation budgets GIG Carshare expanding its operating area Even electric vehicles kill salmon West Seattle gets an update on ST3 People love to propose fast ferries ($) but I just don’t know Durkan floats allowing peds and bikes on the Duwamish … Continue reading "News roundup: more chatter"

Jenny Durkan: New vaccines put hope on the horizon, but we are in for tough months ahead and an even tougher recovery. As mayor approaching the last year of my term, that meant a choice. I can spend the next year campaigning to keep this job or I can focus all my energy on doing … Continue reading "Mayor Durkan will step down after one term"