Seattle Transit Blog

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"

Last month Mayor Durkan decided to repair the West Seattle Bridge instead of replacing it. This is faster and cheaper, but means the next big bridge project in this corridor (except Link construction) will be decades sooner. I don’t know if the war-on-cars people ever converged to a position on this subject, but this is … Continue reading "Repair is the right choice"

In what is becoming a remarkable year of operational failures, beginning Monday Link peak frequency will drop to 12 minute intervals (from 8 minutes) because they’re running out of operators due to Covid-19. Things will remain the same at off-peak times. Link operators are provided by Metro. While Link is obviously more critical than most … Continue reading "Link frequency dropping again"

Meeting today at 10am on Sounder concession fares. Congrats to Terry White, now the permanent Metro General Manager. ST has a new tool to see when Link is crowded. Snohomish thinking about housing around Link. Amtrak now thinks they’ll reopen the Point Defiance Bypass next summer. A snapshot of Link construction. West Seattle Bridge camera … Continue reading "News roundup: snapshot"

Yesterday Metro announced that they are waiving the $5 ORCA fee through February 28th, 2021. The stated reason is to encourage contactless payment during the pandemic. To avoid hoarding, adults are limited to three cards and youth to one. However, adults can get the cards at ticket vending machines, so I’m not sure how this … Continue reading "Free ORCA through February"

Metro Connects, the long-range plan for King County Metro, is being updated. The revised plan will describe an ‘interim network’ in place of the 2025 map and extends the 2040 horizon of the current plan through 2050. Perhaps the most notable change from the existing plan is the less extensive RapidRide network. Priorities for investment … Continue reading "Updating Metro Connects"

There were many interesting themes in the recent struggle over a legislative “striker” trying to keep North Seattle service hours from moving south. But one of the interesting threads is a shift of emphasis in transit activism from quantitative ridership metrics towards economic and racial equity. In public comment to the King County Council, Disability … Continue reading "Choice riders, and not"

Heidi Groover has an important article today ($) about rising caseloads among transit staff: At King County Metro, employees have reported 20 positive tests from the start of this month to Nov. 21. That’s up from six in October and about five or fewer per month throughout the summer. CT and PT are seeing similar … Continue reading "Agency virus cases spiking"

Kurt Schlosser test drives a Wheels Scooter. Puyallup parking breaks ground. ST schedules for this weekend. Comment on the Sounder concession fares. A Mt Baker-Judkins Park bike connection will be valuable. Lisa Herbold argues that VLF should fund bridges. ST 2021 service changes formally approved. This series on race and mobility is interesting. SDOT traffic … Continue reading "News roundup: Happy Thanksgiving"

Friend-of-STB Jonathan Hopkins of Lime tweeted six weeks of Lime Scooter and E-Bike Data: Note that there are four times as many Jump bikes as scooters at this time. Hopkins remarks that they have about the same number of rides over this period, implying scooters have considerably more rides per vehicle. It’s interesting that Jump … Continue reading "New Lime/Jump trip data"

Sound Transit’s latest financial plan is much more optimistic about a recovery in tax revenues than forecasts of a few months ago. But predictions of project delays have not improved so much. The more favorable revenue outlook is offset by operating cost pressures. Ahead of the ST3 realignment decisions next summer, staff are still talking … Continue reading "Sound Transit expects better revenue recovery, but still lengthy project delays"

Sound Transit is preparing a multi-year effort to replace aged escalators in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel. Poor conditions in the DSTT and escalator reliability problems at UW station have prompted an extensive evaluation of Sound Transit’s planning for vertical conveyances. The latest financial plan adds $555 million to State of Good Repair, anticipating more … Continue reading "Elevators & escalators add $500 million to Sound Transit’s 20 year plan"

Before (lightly) criticizing Microsoft’s specific choices, it is important to say that their investment in local affordable housing is generous, one that their investors would probably not prefer, and that we are fortunate that that a global company is directing a disproportionate amount of its surplus to its home county. With a total $750m commitment … Continue reading "To solve the housing crisis, build more housing"

Partitions on Buses from Kitsap Transit on Vimeo.

Sound Transit has another online open house up, now with more details on station locations and elevation. We’ve covered the alignment alternatives in previous posts, so let’s focus on the stations. Two notes to start with: first, if you like mezzanines, you are in for a treat! Second, opening dates are pushed out past 2035 due … Continue reading "New details on Ballard-West Seattle link stations"

SDOT blog: Today, Mayor Jenny A. Durkan announced that she has instructed the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) to restore travel across the Duwamish by repairing the West Seattle High-Rise Bridge. SDOT has nearly completed Phase I of this two-part repair process, as the stabilization work concludes in December. She also directed SDOT to continue … Continue reading "SDOT will repair the West Seattle Bridge"

Pedersen, Herbold, Lewis float $20 vehicle license fee to fund bridge work. Online open house for Puyallup parking and access. Mountlake Terrace freeway station reopening. The building above Capitol Hill Station is now leasing. An introduction to “Wheels” e-scooters. Taking stock of Seattle’s closed streets. Why Portland’s transit measure failed. But they’re hoping for a … Continue reading "News roundup: reopening"

{Sound Transit contacted us to clarify that they will be able to support 8 minute peak headways with 30+ qualified vehicles in Fall 2021 if the recovery schedule proceeds as planned. Clarifications in text below with new commentary in bold.} Sound Transit has contracted to acquire 152 new light rail vehicles to support network expansions … Continue reading "Link service levels at risk when Northgate opens as LRVs delayed"

The future Brickyard Stride BRT station in the median of I-405 could provide access to more than just its namesake park & ride lot. Instead of crossing only halfway from the parking lot, WSDOT’s latest concept now has a footbridge extending across the entire freeway, creating a new non-motorized crossing as a shorter alternative to … Continue reading "Brickyard BRT station could bridge both sides of 405"

Rail Ties from James Stuart on Vimeo.

I was going to spend my evening watching the meeting which I previewed on Thursday, but ECB went and wrote an excellent summary. So go over there and read her report.

Let’s give a big activist welcome to Complete Streets Bellevue. North Seattle park and ride closing for a year for pedestrian bridge construction. Council restores some of Durkan’s transportation cuts. More 522 trips starting Monday. Lake Forest Park town center finally getting going. Feds send money to Kitsap Transit. CT 800-series buses will terminate at … Continue reading "News roundup: getting going"

As Metro applies its new, equity-focused framework, some North King representatives have questions Beginning last year, Metro developed a “mobility framework” that expressed the values that would guide service allocation. Alongside technocratic measures like ridership potential, the new framework considers notions of economic and racial equity to correct longtime disparities in investment. An “equity cabinet” … Continue reading "KC Council quarrels over Metro service guidelines"

Tom Fucoloro, Seattle Bike Blog: Many walking, biking and transit investments promised by the 2015 Move Seattle Levy vote face delays and cuts while major high-dollar car-centric projects got priority. Perhaps we need to rethink how we fund these projects in our city. And we also need to go a lot bigger. The Move Seattle … Continue reading "The next transit measure"

At its October 22 meeting, the Sound Transit Board heard proposals to reduce concession fares for Sounder and reduce the law enforcement footprint in fare enforcement. In community discussions about fare enforcement, ST has heard four main things: fares are confusing; the law enforcement character of enforcement causes “discomfort;” fares are a hardship for some; … Continue reading "ST considering more changes to fares, fare enforcement"

Metro has sketched the outlines of service restructures in 2021 and 2022 in budget discussions with the King County Council. The proposals include a reduction in bus service in north Seattle after Northgate Link opens, and a rebalancing of bus service throughout the County to conform with the new equity framework. The largest change in … Continue reading "Metro restructures in 2021"

Bus Simulator : New City Coach Bus Game from Ritika Singh on Vimeo.

While King County decided not to run a county-wide ballot measure this year to fund King County Metro (though Seattle still running its measure, which cruised to victory), Portland (and the surrounding area) still had its own measure 26-218 on the ballot in 2020. TriMet (which operates in Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties in Oregon), … Continue reading "Voters reject TriMet expansion in measure 26-218"

EIS for South King Link Maintenance facility will slip into 2021, Covid blamed. CT won’t change much this year ($), but future growth may be much less aggressive. ST donates land in Rainier Valley for affordable housing. Early data on the Lime scooters, and their effect on the bikes. ECB reports data on fare enforcement … Continue reading "News roundup: slipping"

Seattle’s Proposition 1, which partially preserves existing transit taxes, has 82% of counted votes. There aren’t enough uncounted registered voters to mathematically change the result. As expected, Gov. Inslee is winning easily. Joseph O’Sullivan says ($) that if current results hold, Democrats may gain a Senate Seat at the expense of Sound Transit nemesis Steve … Continue reading "Prop 1 cruises, Washington Democrats in control, Feds TBD"

Unless you’re really into the arcana of American politics, you may not have realized that today is Election Day. We didn’t do formal endorsements this year, but I explained why Seattle voters should approve Prop. 1. Furthermore, Seattle Subway did their homework and released endorsements informed by very similar principles to what I would have … Continue reading "Last chance to vote in the general election!"

Metro’s proposed budget greatly reduces most capital outlays over the next several years. The RapidRide expansion has shrunk to just three funded lines, and base expansion plans have been mostly suspended. But there remains a $270 million investment in battery buses and associated charging infrastructure, $93 million of that by 2022. Into the budget debate … Continue reading "Metro’s fleet will be all-electric, also much smaller"

Light Rail from Ian Reynolds on Vimeo.

ST’s art plan for Federal Way. Everyone’s seduced by a plan to rebuild the West Seattle Bridge way faster. ST donating land ($) for affordable housing. This is why ($) bus drivers have to strap in wheelchairs. When things aren’t so easy, Seattle stops worrying about climate change. Mercer Island lawsuit going ahead. Comment on … Continue reading "News roundup: this is why"

Like many transit agencies, Sound Transit predicts a constrained financial future and has cut transit service. Under Sound Transit’s initial 2021 Service Plan, Link would have continued its current operational pattern of 8 minute peak frequencies—stepping down to 15 minute and 30 minute frequencies—through 2021. In that document, the agency blames reduced peak hour demand … Continue reading "How important is Link to the network?"

On Friday Metro celebrated the retirement of the last diesel bus—part of the fleet dubbed “the 1100s”. Metro’s fleet is now comprised only of diesel-electric hybrids, battery-powered buses, and electric trolleys. To celebrate, a “Gold Tire” retirement ceremony was held to recognize the last bus, which will be preserved by the Metro Employee Historic Vehicle … Continue reading "Metro celebrates an all-hybrid/electric fleet"

The Mayor’s budget proposal funds streetcar service in 2021 at current levels, with about 10% fewer service hours than before COVID. The Seattle Council however appears to be looking at further reductions, eyeing about $700,000 in operating savings for every 10% further reduction in service. Prospects for restarting the paused Center City Connector appear dim. … Continue reading "Streetcar service may be cut again, as Center City Connector remains on hold"

It occurs to me that if you were to try to implement something like this in Seattle, you might start by demolishing the West Seattle Bridge.

On Thursday, Sound Transit staff presented a revised draft 2021 service plan, which the ST Board will vote on in November. Three routes have changes in the revised draft, vs. the original draft: Link Light Rail would be upgraded to 10-minutes off-peak headway, as compared to the long-term continuation of 15-minute headway in the first … Continue reading "ST draft service plan revised for better Link frequency"