Seattle Transit Blog

This afternoon, the Sound Transit Board will finalize the list of options to be examined in the Link Extensions Draft EIS for West Seattle and Ballard. A motion on the agenda adds just one more option in West Seattle to a initial list of alternatives adopted in May. Several other alternatives that were recently studied … Continue reading "Sound Transit set to finalize West Seattle & Ballard EIS alternatives"

Seattle civic icon Jim Ellis passed away yesterday. Here’s a brief summary of his legacy, from a 2013 Seattle Times profile by Thanh Tan: Ellis has played a vital role in shaping our region’s heritage, from the cleanup of Lake Washington in the 1950s to the formation of Metro and founding of “Forward Thrust,” a … Continue reading "The legacy of Jim Ellis"

In a metropolitan area, or in a very large city that encompasses a wide range of economic activity, a high median income is a badge of honor. It usually involves some combination of an educated populace, vibrant research institutions, policies that help entrepreneurs, and high quality of life. For a city, like Sammamish ($), that … Continue reading "For “rich cities”, read “exclusionary zoning”"

These are STB’s endorsements for the November 2019 general election. The sections are listed in rough order of importance. As always, we base these endorsements solely on our assessment of their ability to improve transit and land use. NO on I-976. The latest Tim Eyman initiative would dramatically reduce the amount of money available for … Continue reading "STB General Election Endorsements"

Click on the “pic” link next to the television icon above to view the video. This is an open thread.

Sound Transit is in the process of reviewing its fare enforcement policies, per a presentation last Thursday. However, the single most impactful element of that process is still not on their radar. Sound Transit fare enforcement officers are directed to warn, and then fine (after repeat infractions) passengers who possess passes that cover the highest … Continue reading "Sound Transit still not tracking how many passengers with clear-and-obvious proof of payment are getting warnings and citations"

Since 2014, the City of Seattle’s Transportation Benefit District (STBD) has consistently funded transportation improvements across the city, such as more frequent Metro buses, subsidized ORCA cards for income-qualifying residents, and pre-paid ORCA cards for Seattle Public School high schoolers. Seattle voters approved the STBD through a 0.1% sales tax increase and a $60 annual … Continue reading "Seattle Transit Advisory Board Members: No on I-976"

We are hours from finishing up our general election endorsements. If there are races other than I-976, King County, and Seattle Council with strongly pro-transit candidates we should be paying attention to, please mention it in the comments.

Weekend link disruptions Second Montlake bridge? or not (6:41) 520 bus restructures (15:12) RapidRide J (25:05) King County’s new electrification initiative (38:05)

With Lynnwood Link construction underway, Community Transit has less than five years to prepare for major changes to Snohomish County’s transit landscape. The draft of their latest six-year transit development plan is out for public comment and describes some of the upcoming challenges and priorities for the agency up to the 2024 restructure. Last year, … Continue reading "Community Transit’s near-term plans prioritize frequency and connections"

Stats show black riders receive every level of ST fare enforcement action ($) out of proportion to their fraction of ridership. See our previous coverage. Open house coming on Kent Station parking improvements. 130th St community meeting pushes for 2024 opening, considers upzones. Microsoft puts more money into the HSR study. Council formally approves ($) … Continue reading "News roundup: bonfire of the Limebikes"

Sound Transit: Trains will run as usual between SODO-Angle Lake and Capitol Hill-UW, with three-car trains every 10 minutes during most hours of the day. Free bus shuttles will run every 7 minutes in groups of two buses at a time, serving SODO, Stadium, International District/Chinatown, Pioneer Square, University Street, Westlake and Capitol Hill. Plan … Continue reading "First of several weekend Link closures start this weekend"

Weather permitting, this weekend SDOT will install a full-time bus lane on Olive Way between 4th Avenue and 8th Avenue. This will help 39 major regional bus routes from Metro, Sound Transit and Community Transit. SDOT estimates these routes combine for 33,000 daily riders. You may recall that this stretch of downtown was where bus … Continue reading "Red paint coming to Olive Way"

SDOT and Metro are kicking off another feedback session for the newly-named RapidRide J, formerly known as Roosevelt-Eastlake BRT. The route combines pieces of Metro Routes 67 and 70 to provide service through South Lake Union, Eastlake, the University District, and Roosevelt, terminating at the Roosevelt Link station. I first attended an open house for … Continue reading "Roosevelt-Eastlake BRT is officially RapidRide J"

Ed. Note: As always, guest posts do not necessarily reflect the views of the STB editorial board. The City of Seattle may reverse its longstanding position regarding the Montlake Bridge, a major transit corridor leading to the University of Washington Station. A resolution is before the Seattle City Council that reverses the traditionally skeptical posture … Continue reading "Adding vehicle lanes on a new Montlake drawbridge makes transit worse, not better"

As of today, October 7, the Seattle Center Monorail has a new payment option: the ORCA card in your pocket, bag, or phone case. After five years of study and negotiations earlier this year from the rest of the ORCA consortium, the monorail is now better integrated into the regional transit system as a real … Continue reading "Monorail now accepts ORCA cards"

After over three months of pouring concrete along the bus loop at Tukwila International Boulevard Station, the project is complete, and buses have returned to the loop as of 4:30 am this morning. Riders on Metro’s A Line and route 124 are likely rejoicing. Riders on the F Line and 128, not so much. Route … Continue reading "Requiem for a Streamline: Buses return to the TIBS loop today"

The Seattle City Council’s Planning Committee recently considered whether to endorse a second bascule bridge serving transit across the Montlake Cut. Current city policy does not favor a bridge for transit unless specific triggers are met. However, changing circumstances in Montlake may warrant a revisit. Although last week’s discussion was inconclusive, the question is likely … Continue reading "A transit bridge across the Montlake Cut?"

A roundup of service changes in the outer counties. Columbia Street transit “pathway” is coming. Permit parking now at Kent and Federal Way TC. New construction pics from Northgate Link. Tomorrow is the last day to comment on the new Ballard and West Seattle options. Sound Transit hands out $40m in system access funds. Lessons … Continue reading "News roundup: outer counties"

It’s Service Implementation Plan time again. The 2020 (draft) version of the plan has three fairly significant bus route changes: The 540 and 541, both variations on a line from the U-District to the Eastside, would go away in favor of the 544, a Microsoft-SLU run with a few key stops in between. It would … Continue reading "Comment on the Sound Transit 2020 SIP"

The “carshare” business (free-floating, short-term rentals) is on the ropes. ReachNow is long gone. Limepod is closing its Seattle operation in December. The survivor, ShareNow (née Car2Go), is pulling out of 5 North American cities including Portland. A few weeks ago, ShareNow rolled out its $4.99 fee to park outside of high-traffic areas, and “up … Continue reading "ShareNow, regulation, and the future"

By the time most ST3 projects are delivered in the mid-2030s, Sound Transit is projected to accumulate over $17 billion in debt. Managing that debt load is critical to delivering the program on time. Sound Transit’s debt capacity is limited in several ways. There is a statutory limit that total debt cannot exceed 1.5% of … Continue reading "Financial risks to the ST3 plan have grown"

This is an open thread.

US Census data released on Thursday confirmed more Seattle residents are taking transit to work. More are walking too. Bike commute rates remain low, however. Even though the Census’ American Community Survey sample is a large and sophisticated process, sample variation is inevitable and there are occasional anomalies at local geographies. So it’s more productive … Continue reading "Census reports steady growth in local transit use, walking"

Mountlake Terrace, the small suburb of 21,000 often confused with the even smaller fiefdom of Montlake, is looking at big plans for development around its sole light rail station. On Thursday, the city council approved an update to the Town Center Subarea Plan, which was adopted in 2007 to guide development of the fledgling “downtown” … Continue reading "Mountlake Terrace approves plans for town center upzone"

Sound Transit needs some Pierce County residents for its Citizen Oversight Panel. LimePod shuts down. More on this later. Part of the Mountlake Terrace Transit Center parking lot will close Oct. 19th for Link construction. Congratulations to Operator of the Year Neal Safrin. Connections to North Sounder just got better in Edmonds. Foot ferry ridership … Continue reading "News Roundup: skyrocketing"

Earlier this month the Transit Riders Union (TRU) launched a new campaign called ORCA for All. You could categorize a lot of the campaigns TRU has run over the years under the theme “ORCA for All.” From the push for a low-income reduced fare that became the ORCA LIFT program, to expanding and improving the … Continue reading "ORCA for All"

Rideshare tax to fund the streetcar (3:12) University Street station naming (13:04) New West Seattle – Ballard alternatives (19:35) Sounder South (45:56)

The title says it all: These are not new bus lanes, merely bolder marking of existing ones. While some bus lane violations are brazen disobedience of the rules that allow downtown to function, some of it is legitimate confusion at the thicket of traffic rules in complicated environments like downtown. Paint makes it much clearer … Continue reading "More red bus lanes coming to downtown"

This is an open thread.

Not to be outdone by Metro, Community Transit is also boosting Sunday frequencies for several routes in their September 22 service change. In the first major change to Sunday service since it was reintroduced in 2015, Route 201 (Smokey Point–Lynnwood) will be added to the Sunday roster with hourly service from 7:30 a.m. to 9:15 … Continue reading "Community Transit boosts Swift and Sunday services"

The youth-led global climate strike is drawing crowds across the world. Seattle marches start from the Amazon spheres and Cal Anderson Park, converging on City Hall at 1:30pm.

On Thursday morning, the Mayor will propose increasing taxes on rideshare trips that begin or end in the city of Seattle by 51 cents beginning in 2021. (see coverage from Seattle Times, Puget Sound Business Journal). Among the beneficiaries of the tax is the Center City Connector which would see $56 million over five years, … Continue reading "Rideshare tax increase will fund streetcar & other projects"

ST suffers a setback ($) in its car tab court case; plaintiffs offer $125m settlement to Sound Transit. After a fluky spate of violence on Link last weekend, patrols increase and the shooting suspect is in custody. Amtrak must pay $17m to 3 derailment victims. Spokane’s new crosstown bus: Route 4. Jump is pulling out … Continue reading "News roundup: setback"

In recent years, with the Seattle area financially flush and demand for public transit rising by the week, there hasn’t been much mystery to Metro service changes. Each one has added just a few more service hours, devoted to some combination of improving the network and backfilling for construction-related headaches. And the next one, which … Continue reading "Metro dishes up the peanut butter"

Sound Transit has seen the light: With three new stations coming to the U District, Roosevelt and Northgate in 2021, renaming University Street Station will reduce confusion and provide a better customer experience. Options under consideration: Benaroya Hall Symphony Arts District Midtown Downtown Arts District Seneca Street I’m not sure where Seattle’s true arts district … Continue reading "Help rename University Street Station"

This 1970s walking tour as aired by KCTS (Channel 9) and shows some of the sights of the Seattle from an era long since past.

Sound Transit is seeking public comment on a program of possible expansions to Sounder South. These are likely to include additional daily runs on Sounder and station platform improvements to allow 10-car trains to operate (up from 7 cars today). Sound Transit envisions a series of improvements rolling out through 2036, with planning on the … Continue reading "Expanding Sounder South"

At the direction of the Sound Transit board, staff studied several new ST3 alignment options to the same level of design as existing options. They looked at new variants at Delridge, Sodo, and in the core of Ballard. They presented the result to the system expansion committee yesterday. Delridge The previous level 3 alternatives all … Continue reading "ST adds new light rail options to the mix"

Katie Wilson dreams of high-speed rail. SDOT abandons City Center Connector streetcar contract ($), claims to still be ready for 2026. “Baby Uber” sounds expensive but I bet there’s a market for it. Northgate ped bridge bids too high, SDOT rebidding. City ranking “indexes” are always problematic, but this one has Seattle public transit at … Continue reading "News roundup: problematic"

The region’s economy has logged strong growth since the end of the Great Recession with 26% more jobs than in 2010. That growth has been led by King County, which has contributed 74% of the increase in employment in the four-county Puget Sound area in 2008-2019. Regional leaders are planning to force a redistribution of … Continue reading "Regional plan to shift employment from King County"

Lightning and transit ops Love for the NE Seattle restructure (2:29) Monorail and ORCA (9:41) Downtown Kirkland growth (13:22) Ridesharing redux (18:33) Wenatchee transit (32:44) Ill-timed fare enforcement (41:30) Download link

The Seattle Transportation Benefit District (TBD) expires in 2021. It’s an open question as to whether Seattle will go it alone or try to partner with the county on a joint measure (previous county measure failed in 2014, which led to the TBD’s creation). To date, no decision has been made. Regardless, another ballot … Continue reading "Seven considerations for a TBD that’s still TBD"

Above is Former Vice President Joe Biden‘s segment. Here are the links for the segments for the other nine invitees: Sen. Bernie Sanders Sen. Elizabeth Warren Sen. Kamala Harris Sen. Cory Booker Sen. Amy Klobuchar Mayor Pete Buttigieg Former Congressman Beto O’Rourke Former HUD Secretary Julian Castro Andrew Yang This is an open thread.

In a ballot measure that escaped our notice, on August 6 voters in Chelan and Douglas Counties approved a two-phase sales tax increase (by 12 points) to fund a service expansion. The first 0.1% will come into effect in January 2020, and the second in 2022. The current rate is 0.4% out of a possible … Continue reading "Link Transit expanding"

Get ready to hear more colors attached to the word Link more regularly. Sound Transit is expanding use of color designations for Link light rail lines beginning in this month’s service change. As seen in its September 2019 schedule book and system map, Central Link (UW-Angle Lake) becomes the Red Line, East Link becomes the … Continue reading "Link is Getting Colorful"

Sound Transit has a new plan to get rid of Rainier Valley surplus property, and wants your input. Free waterfront shuttle extended through October 31st. Yellow school buses also have a driver shortage, and a reliability problem ($). Bus lanes would help! ST officially finding a new name for University Street Station. Bill making bike … Continue reading "News Roundup: a new name"

On Tuesday, Sound Transit and local elected officials broke ground on the first inter-county light rail project to be built in Washington state: Lynnwood Link. Although visible construction on Lynnwood Link has been underway for months, the final contracts and funding agreements were only recently approved by Sound Transit and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). … Continue reading "Lynnwood Link officially breaks ground"