Seattle Transit Blog

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"

While there is a lot of lost service in the King County Metro network due to COVID-19 and its economic impacts, Metro has nevertheless managed to make lemonade out of lemons by assembling an increasingly robust network of buses connecting to Link Light Rail stations at frequencies that match Link’s temporary off-peak frequency of every … Continue reading "15-Minute Link/bus network"

Navigating the thicket of fare discounts. West Seattle bridge alternatives analysis is done. You can dine in the street for at least another year. Nice one, SDOT. WS low bridge fines are coming. An interview with Metro GM Terry White. Kevin Desmond leaving TransLink, returning to the United States. Lynnwood garage construction starts. Heidi Groover … Continue reading "News roundup: returning"

On October 8th System Expansion Committee received briefings on various capital projects. The centerpiece was a detailed review of East Link. The system is 85% complete, within the budget set in 2015, and on schedule for opening in July 2023. But there’s also some bad news. Major civil engineering should be done in early 2021, … Continue reading "Challenges, more closures for East Link construction"

For most of us, voting could not be easier. Every registered voter with their address of record up-to-date gets a ballot in the mail. Return postage is pre-paid. There are also plenty of ballot drop boxes open. Ones close to light rail stations include the Beacon Hill Library, Uwajimaya, the King County Administration Building, and … Continue reading "Less-accessible voting sites and other easier ways to vote"

Sound Transit recently started its virtual open house for the NE 130th St infill station, where you can see the latest designs. As part of this open house, there is a survey where you can provide feedback on the proposed designs. In addition to the blue and green station-wide color scheme options, you can weigh … Continue reading "Sound Transit shares latest NE 130th St Station designs"

Link Light Rail service will be partially disrupted this weekend, per an annoucement from Sound Transit: Link light rail service will temporarily stop running between the UW and SODO stations Saturday, October 17, and Sunday, October 18 to allow for system upgrades. During the service interruption, free bus service will be available between UW station … Continue reading "Shuttles replace Link north of SODO Station this weekend"

King County Metro is embarking on a process to phase out on-board cash payments. Details are so far limited, pending discusssions with stakeholders. A briefing to the King County Council Budget and Fiscal Management Committee noted the discontinuation of on-board cash fares would happen in concert with the launch of the subsidized annual pass program … Continue reading "Metro prepares for end of cash fares"

No details as of yet, but who needs the details: WA Supreme Court strikes down Tim Eyman’s I-976 to cut car tabs. Story soon at https://t.co/DnQLxkhcnI. — Heidi Groover (@heidigroover) October 15, 2020 The immediate practical importance is that various transit and transportation agencies will not have to refund the money they have been collecting … Continue reading "I-976 struck down"

Seattle loves its bus service. As pandemic measures temporarily reduce demand, new challenges like the West Seattle Bridge closure arise. It would be irresponsible to reject a measure that doesn’t even fully replace the tax that it succeeds. In 2014, Seattle approved a $60 vehicle license fee and 0.1% sales tax to fund increases in … Continue reading "Vote Yes on Prop. 1"