Seattle Transit Blog

Downtown Kirkland is likely to be designated as an Urban Center early next year. On Tuesday evening, the City Council is expected to approve applications to King County and the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC). If approved, it will be the region’s 30th regional growth center. The proposed “Greater Downtown Kirkland Urban Center” encompasses the central … Continue reading "Downtown Kirkland to be an urban center"

Earlier this month, ShareNow announced a tiered pricing model where drives that left a car outside an inner “Zone A” would incur a $4.95 surcharge, and drives that brought cars back into Zone A would receive a credit of “up to” $4.95. A spokesperson from ShareNow confirmed that the latter phrasing simply meant that the … Continue reading "ShareNow corner cases"

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As Martin pointed out Thursday, the Seattle Center will be holding a hearing on Wednesday, September 11, and taking email comments through September 18, on a proposal to raise monorail fares as part of the rollout of accepting the ORCA card, along with interagency transfers and passes. The published proposal focuses on the fare increases. … Continue reading "Monorail proposal raises fares to offset ORCA transfers, passes"

Mike Lindblom, The Seattle Times: Twelve Metro bus routes from downtown to West Seattle, White Center and Burien will move from their temporary path on gridlocked First Avenue South to Fourth Avenue South beginning Sept. 9. This route change follows rider complaints that public transit crawls so slowly along First Avenue that it can sometimes take an … Continue reading "Metro reverts West Seattle buses to 4th Avenue"

Tacoma now has a TOD Advisory Group ($). Lindblom deep-dives on engineering of the Link I-90 crossing ($). Everett starts downtown parking study. SDOT rolls out their latest bikeshare report. SBB summary is here. ST discounts ($) for Bel-Red affordable housing developers. Times reporters bring you a streetcar FAQ ($). Metro fare on snow days … Continue reading "News roundup: worthwhile Canadian initiative"

A few months ago, I shared with Seattle Transit Blog readers a side project of mine—the Puget Sound Transit Operations Tracker. This quickly became much bigger than I ever expected it to, with several local news outlets picking up the story, including the Seattle Times. It became very clear to me that we all need … Continue reading "Transit Tracker Updates: Now called “Pantograph,” debuting the iOS app, new features"

Aurora represents an incredible opportunity for transit expansion. The four urban villages north of the ship canal carry a massive capacity for recently upzoned density. The huge lots of big box stores that dot the landscape are a prime target for Transit Oriented Development. Grade separated transit will allow the street to feature wider sidewalks … Continue reading "Seattle Subway: Build the Aurora Line"

Last year, Sound Transit and WSDOT shared their design of the three-level I-405 BRT station at NE 85th St in Kirkland. After prolonged negotiations, the City and Sound Transit reached agreement earlier this month on connecting the station area to downtown and surrounding neighborhoods. At a forecast $260 million, NE 85th is one of the … Continue reading "Kirkland and Sound Transit agree on connections to NE 85th BRT station"

Platform gates improve safety and accessibility by preventing falls and sideswipes. Japan has a few examples. This is an open thread.

Concepts for U District Station access. Gunfight at the Renton Transit Center. Two way bikelanes correlated with more injuries. SDOT updates us on the long-lost scooter pilot. Red lanes finally going in on Rainier Ave. Artwork for South Link stations. Renton has plans for when the Transit Center moves out of downtown. Limebike batteries now … Continue reading "News roundup: catching fire"

Sound Transit: We’re laying the groundwork to open the Blue Line, a new Link line that will begin taking riders from Northgate to Redmond in 2023. As part of that work, we need to reduce Link service for three weekends this fall. On the weekends of October 12-13, October 26-27, and November 9-10, there will be no Link service … Continue reading "First set of weekend Link closures announced"

From Metro’s service advisory email: From Wednesday, August 21, through Friday, August 30, at all times, Metro routes 31, 32, 65, 67, 75, 78 and 372 will continue to be rerouted off the University of Washington campus, but will be revised to serve the south campus and UW Link Station. During this time, these routes will travel instead via Montlake … Continue reading "Metro re-jiggers the Stevens Way construction detour"

Update: The DNC Resolutions Committee voted down a debate format for the climate forums 8-17. Protesters sung their displeasure. Correction: The original version of this post stated that Sen. Elizabeth Warren had no climate statement on her campaign website. Actually, she has several, under “Latest Announcements”. The author apologizes for the error. On Wednesday, Gov. … Continue reading "Inslee quits presidential race; DNC to vote on debating climate action plans today"

SEPA reform Carsharing (8:44) Bus lane enforcement in general… (27:00) West Seattle in particular (30:55) Passenger-miles matter (32:59) Least-reliable routes (36:53) Station access funds (38:08) Download link

SDOT’s spot improvements program continues to be the most effective engine for improving transit riders’ experience immediately. The diagram is self-explanatory. Item 1 will free up the lane from turners waiting for pedestrians. Items 2 and 3 will simply lower the number of cars in front of the bus. And number 4 will make it … Continue reading "Tweaks to Union Street, 4th Avenue"

It’s Friday, the end of the work week, and all everyone wants to do is get home as quickly as possible. For the transit rider, it is time to enter the arena of unknown bus reliability. Will my bus come? Will it be on time? How bad will traffic be? We have all mentally asked … Continue reading "Metro’s least reliable routes"

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Pro-transit, pro-bike, pro-density voters might be forgiven for thinking their vote and their input don’t really matter. We vote like-minded candidates into office, we pass taxes to fund forward-thinking transportation projects, and we participate in developing master plans. And then, when it’s time to actually take the road space for buses or bikes, a few … Continue reading "O’Brien, Pacheco want to improve the Seattle process"

The engineer that put tracks on the I-90 bridge. It’s not necessarily great that Sound Transit had to commission groundbreaking engineering work, but the people involved should be proud of their achievement. Erica Barnett interprets the Seattle Council primary results. What can Sound Transit do to cut down on 9 Link crashes per year? Limepods … Continue reading "News roundup: coming for the produce markets"

Share Now (neé Car2go), in an email to members: In an effort to improve the availability of the SHARE NOW fleet in areas of Seattle where they are most frequently requested, we are instituting a zone based pricing system, that will include either a Zone Fee or Zone Discount depending on the type of trip … Continue reading "Carsharing probably needs more cars"

Apparently fed up with rampant bus lane violations, an unidentified woman took the initiative last week and inspired equal parts of praise and outraged driver entitlement. She also inspired the Greenways movement to run a similar event Monday, which Heidi Groover covered ($). Grasping the spirit of the moment, Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff called … Continue reading "Abandoned by the city, riders take matters into their own hands"

Seattle City Council blog: Selected highlights of the Resolution include making Seattle climate pollution-free by 2030; prioritizing public investments in neighborhoods that have historically been underinvested in and disproportionately burdened by environmental hazards and other injustices; exploring the creation of Free, Prior, and Informed consent policies with federally recognized tribal nations; and, creating a fund … Continue reading "Transit and land use in Seattle’s ‘Green New Deal’ resolution"

There is no transit performance metric quite like ridership. However, when any metric becomes the single point of evaluation, it can lead to bizarre conclusions. Last month’s High Speed Rail study counted riders, and some readers couldn’t resist comparing the numbers to middling local transit routes. But it’s one thing to take riders between adjacent … Continue reading "Passenger-miles matter, too"

Singapore’s housing policy and town planning goes hand in hand with its mass rapid transit planning. This is an open thread.

At the meeting of the Sound Transit System Expansion Committee on Thursday, an order was approved to begin project development and environmental review on an inline station for I-405 BRT at Brickyard. Along with expanded HOT lanes approved earlier this year, this will allow BRT to operate in managed center lanes along almost the entire … Continue reading "Sound Transit may build inline stop at Brickyard, shifting I-405 BRT to center lanes"

Does Seattle housing policy help solve inequality? Getting rid of surplus ST property; ST rewarding cities that upzone a lot, unlike Seattle. More fare enforcement ($) on streetcars? The story of ReachNow’s abrupt shutdown. Study says e-scooters aren’t that great for the environment, mainly because of driving around for repositioning and cleanup. There are policy … Continue reading "News roundup: fix the humans"

MASS Coalition: The MASS Transportation Package is a proposal from the MASS Coalition to make walking, rolling, biking, and using transit in Seattle safer and more accessible. It’s not a comprehensive vision for transportation in Seattle, but it is a set of projects and policies we believe the City can advance rapidly in 2019. The … Continue reading "MASS transportation package kicks off at City Hall tomorrow"

Metro is looking for your feedback on RapidRide I, a major investment in South King mobility that will provide frequent service between Renton, Kent and Auburn. See our previous coverage here. At over 15 miles in length, the I line will beat out the E for the title of longest RapidRide line. It’ll also probably … Continue reading "Metro looking at South King restructures to complement RapidRide I"

Sound Transit: Approved by voters in 2016, the Sound Transit 3 System Plan included a $100 million System Access Fund. This year, the Sound Transit Board wants your input as it considers how to award up to $50 million of the System Access Fund for projects to improve rider connections in each of Sound Transit’s five subareas. … Continue reading "Sound Transit wants feedback on station access funds"

WSDOT: [C]rews will restripe the westbound SR 520 off-ramp to Montlake and remove the ramp’s temporary bus-only lane that currently allows buses to bypass general-purpose vehicles to reach Montlake Boulevard. The bus lane was temporarily put in place last October, with a plan to close it in March for the Montlake Project construction. Recognizing the … Continue reading "Montlake exit’s temporary bus lane is closing"

At 5 p.m. two Fridays ago I made the grave mistake a getting on a West Seattle bus at the 3rd & Pike Street stop. See, I had to retrieve a child from summer camp by 6 p.m. As the bus crawled along the Columbia Street and 1st Avenue South “temporary 2019” routing, the minutes … Continue reading "West Seattle and Burien Metro routes need improved reliability, or a new routing"

In our ranking of district 6 candidates, last week, we critiqued Ed Pottharst for “concerns about his work on the Phinney Neighborhood Association during its fight to stop more apartments from being built in the neighborhood.” The Phinney Neighborhood Association was not involved in any such fights. We regret the error and have changed Pottharst’s … Continue reading "Candidate Ranking Update: District 6"

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The Moving All Seattle Sustainably Coalition held a forum for District 7 Seattle City Council candidates a couple months ago. Rooted in Rights provided the video and transcript. Participating candidates included: Jason Williams Gene Burrus Daniel Lipscomb-Eng Michael George Isabelle Kerner Jim Pugel Andrew Lewis James Donaldson Don Harper Ballots need to be postmarked, turned … Continue reading "Sunday Open Thread: Seattle District 7 MASS Forum"

In Friday’s post, we quoted Metro’s slide indicating more Link trains after 2021. Sound Transit says Metro did not check with them when announcing new train headways. It will remain every 6 minutes peak and 10 otherwise, with no trains turning around at Stadium. In 2023, it will be every 4 minutes peak and 5 … Continue reading "Correction: future Link headways"

At a meeting of the Seattle City Council’s Transportation Committee on Tuesday, members were briefed on a forthcoming budget request to restart the Center City Connector project. If approved, $9 million will be expended in the 2019-2020 budget cycle on design of the revised project. Advancing the revised parts of the project to 30% design … Continue reading "SDOT makes budget request for streetcar design rework: Connector may open in 2026"

[UPDATE: Sound Transit says Metro did not check with them when announcing new train headways. It will remain every 6 minutes peak and 10 otherwise, with no trains turning around at Stadium. In 2023, it will be every 4 minutes peak and 5 off peak through downtown, with the South King and East King branches … Continue reading "A new network in North Seattle"

Link train hits, severely injures pedestrian ($) at Rainier Beach. In Kent, Sounder and Amtrak are apparently used for two suicides. SDOT requests $9m to move the Streetcar project along. Pierce Transit ahead of everyone on real-time info signs. Patch has informative interviews with candidates in Renton and Bellevue. Lots of problems with save-the-Showbox maneuvers. … Continue reading "News Roundup: ahead of everyone"

Earlier this year, Metro started planning for the Kirkland-Bellevue-Eastgate RapidRide, set to open in 2025. An early question was where to locate the northern terminus. Metro’s Long Range Plan developed in 2016 includes a representative alignment connecting downtown Kirkland to Totem Lake via Market St. Since then, the North Eastside Mobility Plan (NEMP) outreach revealed … Continue reading "Under pressure from Kirkland, Metro to drop proposal for RapidRide to Redmond"

District 7 includes downtown, Queen Anne, and Magnolia. Though there’s higher population density in downtown and Belltown, the more suburban enclaves tend to punch above their weight in off-year elections. This may explain why many candidates in this district appear skeptical of density and in favor of an expensive Magnolia Bridge replacement. Excellent Michael George … Continue reading "Seattle District 7 candidate ratings"

Frank and I will tape on Wednesday. Please put the questions you have for us in the comments below before then. The usual rules apply — make it a question, and only one question.

District 6 is Northwest Seattle. Besides the coming light rail station in Ballard, the Burke-Gillman Missing Link looms large over this election. Read Seattle Bike Blog for a deeper discussion of these candidates and the Missing Link. Excellent Dan Strauss is a cyclist who wants to create a network of bus lanes and protected bike … Continue reading "Seattle District 6 candidate ratings"

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Two big proposals from the Mayor on affordable housing: MFTE reform and more permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness The King County Council approves paid spots at some popular park-and-rides Sound Transit starts construction on the innovative I-90 light rail tracks Not good: injuries and collisions on Seattle streets are at a nine-year high Self-driving … Continue reading "News Roundup: Eastrail"

In case you haven’t heard, Link celebrated its tenth birthday last week, bringing back memories of the long-past era of 2009. Since the first trains left Mount Baker Station on the morning of July 18, 2009, Link has carried over 125 million passenger trips and has become the single busiest transit corridor in the state. … Continue reading "The next 10 years for Link"

Metro is continuing to adjust routes and frequencies with the closure of the bus tunnel and, more recently, the Montlake freeway ramps. Route 41, one of few routes with over 10,000 daily riders, was moved to surface streets and has been stuck using the punctuality-melting Stewart Street I-5 offramp ever since. In an effort to … Continue reading "Metro tweaks the 41 & 271 as “Seattle Squeeze” gets real"

Transit integration at Mercer Island continues to move forward, but rough water appears to be on the horizon. When we last checked in, Sound Transit and King County Metro had presented three infrastructure options, the Limited, Improved, and Optimal Configurations, which could facilitate 12, 16, or 20 buses per hour, respectively. Since that time, the … Continue reading "Mercer Island bus-rail connection still in flux"

Two years ago I wrote a piece about the frequency and duration of Link service interruptions (blockages, accidents, power outages, etc). Given the recent, high-profile service meltdown on June 12, it makes sense to revisit the issue. How often do interruptions occur? How long do they last? Have they become more frequent or longer in … Continue reading "Is Link light rail seeing more service interruptions?"

On July 10, the King County Council formally approved March 2020 service changes for Metro. The service change implements the North Eastside Mobility Project with extensive changes to service in the Kirkland area. The service change had passed unanimously out of the Council’s Mobility & Environment Committee on July 2. Kirkland’s peak commuter services are … Continue reading "North Eastside buses will be restructured in March 2020"