Seattle Transit Blog

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"

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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"

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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"

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"