Seattle Transit Blog

Where will riders use the ST3 Link system in 2040? Longtime readers will be familiar with project ridership estimates, but most riders on Link are not going to the ends of the line. Along any line, ridership can be much higher on some segments than others. The suburban lines have weak ridership at the tails. […]

Over the holidays, policy analyst David Gordon made an argument for assessing a county-wide payroll tax to make transit free. I don’t know enough about tax revenue to critique Mr. Gordon’s math, but the idea of replacing the regressive transit sales tax with a progressive payroll tax is certainly appealing. Free transit proposals have been bubbling […]

For the last seven years, Metro’s service-change planning has been driven by the agency’s Service Guidelines, adopted by the County Council to professionalize a planning process that had been increasingly driven by political pressure on individual Council members. The Service Guidelines process has been enormously helpful to the agency over time, allowing it to prioritize […]

Gothamist schooled New Jersey car commuter Whoopie Goldberg on bike lanes, safety, and entitlement. She later walked back her series of rants against NYC bike lanes, sort of. Phyllis Porter, advocate for safe streets and building more family-sized affordable housing, and founder of the local chapter of Black Girls Do Bike, is jumping into the […]

In a Carpocalypse update yesterday, King County Executive Dow Constantine and other officials said again that the traffic crunch has gone as well as they could have hoped. They again encouraged commuters to continue using transit and avoid driving during the viaduct closure, and warned drivers to stay off the road. “While we’ve survived the […]

The Link light rail extension to Federal Way is up next for federal funding approval, but Sound Transit is looking beyond for its future operational needs once the Tacoma Dome extension is completed in 2030. Among the priorities is identifying sites for an operations and maintenance facility (OMF), which is the subject of an ongoing […]

Jarrett Walker has a typically insightful post on New York’s plan to speed up its buses, bucketing the city’s proposed improvements into two categories: cost and controversy: The other big step involves controversy rather than money. More bus lanes need to be created, and the space for them will come from some other street use, usually […]

But it needs more funding Mayor Jenny Durkan announced yesterday that the 1st Avenue streetcar will go ahead, if the city can secure $88m in new funding. In a release, the mayor offered her most enthusiastic endorsement of the Center City Connector to date: “We have the opportunity to create a downtown with fewer cars […]

The Washington State Legislature opened the 2019 regular session Monday. Seven bills directed at dealing with greenhouse gas emissions had already been pre-filed, with most of them scheduled for hearings this week. At the request of Gov. Jay Inslee, Sen. Reuven Carlyle (D – Seattle) introduced Senate Bill 5116, which would: Require electric utilities to […]

Sound Transit is entering yet another round of public feedback for the I-405 BRT project and has revealed the name of the service: Stride. In their online open house and an e-mail to STB, Sound Transit described their criteria for choosing the name, the first new ST brand introduced since Link and Sounder were chosen […]

Some buses were reported to be skipping stops yesterday when they were “full”. Not all “full” buses are really full, because riders don’t always fill the standing space in the back. So, please be kind to your fellow riders down-route who also need to get on the bus. If you are standing, move all the […]

King County officials, including Executive Dow Constantine, were cautiously optimistic on the first day of the Squeeze. In a press conference yesterday afternoon at Metro’s Operations Center, Constantine and Metro officials said that Monday morning’s commute had gone as well as they’d hoped, but reiterated that commuters should pad their schedules by 30 to 60 […]

On Thursday, shuttle bus operator Chariot announced that it would cease all operations by March. The company has a contract to operate King County Metro’s pilot “Ride2” microtransit service around the Eastgate Park and Ride, which hoped to shuttle suburban residents and visitors to and from the park-and-ride without relying on the existing, meandering bus […]

The Alaskan Way Viaduct shut down at 10 pm last Friday, forever. SR 99 will be connected to the tollway under downtown in approximately three weeks. This is an open thread.

Here’s another installment of the series in which STB writers travel around to other cities and make wild generalizations about their transit and land use. This post will arbitrarily grade San Diego’s better-than-I-expected transit system. San Diego’s Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) offers bus, light BRT, light rail, and heavy rail commuter service. It’s one of […]

On Friday, Sen. Patty Kuderer (D – Clyde Hill) submitted a bill that would offer a motor vehicle excise tax (MVET, or “car tab”) market-value adjustment to low-income car owners, for the portion of their car tabs going to Sound Transit. Senate Bill 5075 would offer a discount based on the difference between the MVET […]

Trams running though roundabouts can be found throughout Europe. Salt Lake City implemented one in 2003. Now the Phoenix area is getting one.

Good news: traffic deaths in Seattle were down significantly in 2018, according to SDOT according to the latest available data from SDOT. But we’re still far from Vision Zero. Update: Please note that collision data for 2018 is incomplete, as reporting is still in progress. We’ll continue to track the story, and post complete data when it becomes available. In future data stories, we’ll make important metadata like this much more prominent. The data in this story was released on December 19, 2018 and downloaded on December 25, 2018. The City’s internal data collection is ongoing. We’ll follow up with the definitive statistics when they become available. Ten people were killed in collisions this last year, down from 19 […]

When Sound Transit takes over the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (DSTT) later this year, it will take over the DSTT’s escalators. It’s not yet clear whether Sound Transit will be responsible for making them work better. Sound Transit has had some trouble with escalators. Dramatic system failures crippled Sound Transit’s Capitol Hill and Husky Stadium […]

While 2019 will be a quiet year for transit openings, there’s plenty of upcoming events for transport aficionados to look forward to, whether we’re ready or not. January–February: The viaduct, the tunnel, and the apocalypse It’s been covered to death locally, ourselves included, but in case you’ve been under a rock for the past year: the long-overdue closure of the Alaskan […]

It’s time to look back at the top articles of the last year. The major themes should be no surprise: ST3 and high-speed rail dominated. But our series on East Link and how it’s shaping the Eastside was popular as well. Introducing Cascadia Rail by Cascadia Rail (Feb 12, 2018). The launch of a new […]

Here’s Greta’s longer TED talk. This is an open thread.

Correction: The post originally stated transit would be free after 7 pm on New Year’s Eve. Actually, only Metro buses and the Seattle Streetcars will be free during that period. BTW, Link Light Rail will be operating later hours after midnight New Year’s Eve. The last southbound train departs UW Station at 1:56 am. The […]

The failure of I-1631 has allowed Governor Jay Inslee to continue an annual tradition: he announced another climate action plan to great fanfare. The plan leaves plenty to be desired. The package’s proposed $129 million in “clean transportation” funding doesn’t invest in any land-based, local transit. There are some worthy items, but they miss the […]

Mercer Megablock is up for sale. Sen. Hobbs (D-Lake Stevens) trying to fund a new transportation package ($) with a carbon fee. Link escalators a disaster, but you knew that already. Redmond Mayor John Marchione is the new ST Board chair. He’s been pretty good on the board. Angst over Tacoma Link construction staging. Jan […]

Update: The post originally stated that Rep. Joan McBride was re-elected. Actually, she retired. The author apologizes for the error. On December 13, the House Democratic Caucus elected its new leaders and new committee chairs. Rep. Jake Fey (D – Tacoma) was elected the new Chair of the House Transportation Committee, replacing the retiring Judy […]

New SDOT director. GGW’s take. (2:00) How would ending 405 tolls affect buses? (15:30) Minimum density (25:55) The boring company’s new tunnel (38:29) http://traffic.libsyn.com/seattletransitblog/STB_podcast_71.mp3

The Swift Green Line will launch on March 24, 2019, bringing bus rapid transit service to Mill Creek and the new Paine Field passenger terminal. Community Transit’s second bus rapid transit line will have 34 stations and run from Seaway Transit Center on Airport Road, 128th/132nd Street, and the Bothell-Everett Highway (SR 527) to Canyon […]

Sounder North turned 15 years old on Friday. The line has four daily round-trips that carry an average of 1,750 people per weekday. This is an open thread.

Carpocalypse comes Monday, January 14, as the Alaskan Way Viaduct will shut down forever at 10 pm on the evening of Friday, January 11. That will leave up to 90,000 daily car trips trying to find other ways to get into and out of downtown for at least the following three weeks until SR 99 […]

In an extended press conference about the Seattle Squeeze on Thursday, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, WSDOT, SDOT, and Metro laid out their plans to mitigate the planned mobility crisis. It’s a mixed bag. The coordinated government effort does include some promising transit benefits, but doesn’t go as far as it could—by the agencies’ own admission. […]

Your ORCA beep has changed. Peter Rogoff in line for a $16,000 bonus ($). Columbia River Crossing meetings try to get over hard feelings from Washington Republicans’ irresponsibility. Jay Inslee wants light rail on the new bridge. Judge sets back Burke-Gilman “missing Link” yet again; apparently environmental impact statements are also meant to assess if any […]