Seattle Transit Blog

On its way to producing a single “preferred alternative” in early 2019, Sound Transit is in a year-plus process of collecting public input and screening a number of variants on the Seattle “representative alignment” voters saw before the 2016 vote. These “Level 1” alternatives are getting some basic, qualitative analysis across a wide series of […]

Local tax debates are in an odd place where the most visible revolt against “regressive” taxes is directed at property tax — a tax on wealth, if not income. There are, of course, hard cases, but I’ve been struggling to find a column with the right mix of sympathy and focus on the truly poor. […]

About two weeks ago, in the wake of her controversial decision to “pause” the Center City Connector streetcar project, Mayor Jenny Durkan announced the latest in the ever-evolving series of One Center City concepts. The unwelcome headline was a two- to three-year delay for the Fourth Avenue protected bike lane and other bike infrastructure. Mayor Durkan’s announcement was […]

Ahead of the first neighborhood forums for the West Seattle/Ballard Link project, Sound Transit has published its full summary report of the early scoping project, which we covered last month. Some 2,800 individual comments were made at open houses, the online survey, and other forums, and many of them asked for the same modifications to […]

The “Melrose Promenade” takes shape. Why New York stopped building subways. The summary of the first round of ST3 public comments is out. Mercer Island Station work starting. Federal Way and Tacoma Link open houses happening now. Kitsap Transit now has a dashboard for fast ferry key performance indicators. It’s only been 6 months, but […]

JOBS: Two Transportation Program Operations/Customer Service Positions Open at Seattle Children’s: a Supervisor and an Administrative Coordinator Seattle Children’s nationally-renowned Transportation & Sustainability Department has two open program operations/customer service positions. Supervisor of Business Operations & Transportation Programs This leadership position oversees the day-to-day customer service, business/financial operations, and administration of Seattle Children’s Transportation Department […]

In another unfortunate setback for Vision Zero and the Move Seattle Levy, SDOT has elected to remove the dedicated bus lane planned for 24th Avenue to give more space to cars. 23rd/24th Avenue, home to the 43 and 48 routes and used by over 6,000 bus riders daily, is one of Seattle’s supposed “transit priority […]

Last year we said goodbye to Zach Shaner, as he moved on from being STB’s paid writer to the next stage of his career. It was painful, but that spot turned into Lizz Giordano, who quickly became our go-to reporter on a variety of subjects. Now Lizz is moving on to a position at the Everett […]

On Monday, Community Transit announced that it would accept a $43.2 million Small Starts grant from the Federal Transit Administration, completing the last of the $73 million in funding required to complete the Swift Green Line. Portions of the line have actually been under construction for a year, thanks to special authorization from the FTA, and […]

Sound Transit Operations & Administrative Committee meeting April 5, 2018 The escalator presentation runs from 8 minutes into the video until 1:08. Last Thursday, Sound Transit staff gave a presentation to the Board’s Operations & Administration Committee in response to the March 16 breakdown of two down escalators on the same level at UW Station, […]

Are you down for urban density? Speak up for abundant and affordable housing at the District 3+7 (Central Seattle, Pioneer Square to Magnolia) MHA public hearing on April 16!https://t.co/rnS6JE3JdU pic.twitter.com/sAJafzbHvz — SeaTech4Housing (@seatech4housing) April 5, 2018 On Monday, you have a chance to speak to Seattle city council members about one of the greatest challenges […]

What a train trip across the US taught one Australian about Trump’s America. Among other things: Amtrak is slow. TNT: Pierce County should borrow trailhead transit idea. I’d argue that having a decent all-day frequent-service network in Tacoma should come first. Wave as they pass your car. Fast buses could be coming to a long […]

Frank and Lizz discuss: Bellevue bike share (1:30) Eastside cities and ST3: Redmond, Kenmore, and the 522 Corridor (17:01) Lessons learned covering the transit beat (39:37) http://traffic.libsyn.com/seattletransitblog/STB_podcast_058.mp3

For months, SDOT watchers have been agonizing over the fate of One Center City’s program of bus and bike lanes, as well as the Center City Connector streetcar and its dedicated lanes. Mayor Durkan’s new proposal to toll the city center makes these petty squabbles by comparison. Obviously, there’s a lot of process before anyone […]

This post is part of an STB series examining how suburban cities are preparing for light rail. Read the intro post here, or about how planning has reshaped Redmond’s urban form to leverage light rail and Kenmore’s push to be included in the ST3 plan. During Claudia Balducci’s first campaign for Bellevue city council in […]

Nestled by the confluence of Wenatchee and Columbia Rivers, the City of Wenatchee is framed by some of the most dramatic scenery in the state. A small urban core of about fifty thousand people, squeezed into a bench around the confluence, serves as the primary urban center for a huge rural hinterland that extends roughly from […]

Who decides if robots can drive? It shouldn’t be the companies racing to build them. The real driver of regional inequality in America. Here’s the real nightmare scenario for self-driving cars. Not a done deal: Convention center expansion could face fight in city hall. Tampa Bay’s new transit goal: Dedicated BRT lanes from St. Pete […]

Earlier today, Mayor Durkan announced a pair of initiatives that aim to reduce car traffic through downtown in the coming years. A $30 million package of near-term mobility projects will come online through the end of 2021. This period is called the period of “maximum constraint” caused by the Convention Center’s takeover of Convention Place […]

This spring, construction will finally begin on four seven-story mixed-use buildings above the Capitol Hill light rail station. Though an ideal place to build transit-oriented development (TOD), the land has sat empty since the station opened in March 2016. When the buildings are completed, probably sometime in 2020 according to Capitol Hill Seattle, 428 new […]

As the colorful dockless bike-shares, which began operating last summer in Seattle, stray past city boundaries, some suburban cities want to come along for the ride. Bothell was the first suburb to issue permits for bike-share companies after bikes began popping up around town, most likely propelled north by the Burke-Gilman Trail. And now Bellevue […]

Yesterday, Mayor Durkan suspended almost all work on the Center City Connector (CCC) Streetcar that would join the First Hill and South Lake Union lines using dedicated lanes on First Avenue. The trigger was a jump in the cost estimate from $177m to over $200m, partly due to estimation “errors” and partly because costs for […]

“Red paint” — SDOT collecting feedback on Broadway transit lane proposal. PLUZ committee moves parking reform. Almost all the debilitating Herbold amendments were defeated. This small Wallingford apartment building is fine-grained urbanism at its finest. Paris to offer subsidies to those who buy bikes, give up cars. New federal budget would likely keep money flowing […]

Thanks to a sponsorship deal with the Mariners, for the first two months of the season both digital and printed baseball tickets also serve as a valid Link fare. Until June 3rd, riders can present the ticket for that day’s home game to fare enforcement up to 3 hours before first pitch (typically 1:10 or […]

With over a quarter of blocks missing sidewalks and a backlog of street projects, the city is contemplating adopting a transportation impact fee as a way to help pay for new infrastructure needed to handle growth. Last week during a meeting of the Seattle Sustainability and Transportation Committee, Councilmember Mike O’Brien instructed city staff to […]

Follow up (1:15) Streetcar operating costs (10:19) Escalators & ST3 stations in SLU (20:31) Bike share (35:24) Legislative round up (53:19) http://traffic.libsyn.com/seattletransitblog/STB_podcast_057.mp3

Forget gondolas, turn Silver Line Green. ST is hiring a Senior Transportation Planner. The mean musical chairs of rising rent and home prices. A bold, divisive plan to wean Californians from cars. For low-income renters, the affordable housing gap persists. Pollution impacts heighten the need for lids or freeway removal. Seattle underestimates by millions the […]

Seattle Center and the Seattle Monorail have a survey in the field: With plans underway for renovating KeyArena and bringing a new NHL hockey franchise to Seattle, Seattle Center and Seattle Monorail Services are planning ahead by exploring how to make it easier to use the monorail to travel to and from Seattle Center and […]

Route 7, one of the most popular bus lines in the city, is getting a RapidRide makeover in 2021. Metro and SDOT are kicking off the public process for the Rainier Valley line with an online open house through April 8. 10,800 weekday riders make the 7 the 5th busiest Metro route, behind RapidRide lines […]

A video showing riders using the touch to exit feature on the first day When Metro’s XT40 trolleys hit the streets on August 19, 2015 they also introduced the Touch to Exit feature to the fleet. The system, officialy the Vapor CLASS sensing system, uses a set of ultrasonic sensors mounted above the door. One […]

Kenmore wants to bring a new mix-used development to the shores of Lake Washington and eventually replace the cement and asphalt plants. Credit: Lizz Giordano Home to one of the last remaining industrial ports on Lake Washington, the city of Kenmore longs to shed its manufacturing past and cultivate a new identity. Nestled at the top […]

Rainier Valley through the years. In Kenmore, urbanism takes root in suburbia. Could Pittsburgh public transit handle Amazon HQ2? LA taps the brakes on freeway expansion. How a new transit system could hobble Montreal. Missed connections, a treatise. The MTA genius challenge is as bad as expected. Excellent principles for shared mobility. Dublin, California city […]

Commuters face a collision of multiple transportation projects in a small place at one time. While delay of the Washington State Convention Center Addition project offers a slight reprieve, when buses do leave the tunnel sometime in 2019, the One Center City (OCC) plan is intended to keep buses, people and cars flowing through downtown […]

Christiana Figeueres was the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, who led the COP 21 climate talks in Paris. She got better results on climate action from 195 world leaders than the state legislature has produced. This is an open thread.

Emergency plan spends modestly ($) on signals, Subway’s biggest woe. PBOT: Traffic deaths up, despite Vision Zero efforts. Minorities are the demographic engine of millennial urban growth. Seattle’s voters and leaders know the value in keeping commuters out of cars. Beyond the MetroCard: Faster buses, better access to commuter rail, fairer fares. What would the […]