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by Brent White on (#3K10J)
Video by Welwyn22 For those of you who, like me, have been caught miscounting taps before boarding Link Light Rail or Sounder, Sound Transit is going to make the system more user-friendly. Per ST spokesperson Kimberly Reason, a change to the “tap off†tone, to make it unique from the “tap on†tone, is in […]
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Seattle Transit Blog
| Link | https://seattletransitblog.com/ |
| Feed | https://feeds.feedburner.com/seattletransitblog/rss |
| Updated | 2025-06-08 03:02 |
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by Dan Ryan on (#3JYF0)
Last week in Vancouver BC, Washington Governor Jay Inslee talked up how “the convenience of a one-hour trip between Vancouver and Seattle would create countless opportunities for people in both B.C. and Washingtonâ€. He cited an economic analysis that a high-speed rail link between the two cities could create up to 200,000 jobs and $300 […]
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by Bruce Nourish on (#3JVGF)
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 […]
by Frank Chiachiere on (#3JRFS)
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 […]
by Frank Chiachiere on (#3JNK1)
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 […]
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by Lizz Giordano on (#3JJHC)
Residents are thinking big, and some of the proposals Sound Transit received during the early scoping period for the West Seattle Ballard Link Extension (WSBLE) could strain the ST3 budget. ST presented the comments during a meeting of the WSBLE Stakeholder Advisory Group Wednesday night. West Seattle residents are pushing hard for a tunnel — […]
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by Brent White on (#3JG9V)
Be sure to thank your bus driver today and every day. This is an open thread.
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by Bruce Englehardt on (#3JEAB)
Community Transit plans to expand once again, restoring pre-recession frequency on the Swift Blue Line and re-routing local buses for better connections and usability. The service expansion proposal covers Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 and would add about 49,000 annual service hours (12 percent over March 2018). It would be funded by the 0.3% sales tax increase […]
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by Tim Bond on (#3JBFK)
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 […]
by Lizz Giordano on (#3J8Z0)
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 […]
by Bruce Nourish on (#3J5KB)
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 […]
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by Dan Ryan on (#3J299)
Bellevue is considering an upzone of the Wilburton area east of Downtown across I-405. A draft EIS, currently open for public comment, examines much greater height and more intense urban activity. The Citizens Advisory Committee is also looking broadly at development standards and public investments to improve the livability of the city’s traditional Auto Row. […]
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by Lizz Giordano on (#3HZBR)
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 […]
by Brent White on (#3HWZ3)
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.
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by Martin H. Duke on (#3HV11)
On a recent week-long business trip to Melbourne, Australia, I had the pleasure of attending a Twenty20 cricket match. I’m not a cricket die-hard. But as someone who’s coached youth baseball for a number of years, I’ve had to reflect a lot on its fundamentals. It was fascinating to see how minor and arbitrary choices […]
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by Bruce Nourish on (#3HS67)
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 […]
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by Brent White on (#3HQDS)
Sine die came this evening in Olympia, with the Legislature managing to get its work done on time. There will be no extra sessions. The big drama of the session was over Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5955, which started out a year ago as a bill to simply reimburse newer car drivers for the difference […]
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by Frank Chiachiere on (#3HP9V)
Sound Transit’s flat fare Peter Rogoff and the ST Board (13:05) – Martin regrets that he neglected to expound further on certain allegations, so that it came across as more dismissive than he intended. MVET bill (19:35) Signal priority in Bellevue and Seattle (29:07) http://traffic.libsyn.com/seattletransitblog/STB_podcast_056.mp3
by Lizz Giordano on (#3HNH6)
Over a decade ago, when Bonnie Todd, executive director of operations, joined Sound Transit, the agency was focused on constructing the first phase of the light rail system. With less than two years before Link was scheduled to begin operating from downtown Seattle to SeaTac, Todd was charged with building and shaping the future operations […]
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by David Lawson on (#3HJSM)
After almost three years without any significant service cuts, we’ve gotten pretty used to happy service change announcements from Metro. The latest change, which begins this coming Saturday, March 10, is no exception. Service additions are sprinkled throughout the system without much countervailing bad news. (The redundant route 99 does disappear, but ridership numbers suggest that […]
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by Martin H. Duke on (#3HFN1)
Employee shuttles are a common sight in many prospering cities. There are things to like as an independent observer: they often cover underserved source-destination pairs at no cost to the public. Conversely, they might make some public routes unviable, stranding non-employees who might have used the route. There are also sometimes conflicts with public transit […]
by Lizz Giordano on (#3HDEH)
Declaring the first season of Trailhead Direct a success, King County is preparing for a second season while considering expanding the program to North Bend. Trailhead Direct provided hikers an option to access trails in the Issaquah Alps using public transportation. The pilot program, which ran on weekends and holidays from early August to mid-October, […]
by Lizz Giordano on (#3HCR6)
Thursday, Sound Transit’s Operations and Administration Committee moved forward a staff recommendation that would establish a flat fare of $3.25 for all Sound Transit Express bus routes. This change would increase fares by $.50 for 70% of ST Express riders. The transit agency said this change would speed up boardings and make it easier for […]
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by Oran Viriyincy on (#3HAJK)
TransLink has been undergoing a transit fare review.
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by Brent White on (#3H94J)
The House Transportation Committee met this morning to hold a public hearing and take action on Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5955, the car tab relief bill that would reduce the funding stream for Sound Transit 3. Rep. Judy Clibborn (D – Mercer Island), the chair of the committee, proposed an amendment that would strike most […]
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by Lizz Giordano on (#3H68E)
The Sound Transit Board denied CEO Peter Rogoff a salary bonus following reports from employees alleging he engaged in inappropriate workplace behavior, during a special meeting held Thursday. Details of the allegations remain murky, but Jenny Durkan, Mayor of Seattle and ST Board member, said the allegations “raised the issue of racial bias and insensitivity.†[…]
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by Dan Ryan on (#3H44Q)
Last night, the Senate approved SB 5955, changing the valuation schedule for the ST3 MVET (Motor Vehicle Excise Tax). Up to two-thirds of the cost is remedied by reducing payments from Sound Transit to the Puget Sound Accountability Fund. The vote was 30 yeas, 14 nays, with 5 members excused. The bill now moves to the […]
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by Bruce Nourish on (#3H386)
Microtransit: What I think we know. How I came to Seattle, a trip I’ll never forget ($). Boomtown Seattle: Why we move here — and how we’re all in it together ($). If only Times editorials reflected more of the spirit of their contemporary reporting. American cities and the creeping criminalization of walking. Pittsburgh vows to […]
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by Dan Ryan on (#3H09X)
At recently as 2012, Sound Transit had less than one billion dollars of debt. That increased to $4.6 billion by the end of 2017. The ST3 program will push it much higher, peaking at a projected $17.6 billion in 2035. That path puts Sound Transit close to legal limits as major ST3 projects are delivered. […]
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by Lizz Giordano on (#3GX4A)
Large five-lane intersections dominate Bellevue. To eke out every little bit of roadway capacity, the city in 2015 finished installing adaptive signal technology at all 203 of its signalized intersections. The system adjusts the timing of the traffic signal cycle based on real-time traffic conditions. In theory, the less unused green left at the end […]
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by Bruce Englehardt on (#3GT4E)
Sound Transit and Metro have released their 2017 ridership numbers, and they paint a rosy picture for our regional transit system amid a national decline in transit ridership (particularly among buses). The two agencies alone carried 155 million total passengers within King County; add estimated figures from Pierce and Snohomish counties and the number of […]
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by Oran Viriyincy on (#3GQWS)
A film produced after the TGV‘s first year. The French had self-service ticket vending and seat reservation for its high speed train in 1981!
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by Lizz Giordano on (#3GNYY)
At least 55 metro lines in 37 cities around the world are fully automated, according to the International Association of Public Transport, an advocacy group that promotes public transit. Many of these fully automated lines are closed systems, in contrast to Sound Transit which, at times, mixes with other vehicular traffic. The agency says it will […]
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by Lizz Giordano on (#3GKN2)
In response to a successful challenge by a Phinney Ridge neighborhood group over the lack of onsite parking proposed for a 57-unit apartment building, the city is planning changes to the land use and zoning code that would allow the project to continue. The legislation under consideration would change how the city defines “frequent transit […]
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by Bruce Nourish on (#3GHD0)
All of Seattle’s public high school students to get unlimited ORCA passes under new Durkan plan ($). Limebike’s electric scooters could eventually come to Seattle, too. Northeast Seattle street project stirs cars-vs.-bikes debate ($). Thinking of ditching your car? Just do it already. Right-sizing parking: City Council weighs reform. Reclaiming street space in Capitol Hill. […]
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by Dan Ryan on (#3GGT8)
As Sound Transit steps up planning for I-405 BRT, WSDOT is preparing to extend managed HOT lanes from Bellevue south to Renton. Meanwhile, a political consensus in favor of tolling has solidified. After an unsteady start, managed lanes have grown more popular with the public. Eastside cities are recognizing both the benefits in managing traffic […]
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by Bruce Englehardt on (#3GEFV)
On Tuesday night, Sound Transit put on an open house in West Seattle that was well attended (a little crowded, at that) and seemed to generate good ideas. It had all the standard fare: a looping video of the project alignment; some rollplots with maps that vaguely showed the alignment over some aerial imagery; boards […]
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by Lizz Giordano on (#3GE0T)
Seattle’s $50M yearly investment in additional bus service has helped deliver frequent transit service to a majority of households in the city. After three years, the percentage of families living near routes with transit service every 10 minutes has more than doubled, SDOT says. Now a driver shortage could limit the extra service Seattle can […]
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by Martin H. Duke on (#3GB8C)
Last week The Stranger published a wide-ranging interview with Governor Inslee, whose stated purpose was to drum up the grassroots for his carbon tax proposal. He doesn’t criticize legislators directly, but you certainly get the impression speaker Frank Chopp (D-Capitol Hill) isn’t exactly out in front of the climate activists. “Any solution on this has […]
by Brent White on (#3G8M2)
This post was updated at 6:20 2.20.18 to include testimony and information from comments. In a disappointing legislative session marked by mostly defensive effort to protect the Sound Transit 3 project list from cuts, there has been one bright light: Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5288, allowing Thurston County Intercity Transit to add an additional 0.3% […]
by Bruce Englehardt on (#3G6JN)
A look at the preliminary project alignment for the West Seattle and Ballard Link extensions, shown by Sound Transit at the recent open houses for the early scoping process. Online comments are still being accepted at wsblink.participate.online until March 5.
by Oran Viriyincy on (#3G4RQ)
Fifty years ago this week, February 13, 1968, 50.8% of Greater Seattle voters voted yes to the Forward Thrust rapid transit proposition. The construction of a 49-mile rapid transit system modeled after BART and the Washington Metro needed voters to approve $385 million in general obligation bonds. The remainder of the $1.15 billion cost would […]
by Bruce Nourish on (#3G2AR)
Sizeism: Why small homes belong in Fremont and Seattle-wide. Doug at the Urbanist pushes back on that awful Times op-ed ($). And here’s Heidi at the Stranger. A 14-story hotel at the entrance to Pike Place Market? Not so fast, say opponents ($). As an architecture critic remarks, “The zoning for it has been in […]
by Lizz Giordano on (#3G0A6)
As Seattle is entering the “period of maximum constraint,†with downtown becoming even more inundated with construction projects, more workers in that area are leaving their cars at home and riding transit. Last year, the drive-alone rate hit an all-time low of 25% of downtown commuters, even as 15,000 jobs were added to the area, […]
by Guest Contributor on (#3FZK3)
You know a city becomes mature when its citizens begin to celebrate their transportation history. London, New York, San Francisco: these are all cities that have been pioneers in the field of transportation and have all embraced their own unique histories of moving people and goods. Seattle is one such city—and while we are probably […]
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by Lizz Giordano on (#3FWQH)
Thursday, the Sound Transit Capital Committee approved funding for project development for two bus rapid transit routes. As part of the ST3 package, the projects will add 45 miles of BRT to the region. One BRT route will run between Lynnwood and Burien along I-405 and State Route 518, with 11 stations in between. The […]
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by Seattle Subway on (#3FSQC)
This week Sound Transit is kicking off ST3 planning for the Ballard and West Seattle Link extensions with community meetings in West Seattle, Ballard, and Downtown Seattle. The basic alignments have been chosen, but there are still a lot of big decisions to be made before Sound Transit selects the preferred alignment for each segment. […]
by Guest Contributor on (#3FQ2B)
by CASCADIA RAIL You Deserve Faster. A few years ago, some activists thought to start a group to urge aggressive expansion of the Seattle-area transit system. And guess what…it worked! But let’s face it. Because our entire region is popular and globally competitive, more is needed to support the growing population across the Cascadia region […]
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by Oran Viriyincy on (#3FMSN)
Video explaining Translink and the Mayors’ Council 10 Year Plan.
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by Brent White on (#3FK1N)
While the state legislature has shifted from prioritizing wealthy new car owners over carbon-footprint reducing electric mass transit to prioritizing both over education, the bill to allow automatic camera enforcement on transit-only lanes is still getting a chilly reception. Substitute House Bill 2403 got out of the House Transportation Committee back on January 17, and […]
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