Seattle Transit Blog

Tomorrow, Capital Metro in Austin launches a Houston-style network restructure they call Cap Remap that streamlines routes and expands frequent service to more of the city.

In response to several requests, this post is adapted from a recent Twitter thread that readers seemed to like, even though I impulsively started it during a break at work while irritated at some tweets. There’s a straw man that gets a lot of abuse in online housing debates: that the more-market-oriented variety of pro-housing activists […]

The third and final (for now) installment of our photo tours is here, and covers the most exciting and fastest-changing part of East Link. Continuing from Tuesday’s tour, the downtown Bellevue tunnel will emerge at the east end of Bellevue Transit Center, and has a mixed bag of public views. These photos were all taken […]

Correction: The original post referred to a “carbon tax” in I-1631. The initiative actually refers to a “pollution fee”, a methodology different from the carbon tax in Initiative 732. I recently ran into a couple stack petitioners seeking signatures for four initiative petitions, starting with Tim Eyman’s latest $30 car tab effort, and ending with […]

First Hill station is not to be (1:21) Electeds bail on First Hill the process rears its ugly head Napkin math analysis Backyard cottages (42:12) Single family rentals leveling off Pierce County & Lyft (50:21) http://traffic.libsyn.com/seattletransitblog/STB_podcast_061.mp3

Some suburban cities looking to slow growth Growth in single-family home rents also slowing Diminished budgets for Seattle’s transit corridors Mariners-Link promotion extended to July 8 Mixed-use TOD near Mountlake Terrace station Local mayors learning about bikes in Copenhagen (Pipeline trail in Pierce Co. looks 🔥) High gas prices straining some transit agency budgets Mobility workshops […]

It appears we’re not going to get a formal study of building the Midtown Station on 8th Avenue, much less further up First Hill. However, a little searching can give us an idea of costs and benefits. Call it the discount version of the study Sound Transit will refuse to give us. Costs Back in […]

The nice thing about BRT is that it doesn’t take forever to open. After we approved BRT on SR522 in 2016, it will open in 2024. ST is holding two community meetings this week to start public planning for the project: Bothell Public Meeting Wednesday, May 30, 6-8 p.m. (presentation at 6:30 p.m.) Northshore Senior […]

In a Request for Proposals released April 13th, Sound Transit outlined a set of system upgrades for its passenger information systems (PIMS). The most visible component of these systems are the realtime arrival information for ST trains and buses, but they also include backend systems that collect and process the data. This project has three […]

Estonia on the free transit tip Bellevue’s Spring District getting more offices NTSB holding a hearing on last winter’s Amtrak Cascades derailment Even when you think you’re done paying for parking garages, you still gotta maintain ’em Deep dive from the Times on bike lane costs [$]. Spoiler: most of the money wasn’t for the bike […]

I have long been skeptical that Sound Transit would build a First Hill light rail station. When the staff doesn’t want to do something, it takes a combination of grassroots pressure and an aggressive leader to make them do it. For over a year, there was no organized campaign and no elected champion for the neighborhood. […]

In September 2014, when the median single family home price in Seattle was $431,000, the city council passed a resolution aimed at increasing Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). In 2016, when the home price was $513,000, neighborhood activists sued to stop the policy, forcing the city to conduct an environmental impact statement (EIS). Now, in 2018, […]

Early Tuesday morning, a construction foreman for Kiewit-Hoffman was killed after falling 30 to 40 feet from a column on the East Link guideway, near the 148th Avenue interchange on State Route 520 in Overlake. The accident, only the second fatal incident at a Sound Transit construction site, triggered a one-day halt in girder work on […]

After returning with additional modifications, Metro gained approval from the Burien City Council for RapidRide H improvements (previous coverage here). See Omaha Sternberg on Twitter for the play-by-play. You can read Metro’s full proposal (Alternative C) on the Burien website (PDF). RapidRide H, the upgraded version of Metro Route 120, will use Business Access and Transit (BAT) […]

Last Thursday, the Sound Transit 3 “Elected Leadership Group,” a supergroup of local elected officials (the Infinity War of transit oversight, if you will), met to consider which of Sound Transit’s Level 1 alternatives should advance to Level 2. The ELG’s recommendations, like those of the nonelected “Stakeholder Advisory Group,” are nonbinding. The final decision will […]

Beginning Monday, potential riders in some areas of Pierce County will have the option of a free Lyft ride to or from a nearby transit hub. The Federal Transit Administration is providing the $205,000 for this one-year pilot. From the press release: The Limited Access Connection project’s goals include addressing mobility challenges for those with […]

After much debate, a compromise version of Seattle’s employee head tax is now law The Tom and Curley Show is on point on affordable housing Portland streetcar breaking ridership records Slower streets, not autonomous cars, are the real safety breakthrough (Props to Wired for publishing this bit of techno-skepticism) The feds pony up $75M for […]

It’s come to my attention that our hiring of a paid staff reporter has introduced a little confusion into the process for volunteer contributors. Transit enthusiasts who are not seeking payment for writing, and are able to commit to contributing articles on a regular basis, are welcome to start the much simpler process to join […]

by Jon Scholes, President / CEO of the Downtown Seattle Association Thanks to businesses, elected leaders and community groups that shaped and endorsed it, Sound Transit 3 is moving forward, with planned expansion to Ballard, West Seattle through downtown in the form of a new tunnel. Community leaders from across Seattle have thoughtfully considered the future […]

Every big transportation project starts with a cost estimate. The tedious debate on whether the project costs too much, or is just right, is a proxy fight over whether it’s a good project or not. The estimate spirals upwards, which breeds cynicism among opponents while providing an opportunity to revisit all of the old arguments. […]

PSRC survey on regional attitudes towards growth and transportation (PDF) Could “industrial areas” be put to better use? XKCD nails it on driving SnoCo pols want faster light rail to Everett (but without mentioning the airport-sized elephant in the room) Indoor market could come to King Street Station WS Ferries wants a battery-powered fleet ($) […]

Negotiations on the bus tunnel closure (1:28) The head tax (25:46) Burien RapidRide (45:30) http://traffic.libsyn.com/seattletransitblog/STB_podcast_060.mp3

We’ve received a number of interesting applications already, but it’s not too late to apply for our part-time reporter position. If you’d like to apply, send an email with a resume and three writing samples to contact@seattletransitblog.com by May 11th.

Yesterday, the Council passed the alley vacation for the Washington State Convention Center (WSCC) that the Transportation and Sustainability Committee approved last week, as we reported. The O’Brien amendment that would have gotten more money for transit from the WSCC in the event of serious service degradation failed 6-3, with only O’Brien, Sawant, and Herbold […]

The next RapidRide H, which will replace King County Metro route 120 from downtown Seattle to Burien in 2020, could reduce travel times by almost five minutes between Burien and the West Seattle Bridge, assuming the transit agency and its partner DOTs make the recommended upgrades to the route, which is among the 10 busiest in the […]

On May 1st, Seattle’s Transportation and Sustainability Committee reviewed the alley vacation for the Washington State Convention Center expansion, which will close the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel to buses. The core measure passed unanimously, but the most interesting discussion centered around exactly when buses would have to leave the tunnel. The question has come down […]

Excellent deep dive ($) on Seattle’s exclusionary zoning and its impact on house prices Relatedly, the Talaris development in Laurelhurst could have a lot more housing Job opening at the City of Kirkland: Transportation Strategic Advisor Sound Transit board adopts equitable TOD policy Community Transit adding even more double deckers Motivate, operator of Seattle’s defunct Pronto […]

While many cities nationwide are seeing declines in bus ridership, a few transit agencies – including ours here in Seattle – are bucking the trend by restructuring their routes to focus on frequency and span-of-service, beyond just 1-seat rush hour rides into downtown. With a major restructure on the books for a year now, you […]

A film documenting the construction of Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway in the 1970s and 1980s.

Seattle Parks and Recreation presented details to the City Council April 17th of a pilot program to allow electric bikes on Seattle’s multi-use trails, like the Burke-Gilman (video of council hearing). This follows on the heels of state legislation classifying various kinds of e-bike. The pilot, which runs through Summer of 2019, will allow for […]

Intro & Job listing (0:00) ST3 Level 1 analysis (5:51) West Seattle SODO Downtown & SLU Ballard & Interbay http://traffic.libsyn.com/seattletransitblog/STB_podcast_059.mp3

Sound Transit’s rider-hostile escalator policy is under scrutiny right now, but there are similar problems with escalators in the Metro-run Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (DSTT), extensively renovated for light rail in 2008. To take one example, the up escalator at the 3rd & University tunnel entrance was inoperative from March 14th to April 3rd “due […]

As Seattle struggles with bike lanes, Vancouver has won ($) the battle. A streetfight in Ballard for safe routes to school. Why Vancouver’s SkyTrain leaves Seattle’s Link Light Rail in the dust. Seattle tunnel tolls need to be kept low so drivers don’t avoid using it, officials say. Central Park’s scenic drives will soon ($) […]

First Hill is an area in the city where SDOT is actively moving forward to add transit priority lanes, and they want your feedback. As we wrote about last spring, the agency would like to create a transit-only lane on southbound Broadway between Union and Madison. This is often a point of congestion in the PM […]

Our final installment in the ST3 Level 1 alternatives commentary takes us through SODO. The industrial area south of downtown is notable in our series in that it is currently served by light rail, which runs along the E-3 busway between 4th and 6th avenues. The new alignment, like the current one, would have a […]