Seattle Transit Blog

Correction: See the underlined and struck-out text in paragraph 3. In a wide-open race for State Senator from the 34th District (representing West Seattle, Burien, and Vashon Island), there are several good candidates from whom to choose. Joe Nguyen stands out as having a razor-sharp understanding of transit and land use issues, and firm commitment […]

I’M GONNA BE THE VOICE ON PUBLIC TRANSIT IN MY HOMETOWN OF VANCOUVER. pic.twitter.com/JduvqtqU3o — Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) July 26, 2018

Portland TriMet recently rolled out the first-of-its-kind-in-the-US “virtual” smart card. The virtual Hop Fastpass account requires use of GooglePay on an Android smartphone, but doesn’t require getting or using a physical Hop Fastpass. The smartphone accessing the account provides all the functionality of the physical Hop Fastpass, using the same motion of briefly holding the […]

SDOT announced last week that a key stretch of 4th Ave S will get a bus lane this Fall. The project extends the existing northbound bus lane between Jackson and Weller further south to the I-90 exit Royal Brougham Way. This lane will be 24/7, though cars will be allowed to turn right. SDOT will […]

Sound Transit staff will inform the agency’s board today that the Federal Way Link extension’s official cost estimate will increase from $2.088 billion to $2.549 billion. The notice comes a year after the agency announced similar budgeting problems for the Lynnwood Link extension. According to Sound Transit spokesperson Scott Thompson, the Federal Way cost increase […]

Mayor Durkan’s grim record on transit. Electric buses also have public health benefits. Many bus riders apparently not reading STB. This Times article ($) on streetcar mishaps got a lot of attention, but it’s not clear what facts actually emerge in the article. You won’t believe what the WSDOT head said. I’m proud of him. […]

Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff has suggested the agency is exploring creative financing options for Everett Link that shift some costs outside of agency debt limits. If successful, this would mitigate the risk of project delays as Sound Transit bumps up against statutory limits on debt in the 2030s, and may even accelerate the timetable. […]

Nice interactive chart and map that shows bus bunching on Pittsburgh’s busiest bus corridors. I’d love to see something like this for Seattle.

After 15 months of relatively easy digging, Sound Transit celebrated the completion of East Link tunnel excavation in Downtown Bellevue. The tunnel will carry East Link trains from East Main Station (at 112th Avenue and Main Street) to Bellevue Downtown Station (at Bellevue Transit Center and the city hall), traveling for 1,984 feet under 110th […]

RapidRide H (Delridge) now at 10% design, slipping from 2020 to 2021. Jon Talton argues for the CCC ($) in the Times. 9th Avenue gets red paint. Seattle has so. much. parking. ($) Ofo backing out of most U.S. cities. I hope Seattle survives the cut, but SDOT jacking up fees seems ill-timed. A timetable […]

Transit has no stronger advocate in the State Legislature than Sen. Marko Liias. Liias serves as Vice Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, where he has been able to speak up against non-sensical efforts to undermine transit agencies, and advocate for more investment in public transit, with huge success. STB has covered Liias’ career championing […]

Outside of Seattle, very few candidates are mentioning transit these days. It seems to be an ebb tide in willingness of politicians, including Democrats, to stand up for transit. Swimming against this tide is Shoreline Deputy Mayor Jesse Salomon, whom we endorsed when he got elected to the Shoreline City Council in 2015. Salomon proved […]

On Monday, the Sound Transit West Seattle and Ballard Link stakeholder advisory group, which includes transit advocates, prominent community members, and business and labor leaders, moved further along the process of selecting alignments and station locations for the West Seattle and Ballard light rail lines. In Monday’s meeting in Union Station’s Sound Transit boardroom, agency […]

On Thursday, the Puget Sound Regional Council’s (PSRC) Transportation Policy Board (TPB) recommended that five transit projects receive additional Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) funding in 2021-22. The projects were part of a larger disbursement of federal transportation funds, including highway funding, which must be approved in a meeting of the PSRC’s Executive Board on July […]

Last year Mercer Island settled its lawsuit with Sound Transit for some money to improve access issues for the future Mercer Island Station. I’m pleased to say that one of those programs will be easy to like: a 25-Ebike pilot program with Limebike, running from mid-July to mid-October. The Mercer Island Reporter says that Limebike […]

True to their word, climate activists that found reasons to oppose I-732’s carbon tax have gathered the signatures for a new measure, I-1631. It’s now virtually assured of appearing on your November 2018 ballot. The measure would levy a “pollution fee” on the carbon content of all consumed fossil fuels, and electricity generated or imported […]

According to a University of Toronto paper published in June, the growth of Uber has increased transit ridership in cities across the United States, with some caveats. The conclusions of the paper support the premise behind last-mile pilot projects on Mercer Island and in Pierce County, and backs up Lyft’s strategy to integrate ride hailing […]

Metro permanently closing some 5 and 21 stops to speed things up. Route 120 (RapidRide H) can get more funding under new Transportation Benefit District rules Businesses may push Mayor Durkan to end foot-dragging on the streetcar ($). Link operator helps police subdue threatening passenger; policy immediately changes to prevent that in the future. E-Bikes […]

Mark your calendars for July 21. That’s the date that Convention Place Station will close permanently, heralding the upcoming end of bus service through the downtown transit tunnel. As we mentioned last month, buses will access the tunnel using a temporary ramp from 9th Avenue between Pine Street and Olive Way. The ramp is nearing […]

The One Center City (OCC) Advisory Group, tasked with developing a plan to increase mobility in central Seattle during the impending period of maximum constraint, released its recommendations for near term capital projects in June. The plan must still be approved by the Seattle City Council and other stakeholders. Early discussions proposed transformational changes downtown and […]

Details on Uber Bikes in Seattle Downtown Bellevue tunneling ahead of schedule Local YIMBY movement profile $1.2B grant request for Lynnwood Link French city trying out free transit on weekends The flat fare is now in effect All-door boarding is a good idea, more cities should do it 730,000 people live in Seattle Big plans for […]

Last Thursday, the Sound Transit Board was briefed about progress on East Link and the related Downtown Redmond Link Extension. East Link construction has been well underway for a few months, with visible progress from Mercer Island to Overlake, while the Downtown Redmond extension is still in early design and is awaiting the publication of […]

0:00 – intro 2:19 – CCC to Trolleybus 9:19 – ORCA 10:50 – Gondola 15:41 – Montlake transfers 22:48 – Northgate truncation? 27:04 – Strategies for advocacy 31:15 – Rainier BRT 32:25 – CCC’s future 33:39 – link transfers 40:09 – Colman dock 42:10 – escalators in link stations 43:53 – advocacy for HOV lanes 50:06 […]

As part of the fare restructure that brought King County Metro’s $2.75 regular flat fare, effective this week, King County Metro has gotten all four counties in the ORCA pod to make the first Regional Reduced Fare Permit free for each recipient, also effective this week. Regional Reduced Fare Permits are for seniors 65 or […]

Frank and I are going to tape another podcast mailbag. Please put your questions in the comments below this afternoon. As always, try to keep it to a single question, and make it one that can actually be answered. Thanks.

Transit and Urbanism advocates are used to a defensive crouch when hearing news from Olympia. But buried in a supplemental budget earlier this spring, the Departments of Ecology and Commerce created a great new program. The Governor’s Budget request included $7.4m for the Healthy Housing Remediation Program (HHRP) . Nonprofit organizations identify contaminated sites that […]

Sound Transit will implement positive train control (PTC) on all Sounder trips by the end of 2018, according to Sound Transit Director of Systems Engineering Peter Brown. In a presentation to the Sound Transit board on Thursday, Brown summarized the progress of PTC implementation. In 2008, the federal government mandated that all commuter rail systems […]

Don’t believe the hype on microtransit. 144 affordable homes going in at Mt. Baker. Finally. Construction beginning over Capitol Hill Station. Finally. 3,000 Metro drivers, an all-time high. Tweaks to Lynnwood Link Station designs. ST has a new deputy CEO ($), Kimberly Farley, a veteran of many large construction projects. UW Station escalator purchase was […]

Today, Richmond gets a new bus network and a new BRT line named the Pulse.

by KATIE WILSON and SAM SMITH, Transit Riders Union Dear Members of the Sound Transit Board, The Transit Riders Union is concerned that Sound Transit is passing up an important opportunity to serve the densest neighborhood in Washington: First Hill. Thousands of constituents in each of your districts commute to First Hill each day. And […]

In a surprise move earlier this month, King County officials decided to restart the process that could eventually construct hundreds of affordable housing units within walking distance of the Northgate Station. The decision will likely delay construction of an eventual dense, mixed-use transit oriented development project. The revamped process could yield hundreds more units of […]

A look at a unique automated transit system that represents an idea people have proposed from time to time but never became mainstream.