Seattle Transit Blog

New proposals for a second tunnel would increase cost, but none provide a compelling rider experience. Let’s just improve our existing tunnel and use the savings to make up for lost time on other projects. ST3 promised higher capacity transit through downtown by building a second tunnel with seamless transfers at Westlake and Chinatown/International District … Continue reading "A win-win for the CID dilemma: Stick with current tunnel"

Washington Supreme Court struck down fare-enforcement checks by police. ($) Fare ambassadors, who are not police and focus on education, still appear allowed. Sound Transit and Metro switched to fare ambassadors several months ago. The decision (thanks Tlsgwm). Downtown Seattle work commutes continue to evolve. ($) (Mike Lindblom) 60% of 320,000 workers come to the … Continue reading "Open Thread: No Fare Police"

In my last post a few weeks ago, I argued that Sound Transit is uniquely exposed to changes in regional commute trips caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, that it has yet to pivot the ST3 package of investments in a meaningful way (aside from the wrong-headed proposal to consolidate the Madison and CID stations), and … Continue reading "How I’d pivot ST3 post-Covid and mitigate the CID conundrum"

In “Every City NEEDS a Transit Hub”, Reece Martin at RMTransit explains how sticking with the originally-planned second CID Link station is a unique opportunity to create the biggest and most-used multimodal transit hub in the Pacific Northwest. It would connect all of Link lines 1, 2, and 3, Sounder, Amtrak Cascades, Greyhound, the First … Continue reading "A CID2 Link Station is Important"

“North of CID” station concept for the Ballard Link extension: Portland transit network review (RMTransit) Mostly MAX, a bit on fares, buses, WES commuter rail, and bikeshare. Are urban growth boundaries effective? (City Beautiful) With examples of Seattle and Portland. Yes, there’s walking in L.A. ($) A meditation on Rosencrans Avenue. It’s not a walker’s … Continue reading "News Roundup: Walking in LA"

Metro has several bus route changes starting next Saturday, March 18. The reroute on routes 11 and 49 is part of Seattle’s Pike-Pine rechannelization, which is optimizing the corridor for pedestrians, bicycles, and transit, while still allowing cars. The city is currently widening the sidewalks at 1st & Pine. It recently added traffic lights or … Continue reading "Spring Service Changes"

It’s fairly well-established at this point that bus driver shortages nationwide are hampering transit recovery efforts. The problem is particularly acute at Metro, which is currently short over 100 full-time operators. These impacts have bled downstream to affect a substantial number of riders, who often endure cancelled trips and gutted service with insufficient notice. While … Continue reading "Transit recovery will not be successful unless the operator deficit is fixed"

We have until this Friday, March 10th to comment on the Metro Bus Restructure for Lynnwood Link. I’ve written about the initial plan, made suggestions and explored ideas on the subject. Here are my recommendations, in order of priority: To visualize these changes. I came up with two maps, the first of which is oriented … Continue reading "Comment Soon on the Lynnwood Link Bus Restructure"

Metro will expand its on-demand taxi service ($). (Official announcement.) These are app-hailed vans like Uber, charging regular Metro fares within a few last-mile service areas. Starting Monday, It will unify existing services (Via, Pingo, Community Ride) under a new brand “Metro Flex” wth a new app. Service areas are “northern Kent, Tukwila, Renton Highlands, … Continue reading "News Roundup: Metro Taxis"

Get Link done ($), says ST’s Technical Advisory Group in a report to the board. The group suggests taking a harder line against local government requests, and treating contractors better. Reconnect South Park gets grant to study removing Highway 99 through the neighborhood. Zoning, Explained (City Beautiful) New York state considers joining the zoning-override bandwagon … Continue reading "News Roundup: Get Link Done"

Seattle is currently soliciting input until the end of February for phase 2 of their Transportation Plan engagement efforts: https://seattletransportationplan.infocommunity.org/ – Seattle should strive to become a city of 15min neighborhoods and if necessary use ultra-high frequency transit such as urban gondola lines, people movers, funiculars or 3min BRT lines on dedicated lanes to bridge … Continue reading "Seattle Transportation Plan: How to achieve a 15min city with the help of ultra-high frequency transit"

Last week, Amazon announced a three-day return-to-office (RTO), sparking muted fanfare among the downtown business community but backlash from its workers. Starbucks announced a similar policy several weeks back and it remains to be seen what the long-term trend will be for major employers in our region. I’ve been thinking a lot about the post-pandemic recovery … Continue reading "Cities can’t rely on employer RTOs to recover"

This is another in a series of posts about the bus restructure following the Lynnwood Link extension. This one is geared towards Seattle, although the maps include north King County as well. As before, they cover a number of themes. There is one additional theme worth mentioning: There are advantages and disadvantages to this approach. … Continue reading "Seattle Bus Restructure for Lynnwood Link"

Following a Seattle Times article, the Seattle Bike Blog joins the discussion. (I think the buildings should wear more visible clothing, and stop talking on their phone.) The Urbanist looks at Sound Transit adding retail to the stations. There will be some late night work on the Link rails starting tonight. For a complete list … Continue reading "News Roundup: Cars Running into Buildings"

ST3 passed enthusiastically in the Seattle region because voters were excited to get mobility improvements. However, Sound Transit has had trouble coming up with compelling designs to deliver on this promise. To address this problem, we should revisit some of the design assumptions. Vancouver’s SkyTrain and Montreal’s REM took far less time to design and … Continue reading "The case for Automated Light Metro Technology for Ballard and South Lake Union"

The deadline for comments on studies for the West Seattle and Ballard Link extensions is today. Please ask the board to study sending the trains into the existing tunnel, rather than building a new one. Benefit to Riders From a rider standpoint, reusing the existing tunnel would be fairly simple. All the trains would mix, … Continue reading "Ask Sound Transit to Study Sending Ballard and West Seattle Trains Through the Existing Tunnel"

[UPDATE: Several factual corrections, courtesy of Sound Transit. – MHD] Sound Transit’s System Expansion Committee met on February 9th to review the results of studies on details of the West Seattle and Ballard Link Extension (WSBLE). The full ST board will meet February 22nd to consider this, and March 23rd to choose a preferred alignment … Continue reading "Sound Transit reviews WSBLE study results"

The Pierce Transit Board of Commissioners voted unanimously today to approve a proposal to have Pierce Transit join the ORCA LIFT low-income fare program, bringing its extent to all transit services that accept ORCA except Washington State Ferries. Pierce Transit’s ORCA LIFT fare will be $1, joining King County Metro, all Sound Transit services, the … Continue reading "$1 low-income fare will expand to Pierce Transit"

Bangkok has four rail systems. (RMTransit video) Thailand’s development went through a car-oriented phase, but is now turning toward transit, and is building high-speed rail lines and improving Bangkok transit. This is similar to the trajectory The Netherlands went through forty years earlier. At 12:39 you can see a train door and interior that looks … Continue reading "News Roundup: Bangkok"

Seattle’s streetcar dithering criticized in federal audit ($). Federal grant administrators are getting anxious about delays in spending the City Center Connector grant money, and grants for the Broadway streetcar extension (from Denny to Roy), and a SODO overpass grant. But the feds also gave Seattle a grant to improve SODO’s pedestrian and bicycle safety. … Continue reading "News Roundup: Streetcar"

There is also an online election, not on the mailed ballot, for the King Conservation District Board of Supervisors, on February 14. Correction: Although the King Conservation District is countywide, “County” is not in the name. That is a statewide practice, not a local attempt to make the district even more invisible than it already … Continue reading "Weekend Open Thread: Initiative 135 on Feb 14"

This is another in a series of posts about the Lynnwood Link bus restructure. This covers the area north of Seattle. I have two maps, but neither should be considered a full-fledged proposal. They are a set of ideas, and I doubt either would be adopted in its entirety. The first one is austere — … Continue reading "North End Modifications to the Lynnwood Link Connections Plan"

As we covered a while back, Metro is gathering input on bus routes following the implementation of Lynnwood Link. They have initially proposed a sizable service gap along Lake City Way, as well as limited connectivity in the area. This should be fixed. Current Service and Future Plans There are three buses that run on … Continue reading "All of Lake City Way Should Have Frequent Bus Service"

Sound Transit releases WSBLE study results and new options (for the West Seattle and Ballard Link Extension). Public input until February 17. ST2 Link openings scheduling. Staff are exploring the possibility of opening the East Link starter line without delaying Lynnwood Link’s opening, a partial ST Express restructure with the starter line (no specific routes … Continue reading "News Roundup: Lots of Things"

Like many people in the Puget Sound region, Covid has changed my commute patterns and my use of transit. As a result – and perhaps not surprisingly – my posting here has gone down dramatically as well. But one thing I have been thinking quite a bit about is how the ST3 package could pivot … Continue reading "Rethinking ST3 in the Covid Era"

The buses in the north end of the county will be restructured with the arrival of Lynnwood Link. A big part of this is the new Stride S3 route (also known as Stride 522). Some have called for a “shadow” of this new frequent and fast, limited-stop route. What is a bus shadow, anyway? The … Continue reading "Does the Stride S3 (522) Need a Shadow?"

KUOW’s Week in Review podcast today discusses several relevant topics: Kshama Sawant will leave the Seattle city council this term to form a national movement. The state legislature is considering a wealth tax, a basic income for low-income people, and raising the minimum zoning in single-family areas. Possible zoning alternatives are 2-plex, 4-plex, 6-plex, either … Continue reading "Open Thread: North American Buses"

Here’s a list of the retail open in selected parts of the midtown retail district in downtown Seattle. I inventoried Westlake Mall, Pacific Place, Pine Street between 9th and 3rd Avenues, and the emptiest part of 3rd Avenue between Olive Way and Union Street. I also did a less-extensive look at Pike Street, and did … Continue reading "Downtown Retail Inventory"

On January 11th, Sound Transit held the second Interbay-Ballard workshop to prepare for a route selection by the Board in March. The workshop summarized the findings from the first workshop and online responses, and then presented a few new options for tunnel stations along 14th and 15th Ave NW. These options were to address some … Continue reading "Ballard Station Workshop"

130th Station in Seattle is estimated to open in mid 2026. (Thanks to eddiew for the link.) This would fit in with other openings thus: I couldn’t find a date for the Swift Green UW Bothell extension. Sources: ELSL/Lynnwood proposal. ST3 realignment adopted Aug 2021. T line. RapidRide G. RapidRide H. RapidRide I. Community Transit … Continue reading "Open Thread: 130th in 2026"

Metro is seeking input on “Phase 2” of Lynnwood Link Connections. In Phase 1 they gathered input on what the public wanted, and now they have taken those ideas and proposed a restructure. There are several themes common with this proposal, which are listed after the map. Fewer Routes and Less Coverage After the Northgate … Continue reading "New Metro Restructure Proposal for Lynnwood Link"

Where the US needs more Interstate highways (Geography King). April Fools in January. Why transit cities are better for everyone (RMTransit) Paris RER is the best commuter rail in the world (RMTransit) What the US gets wrong about trams (RMTransit) This is an open thread.

We usually call Sounder “regional rail” or “commuter rail”, but both terms are ambiguous. Other possible terms like “metropolitan rail”, “local rail”, “express rail”, or “rapid transit” are also ambiguous. That leaves me at a loss with what to call Sounder or RER that’s not ambiguous. The same problem exists with Cascades. “Regional rail” implies … Continue reading "What to call Sounder-type rail?"

Sounder’s ridership is still just a third of pre-pandemic levels ($), even as Link has surpassed its 2019 level and Metro buses have recovered more than half. The Seattle Times headline says “Sounder’s trains future in limbo”. The article goes on to say, “Julie Timm, Sound Transit’s new CEO, said it’s too early to make … Continue reading "New Year’s News Roundup: Sounder Faltering"

The Downtown Seattle Association released an update to its Third Avenue street reconfiguration vision. The DSA is a private organization of business leaders dedicated to promoting shopping and jobs downtown. Here’s our previous coverage in June, and a comment thread in September. The vision describes Third Avenue as “a critical north-south transportation route in downtown … Continue reading "Third Avenue Renovation"

Snow is expected today, although it continues to be unpredictable as it was three weeks ago. Here’s a fresh open thread to discuss it and other topics. Wednesday and Thursday will be unusually cold in the low 20s. Beware of black ice. Metro’s Snow Guide dashboard has a map of which subareas are on snow … Continue reading "Fresh Open Thread"

Sound Transit is getting more serious about an East Link starter line until the defective plinths delaying the lake crossing can be replaced. We earlier covered Claudia Balducci’s original proposal and Sherwin Lee’s plea for good transfers. The delay of the lake crossing has cascading impacts on the Lynnwood extension, which will finish construction first … Continue reading "ST2 Link Progress"

Link public art: history and review ($). Jarrett Walker is writing a second edition of his book “Human Transit”, and is asking for input on what to include. Population-weighted density, or, is Los Angeles denser than New York City? (Pedestrian Observations) Video of San Francisco’s new Central Subway. (Stroll With Me) The most important rail … Continue reading "News Roundup"

Metro sent an email alert today: “After two Metro operators identified a manufacturing issue in the steering system in some vehicles, Metro proactively removed 126 buses from service out of its 1,500-vehicle fleet. The identified problem did not lead to any accidents or injuries. Metro inspected all its buses to ensure all vehicles in service … Continue reading "Metro Cancellations"

Snow started to fall this morning in central Seattle. The National Weather Service expects snow and rain/snow and snow through Thursday, although with little ground accumulation. Enter your zip code for a neighborhood-specific forecast, and scroll down to “Additional Forecasts” and click “Forecast Discussion” for a detailed analysis. Metro’s Snow Guide dashboard has a map … Continue reading "Open Thread: Snow Time"

This is a semi-open thread on transit in Snohomish County. I’m trying this as a new idea to group topics by broad areas. The next one will be on Pierce County in a week or so. If you have any Pierce-related links, or ideas for other semi-open threads, you can email them to contact at … Continue reading "Snohomish County Transit"

Includes comparisons to Europe (of course). The video is an hour long but has several topics of interest to transit fans. This is an open thread.

The Urbanist has a news roundup on Sound Transit and Community Transit activities. Stride 3 (Shoreline-Bothell) is at 60% design. Community Transit is starting to write a new long-range plan. Sound Transit is asking the public about access alternatives at the South Tacoma Sounder station. Other than that there’s been little news, so it’s up … Continue reading "Open Thread: Slow News Day"

Initial election results will be posted at 8:15 pm, then on subsequent days by 4 pm. I assume there will be one or two comments about it. Link will be closed between SODO and Capitol Hill November 11-13. Replacement buses will fill the gap. Trains will continue running north of Capitol Hill and south of … Continue reading "Election Open Thread"

In the next Link expansion, riders will have another shorthand way of identifying stations and navigating the system. The rarely used station pictograms will be retired in favor of a system of station codes based on international best practice. Similar to bus stops, airport gates, and freeway exits, stations will have a 3-digit code consisting … Continue reading "Station Codes will Replace Link Pictograms"

SDOT is planning a north-south cycletrack on Beacon Hill as part of Safe Streets. Separately, a set of recreational trails recently opened in Cheasty Park on the eastern side of the hill. The cycletrack will run along 15th Avenue South and Beacon Avenue South from the José Rizal Bridge to South Spokane Street. This will … Continue reading "Beacon Hill Bike Lanes and Trails"

A proposed pedestrian superblock on East Pike Street, bounded by Broadway, 12th Avenue, East Pine Street, and East Union Street. This looks intriguing. 10th and 11th Avenues already feel almost pedestrian between Pine and Pike Streets, which is pleasant when shopping or attending a nightclub. Having a 3 x 2 block fully pedestrianized area would … Continue reading "News Roundup: Pedestrianizing Pike Street"

More ways to share your thoughts about Seattle transportation. Reflections from a week without driving. Take a survey about bus lanes on Rainier Avenue or bus lane hours on 15th Ave W and Elliott Ave W. Hmm, that second suggestion sounds familiar. Fremont Bridge closing overnight this weekend. What’s next for Safe Streets. This is … Continue reading "News Roundup"

Sound Transit is collecting feedback on the Chinatown-ID station for ST3 starting with an open house tonight. Much has been written about the various options, but it seems clear that the only option even remotely acceptable to the neighborhood is “4th Avenue Shallow.” Even that may be a bridge too far, per Naomi Isaka’s reporting … Continue reading "Chinatown-International District open house tonight"

This is an open thread.