Seattle Transit Blog

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 […]

When voters approved Sound Transit 3 in 2016, they consented to a “provisional alignment” to take trains from roughly 15th & Market to the West Seattle Junction via South Lake Union and Downtown. A long line with a long tunnel through downtown required compromises. Although many felt at the time that ST’s budget estimates were […]

Last week we described the latest concepts for light rail in West Seattle and Ballard. Today, we’ll talk about the path through greater Downtown, from Lower Queen Anne to Chinatown. In a deviation from the follow-the-monorail theme of other segments, the representative alignment skirts the edges of Belltown to provide a direct line to South […]

Explore the interactive documentary from Hervé Cohen that reminds us that beneath the surface, we’re all connected.

Yesterday we discussed the first cut of alternatives for light rail to West Seattle. Today we’ll focus on Ballard and Interbay at the opposite end of the line. The general route is a familiar one, dating back to Forward Thrust in 1968, showing up again in the Monorail vote in 1997, briefly making an appearance […]

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 […]