Seattle Transit Blog

Amtrak derailment (1:46) Positive train control (4:56) Free Metro on New Years’ Eve (16:47) Jarrett Walker vs. Elon Musk (21:10) The Dangers of Elite Projection The most expensive mile of subway on Earth (24:58) Transit Riders Union, taxes, and advocacy (33:35) Streetcar turns 10 (42:22) Lynnwood Link garages (51:40) http://traffic.libsyn.com/seattletransitblog/STB_podcast_053.mp3

When we last left Lynnwood link, the light rail extension was $500M over budget. Now, per Mike Lindblom in the Seattle Times, that number has dropped to $300M: By nipping here and tucking there, a Sound Transit manager says his team located $200 million in potential savings to ease a budget crisis in the Northgate-to-Lynnwood […]

2018 is a planning year, not a big one for openings in the Puget Sound region. Openings On July 1st, Metro’s new $2.75 adult flat fare comes into effect. Also, the Regional Reduced Fare Permit — the senior / disabilities version of the ORCA card — will become free some time this year. Amtrak, BNSF, […]

2017 was not a great year, both worldwide and in our little corner of the universe. Here is our customary summary of the 10 most-read and most-commented posts of the past year: Most-Read 1. Mercer Island to Sue Sound Transit, WSDOT (2/13 by Zach Shaner) Mercer Island’s tantrum over HOV lane access was a fine […]

Metro recently released a summary of community feedback on its proposal to move a short segment of routes 3 and 4 from James St to Yesler Wy. As we’ve come to expect with proposals to change the oldest parts of Metro’s network, the feedback was deeply muddled. Metro’s Magic 8-Ball said: “Reply Hazy, Try Again.” Online […]

Seattle test will lead to regulations for dockless bike-share. What the Washington train derailment means for Cascadia high-speed rail. Speed control faces challenges ($), slowly gets rolling on Sounder trains. What Vancouver, B.C., can teach us about housing. When historic preservation clashes with housing affordability. Sightline’s Dan Bertolet catalogs several recent insane decisions from Seattle’s various […]

More and more of us are riding transit every day. But the numbers say we also drive cars ($). 81 percent of Seattle households (including my own) still own at least one car. Many of those who don’t own cars use car sharing from time to time. Cars aren’t a sustainable solution for the majority […]

Despite having all the necessary equipment for positive train control (PTC) operation installed between Everett and Tacoma, the safety system is not fully operational on all Sounder trips, Sound Transit said Wednesday. In a letter to boardmembers, CEO Peter Rogoff said that currently, due to technical issues associated with new deployments, only about 56% of […]

Over a year and a half after the new State Road 520 bridge opened to car traffic, pedestrians and cyclists will finally be able to cross Lake Washington using the floating bridge. The new 2.7-mile 520 bridge shared-use path, linking Seattle and the Eastside, is set to open at 3pm on December 20. Not […]

Amtrak Cascades #501 south from Seattle derailed this morning, while crossing over I-5 in the vicinity of Mounts Road, west of Dupont. There are at least three casualties, many injuries, and some carriages are a total loss. Our thoughts are with survivors, and the families of everyone on board. No root cause has been established, […]

Yellow shirts filled Seattle City Council chambers, holding posters with hundreds of hand-signed petition along the walls. Members of the Transit Riders Union were out in force to voice their opinions to councilmembers, but the topic this time wasn’t potential bus cuts or a push for a low-income transit pass. Instead, the grassroots organization was […]

This is an open thread.

Change is quickly coming to Bellevue as Sound Transit ramps up construction on the East Link Extension. Most recently crews on Monday night began work on the first elevated section of the 14-mile light rail extension, placing two girders that span 112th Avenue Northwest near the future Bellevue Downtown Station. These 117-foot precast girders are […]

When the Alaskan Way Viaduct undergoes demolition next year, WSDOT plans to use the Battery Street Tunnel as a disposal site for the Viaduct’s debris, but a group of residents is pushing for a second life for the 65-year old tunnel. The group Recharge the Battery says anything is better than the current plan to […]

Seattle City Council Member Rob Johnson joins the podcast to talk ST3, HALA, Key Arena and more. ST3 – Crossing the ship canal (1:30) ST3 – West Seattle (5:57) ST3 – Permitting (8:50) 130th Street (14:47) Car tabs (18:46) HALA (23:52) Parking (27:40) Beyond HALA (31:21) Move Seattle Levy (33:29) Key Arena (38:58) http://traffic.libsyn.com/seattletransitblog/STB_podcast_052.mp3

Charles Mudede is latest in a line of columnists (see here, here, here, and here) drawing comparisons between the rapidly appreciating housing markets in Seattle and Vancouver, BC: The forces at work in Vancouver BC’s housing market seem unrelated to those at work in, say, Toronto’s—a city that, like Seattle, has a real economy and […]

Sound Transit will extend its paid permit program at park-and-ride facilities to include solo drivers. The assurance of a guaranteed spot could cost commuters as much as $90 a month if Sound Transit charges the average market rate for these spaces. Currently, carpools with two or more riders are eligible to purchase a $5 parking […]

A new exhibit presents a vision of a fossil-fuel-free mobility system in a city not designed around cars. As automobiles began taking over cities in the early 1900s, an exhibit at the 1939 New York World’s fair titled “Futurama” gave visitors a glimpse of a city twenty years in the future where cars ruled the […]

New York gives pedestrians a head start ($) at key intersections. New York City’s Comptroller describes a bus system in crisis ($). Classic NYC finger-pointing ensues. Civic and business leaders describe a subway system and transit agency in crisis ($). Read Ben Kabak’s take (and visit London) if you want to get really depressed. It […]

As a result of Manka Dhingra’s election, giving Democrats a solid majority in the State Senate (with Sen. Tim Sheldon caucusing with the Republicans), the Senate Democratic Caucus has had to choose new Senate leadership and committee leadership, and redo committee assignments. The new assignments were announced on November 14: Of particular interest to all […]

With a backlog of over 550 lane-miles in need of major maintenance, estimated to cost $970m, and a rapidly growing city, the Seattle Department of Transportation says its 2018 budget attempts to balance the mobility needs of the city while maintaining existing streets and sidewalks. Next year’s city budget, approved November 20, increases SDOT’s budget by […]

When the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel finally got cellular phone service last March, the tentative expectation was that the Beacon Hill Tunnel would follow later this year. University Link has long had it, so Beacon Hill is the last segment that drops calls and freezes page loads. ST spokesperson Kimberly Reason told me earlier this […]

Streamlining ST Express Fare Collection (2:00) Load factors on Link (7:24) Parking Hypocrisy (15:55) The Regional Housing Gap (24:55) Mailbag (29:30) PS: by listener request, the podcast is now available on Google Play as well as iTunes. http://traffic.libsyn.com/seattletransitblog/STB_podcast_051.mp3

Behind every bus driver and Link light rail operator is a team huddled behind a crowd of computer screens, monitoring buses and trains as they traverse the region. Sound Transit’s Link Control Center (pictured above) and King County Metro Transit’s Control Center (TCC) are collocated inside Metro’s Transit Control Center Building on the south side […]

Frank and I are taping soon, so please leave your questions for us in the comments. As always, try to keep it to a single question, and we’ll do the best we can (given no prior preparation) to answer it. We may tape as early as tonight, so don’t dawdle.

Warning: mature subject matter Also, a little background reading: The Guardian reported on how well the campaign has worked. The Telegraph reported in April of 2015 that 100% of women surveyed regarding their experience riding transit in Paris had experienced sexual harassment. Last but not least, a stakeholder trashes the idea of gender-segregated train cars. […]

Last week’s Seattle Times profiles some Phinney activists ($) who are fighting some relatively affordable apartments because the project doesn’t include parking. A McGinn-era policy relaxed parking requirements in frequent transit corridors. The current standard is 15-minute intervals, which nearby Route 5 doesn’t meet due to unreliable trips, and a few schedule adjustments to time transfers […]

The Sound Transit Service Implementation Plan (SIP) is a goldmine of great data. Lizz has already reported on some of the big-picture stuff, but check out this graphic depicting load factors on Link. As one who experiences Link’s load factors daily, I’m fascinated by the patterns that I can recognize. We see the two rush […]