Seattle Transit Blog

One day, all these cranes will be gone. And I will miss them.

What conclusions can we draw from the ST3 precinct map? (1:50) Real-time arrival info for Link remains elusive (16:20) Open gangways and ST’s culture (26:30) Assorted thoughts on 2016 and Seattle Transit (39:30) How you can make a difference in the age of Trump (51:40) Farewell Tim Burgess (1:01:30) http://traffic.libsyn.com/seattletransitblog/STB_podcast_031.mp3 Correction from the podcast: The next 45th District […]

ST signs $1.99 billion USDOT loan that will save it $200-300m. Tacoma building microhousing with no parking, teaching Seattle a thing or two. Multifamily market cooling a bit. Pierce Transit will start subsidizing Uber rides to feed transit. King County watching closely. Update to the Pedestrian Master Plan. Some P&Rs full by 7am. Tim Eyman […]

Two park & rides on the Eastside will close in early 2017 for East Link construction. The South Bellevue P&R, with current capacity of 519 cars, is expected to close later in the first quarter. It will reopen in five years with an expanded capacity of 1,500 cars in a five-level garage. In the second quarter, the smaller […]

2016 is the 25th year of the Chicago Transit Authority’s Holiday Train. This year, CTA added an Elves’ Workshop Train so more riders can experience the tradition. There is also a Holiday Bus.

If you’re like me and you (1. generally loathe Christmas music and (2. love cities and transit and (3. love a good Spotify playlist, here are 50 songs for your (hopefully lazy) Christmas weekend. Drawn from my personal tastes, and graciously including only one insufferable yet spot on Arcade Fire song, this loosely topical urbanist playlist ranges from […]

Helmet laws are bad for bike share ($). King County Comprehensive Plan approved. Commute Seattle hiring an outreach coordinator. Man falls 50 feet from the TIBS platform. Seattle highway congestion — whatever that means — up 35% over the period 2013-2015; except, notably, the highways that are tolled. The saga of the Alaska Junction bus shelters […]

Earlier this month WSDOT came out with its annual Summary of Public Transportation, its comprehensive accounting of just how much transit service exists in Washington, how much it costs, and where the money comes from. Of course, very little service is funded or provided directly by our state, ranking us near the bottom of “Blue States” in […]

Christmas and New Years Day fall on Sunday this year, so both are celebrated on Monday by various transit agencies. Washington State Ferries adds and subtracts some runs on Christmas and New Years Day, so check your route’s schedule and alerts, and be sure to make a reservation if the route allows it. Some services […]

Over three-and-a-half years ago Sound Transit launched a study to solve the myriad problems blocking proper real-time arrival information at Link Stations. Since that time, the returns have been meager: ST took responsibility for OneBusAway from the University of Washington. OneBusAway still reports only scheduled data for Link. Only the two U-Link stations have onsite displays […]

The Sound Transit Board of Directors met Thursday afternoon to conduct monthly business, and approve four annual documents. The Board adopted the 2017 Service Implementation Plan, and authorized the CEO to implement recommended service changes in 2017. Zach detailed the service additions last month. Board Member Rob Johnson pointed out public comments calling for late […]

Some years ago, I lived in a residential community east of Woodinville. It’s a typical late 1970s subdivision with houses on acre-lots surrounded by tall trees; the kind of place where deer graze in the yard by day and bears sometimes visit by night. After the Growth Management Act was adopted in 1990, the neighborhood was […]

Route 269 to Sammamish to run all day beginning next year. Bellevue Tunnel work to begin this month. What to do around Tukwila/International Blvd Station. Capitol Hill public meeting about new development complains about parking — that there’s too much of it. ST’s loans from USDOT get good credit ratings from Fitch. ST celebrates by selling more […]

Sound Wave, Sounders FC’s marching band, video by padge6108 In what is becoming a fun but disruptive tradition, Seattle will be holding a victory parade for another sportsball champion, the Seattle Sounders, who will take over a swath of north downtown mid-day Tuesday. Link Light Rail will be running 3-car trains all day, and a […]

This is a classic Oran video from 2010. Link Light Rail is much faster and safer than driving in the snow.

CT is happy with early ridership numbers from new routes 109 and 209, at 250 and 180 riders per day, respectively. Dow Constantine is one of eight figures nationwide to win “Public Official of the Year.” We’re lucky to have him. Fresh off downzoning their downtown, Mercer Island considers removing the only bike lane through it, in favor […]

Welcome everyone to the return of Link Ridership posts. I took a bit of break and what do you know, ST went and opened up a couple new stations. Turns out they are quite popular and not only are running at 2018 projections for ridership, but they appear to have broken the previous pattern. We’re […]

TBM Cutterhead Lift 120516 30s from Sound Transit Video on Vimeo. Though Sound Transit’s Tunnel Boring Maching #1 (formerly ‘Brenda’) reached UW station in September, Sound Transit only retrieved the cutter head yesterday (because football). TBM #1 has been a true workhorse for Sound Transit, completing 6 of the 10 tunnel segments for University Link […]

The story of building London’s Victoria Line in the 1960s. It featured new construction techniques, like tunnel boring machines and freezing the ground to stabilize it. There were challenges like retrofitting existing stations for interchange with the new line, including diverting trains into new tunnels by constructing a new underground track junction around an operating tunnel. The line also introduced […]

Seoul report card Waterfront highway Listener mailbag Olive Way Mt. Baker TCC and SeaSub http://traffic.libsyn.com/seattletransitblog/STB_podcast_030.mp3

New regulations from the Federal Railroad Administration could open up exciting new options for passenger rail in the Northwest. These updates have been in the pipeline for some time now and are finally ready for public review. The first of the new rules creates a new “Tier III” for high-speed passenger rail. Tier I covers speeds […]

Port of Seattle will enclose the Link/airport walkway soon within 3 weeks, eyeing plans to add a moving walkway. Pronto will die in April 2017. There will be no bikeshare in Seattle for at least a few months. But Cascade Bicycle Club is taking a victory lap for the overall bike component of the budget. […]

Whenever I visit Portland, about 10 minutes before arrival I always buy a Trimet Day Pass for $5 on my phone. This enables occasional users like me to use transit at will without giving a second thought to fare media. Well, Seattle is finally catching up. On Thursday, King County Metro and Sound Transit […]

Frank and I will tape a podcast soon. If there’s a question you’d like us to answer, please leave it in the comments over the next couple of days.

Back in January 2015, Sound Transit announced a $1.3B federal loan for East Link, the largest single disbursement in the history of the “TIFIA” program. Taking advantage of the continuing low cost of capital in the wake of the 2008-2009 recession, the loan provided favorable repayment terms and a rock-bottom interest rate (2.38%). Well, here comes […]

The ST3 program is widely viewed as disappointing for Kirkland. The city wasn’t quite passed over: I-405 BRT will serve Totem Lake and NE 85th St in 2024, and rail will extend to South Kirkland in 2041. But most observers focus on the missed opportunity to connect Downtown Kirkland via the Eastside Rail Corridor. Why did […]

Why is Roosevelt development so far ahead of Northgate? 165 new units in Downtown Kent. Restricting development is incompatible with progressive politics. So of course, some unions and immigrant groups are fighting development. HALA Briefing for West Seattle comes up with lots of excuses for why development can’t occur in particular stretches. U-District upzone meeting […]

Lakewood Station finally gets a reverse-peak commuter trip from Seattle … on Black Friday only. Photo from Sound Transit on flickr Many transit agencies close down for Thanksgiving, and a few reduce service the day after. Sound Transit is continuing its tradition of providing at least some Sounder service the day after, with two morning […]