Seattle Transit Blog

The Sound Transit 3 Draft Plan includes a lot of parking. Just how much? The agency plans to build 9,700 new stalls (8,300 net) in 16 new parking garages and two new surface lots. The total cost is $661m in 2014 dollars, or a staggering $80,000 per space. Taken in aggregate, each commuter using these […]

King County Metro is running a survey on late night service from now until May 4. Metro bus service nearly universally evaporates after 2 am. Even the routes that continue to run do so less than hourly, making them nearly unusable. Routes that shadow Link Light Rail trips (not including the dozens within the downtown […]

SEATTLE SUBWAY This evening, Sound Transit will be holding the first of its open houses on the ST3 draft plan. Being in Ballard, a key point of discussion will be the downtown to Ballard light rail extension. Ridership on the 7-mile line from SODO to 15th and Market in Ballard is going to be very […]

[Clarification: the post states that carsharing vehicles have “the right to park…in any legal parking spot at no charge”. While users do not pay for street parking at the point of use, the city does charge a flat annual fee of $1,730 per vehicle, amounts are adjusted annually based upon actual usage, and such fees are […]

In order to protect the life and property of those who travel on the fragile and decrepit Alaskan Way Viaduct, the structure will close early in the morning of April 29th to allow Bertha to attempt to tunnel 378′ underneath it. The machine will dive under a steel and carbon reinforced structure ($) in the vicinity […]

CHS: The Seattle Department of Transportation, which is handling funding and construction for the King County Metro line, estimates the project will cost $14.6 – $17.5 million, with $9.4 million already secured through federal grants. Construction will include installing trolley poles, overhead wires, and traction power sub stations. The second phase of the project is […]

Following the lead of the Transit Riders Union, we’ve written a bit lately about the pain points introduced when disjointed interagency fare policies meet an evolving system in which Sound Transit plays an ever stronger role. With the ULink restructure incentivizing transfers between agencies at a greater clip than ever before, much noise has been made […]

After a delay of over a year, Sound Transit opened the south platform at Mukilteo’s Sounder station on Monday. The platform and accompanying pedestrian bridge wesre opened with a ribbon-cutting that afternoon attended by Mukilteo Mayor Jennifer Gregerson, Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff, Everett City Councilmember and Sound Transit Boardmember Paul Roberts, and Snohomish County Executive and Sound […]

The Seattle Weekly looks at the $611M for parking in the ST3 Draft Plan. Metro is looking at a potential restructure of Late Night/Owl bus service and wants to hear how you use transit late at night (survey closes May 4). Demolition of the first 11 homes along 112th Ave SE are set to begin as East Link’s construction […]

Video by Oran Pete Lorimer had an excellent suggestion in the thread about the arrival of peak 3-car trains last month: If Link is running a mix of three and two-car trains, people won’t want to wait at the location of the third car in case the next train doesn’t have one. Then they will […]

Martin’s on vacation, so Frank and Zach talk about ST3, the Seattle Process, Pronto bike share, and what it’s like reporting for STB. http://traffic.libsyn.com/seattletransitblog/STB_podcast_014.mp3 As always, you can subscribe in iTunes. Also, if you like the show, leave us a review.

Across the region, everyone is talking about how long Sound Transit 3 projects are going to take, and there is no shortage of opinions about what the sources of delay are. As it stands, the 7.1-mile segment from Ballard to Chinatown/International District, including 9 stations and a tunnel from Mercer Street south, would cost between […]

The Issaquah Press is reporting that Issaquah Mayor and Sound Transit Boardmember Fred Butler has suffered a heart attack Sunday evening and is in stable condition at the Issaquah campus of Swedish Medical Center. Mayor Butler, 75, is a jovial and well-liked advocate for Issaquah at all levels of government. City Council President Stacy Goodman is […]

Last year 138 social service organizations throughout King County distributed over 1.4 million bus tickets to the people they serve: low-income youth, the homeless, the unemployed, refugees, veterans, seniors and people with disabilities living off meager social security payments. King County’s pioneering ORCA LIFT program is a welcome relief for low-income riders who can afford […]

Traffic in Seattle is notoriously terrible, and the most oft-cited causes are strong economic growth and lack of rapid transit. While both of those factors are at play, it’s underappreciated just how the details or our freeway construction actively contribute to our daily traffic headaches. Put aside for a moment the myriad complaints about I-5 in Seattle […]

Have questions about ST3 and want to ask them directly of the powers that be? Tomorrow evening is your chance. Tuesday evening from 5:30-7:00pm in Union Station’s Ruth Fisher Boardroom, Transportation Choices Coalition will host its latest in its series of “Transit Talks”, this one devoted entirely to ST3. TCC’s Director Shefali Ranganathan will join County Executive […]

February was the last full month of Original Segment ridership data. But we’re not quite finished. When the March numbers are released Zach will request ridership by day so there will be one last post before we shift gears to U Link ridership. Look for a more retrospective and even predictive post at that time. […]

. . Sound Transit and King County Metro have been brainstorming ways to make their free-ride programs work for each others’ services, in response to a petition by the Transit Riders Union. The county distributes paper tickets through non-profit agencies that serve homeless clientele. These tickets are honored on ST Express buses operated by Metro. […]

Opened in 1902, first Pacific Electric interurban rail line between Los Angeles and Long Beach was the last to close on April 9, 1961. As seen in this film, the trains and tracks were in very poor condition while new freeways were being built. Much of it reopened as the Blue Line light rail in […]

One thing I neglected to mention in my recent suggestion for better span of service on restructured Metro routes was that Metro had already set aside a cache of service hours within the restructure to proactively respond to overcrowding and reliability issues. Several STB writers have seen Metro staff in the field tallying riders on key […]

No matter how devoted we may be to a life of transit (or walking or bicycling), etc, most of us still find ourselves behind the wheel at least semi-regularly. After 7 years without a car, I’ve made peace with car ownership and am frankly very glad I again own one. Those of us who grew […]

At around 1:20 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, the cutterhead of TBM #1 (formerly known as “Brenda”) was lifted out of a 95-foot deep retrieval shaft just north of the University of Washington Link station. The 21-foot diameter cutterhead is the first part of the machine to be removed from UW Station, a week after completion of […]

Board members Rob Johnson and Joe McDermott share their critique of the ST3 draft plan. Community Transit speaks up for I-405 tolling; apparently no one else cares enough about alternatives to congestion. Snohomish County legislators suggest other subareas pay more to accelerate construction to Everett. It looks like Renton will be the steward of quality […]

Here’s an inconvenient truth I’ve been thinking about lately: Sound Transit could build faster, but we don’t really want them to. While we may individually clamor for the end product – trains now! – at every step of the way we also work against speedy delivery. We cherish our own democratic participation, we demand that our appeals […]

BY JEREMY FICHTER We appreciate the careful attention the Seattle Transit Blog, riders, and advocates are giving to how service is performing since we implemented the major restructure in Northeast Seattle. We’re watching closely, too, listening and logging customer concerns about specific overcrowded trips, or gaps in service riders would like us to address, and analyzing ridership and performance […]

One of the most common analogies for spine skeptics has been a comparison between Link, BART, and DC Metro. The DC Metro, despite decades of neglect, has much higher ridership than BART in a similarly sized Metro area. Critics often give agencies too much credit — or blame — for ridership when the real causes […]

With the Puget Sound region continuing to add housing and jobs at a rapid clip, and large rapid transit solutions still years (or decades) away, there is increasing pressure to do “something” to facilitate more commuting options and lessen the environmental impact of solo driving. Unfortunately, things that could really make a difference in the […]

NE Seattle subsisted for decades on infrequent half-hourly service, and Metro’s recent restructure (despite some pain) largely doubled weekday service on all major corridors, giving NE Seattle frequent service for the first time and a much stronger base network. But a couple weeks in, it’s become clear that the restructure didn’t quite go far enough, especially in […]

On March 26, bus service along MLK Way between Mt. Baker Station and Rainier Beach Station took a quantum leap forward, with the roll-out of new route 38, which was split off from the infamously-unreliable route 8. But even before the first run, Metro decided to undo the reliability improvement that was the raison d’etre […]

Crossing the Bay from SPUR on Vimeo.

People felt a variety of emotions after Sound Transit released a draft ST3 package. There was excitement that, finally, we would have an opportunity to make progress on bringing rail to areas that have craved it for decades. There was angst that core elements would take a long time, which forced middle-aged advocates like me […]

This weekend WSDOT will throw a Grand Opening for the new 520 Bridge, which will open to cars and transit in phases over the next few weeks. Saturday features a fun run beginning at 7:30am, speeches and ribbon cuttings at 10:30am, and a series of family-friendly activities (and if you get your event passport stamped at […]

During a joint city/county council meeting dealing with transit last week, freshman Seattle City Councilmember Rob Johnson raised a good point: Fare enforcement officers have been giving warnings to pay, and encouraging riders to get an ORCA card and use it, but have not been giving out free ORCA cards. .@CMRobJohnson asks for Fare Enforcement […]

One of the more unusual effects of the ST3 Draft Plan coming out just 5 days after ULink opened is that ULink has had an exceptionally short period of joy, celebration, and awe. The euphoria of its opening has been largely replaced by the oxygen required to analyze and react to the next big thing. Though Sound Transit threw […]

It’s Plate of Nations time again in the MLK corridor, now conveniently reachable from Capitol Hill and UW. App-based ride services soon allowed at Seatac ($). Angle Lake construction allegedly harming local businesses ($). Freighthouse Square deal back on track. Snohomish County leaders say 25-year ST3 timeline is “unacceptable.” Indeed, dismay at the delivery time […]

SEATTLE SUBWAY When most Seattleites saw the draft ST3 plan that Sound Transit released on Thursday, they were taken aback. 22 years to get to Ballard with a long section at-grade? 15 years to get to West Seattle? None of the other extensions we need? Seattleites were expecting more out of a $50 Billion dollar […]

Now that Sound Transit has released its Draft System Plan – a 25 year, $50B behemoth that would build Link from Everett to West Seattle, Ballard to Tacoma, and Bellevue to Issaquah – it’s time for you to come out and provide feedback on project selection, project phasing, financing, and more. In addition to Sound Transit’s online survey, […]

Recently the DC Metro, which has had its share of challenges over the last few years, was closed for an entire day for an impromptu safety inspection. During the outage someone tweeted this article from The Washingtonian about how bad things have gotten at the agency. Once the shining example of postwar US rail, the system is starting to […]

With ULink’s opening and Metro’s unprecedented service changes in NE Seattle and Capitol Hill, it’s been a quiet few months for the proposed SE Seattle restructure that it’s safe to say we’ve had a few reservations about. On Monday, Metro transmitted a scaled back version for consideration by the King County Council (Metro blog post here). It will […]

Frank and Martin talk about Ulink opening for a bit, then shift to the ST3 draft plan. We take a detour through the sustainability of the suburban model and speculate about a low-carbon future. Finally, the Washington caucuses. https://media.blubrry.com/seattletransitblog/s3.amazonaws.com/stb-wp/wp-content/podcasts/STB_podcast_013.mp3 As always, you can subscribe in iTunes.

There is only one fare medium that allows you to get free transfers between Link Light Rail and buses: the One Regional Card for All (ORCA). ORCA is a “smart card”, which you use by holding it flat against the reception area of an ORCA reader, until you hear a single beep. I keep my […]

If waiting until 2038 for a Ballard line has got you down, watch this 25-minute 1975 KOMO documentary on urban growth and transportation plans for Seattle. It surveys the current options for growth, what agencies might play a leading role, and ends with the emerging consensus for building the DSTT and the I-90 HOV lanes, both of […]

One idea of how corner stores could fit into a residential zone. An integral part of Seattle neighborhood history and appeal is quickly being lost. Corner stores were once a staple of neighborhood life in Seattle, and remain so in many of the most vibrant cities around the world. They speak of a time when […]

Last weekend’s long-awaited ULink opening has been a smashing success, with UW and Capitol Hill boosting Link ridership by nearly 50% in a matter of days ($). More impressively, this is being done both prior to the big Metro restructure tomorrow and prior to UW students returning from Spring Break on Monday. With many reports of train […]

This afternoon Sound Transit released its long-awaited Sound Transit 3 (ST3) Draft System Plan, the first complete draft of what will be on your ballot this fall. We’ll have much more in the coming days and weeks, but here’s the gist. Responding both to enormous demand for better transit and public appetite for a large […]

Biking to UW Station is… popular. Stats about Capitol Hill Station. U-Link creates overjoyed commuters ($). As revenues improve, ST sends more money to Federal Way Link preparations. Mayor Murray wants to electrify Seattle’s cars. Housing construction depressing rents. Judkins Park Station breaks ground next year. Community Transit speaks up for transit users everywhere, argues […]

Last evening, Sound Transit announced that this Monday they would start running “a mix of two and three-car trains during the morning and evening rush hours.” Ridership has been robust early on, and there’s been a minor twitter uprising to push for more capacity. Tweets about @soundtransit car trains since:2016-03-21 until:2016-03-23 Moreover, Metro hasn’t even […]

As previously reported, Community Transit is moving ahead with a minor increase in service brought on by the successful passage of Proposition 1 last November. Beginning Sunday, March 27, 15 new trips and six extended trips will be put in place on seven local routes (including Swift) and nine commuter routes; other routes will […]