Seattle Transit Blog

At Tuesday’s Transportation, Economy, and Environment (TrEE) Committee, Councilmember Rod Dembowski will introduce three motions that respond to directives from the major ULink restructure that passed last autumn. In order, they are: Motion 2016-0089 presents the results of the traffic study commissioned by Dembowski to study the general-purpose traffic impacts of adding a northbound bus stop on Montlake […]

Fourteen affordable housing bills, sponsored by a mix of Democrats and Republicans, have gotten, or are scheduled for, committee hearings in Olympia. Two of these bills, HB 2585 and SB 6211, have passed out of their original committees. Any bills that don’t get out of a policy committee by next Friday, February 5, are dead, […]

51 new buses–with options of up to 92 more–are soon coming to the Puget Sound. Sound Transit recently released a Request for Proposals for a joint procurement of double deck transit buses. This joint procurement includes Sound Transit, who currently operates five double deck buses; Community Transit, who operates 45; and Kitsap Transit who evaluated […]

In the long journey to a Sound Transit 3 ballot measure this November, the Draft System Plan is the next step. Expected in March before a Final System Plan is adopted early this summer, the draft plan will select a suite of projects from the list of Candidate Projects that matches the intended tax authority that […]

Kirkland City Council sticks to its principles, supports transit on CKC. Man arrested for assaulting Metro driver. Researchers using mobile phone signals to understand ridership patterns. New dorms ($) coming to UW. I-405 HOT lanes are letting buses move faster. Yet another terrible bill for a directly elected Sound Transit Board, proposed by a couple of […]

The City of Renton is proposing to relocate its transit center as part of ST3. The new center would be located at Rainier Avenue South and Grady Way, just north of the intersection of I-405 and SR 167. It would replace a smaller downtown transit center, adding much more parking and easing access for park-and-ride commuters from the […]

As a Capitol Hill resident I spent a good chunk of the weekend observing the belated launch of the First Hill Streetcar, both actively as a rider and passively as a nearby pedestrian. Though anecdotal observations should be taken with a grain of salt, of course, anecdotes confirming widely-acknowledged structural characteristics should be a bit more […]

The State Environmental Protection Policy Act (SEPA) requires the Washington State Department of Transportation to consider the effects on traffic and parking in its impact statements before construction projects. Impacts to transit operations have not been something WSDOT is required to look at, but House Bill 2757, by Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon (D – Burien), would […]

by RENEE STATON 2016 started with a new, energetic Seattle City Council focused on implementing the Grand Bargain and other recommendations in Mayor Murray’s Housing Affordability and Liveability Agenda (“HALA”). The new year appears to have also renewed efforts by those who oppose the HALA recommendations. Last Wednesday, anti-HALA organizers Greg Hill and Catherine Weatbrook […]

Among the most interesting results of Sound Transit’s BRT studies was essentially no ridership benefit from “high investment” BRT options that spent more to dedicate right-of-way for buses. I asked ST spokesman Geoff Patrick if the ridership model gave a bonus to routes that were more reliable. All models have to ignore certain effects, but omitting […]

UPDATE 1:31pm: The first train will be “approximately noon” on Saturday and service will be free until the Grand Opening. UPDATE: 1:15pm: SDOT has officially announced the launch in a media release, and The Stranger and Seattle Times also have more details. We are still awaiting details on when the first train will be (other than ‘midday’), the duration of […]

A lot of commuters, irate at the ever-increasing bottlenecks due to higher and higher freeway usage, have found their scapegoat: non-general-purpose lanes of any flavor. The problem clearly pre-dated the roll-out of HOT lanes on I-405 north of Bellevue last September. One of my own state representatives, Steve Bergquist (D – 11th District), resisted toll and […]

BY SEATTLE SUBWAY Seattle Subway has submitted comments related to the Sound Transit 3 comment period that ends today for organizations and local governments. As a signatory to the Transit Access Stakeholders letter to the ST board, Seattle Subway strongly supports the principles endorsed by this broad cross-section of community organizations. As the Sound Transit Board […]

Data from Vancouver suggests the path to stable housing prices lies with the type of housing where supply can expand (condos), not fixed (single family). Sound Transit will store buses from Pierce County in a Sodo lot during the day, save $500,000 annually. Mukilteo rail platform will open in “weeks”, after many delays. Shoreline Lynnwood […]

While we wait for ULink’s opening date to be formally announced, I thought it’d be good to share ULink’s weekday schedule so riders can start planning their new trips for late March and beyond. Though the official schedule hasn’t been published, Sound Transit spokesman Bruce Gray confirmed that there will be no new net service to […]

Link’s weekdway ridership was up an impressive 13% in November. It’s looking like Link will finish up the year with around 8% growth. This is especially impressive when you consider that 2014 saw growth of 14.2%. November’s Link Weekday/Saturday/Sunday average boardings were 35,420 / 22,522 / 23,852, growth of 13.2%, 2.1%, and 9.6% respectively over […]

Frank and Martin get together over a cocktail to discuss ST3 options for the Eastside, woes at WSDOT, and the politics of carbon taxes. https://media.blubrry.com/seattletransitblog/s3.amazonaws.com/stb-wp/wp-content/podcasts/STB_podcast_8.mp3

For all the vast differences between Western and Eastern Washington, many political dynamics endure. Much like Seattle vis-à-vis suburban King County, Spokane often finds itself an island of pro-transit urbanity within a largely hostile, anti-transit county. STB (especially former writer Bruce Nourish) has fawned over Spokane Transit Authority (STA) in the past, praising the agency for cutting-edge mapping, […]

King County Metro announced Friday that it has officially sold three of the five George Benson Waterfront Streetcars to the city of St. Louis for $200,000. The vintage streetcars have been idle since construction of Olympic Sculpture Park in 2005 razed their sole maintenance facility. Metro has been looking to sell the cars for some […]

Monday, January 18 is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Many transit agencies reduce their service levels that day, and some that do not run on Sundays, like King County Water Taxis, also take this day off. The South Lake Union Streetcar is usually open on most holidays, but is closed Monday due to street work, […]

A Republican bill to eliminate two of the four express toll lanes on I-405; eliminate tolls in the evening and early morning hours; and get rid of all HOT lanes on 405 in two years if they fail to maintain a speed of 45 mph 90 percent of the time, has a single, somewhat surprising Democratic sponsor: […]

On Tuesday night in front of a joint meeting of the city councils of Bothell, Kenmore, Lake Forest Park, and Shoreline, Sound Transit presented ST3 options for the SR 522 corridor. The tag team of Ric Ilgenfritz and Karen Kitsis presented the lone proposed projects for the area, planning money for light rail on SR […]

Not so long ago, prospects for an ST3 investment in rail from Totem Lake to Issaquah seemed remote. There were too many competing priorities within a 15-year ST3 program, making a deferral to ST4 likely, and motivating examination of BRT between Bellevue and Kirkland. In an extended program, it’s suddenly feasible, but the proposed alignment has weak connections to […]

Dow Constantine nominates Rob Johnson to Mike O’Brien’s old seat on the ST board. O’Brien’s recent anti-density turn is annoying, but he’s certainly perfectly solid on transportation issues. In any case, Johnson is a wonderful pick. And good call, Zach. Constantine also nominates Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus, incoming president of the Sound Cities Association. Suburban […]

Four separate City Councils – Shoreline, Bothell, Kenmore, and Lake Forest Park – will gather jointly tonight at 7pm at Kenmore City Hall to discuss ST3 projects within their respective cities, including planned Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on SR 522 connecting to NE 145th Street Link Station (Projects N-09 and N-10) and planning studies for SR 522 […]

It’s too late to submit comments to Metro about the Southeast Seattle restructure, but this old post from 2011 remains relevant although the route numbers have changed. In particular, it takes a close look at the claim that a new bus providing a one-seat ride from Little Saigon and Downtown is necessary to adequately serve the […]

Now that Seattle is in the business of purchasing bus hours thanks to Prop 1, one of the many benefits is that Seattle’s dollars now ensure full service on minor holidays . In the post Prop-1 world, Metro’s “Reduced Weekday” schedules are a thing of the past for Seattle, only applying to suburban routes numbered 100 or […]

After I linked to the notification of SR99 lane closures with a fine whine about (lack of) transit priority, there was a fun twitter exchange between WSDOT, some loyal readers, and Zach on the STB Twitter account. As the animation above shows, during daytime left lane closures, WSDOT will open the bus lane to general […]

DC’s much delayed streetcar line is finally going to open before February 20. When will the First Hill Line open?

The Seattle Department of Transportation is in the midst of planning a new high capacity transit (HCT) corridor from Roosevelt to downtown. The route would connect some of Seattle’s most populous neighborhoods: Roosevelt, UW, Eastlake, South Lake Union and downtown. The latest official document lists three options. The first is based on the current Metro […]

The future of Sound Transit’s express bus services has long been unclear. Will express buses continue indefinitely as a peak layer on top of Link? Will they truncate at major Link terminals at increased frequency? Or will they disappear entirely in corridors served by Link? Sound Transit staff have long noted – relatively opaquely – […]

Not since the early days of Seattle Metro has there been a definitive map of transit in the city of Seattle. As Metro’s map expanded, the city became a smaller part in an expansive countywide network. Details were lost as the city was scaled down to make room for the county. Metro’s latest maps tried […]

The comment deadline for Metro’s SE Seattle restructure proposal has been extended until next Sunday, January 10. As a refresher, the proposed restructure would primarily change Route 106 between Rainier Beach and Downtown, severing its connection to Georgetown while providing new connections to local destinations along MLK Way while also extending it to the International District […]

How to fix gentrification: either help poor people or preserve existing buildings, but you can’t do both. I-405 carpoolers roughly evenly split between 2 passengers and 3. People keep wringing their hands over the difficulties with the Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) tax when we could just raise the gas tax with no technical difficulties at all. […]

Those of you who follow us on channels like Twitter or Facebook may not be aware of Page 2, our community page. If you haven’t been reading Page 2, below are a few recent highlights. If you’re interested in writing for STB, Page 2 is a great way to get your feet wet. Sign up for an […]

There has long been a regional consensus that I-405 Bus Rapid Transit would be a part of the ST3 program. But that general agreement has hidden a fuzziness about the form it would take. The December 4 workshop saw a range of options presented. The studies make a compelling case for a low-cost version of I-405 BRT, […]

I made several mistakes in Friday’s 2016 preview: CT will add 3,300 service hours in March, not 33,000. September will be 30,000-35,000 hours. Although the Mukilteo Park and Ride will break ground this year, it won’t open till 2017. Pierce Transit will add service hours in September, not March. I regret the errors.

If you wandered out of town, and somehow didn’t remember to check your main source for Seattle area transit news and advocacy, here are some highlights of what you missed: King County is revising the Metro service allocation guidelines. Frank reported on ST3 study results for Link to Tacoma. Details on Move Seattle’s RapidRide+. Is […]

It’s a common refrain, particularly in the South Sounder corridor, to complain to Sound Transit about parking availability in general, oppose any parking fees that might make more efficient use of those spaces, and sometimes demand special privileges for city residents at the regionally funded facility. Rather than complain, the City of Auburn is doing […]

No later than March 26th, ULink will be open and the big ULink restructure will be in place. Lost in the glamor of that event, a major restructure of service on South Lake Union will occur the same day, with southbound Route 40 switching to Westlake Avenue and Rapid Ride C extended into South Lake […]

This is going to be the biggest transit year in a while: University Link opens, adding two hugely important stations to the system, sometime in the first quarter. Metro massively revises service in Northeast Seattle in March to take advantage of Link and radically increase the number of frequent corridors. Metro tweaks Capitol Hill routes […]

2015 has been a terrific year for us at STB. We made Zach Shaner (previously a longtime staff writer) our first-ever paid part-time reporter, and the move has tremendously improved our range of coverage. We added two fantastic volunteer writers to our team, Seattle’s Erica C. Barnett and Kirkland’s Dan Ryan. You, our readership, have grown […]

First-generation Double Tall on route 415 on a cold November night 2015 has come and flown past at the speed of a Sounder train and brought with it many great things for transit riders, especially for those of us north of the King-Snohomish county line. Community Transit has hit several milestones this year, including the successful […]

Sound Transit has announced the closing times for Link Light Rail and Tacoma Link for getting home from New Year’s Eve festivities. Link Light Rail’s last train out of SeaTac Airport Station will depart at 12:10 a.m., a half hour earlier than on a typical weekday. Link Light Rail’s last train out of Westlake Station […]

This is part of a series of posts looking at Sound Transit’s candidate projects for ST3. At every opportunity, STB has pushed to run Link on SR 99 instead of I-5. SR 99 offers a better walkshed from the station, more transit-oriented development (TOD) potential, and better interfaces with local bus routes. All of […]