Seattle Transit Blog

Countdowns: Lynnwood Link (August 30); RapidRide G (September 14) Today is Juneteenth, a Federal holiday, but most transit operators are running normal weekday service. Transit Updates: Extension of the third avenue transit mall" through Belltown to Dexter (specifically, road reconstruction) may be delayed until after the 2026 World Cup. Metro is now officially considering hydrogen ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup - Open Thread 54"

The Seattle Department of Transportation is asking for feedback on draft design concepts it's created for West Seattle Link Extension stations, seemingly based on the assumed alignment of an aerial station at Delridge, a retained-cut station at Avalon, and an underground station at Alaska Junction. The designs and notable concepts featured in the survey are ... Continue reading "SDOT seeking feedback on WSLE station street concepts"

This is an open thread.

On April 27, the starter" segment of the 2 Line opened on the Eastside, connecting South Bellevue to the Microsoft campus in southwest Redmond. Prior to its opening, the line was expected to attract somewhere between 4,000 and 6,000 riders ($). As Sherwin Lee noted in September, ridership forecasting is for the line is complicated ... Continue reading "First Month of the 2 Line"

Ever since the Sound Transit 3 ballot measure was being assembled, the West Seattle Link Extension has been a contentious project. Frank Chiachiere wrote in 2016: not since the days of the Monorail has a rapid transit extension stirred up so much debate amongst the armchair planners." Transit advocates have long known the project would ... Continue reading "In Defense of West Seattle Link"

Countdowns: Lynnwood Link (August 30); RapidRide G (September 14) Transit Updates: WA State Ferries holding public meetings regarding the entire ferry system, via Zoom at noon on Monday, June 17, and at6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 18 RapidRide G passes 90% completion milestone. Service is scheduled to start with Metro's Fall service change on September ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup - Open Thread 53"

This is an Open Thread.

Rather than building a light rail extension for West Seattle, how could Metro provide better transit to/from West Seattle with additional bus services? Forward Thrust had envisioned such decades ago. Background While Forward Thrust had a bold vision to provide rail services for the whole region, for West Seattle it envisioned a busway through SODO ... Continue reading "West Seattle by Bus instead of Light Rail"

Countdowns: Lynnwood Link (August 30). Video of testing at Shoreline North. It's Ride Transit Month (and Pride Month). Join the Transit Riders Union, Seattle Subway, and the Transportation Choices Coalition tonight at 5:30pm for the Ride Transit Month Social, located at Olmstead in Capitol Hill. Transit Updates: Sound Transit's Fare Ambassadors begin platform payment checks. ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup - Open Thread 52"

From 7:00 to 8:30pm this evening (June 3), at the Haller Lake United Methodist Church (13055 1st Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98125), Colleen Echohawk will facilitate an election forum featuring Position 8 candidates Alexis Mercedes Rinck,Saunatina Sanchez, and interim incumbentTanya Woo. The forum will focus on both highly localized issues related to the 130th Street ... Continue reading "Tonight: Seattle City Council Position 8 Election Forum"

Several buses have been rerouted because of last night's storm. This is causing delays as well as skipped stops. Check the Metro service advisory page to see if your bus is effected. This is a developing story, but here are the reroutes I am aware of: 10 - rerouted off of 15th Avenue E between ... Continue reading "Fallen Trees Force Bus Detours"

As formally announced on Friday, previewed by The Urbanist on Thursday, and briefly reviewed on PubliCola on Saturday, Seattle City Council Transportation Committee Chair Rob Saka (District 1) is proposing an amendment to the 2024 Transportation Levy adding $100 million across several categories for a total levy amount of $1.55 billion over eight years, and ... Continue reading "More Money and Oversight for Transportation Levy"

This is an Open Thread.

This post is the fifth and final in a series, adapted from an article I wrote for my blog, Transportation Matters, a Pacific Northwest-flavored blog that discusses railway planning, urban planning, and related politics. The previous post described four proposals for improvements to Pierce Transit. This article proposes three improvements corridors to conclude the series: ... Continue reading "Better Transit in Pierce County: Corridor Improvements"

This post is the fourth in a series, adapted from an article I wrote for my blog, Transportation Matters, a Pacific Northwest-flavored blog that discusses railway planning, urban planning, and related politics. The previous post described three proposed improvements to bus transit in Tacoma. This article proposes four improvements for Pierce Transit: Secure a Sales ... Continue reading "Better Transit in Pierce County: Pierce Transit"

Countdowns: Lynnwood Link (August 30). Transit Updates: This weekend (June 1-2) has several Link reductions. Columbia City station will be single-tracked. Every other train will terminate at Stadium and not go further south, giving 10-minute frequency north of Stadium and 20-minute frequency south. Link will be closed between SeaTac and Angle Lake stations; passengers can ... Continue reading "News Roundup - Open Thread 51"

This post is the third in a series, adapted from an article I wrote for my blog, Transportation Matters, a Pacific Northwest-flavored blog that discusses railway planning, urban planning, and related politics. The previous post described five proposed improvements to the T line. This article proposes three improvements to the bus system in Tacoma: Dramatically ... Continue reading "Better Transit in Pierce County: Tacoma Buses"

This post is the second in a series, adapted from an article I wrote for my blog, Transportation Matters, a Pacific Northwest-flavored blog that discusses railway planning, urban planning, and related politics. Pierce County is a place of long-standing corridors and urban centers that need straightforward transit investments and services. Those investments and services should ... Continue reading "Better Transit in Pierce County: The T Line"

This post is the first in a series, adapted from an article I wrote for my blog, Transportation Matters, a Pacific Northwest-flavored blog that discusses railway planning, urban planning, and related politics. Introduction In this environment of service cuts and stalled transportation projects, it can be difficult to envision a future when Pierce County has ... Continue reading "Better Transit in Pierce County: Introduction"

Jarrett Walker is a world-renowned transit-network consultant, and the author of the Human Transit book and Human Transit blog. At a UCLA forum he discusses his philosophy and answers extensive questions. Topics include transit as freedom of opportunity", good vs bad route and land use designs, why the locations of buildings is the make or ... Continue reading "Sunday Movie: Jarrett Walker Q&A"

Earlier this month, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) has published a paper titled The False Promise of Microtransit," (pdf) a critique of flexible transit services like King County Metro's Via to Transit" and Pierce Transit's Runner. From the ATU's press release: The reality of microtransit, like other technology fads, is that it's less impressive and ... Continue reading "The False Promise of Microtransit"

Countdowns: Lynnwood Link (August 30). Transit Updates: Sound Transit has posted ridership data for April, showing stable ridership from March to April. No, the 2 Line isn't listed, yet. The Urbanist writes on Metro's continued labor capacity issues. The Federal Way Link overhead power system is being connected to Angle Lake Station. This will give ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup - Open Thread 50"

Community Transit announced Monday afternoon that it has taken delivery of a fuel cell electric bus" (FCEB), stating it's the first of its kind in the Puget Sound region. The hydrogen-powered bus was made by New Flyer and is part of a pilot program to assess potential vehicles as Community Transit works towards replacing 30% ... Continue reading "Exploring a Hydrogen-Fueled Future"

In April, the King County Council committee on Transportation, Economy, and Environment received a report from Metro providing an update to its 2018 waterfront transit study (pdf). The study was requested by the Council to assess short- and long-term strategies for supporting public transportation on the waterfront as its major makeover nears completion. As the ... Continue reading "County Council Receives Update on Waterfront Shuttle"

On May 15, King County Metro staff briefed the County Council's Regional Transit Committee, (presentation pdf download here) focusing on ridership trends and the agency's capacity to return to 100% of planned service. Ridership Trends First, the good news: Metro ridership continued to grow across almost all modes between 2022 and 2023; Water Taxi service ... Continue reading "Metro Update on Ridership Recovery and Service Planning"

This is an open thread.

Ryan Packer has the scoop on Twitter: Yesterday (May 17), Sound Transit staff delivered a letter to the Sound Transit Board of Directors with an innocuous subject line: Staff recommendation regarding the South Lake Union area alternatives for the Ballard Link Extension A brief history: last year, after the Sound Transit Board had selected preferred ... Continue reading "Sound Transit Staff Recommend Against New Alternatives for SLU and Denny Stations"

Link Extension Countdown: Lynnwood Link (August 30). What to expect (Sound Transit). Transit Updates: Community Transit boasts 50,355 boardings on Swift Orange Line during its first month of service. Service started on March 30. The World is Orange. Stride station names survey through May 31. King County Metro blogs about their hiring and training process. ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup - Open Thread 49"

King County Metro has announced that the 2024 season of Trailhead Direct service starts on May 25, operating weekends and federal holidays (Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day) through the summer (ending September 15) with routes serving the Issaquah Alps and the Mount Si area. Trailhead Direct is operated by Metro in partnership with ... Continue reading "Two Trailhead Direct Routes Start May 25"

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) recently announced grant funding for planning and development of high speed rail (HSR) in several corridors across the USA. Lucid Stew, a YouTube channel dedicated to HSR in the USA, is doing a series of videos on the these corridors. Their most recent video (19:15) was on the Cascade corridor, ... Continue reading "Video: Cascadia HSR"

The Affordable Housing Consortium (HDC), whose membership encompasses all of the major nonprofit housing developers in King County, as well as local housing authorities, financial institutions, service providers, consultants, architects, building contractors, attorneys, accountants, and government agencies," is celebrating the 9th Annual Affordable Housing Week, May 13-17. Founded in 1988 as the Seattle Housing Development ... Continue reading "9th Annual Affordable Housing Week Starts Today"

The Seattle Times ($) and Capitol Hill Seattle (CHS) blog reported that a man was stabbed multiple times on the platform at the Capitol Hill Station Saturday afternoon, and died after being transported to Harborview Medical Center. Seattle Police closed the station to investigate the crime, forcing Sound Transit to implement a bus bridge between ... Continue reading "Man Killed in Stabbing at Capitol Hill Station"

On May 9, Sound Transit's System Expansion Committee received a progress update (pdf) on the yet-to-be-opened portion of East Link, currently operating as the abbreviated 2 Line between South Bellevue and Redmond Technology Station. Although the opening of the connection between South Bellevue and Seattle is currently scheduled for late November 2025, Ryan Packer at ... Continue reading "East Link Lake Crossing Update"

Link Extension Countdown: Lynnwood Link (August 30). What to expect (Sound Transit). Transit Updates: Sound Transit reports that the 2 Line logged 35,000 boardings on its opening day. The Seattle Times ($), compares it to other opening days. Jon Talton (Seattle Times, $) says the 2 Line is good for the climate and the economy. ... Continue reading "Open Thread 48"

On May 13, King County Metro will restore 79 weekday trips to 6 Dial-A-Ride Transit (DART) service routes. DART routes provide a combination of a fixed scheduled and reservation-based on-demand service along an optional route. There are currently 14 DART routes, which are operated by Hopelink, a non-profit partner of Metro. Services were significantly cut ... Continue reading "Metro restoring service to 6 DART routes"

Sound Transit ridership data for March 2024 was released earlier this week, with Link ridership jumping 25% from February to a total of 2.61 million boardings, making March 2024 the second-highest ridership month in Link history (behind July 2023 with 2.71 million boardings). While weekday ridership was a meager 3% greater than the same month ... Continue reading "Link Ridership: March 2024"

Over the course of about six weeks (May 7 to June 25), Sound Transit will complete five projects in preparation for service expansions and to maintain state-of-good-repair along the 1 Line. These projects will have various impacts on 1 Line service (Sound Transit) more impactful work scheduled for the weekends of June 1-2 and June ... Continue reading "Spring 2024 Link Disruption"

For the past 18 years, the Seattle Department of Transportation has relied on a supplemental property tax levy to provide funding for improvements to Seattle's transportation system, starting with the Bridging The Gap" 9-year levy (2007-2015), followed by the 9-year Levy to Move Seattle" (2016-2024). In April, Mayor Harrell released the draft Transportation Levy" as ... Continue reading "2024 Transportation Levy"

Link's 2 Line had a blockbuster opening last weekend, drawing huge crowds and crush-loads that may not be seen again for some time. On Monday morning, I went out to observe the first weekday of regular service after the opening hype had subsided. I started my journey around 9am at South Bellevue Station (SBS), headed ... Continue reading "Observations from the 2 Line's regular weekday rhythm"

Link Extension Countdown: Lynnwood Link (August 30). What to expect (Sound Transit Blog). Transit Updates: In case you missed it, the 2 Line Starter Line started service on April 27, to much fanfare. The Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI), an infrastructure sustainability certification nonprofit started in 2010, gave awards to the RapidRide H Line (Metro ... Continue reading "Open Thread 47"

The Link 2 Line opened yesterday with eight new stations on the Eastside from South Bellevue to Redmond Technology. Mike Lindblom and David Kroman in the Seattle Times have extensive coverage of the ceremony, ride experiences, and community reaction. Lindblom's pre-launch list of the goods and bads of each station area is still useful as ... Continue reading "Thoughts on the Starter Line"

After decades of ideation, deliberation, and planning, the Eastside finally gets modern rapid transit tomorrow, when the East Link 2 Line" opens for service. But tomorrow's opening is really to whet riders' appetites for the full connection to the Central Link spine," which is tentatively slated for late 2025, thanks to construction mishaps on the ... Continue reading "Eastside Starter Line Starts Tomorrow"

On Wednesday (April 24) I had a chance to talk to Claudia Balducci, King County Councilmember and Chair of the Sound Transit System Expansion Committee and former Bellevue Mayor, about the opening of the 2 Line on Saturday. As the Eastside representative on the Sound Transit Board, she spearheaded the opening of the Eastlink starter ... Continue reading "Balducci Interview about the 2 Line"

Countdowns: East Link Starter Line (This Saturday! 11am), Lynnwood Link (August 30). Transit Updates: Pierce Transit is hosting a ribbon-cutting event at 12pm today at the Tacoma Dome Station celebrating the opening of the Stream Community Line. Service started on April 1, serving as an express route along the Pacific Avenue/State Route 7 Corridor. All ... Continue reading "Open Thread 46"

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) recently requested feedback on their plans for the future of Amtrak Cascades service. They call it the Preliminary Amtrak Cascades Service Development Plan (SDP). We (STB authors) responded: We expect that the region will continue to grow and our airports and freeways won't be able to handle the ... Continue reading "The future of Amtrak Cascades"

A few weeks back, I decided to exercise my freedom in going into the office more than I needed to and commuted downtown on a Friday. The first thing I noticed was how much emptier my usual bus was. Of course, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Friday ridership is down relative to the ... Continue reading "Should transit agencies consider a different schedule for Fridays?"

Seattle's bus network used to be focused on bringing people to work downtown. As our city grew, it spread its wings across First Hill, Capitol Hill, Fremont, and the Eastside. Though Amazon was earlier in the middle of downtown, it now occupies South Lake Union (SLU) and Bellevue. While a one-seat bus ride to downtown ... Continue reading "Connection Points"

Countdowns: East Link Starter Line (April 27, 11am), Lynnwood Link (August 30). Transit Updates: SDOT is closing the Spokane Street Swing Bridge (low bridge) for 10 days starting Friday, April 19 (planned reopening on Sunday, April 28). SDOT is offering free rides on Metro or the Water Taxi for impacted users. Systems Integration Testing will ... Continue reading "Open Thread 45"

Yesterday, I had the chance to join members of the press in a media tour of South Bellevue Station, which will open for Link operations in just a matter of weeks when the East Link Starter Line begins service. As things currently stand, the ELSL will open to the public on April 27th, while the ... Continue reading "A sneak peek at the 2 Line's South Bellevue Station"

It's been a couple weeks, so the roundup is longer than usual. Today, a total solar eclipse will pass over much of the central and eastern United States. Countdown Clocks: April 27, 11:02am: First East Link Starter Line Train from South Bellevue Station. Discover the 2 Line. August 30, 10am(?): Lynnwood Link Extension (1 Line). ... Continue reading "Open Thread 44"