Seattle Transit Blog

On Saturday I wrote about conflict between the City of Kirkland and Sound Transit on proposed transit investments in Sound Transit 3. If you’re new to this issue I suggest you read that piece before this one, but to reiterate, the basic issues are as follows. Kirkland developed a detailed Bus Rapid Transit plan for its Cross […]

Toronto’s regional transit authority and their big transit plan. They sure loved shots of our Link trains.

Sound Transit 3’s politics require a delicate dance between keeping subarea dollars local and funding the most productive and popular projects. Some subareas are long on projects and short on funds (Snohomish County, and to a much lesser extent Seattle), while others are relatively flush with cash but lean on popular projects (East King County, and to […]

One week before ULink’s opening, there is still significant education and outreach to be done in communities affected by the major restructuring of bus service. Tomorrow (March 12), Councilmember Rob Johnson will host a forum at the University Heights Center (5031 University Way NE) from 10am-noon to discuss the opening of ULink and the associated […]

Last week, King County Parks published a draft master plan for the Eastside Rail Corridor Regional Trail. The County aims to develop a permanent paved trail on over 16 miles of the corridor. As the trail plan enters a public comment period, Sound Transit is finalizing its own draft system plan. That will clarify how portions of the […]

SDOT scrapping caps on short-term car rentals. Hurrah. The mechanics of a potential Local Improvement District for the First Hill Streetcar extension. Two teams bidding on Lynnwood Link contract. Kitsap Transit resolves labor trouble. Stats about crimes on buses in 2015. Local unions ask UW to contain U-Pass charges for employees. Passing buses rattling houses […]

[Post has been updated with minor clarifications on Routes 24, 28, 33, 48, 62, 73, 75, 78, and 373.] With ULink launching next weekend and Metro’s huge service change happening one week later on March 26, Metro released its official service change information page this afternoon, and County Executive Dow Constantine has issued a media release about the changes. Those […]

A blast shook Greenwood early this morning, destroying 3 local businesses (Quick Stop, Mr. Gyros, and Neptune Coffee) while causing heavy damage to nearby businesses such as G&O Family Cyclery. KOMO News reports the cause as a natural gas leak that had been reported roughly 40 minutes prior to the explosion. 9 firefighters have been […]

At its monthly board meeting held earlier this Thursday, Community Transit unveiled its proposals for its first Proposition 1-funded service expansions, scheduled for September 2016 and March 2017. The two expansions add about 38,300 hours of service, fulfilling the promise of transit service on the State Route 9 corridor (in the form of two new routes) and […]

Long planned but also long delayed, Seattle’s annexation of North Highline/White Center received new life last week when the legislature agreed to redirect $7m in state sales taxes to Seattle to cover the transitional costs of annexation. Three sequential process steps remain for annexation, namely the approval of the King County Boundary Review Board, approval […]

January’s Link weekday ridership was 15.6% higher than the year before. In the last 4 months (Oct 15 – Jan 16) Link has averaged 13.9% growth. It’s becoming quite apparent that the October 2014 to September 2015 ‘slowdown’ (for the first time ever Link wasn’t growing by double digits) was in fact simply a reaction to […]

Five housing bills made the Friday deadline to get voted on in their second house, with two now headed to the governor’s desk, and three going back to their original house to try to get agreement on final language. Unfortunately, Sen. Joe Fain’s (R – Auburn) housing preservation bill, 2nd Substitute Senate Bill 6239, did […]

Starting April 22, you’ll be able to ride RTD’s A Line, an electric commuter train, from Denver International Airport to Union Station in 37 minutes, every 15-30 minutes, 22 hours a day, at speeds up to 79 mph.

Friday was the cut-off in the state legislature for bills to get out of their second house. 37 transportation bills did so. Six of them were detailed in the list of transit-related bills that at least made it to their second chamber’s Rules Committee. Among those, HB 2516, EHB 2745, HB 2815, SB 6299, and […]

March is nearly here, bringing with it the arrival of spring, minor and major service changes, two new Link stations, and the return of Major League Soccer after the winter off-season. Sound Transit is continuing its annual tradition of offering special weekend Sounder round-trips to and from King Street Station in Seattle (a short walk from […]

The near final draft of the Seattle Transit Map featuring U Link and Metro’s new bus service taking effect on March 26 is ready for your review. Thank you to everyone who gave their feedback on the first set of drafts. Comments on this map are due March 6. The priority is to finish the […]

Seven bills in the state legislature related to transit survived Monday’s cut-off to get to the Rules Committee in their second house. They have through this Friday to get voted on in their second house. One controversial bill that did not make the cut was Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5343, by Sen. Bob Hasegawa (D […]

Big project at Othello breaks ground; rent starts at $450/month. Sound Transit restores funding for preliminary engineering to central Federal Way and Redmond, a previous casualty of the recession. Metro aiming for cameras on 100% of buses by 2021. Rough early counts suggest 3,000 FHSC boardings per weekday. Councilmembers O’Brien, Sawant, Johnson, and Juarez for saving […]

In our summary series of Sound Transit 3 community feedback letters, four letters fell through the cracks, as they were not included in our original request for letters from Sound Transit and were not published by Sound Transit’s website until last week. But without further ado, here they are! Sierra Club The Sierra Club’s comments are […]

Martin and Frank discuss housing shortages, potential early wins for ST3, community feedback, water taxis, and dive into the reader mailbag. https://media.blubrry.com/seattletransitblog/s3.amazonaws.com/stb-wp/wp-content/podcasts/STB_podcast_011.mp3

In addition to the vast new stretches of track Sound Transit will consider for a November 2016 ST3 ballot measure, there are a number of infill stations on existing track segments that ST is considering for inclusion. In December, they presented cost and ridership estimates for these infill stations. All figures are in 2014 dollars, […]

BY SEATTLE SUBWAY The Sound Transit Board is now seriously considering a larger package for the next big regional transit expansion, ST3. Our understanding is that the most likely timeline for the finance plan is at least 25 years, up from 15 years. This means at least an 84% increase in funding for North King […]

If you want a chance to ride ULink’s inaugural train on March 19th, with a “Golden Ticket” commemorative ORCA card to go with it, a reminder that the the deadline to enter is today, February 29. The easiest way to enter is via social media; simply like/follow Sound Transit on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and share a […]

On the first birthday of the ORCA LIFT (low-income fare) program, this coming Tuesday, March 1, low-income fares will go live on two more services: Sound Transit Express buses ($1.50 in-county, $2.75 inter-county) Sounder commuter rail ($2.50 to $4.25, based on distance) . It took 30 years for Kitsap Transit’s low-income fare program, started in […]

Back in 2012 I wrote a skeptical piece about the prospects for Pronto (née Puget Sound Bike Share) in Seattle. I saw our dearth of safe bicycle facilities and rare all-ages helmet law, alongside the traditional complaints of hills and weather, as potentially fatal to the confident spontaneity that drives bikeshare ridership. Though some of my fears […]

For our next podcast, which will air sometime next week, Frank and I plan to select some questions from readers. So if there’s any subject you’d like us to discuss or questions you’d like us to answer, put it in the comments below before Sunday evening and we’ll consider if we have anything remotely interesting to say about it.

Daniel Hertz, writing at City Observatory: Land costs are also part of why yearning for the old days of moderate-cost bungalows is unproductive. A century ago, in most cities, it was possible to find relatively cheap land within commuting distance of downtown—partly because the invention of streetcars had just radically expanded the definition of “commuting […]

During institutional comment on Sound Transit 3, Seattle strongly asked for “early wins” that would show near-term value for Sound Transit 3. The intent of the request seems to be twofold: to chip away at today’s myriad transportation needs and also to incentivize additional ‘yes’ votes on the eventual ballot measure. Yesterday at the Sound […]

MRN’s almost ready in Ballard #seattlenewconstruction #seattlerealestate #mrnhomes A photo posted by Kelly Deen Morse (@seattlenewconstruction) on Jan 11, 2016 at 11:37am PST A few interesting articles on housing and land use caught my eye recently. First up, Nick Fitzpatrick in Forbes: An Axiometrics study of two metropolitan areas – Dallas and the San Francisco […]

[Update 11:30am: WSDOT responded that the MyNorthwest link reporting Good2Go identity theft is a 2013 issue that has been resolved. We’ve uploaded WSDOT’s full statement here.] I-405 HOT lanes saving bus riders an average of 7 minutes during peak. Othello Station is my favorite in terms of food available. Mason Transit GM resigns under a […]

In the race to pander to people that object to any genuine escape from congestion, Jay Inslee’s latest entry is more of the same old thinking ($): He is advocating two projects: • Adding a lane on I-405 at Highway 520 to Northeast 70th Place in Kirkland, where it would become an exit-only lane. Costs might […]

This post concludes our summary of ST3 feedback letters. Previous installments include East King County, Pierce County, Seattle, South King County, and Snohomish County. Belltown Community Council Belltown’s letter unsurprisingly laments its exclusion from the proposed Ballard line, losing out in favor of South Lake Union. It proposes resurrecting earlier Seattle Subway-style plans for SLU to be served as the […]

[Updated to clarify ridership on the West Seattle route in the 5th paragraph. The daily ridership numbers for the West Seattle ferry reported earlier were for recreational riders only, not total ridership. I have edited to correct the text and to add additional context]. On February 8, the King County Council accepted the final report […]

On February 17 Metro held a press event to announce that their three all-electric Proterra Catalyst battery-powered buses would be hitting the streets in revenue service that day. The buses will operate on routes 226 and 241—two routes that operate in a loop from the Eastgate Transit Center through downtown Bellevue. Initially 4602 was entered […]

March Madness in rail line openings begins on the 5th in Los Angeles. The 11-mile, 6-station, Foothill Gold Line extension in the San Gabriel Valley opens March 5. When the Regional Connector through downtown LA opens in 2021, the Blue and Gold Lines will be joined, forming a continuous line 48.6 miles long between Long […]

Did you know King County has a program to give out free youth ORCA cards to family members of LIFT card recipients at Public Health offices that issue LIFT (low-income ORCA) cards? I sure did not, and I make it an obsession to stay up on these details. The program is not advertised on Metro’s […]

Wednesday was the deadline for bills to get voted out of their original house in the state legislature. Nine bills dealing with affordable housing made it through, including one pushed by Mayor Ed Murray. Murray has been heavily pushing Senate Bill 6239 (sponsored by Sen. Joe Fain, R – Auburn) as enabling some of the […]

Usually a booming local economy comes with high fuel prices, as fuel demand rises commensurately with demand for housing and other commodities. But despite a strong local economy, weak global demand and purposeful oversupply from OPEC have given us historically low fuel prices. There are a number of reasons why low fuel prices are a policy and […]

Don’t believe the hype; Seattle drivers are great. Want to serve on a HALA Community Focus Group? Applications are due Friday, February 26. Obama’s transportation budget is pretty great. Since it doesn’t stand a chance, Yonah Freemark gives it a simultaneous introduction and eulogy. Check out CityLab on light rail’s future in Seattle, featuring Seattle […]

[Update, Friday 10:46am: Freighthouse Square owner Brian Borgelt has responded to recent coverage here and elsewhere with a scathing email that a source shared with STB, reading in part, “the legion of dingbats has attacked en masse, as they always do.” Read the full email here.] [Update, Thursday 12:03pm: Though the News Tribune didn’t disclose the financial […]

Martin and I discuss Kevin Desmond’s new gig at TransLink, the firing of Lynn Peterson at WSDOT, and whether it’s possible to put more buses on the freeways. Oh, and then I encourage all the kids to get off my lawn. https://media.blubrry.com/seattletransitblog/s3.amazonaws.com/stb-wp/wp-content/podcasts/STB_podcast_010.mp3

Our region’s need for transportation infrastructure and transit service is far from satisfied. Even in Seattle, Prop 1 and Move Seattle notwithstanding, riders continue to struggle with overcrowded buses, scant late-night service, and crumbling or nonexistent sidewalks. Now the global economy appears to be sliding toward a revenue-shrinking recession. So, when our state legislature considers a […]

This Wednesday, February 17, the Washington State Transportation Commission will discuss toll rate options for several tolled highways in the Puget Sound. Among the changes that will be discussed are the recent calls from legislators to end tolling on I-405 on evenings, weekends, and holidays. If you are in Olympia on Wednesday, you will have […]

This summary of ST3 feedback from East King County (including North King other than Seattle) is the fifth in a series of ST3 feedback summaries. See our previous coverage of Pierce County, Seattle, South King County, and Snohomish County. A future installment will look at other Stakeholder Organizations. The Eastside’s ST3 input is well coordinated. As happened last July, several Eastside […]

In the February 5 post on I-405 tolling, I described how WSDOT had agreed to changes in I-405 HOT lane operations. Those include toll-free travel for all vehicles on evenings, weekends and holidays. I should have also mentioned that changes to tolling remain subject to approval by the Washington State Transportation Commission. At this point, the […]

By the standards of most transit agency budgets, Sound Transit’s next round of rail expansion plans will be expensive. Critics, constructive or not, wonder if there’s a cheaper way. There is, in principle, if the transit agency can simply ignore other stakeholders instead of buying them off. The biggest savings comes from simply taking grade-separated […]

This is an open thread.

Many Metro and Sound Transit routes use I-90 between the Eastside and downtown. Sound Transit routes 550 and 554 and Metro routes 212 through 219 together total almost 20,000 riders daily. In less than 18 months, the ride to Seattle will change significantly during the East Link construction process. And of course, that’s just the beginning: I-90 buses will […]