Seattle Transit Blog

This afternoon the King County Council Transportation, Economy, and Environment (TrEE) Committee sent the ULink restructure to the full council without recommendation. The restructure ordinance will now be discussed by the full council, with a probable vote, on Monday, October 19. Chair Dembowski and Councilmember Phillips introduced an amendment that responds to the bulk of […]

NE 145th Street is a mess. Providing cross-town auto access to I-5 and SR 522 along Seattle’s northern border, it features very narrow sidewalks, an above-average number of car collisions, and few pedestrian amenities. To add insult to injury (literally), there are utility poles right smack in the middle of the sidewalk, which itself is […]

Here in the Puget Sound region we are blessed with hundreds of miles of regional bike trails, from the paved non-motorized highway of the Burke-Gilman Trail to the smooth dirt of the Snoqualmie Valley Trail. But nearly without exception, our trails are a series of disparate pieces. They peter out in random places, their right-of-way […]

Last week at the Mountaineers, public testimony was decidedly split, with angry and opposing testimony at the beginning of the meeting slowly giving way to riders more supportive of the proposed ULink restructure. But it has become clear in public comment that Route 43 riders feel particularly aggrieved, as with each iteration of restructure alternatives […]

In today’s installment, we present our endorsements in Seattle City Council and County Council races. In most cases, this is a rehash of our Primary Endorsements, albeit with a substantially different editorial committee. As always, our endorsements solely reflect the candidate’s positions and record on transit and land use. Longtime readers know our core positions […]

I suspect most self-identified progressive groups would agree that human-caused climate change is an emergency that requires sacrifice to overcome. That’s why it’s so disappointing that State leaders like Governor Inslee are so lukewarm about I-732, a revenue-neutral carbon tax, because they are subordinating the need to reduce emissions to other political objectives. This kitchen sink […]

Bay D before 2012 bus restructure / photo by Oran I used my rare afternoon off Wednesday to check out the state of Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel joint operations, now that Link Light Rail trains are running every six minutes each direction during peak, and six bus routes have been moved upstairs. A pair of […]

Shoreline’s 145th St Multimodal Study Open House materials are online. You can participate in the “citizen exercise” through October 11th. ST Board approves reserved permit parking at some of its lots. SDOT taking over management of Pronto Bike Share. How Seattle’s proposed commercial linkage fee will work. I-405 toll lanes having little effect on general-purpose traffic […]

This November, there are two ballot measures targeted directly at improvements in the region’s bus systems. One of them will also make a significant contribution to safe nonmotorized transportation. Both of them are decidedly worth your vote if you live in either jurisdiction. YES on Move Seattle. It would be tedious to recite every benefit that […]

A standing-room only crowd of 300 people turned up last night at the Mountaineers to testify before the County Council on the proposed University Link bus restructure. We and Transportation Choices Coalition live-tweeted the event, and you can read our threads here and here. (You can also follow the #Bus2Link hashtag). Councilmembers Dembowski, Gossett, and McDermott […]

This morning at the County Council’s committee meeting on the ULink Restructure (separate from tonight’s public hearing), Metro will respond to a question posed by Councilmember Dembowski: Does Metro have the capacity to enact the restructure and save routes such as the 43 and the 71? Metro’s response is a fascinating look into an agency struggling to […]

As we reported this morning, Tuesday night the King County Council TrEE Committee and chair Rod Dembowski will host the only public hearing outside of work hours on a proposed Metro transit restructure that could dramatically increase access to frequent transit service in Northeast Seattle and Capitol Hill. The restructure is a set of significant (and controversial) bus […]

Paying for transit will be easier and more flexible with an improved user experience when “ORCA2”, the second generation of the ORCA regional fare system, is planned to go live in 2019. Although ORCA has matured to become the most popular way to pay fares in Central Puget Sound since its launch in 2009, there […]

Tuesday evening at the Mountaineers (7700 Sand Point Way NE), the King County Council will hold a special meeting of its Transportation, Economy, and Environment (TrEE) Committee. While the public will have had 4 other opportunities to comment at the regular committee meetings (9:30am every other […]

This November’s election is big, with the entire Seattle City Council up for election and at least four incumbents out, and Move Seattle and Community Transit Now on the ballot. This Monday, October 5, is the deadline to register to vote or change your voter registration address. You can register or change your address online, […]

At a recent county council meeting where the proposed Metro route restructure was discussed, Councilmember Larry Gossett suggested that Sound Transit accept Metro paper transfers, due to the hardship current Metro cash payers would suffer having to pay twice when they transfer to Link. This would be a huge step backwards in the efforts of […]

Following up on yesterday’s ridership report, here are three charts to file in the back of your head the next time you hear an ostensibly pro-transit voice arguing that scalable transit investments “could be done better and more cheaply with buses.” The first chart shows that if Link were its own transit agency, it would […]

SDOT paints West Seattle Bridge bus lanes red, cites statistics on improved compliance elsewhere. Are developers paying their fair share? “new construction now accounts for 25 percent of the city’s sales-tax revenue.” ($) Expedia move slips from 2018 to 2019, various commuter incentives in play. ST Board approves limited permit parking at 10 lots. Developer […]

Sorry folks, been busy and this was late. July’s Link Weekday/Saturday/Sunday average boardings were 40,442 / 32,873 / 26,375, growth of 8.3%, -3.9%, and -2.8% respectively over July 2014. Sounder’s weekday boardings were up 15.3% with ridership increasing on both lines. Tacoma Link’s weekday ridership increased 2.3%. Weekday ST Express ridership was up 4.7%. System wide […]

Is the Move Seattle transportation levy a smart investment of property-tax dollars? That was the question at Seattle Speaks, a community forum televised live on Seattle Channel from Town Hall on Tuesday night. The $930 million levy has been touted by city leaders as the key to a safe, interconnected, affordable and innovative city. But […]

Apologies for the short notice, but tonight (September 30) at 5:30 is your last chance to testify before the City Council on the HALA Grand Bargain and the Council’s related workplan. The Council’s Select Committee on Housing Affordability will hear public comment on the proposed Affordable Housing Impact Mitigation Program (aka the Commercial Linkage Fee). After tonight, the […]

With the proposed U-link restructures headed for council this week, I recorded a podcast with Zach and David to talk about the restructure, the history, and what will change when U-link opens next year. We tried to give a good overview of the changes, some of the challenges (both technical and political) and the […]

Last Thursday at the Mercer Island Community Center, Sound Transit held a Listening Tour to give residents a chance to comment on just about anything related to the East Link project. The open-mic night was well attended with an estimated 200 residents, from which 35 speakers were allotted 3 minutes each to speak. The meeting […]

After a soft open on Sunday, yesterday marked the first full weekday of the I-405 Express Toll Lanes between Bellevue and Lynnwood. During off-peak hours, SOV drivers will pay between $0.75-$10.00 for the privilege of using the lanes, while HOV 2+ will use them for free. During peak hours – 5-9am and 3-7pm – only […]

The reconstituted STB Editorial Board is beginning its endorsement process for the general election. We have the information we need on Seattle City Council races, Move Seattle, and the Community Transit measure, and are looking at some races outside Seattle. If there are any you’re afraid we’re going to miss, please say so in the […]

For quite some time now, the debate over density has immersed itself in the language of affordability. Density advocates, quite reasonably, cite supply and demand, while unsophisticated detractors correlate development with rising rents. More sophisticated detractors instead cite displacement as a downside, as development indeed sometimes displaces existing tenants on a given property. While there are […]

Featuring a Seattle Transit System bus driver. (h/t Erik Griswold)

University Link won’t be open for a couple of months, but the outline is already on Google Maps. The stations aren’t yet labeled, but the rest of the tunnel is there in all its glory. Feast your eyes, and then take a moment of silence to mourn the phantom stations at Summit & Pike and Volunteer […]

In March, Seattle DOT’s Move Seattle plan included two streetcar lines. The Center City Connector (CCC) is a tram in dedicated right-of-way along First Avenue that would join the First Hill and South Lake Union Streetcars. It scores well on cost per rider metrics, partly because it’s quite short, at a cost of roughly $110m. Extending the First […]

A Ride the Ducks amphibious vehicle has collided with a Bellair Charters bus on the Aurora Bridge. As of 1:00pm, 4 have been confirmed dead, with dozens more wounded. Injuries were likely exacerbated by the lack of seatbelts on either vehicle. The historic 6-lane, 57′ bridge has anomalously narrow 9.5′ lanes and no median or […]

On Tuesday afternoon, an estimated 125 students, faculty, and staff at Highline College rallied for a Link station on the west side of SR 99, directly adjacent to campus. Speakers claimed that the likeliest option – a station in the vicinity of 30th Ave S – would endanger student safety and worsen campus access by requiring a […]

Last night at Diamond Knot Brewing in Mountlake Terrace, the Community Transit Now campaign kicked off its own Prop 1 effort to fund significant new transit service for Community Transit. For an agency that cut its service by 37% between 2010-2012, losing all Sunday and holiday service in the process, the confident mood in the room was […]

[Update, 4:45pm: Mayor Murray has responded with a statement: “I share the public’s frustration that the First Hill streetcar has yet to enter service. We continue to focus on fixing the problems this administration inherited. SDOT renegotiated the penalties for late delivery to make the delays more painful for the manufacturer, which now owes the City […]

This is a sponsored post. What is your main mode of transportation? Do you think Seattle is a safe city for bike commuters and pedestrians? We want to know what you think in advance of Seattle Speaks: Move Seattle?, a live, televised community forum, which will consider the biggest levy in Seattle history — $930 […]

SDOT presents its report on projects to make things better on the West Seattle Bridge. Eric Scigliano looks into the mysterious disappearance of “Proximate Commuting.” Are Metro’s new Orion buses dangerous to pedestrians? There’s a bus driver shortage. Seattle makes its comments about the Westside SR520 plan. Transit priority is on the list; the bus volume […]

[UPDATE 5:00pm: Sound Transit and Community Transit published erroneous info. Their routes serving Olive Way will make their normal stops. The post below has been updated.] Chinese President Xi Jinxing’s historic visit to the Seattle area this week will come with more than its share of headaches for regional commuters. Security will be tight, and […]

At last Tuesday’s County Council meeting about the ULink restructure, Metro estimated walking times from various bus stops to UW station: 2 minutes to the Pacific Place stop, served by routes 44, 45, 65, 67, and 73/78 2 minutes to northbound Montlake Blvd stop, served by routes 65 and 73/78 2 minutes to UW Medical Center, served by […]

Erin's view (NE Seattle Rider) from King County Transportation on Vimeo.

Update: Geoff at ST pointed out that the Tacoma Link streetcar fare is set to go up automatically in September 2016, unless a funder (such as the Tacoma Business Improvement Area has been doing) covers the revenue ST would gain from installing fare collection equipment and collecting fares. A menu of proposals will be considered […]

Transportation Secretary Lynn Peterson says upgrading HOV lanes to 3+ “is part of the tools in the toolbox,” but there are no current plans to go beyond I-405. Feds grant $38.5m of the $53m cost of Clark County’s “the Vine” BRT, already under construction. USDOT also contributes $2m more to Tacoma Link; about $70m of […]

This is a sponsored post. In a growing city with an aging transportation system, will Seattle voters support a $930 million property tax measure this November to Move Seattle? Seattle Speaks, a live, televised community forum, will consider the biggest levy in Seattle history — $930 million over nine years. The Move Seattle transportation levy, […]

[Correction: In the original post I incorrectly stated that Routes 522 and 577 were only gaining 2 trips and 1 trip, respectively. They are actually gaining 3 trips each during peak periods. The table below has been updated.] While June’s Prop-1 funded transit service additions were welcome and badly needed, many of them were the […]

Yesterday, the King County Council’s Transportation, Economy, and Environment (TrEE) Committee had their first briefing over two March 2016 service change ordinances. The first ordinance (Ordinance 2015-0349, Pages 287-358) dealt with suburban changes such as extending Route 200 to Swedish-Issaquah, looking at Alternative Services in Enumclaw, and the Prop 1-funded split of Rapid Ride C and D and their respective […]

Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) seem to be the one form of infill that just about everyone can get behind. Even after pulling back on his earlier support for allowing more flexible construction in single family zones, Councilmember Mike O’Brien, for example, is still a big proponent of the ADU, as you can see on his […]

Move Seattle: RapidRide+ but no Center City Connector ST3 projects and completing the spine (9:27) HALA, Minimum Wages, and Developer Taxes (21:10) “towers in Madrona” (27:25) Single family homes and displacement (30:19) Martin regrets that circumstances forced him to use a microphone that makes listening to him even more unpleasant than usual. https://media.blubrry.com/seatransitblog/s3.amazonaws.com/stb-wp/wp-content/podcasts/STB_podcast_2.mp3 Subscribe via RSS […]

(h/t Gordon Werner)

TriMet, the Portland Streetcar, and C-Tran (Vancouver, WA) have announced the name of the new smart fare payment system coming in 2017: Hop Fastpass. The name derives from a community engagement process in which Portlanders wanted to promote their craft brewery industry. The Hop Fastpass will be groundbreaking, at least as far as transit systems […]