Comments on: The 15 Year Plan That Will Knock Your Socks Off

By: Seattle Transit Blog » ST2 Fifteen Year Plan to go to Ballot

Seattle Transit Blog » ST2 Fifteen Year Plan to go to Ballot — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:22:48 +0000

[...] The 15 Year Plan That Will Knock Your Socks Off [...]

By: Seattle Transit Blog » Sims’ Times Op-Ed Piece More Serious Than Not

Seattle Transit Blog » Sims’ Times Op-Ed Piece More Serious Than Not — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 23:32:40 +0000

[...] The 15 Year Plan That Will Knock Your Socks Off [...]

By: eddiew

eddiew — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:49:59 +0000

Ben,

The list of routes in my post was about those whose coaches and hours might be redeployed when north Link LRT is implemented. You are correct, East Link LRT would capture all the Route 550 trips and some of the Route 545 and 564-565 trips. However, the buses and hours on routes 222, 230, 253, 233, and many others will still be required for local service. Also, East Link LRT would take many years to plan and build. In the meantime, alternative transit investments could be implemented in a few years. The long run is a ways off.

I was referring to Route 74 EX, not Route 30. Route 303 connects Aurora Village and First Hill via Northgate. I hope that Metro cashs in the 5th and Cherry bus routes with north Link (e.g., routes 74, 76, 77, 79, 304, 316, and 355) to improve the two-way all network even though those riders would have a slightly slower trip to the south end of downtown Seattle.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:14:05 +0000

eddie, East Link would serve most 550 and 545 trips, as well as the stub trips on the 564 and 565, much of the demand on routes 230 and 253, and some of the 256, 202, 205, 222, 229, 233, and many others.

North Link does little for the 74 (now the 30), 77, 79, or 316. The 30 is well off the Link path, and the other three are commute time only and take full advantage of the express lanes – they would lose time with a Link transfer.

I think that we all tend to know a lot about the areas we personally use transit in, and assume that simply because we know of so many routes in our area, it must compare favorably.

Here’s the crux: East and South Link will do a lot more in the long run. The core North Link routes are already serving areas that are dense enough to grow on their own. East and South Link will be channels to guide future growth – the main Seattle corridor has more users, but a much higher percentage of them are already using transit. East and South Link will be bringing completely new riders to the system, and making it easier to pass future components. Northgate riders will already support transit.

By: eddiew

eddiew — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:15:11 +0000

this chain understates the transit benefits of extending Link LRT to Northgate. the greatest increases in transit benefit will be to riders going to and from the University District and Capitol Hill, where bus transit is slow and unreliable. another market benefiting will be those traveling between downtown Seattle and Northgate in the reverse peak direction, opposite the direction of the I-5 reversible lanes. and, most of the hours in routes 41, 71, 72, 73, 74, 76, 77, 79, 316, and 303 could be redeployed to improve service levels in the subarea.

the questionable Link LRT investments are East and South.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 12:10:21 +0000

Of course – their elected officials asked for Sounder.

By: seatrain

seatrain — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 08:09:18 +0000

Looks great but now all the people in Pierce County are going to whine about them not getting any light rail… Just look at the comments at the local newspaper

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:23:58 +0000

Buses: If time is worthless to you.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:19:36 +0000

Ballard-Downtown is on the 2005 plan, and the planning study for the whole corridor was in last year’s ST2 plan (and is probably to be added to the long range plan):
http://www.soundtransit.org/x3951.xml

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:18:13 +0000

Good point, Eric – you’d probably see 15 minute weekend service on East Link.

By: ericn

ericn — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:37:23 +0000

I’ll also add that East Link will definitely have more frequent service than the 550, at least on weekends—right now the 550 comes every half hour then, which is pretty horrible. I can’t see them scheduling light rail to come any less often than that.

By: ericn

ericn — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:30:43 +0000

It will run year-round within the next couple years, now that it’s operated by the King County ferry district. I think they said they were going to do that plus the UW-Kirkland ferry by 2010.

By: AJ

AJ — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:49:45 +0000

Oh god, no matter how I do the math, it’s still too big a number. Buses: the clear choice. If your time isn’t THAT precious!

By: Keo

Keo — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:45:06 +0000

It’s sad, on the 2005 long range plan there is absolutely no mention of this.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:05:09 +0000

Chris, remember that Seattle’s not taking any Pierce money. It’s just being spent on north Pierce light rail. Sounder matters too – especially when it hits Lakewood. You’ll see people in Lakewood and South Tacoma coming TO Tacoma to work.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:03:02 +0000

In ST3, I’ll bet real money we’ll see Ballard-West Seattle through downtown.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:00:54 +0000

I doubt that’s possible – that would require a lot more tax money coming in than we have now. I wish… I spend most of my Seattle time near Roosevelt station.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:59:56 +0000

I think that would make things far worse.

Right now Sound Transit has none of the external lobbying, none of the industry contributions, that make politics dirty. We just have to deal with the boardmembers themselves, who are generally really reasonable when you talk to them about the issues.

Paralysis into inaction doesn’t last forever.

By: Wes

Wes — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:58:27 +0000

maybe we can get a real passenger ferry option to downtown seattle…one that runs more often than 4 months out of the year (or whatever it is). with increasing levels of traffic, that would surely be the quickest route.

By: AJ

AJ — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:43:26 +0000

Here’s one simpler, the time savings riding LINK per person. I realized I went way over my head in math that would require me sitting down with free time, not 10 minutes here and 15 there.

If you rode the 66/67 between Northgate and The Ave you’d save 75 hours a year on LINK and you’d save roughly 54.16 hours a year on LINK if you rode the 41 from Northgate to Downtown.