News Bits
October 16, 2008 at 12:43 pm
by Andrew Smith
- The UW School of Public Affairs had an event about light rail according to the P-I’s Larry Lange. The post is short on details, but it does discuss how Portland and Vancouver faced similar arguments before building their transit systems: it costs so much, takes so long, and no gaurantees it will work. I’m sure the same argument was made on the first underground railway built in London. With their systems such a success, it’s encouraging to know we’re not any different, and it can get built here even with our political climate.
- Also via the P-I blogs, Ballard may get a Water Taxi along the lines of what West Seattle has. This must be from the secret tax imposed immediately after the election last November.
- The Stranger has strongly endorsed Prop. 1. I did get a little annoyed by the Stranger saying “We told you it’d be back!” Especially after I spent a lot of time calling board members, pushing them to get the thing on the ballot, and lobbying members who were on the fence. It didn’t just get on the ballot because they said it would. Anyway, the endorsement is very sincere and very encouraging, and I hope that it helps get votes.
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Shilshole is a terrible place for the ferry. Place it in the canal, make a stop in Fremont, and drop people off right at the SLUS. Even the slow electric boat ferry made that journey fairly quickly since there’s not much traffic on the water.
That is absolutely right, Matt. This is the same reason that a Sounder station at the Ballard Locks is a terrible idea. By the time most people get TO Shilshole and load onto a boat, they could have just taken a bus and already arrived downtown.
BUT, a boat leaving from the Ballard core, that hits a couple of other high-density areas on the way downtown, and connects with the streetcar on the other end, could actually provide some time savings for commuters.
are there any plans to expand the electric trolley bus system in seattle?