Bike Parking

Posted on by Frank Chiachiere

This post originally appeared on Orphan Road.

Useful idea from SDOT, via press release:

SEATTLE – Working to support the city’s growing number of bicyclists, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) will create on-street bicycle parking in neighborhoods around Seattle. With a goal of having one to two per neighborhood, the department will install these unique bike facilities at three locations starting next week.

Taking the place of one to two motor vehicle parking spaces, on-street bike parking will be filled with bicycle racks and surrounded by a raised curb. Bicyclists can enter the parking area from the sidewalk and each car-sized space will accommodate up to eight bikes.

This new program addresses the expanding need for bicycle parking and is part of the ongoing implementation of the Bicycle Master Plan, which seeks to triple the number of people bicycling in Seattle over ten years.

By mid February the new bike facilities will be installed:

? Mid block of Broadway E between E Harrison Street and E Republican Street (by Broadway Market)

? At the corner of 12th Avenue and E Spring Street (by Stumptown Coffee Roasters and Café Presse)

? At the corner of Woodlawn Avenue NE and NE 70th Street (by the Greenlake Condominium)

SDOT is planning additional on-street bicycle parking locations for 2009.

HB 1490 Testimony

Posted on by Martin H. Duke

If you’re an insomniac and interested in the HB 1490 committee testimony Josh Feit reports about here, TVW is showing it on tape delay at 11:30 pm – 1:30 am Wednesday tonight (that’s tonight), and again at 5:30-7:30 am on Thursday.

Or, try the link online here.

Added bonus: you’ll see the statement of yours truly a couple of minutes before the end.  (Skip ahead to about 2:10).

Bonus 2: After the 1:29 mark, committee Chair Geoff Simpson (D-Covington) smacks down richly deserving bill opponent John Fox and leaves longtime light rail opponent Emory Bundy at a loss for words (1:35:30) .

Update: As everyone in the world has now pointed out to me, it’s HB 1490, not 1690 as originally stated in the post.

Here’s the embedded video:

Stimulus Passes House

Posted on by Andrew Smith

The US House of Representatives has passed a $819 billion stimulus package. The Nadler Amendment tacked $3 billion in transit onto the House bill, for a grand total of $12 billion, and fully $5 billion in capital project funding. The Amendment passed with a “voice vote” meaning we don’t know how anyone specifically voted, but it seemed to be nearly unanimous.

This comes as the American Society of Civil Engineers gives our nation’s infrastructure a “D” grade, and notes the cost of repairing the infrastructure has risen to $2.2 trillion from $1.7 trillion in 2005. Stimulus funding can’t come soon enough.

To my eyes, this much, much improved version of the bill than the one we saw originally, not only because of the transit. The final bill had $607 billion in spending, slightly more than the first draft we saw last week, and $212 billion in tax cuts, which is about $63 billion less than the original draft. Just before passing the bill, the House rejected a Republican-sponsored version of the bill that would have focused mainly on tax cuts.

The next step is for the Senate to pass their version of the bill, which will probably come to a vote sometime next week.

News Round Up: Action Needed!

Posted on by Andrew Smith


The Chamber Group Simple Measures, performing on the Streetcar, via the PI big blog.

  • The Nedler amendment that would tack on another $3 billion in transit funding to the Stimulus package has passed the House Rules Committee and is heading to the House floor. Email your congressional delegation and urge them to vote yes on the amendment.
  • The DeFazio Amendment failed, however.
  • Our world’s climate is a complete catastrophe, and urgent action is needed, according to planners with the Munich Re Group, the world’s largest reinsurers. They note that financial losses due to climate change already number in hundreds of billions and are rising.
  • This bill, SB 5377, is running through the state Senate, and is the perfect partner in sustainability to HB 1490, the bill that requires dense development around transit stations. SB 5377 would let the state provide grants and loans to governments and non-profits that developed housing or the infrastructure for supporting increased housing near stations. Special consideration will be given to projects that build low or moderate income housing. I hope to hear more about this bill, particularly news of it moving forward.
  • There are a ton of open houses on the Sound Transit calendar this week. Take a look below the fold and see if there’s one in your area.

Continue reading “News Round Up: Action Needed!”

Call Your Congressperson

Posted on by Frank Chiachiere

This post originally appeared on Orphan Road.

Transit amendment in the stimulus up for a vote tomorrow.  As I’ve said before, the stimulus isn’t the be-all and end-all for Obama-administration transit funding, but we do need to send a message to advisers like Larry Summers that you can’t just trade it away for something as short-sighted as tax-cuts.  At the very least, we can try to put back what got taken away.

Reminder: Metro Fares Increase on Feb 1st

Posted on by John Jensen

Just a quick reminder that Metro bus fares are set to increase by a quarter starting next Sunday, February 1st. Peak one-zone trips will now run an even $2.00, while two-zone trips will cost $2.50. Off-peak fare will be $1.75. You can find more information in a flyer that Metro has put together (pdf). This fare increase will be followed by another 25-cent increase in January of next year, in an effort to shore up recent budgetary problems.

Metro’s last fare increase came in March of last year. Prior to that, Metro had not had an increase in fares since 2001.

I also want to mention that even though Metro had a rough December, and had some particularly bad communication issues, I think we’re already beginning to see some improvements. The flyers warning customers about the reduced service on MLK Jr. Day were clear and easy-to-follow, had a cheery reminder to “spread the word,” and even mentioned future holidays to give customers time to prepare. Kudos Metro.

Phoenix Light Rail

Posted on by Andrew Smith
Phoenix at dusk (HDR)
Phoenix at Dawn, by flickr user robotography

I’ve been following the Phoenix Light Rail opening to try to predict what sort of reaction our own light rail system is going to have when it opens this summer. Arizona’s light rail is a bit different to Link – it’s entirely at-grade, for starters – but I think many of the lessons that Phoenix is learning we’re going to have to learn as well, for better or for worse. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to write a series of posts on Phoenix’s Metro Light Rail, and what we can expect from the first few months of Link, and the period after that. In this first post, I’m just going to talk about Phoenix and the Metro Light Rail.

Continue reading “Phoenix Light Rail”

News Round Up

Posted on by Andrew Smith
Lining up for the north bus
Bellevue Transit Center, by Oran via the STB flickr pool.
  • The Obama administartion is looking at creating an infrastructure bank based on the European Investment Bank. Through this mechanism, states or transportation programs could borrow money through the feds at a very low rate. H/T to Zach.
  • An anti-viaduct initiative is moving foward. The initiative would prohibit any use of City property to be used during construction. The initiative filers have until July to come up with 18,000 signatures.
  • I recently found this interesting blog, the National Journal’s expert blog. The blog features short posts by transportation experts like BSNF CEO Matt Rose, Gov. Tom Kaine of Virginia, and Robert Puentes of the Metropolitan Infrastructure Initiative. In a recent post entitled “How Would You Improve The Stimulus Bill?”, Pete K. Rahn, the director of Missouri DOT has this to say:

    The $30 billion highway and bridge amount does not live up to the rhetoric preceding the release of the overall package. $30 billion is not going to “repair America’s crumbling roads and bridges” and it does not represent “the greatest investment in infrastructure since Eisenhower.” At under 70% of a normal annual highway appropriation, the program lacks critical mass. The transportation portion should be doubled. A change I would make to the proposal is to allow the use—on a one-time emergency basis—of transit funds for system operations due to the severe decline in other ordinary revenues. I don’t believe any other areas of the stimulus proposal have to be reduced to increase the transportation-funding portion

    Amen, brother!

  • On the other hand, President Obama has pushed through rules allowing states to set more strigent fuel economy standards than the feds do, something Former President Bush wouldn’t allow. So much for Republicans being the states’ rights party…
  • State House Transportation Chair Judy Clibborn (D-Mercer Island) has an op-ed in the Times about the future of Washington State Ferries. Basically, she outlays the budget troubles facing the Ferries service: a $3.5 billion budget shortfall over the next 22 years if current service is to be maintained. Ouch.
  • Josh Feit over at Publicola has more details on the Futurewise and TCC v Seattle Displacement Coalition fight over the Transit Oriented Development Bill going through Olympia.
  • The Times had a piece over the weekend on how the Viaduct replacement decision was made. In short, business leaders and the Port were dead against the surface options.

Sound Transit Service Changes

Posted on by Martin H. Duke
Photo by majinandoru in the STB Flickr Pool
Photo by majinandoru in the STB Flickr Pool

It’s that time again: a new set of schedules go into effect February 7.  As usual, Sound Transit is the first to announce their changes.   They’re reallocating the bays at the Overlake Transit Center, so pay attention.

The other big change is the new route 593, which runs from South Tacoma station to Downtown Seattle.

Service Change Highlights

ST Express

Route 513: Revised routing to serve new terminal in Everett
Route 532: Stops added in downtown Everett
Route 545: Bay reassignment at the Overlake Transit Center
Route 564/565: Bay reassignment at the Overlake Transit Center
Route 590: Minor schedule adjustments
Route 592: Minor schedule adjustments
Route 593: New route added to operate between new South Tacoma Station, Tacoma Dome Station and Seattle

Sounder

South line: Minor schedule adjustments
North line: No changes

Tacoma Link

No changes