June 10, 2009 at 3:17 pm
by Martin H. Duke
There are two interesting transit actions in Congress:
 Jim McDermott (Wikimedia Commons) First, Streetsblog reports (via Yonah Freemark at the transport politic) that the Senate version of the war funding bill has a provision that 10% of transit stimulus funds may be used for operating, rather than capital, expenses. A bunch of Congressmen, led by Rep. Pete DeFazio (D-OR), is urging the conference committee to include the provision. The only Washington rep to sign (pdf) is Jim McDermott.
Freemark is surprisingly down on this, because he believes that local authorities should step up and find more stable funding models. I think it depends on what revenues are going to look like going forward. It’s unrealistic to think that revenues will return to the unsustainable boom year of 2007, but if things bounce back pretty quickly, a brief period of stimulus could bridge the gap with minimum disruption.
Locally, Metro is receiving $71m over two years from ARRA. Given that the gap is $91m in 2009-2010 (including some of the stimulus), $7.1m towards operating savings is not going to save the day.
 Jay Inslee (Wikimedia Commons) The other action is H.R. 2724, the National Transportation Objectives Act of 2009. It’s co-sponsored by Washington’s own Rep. Jay Inslee. This is a fairly high-level bill that requires USDOT to have a plan to do lots of desirable things.
It’s unclear whether this just shuffles the deck of existing FTA and intercity rail funds, or if it would lead to the diversion of funds from what we would consider counterproductive uses (ie, highway expansion). It could even be bad for agencies if it increases the hoops that local transit agencies have to jump through, and therefore delays projects, without doing anything about the structural shortfalls agencies face.
It’s now in the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
June 10, 2009 at 11:47 am
by John Jensen
We’ll be having a meet-up tonight at Pyramid Alehouse, at 1201 1st Ave S. We’ll start showing up around 6pm, but feel free to come any time after that.
[UPDATE by Martin: Our operating plan is to be on the patio. If you don't know what I look like, I'm the guy in the blue shirt in this photo. I'll be there by 6. If we have to move somewhere else I'll tell the hostess we're "Seattle Transit Blog."]
[UPDATE 2: I'm also assured that under-21s can be on the patio as well.]
June 9, 2009 at 3:41 pm
by Martin H. Duke
Route 38 completes our list of slightly ridiculous single-purpose Metro runs in the wake of Link Light Rail. Currently a route that runs from Sodo to the Mt. Baker neighborhood, allowing a bypass of downtown congestion, it’s been whittled down to a shuttle between Beacon Hill and Mt. Baker stations, allowing those in need to avoid the climbing the extremely steep hill that is S. McClellan St. Luckily, the line is so short that it can be served by a single bus.
Two good tidbits from the TCC Blog:
- The Columbian has a noncommittal editorial about extending MAX light rail into Clark County. For media in this state, that’s tremendous progress.
- The Cascade Bicycle Club launched a site called Bikewise, to report crashes, hazards, and thefts across the country. I found the interface a bit cumbersome, but then I’m not a bicyclist. (Hint: click on “Crashes”, “Hazards”, or “Thefts” to get to a link where you can change the city from St. Louis). Q13 Fox had a report on it yesterday:
Perhaps Adam will expound on this site further.
June 9, 2009 at 10:14 am
by Ben Schiendelman
Since late last year, when oil prices dropped fairly dramatically, transit ridership has fallen a bit – Sound Transit’s systemwide is off about 5,000 weekday riders from last summer’s 60,000. While ridership is still higher than the same time last year, I’ve certainly heard a few people say “hey, ridership’s down,” and through implication, “maybe these impending Metro service cuts won’t be that bad.” Today’s New York Times article (free registration required, sorry) has a fantastic, inflation-adjusted graph of fuel prices that should make it clear fuel prices aren’t staying down at all – the national average is up a dollar since December.
There’s more than one factor here, of course. The recession is increasing unemployment, meaning fewer people are commuting. If our economy continues to slide, we may see a continued decline, but with Washington’s average fuel price back up around $2.75 a gallon, I suspect those with jobs will be looking to leave the car at home once again.
June 8, 2009 at 10:08 pm
by John Jensen
 Zap on Board! Sound Transit has launched Zap on Board, a pretty well-done flash entertainment site designed to teach kids the basics about Link light rail safety. Link light rail is in near ’round-the-clock testing now and will open for revenue service on July 18th.
Through various flash mini-games and downloadables, Zap on Board gets the point across: pay attention when crossing light rail lines, don’t walk down the tracks, and be alert for quiet light rail trains. And hey, sometimes flash games for kids are fun for us big kids too!
Be sure to spread to friends and family living in the Valley.
June 8, 2009 at 2:55 pm
by Martin H. Duke
 by Steven De Vight The 39 will connect with Link at Othello, Columbia City, Sodo, and all stations North. Although Sunday headways are improving from 60 to 45 minutes, Saturday and midday weekday headways are increasing from 30 minutes to 45. There’s also nothing being done about the lack of evening service, effectively cutting off the Seward Park neighborhood from Link after about 7pm.
There was talk of diverting the 39 to run Othello-West Seattle instead of downtown (and renumbering it as the 50), but that died thanks to budget constraints and complaints from the VA that they’d lose their one seat ride to downtown. The VA hospital is another example of a building that turns its main entrance away from their best transit option (the 36 on Beacon Ave), although unlike ACRS they didn’t finish their building a year ago.
39 years ago, the second Forward Thrust mass transit proposal failed at the ballot box. It was another 25 years before a regional ballot measure would go to the voters again.
June 8, 2009 at 11:39 am
by Ben Schiendelman
A number of ex-Seattle P-I employees have put together a new local news site, I don’t know if you’ve heard of it – the Seattle PostGlobe.
They raise an interesting point or two about ORCA this morning, but I think the piece overall has a lot of needless hand-wringing. From the article:
But bus drivers predict they’ll cause delays and problems collecting fares.
And maybe even accidents.
Seriously? Most of their complaint is that if a rider boards a two-zone bus and wants to only ride for one zone, the driver must change the ORCA reader to one zone. They’ll have to know to do that, or they’ll be charged the two zone fare, and perhaps demand the poor driver reverse the transaction.
For starters, if I’m not mistaken, most people boarding two zone buses are either free ride, or planning to cross a zone boundary. I don’t think this is going to be a big deal – everyone who makes this mistake will have a $1 wake-up call. For most people, this will happen once.
ORCA is largely opt-in. If you get a pass from your employer in the form of an ORCA, you won’t be doing anything differently than you do with a pugetpass today. ORCA e-purse users will be largely opt-in, and will be repeat riders. I expect the overlap between ORCA users and inexperienced riders to be quite small. It seems to me that if someone knows to tap in, they’ll also know to check for the number of zones first.
I know several drivers read here – do any of you expect big issues? How hard is it to cancel a transaction? Is it a pain in the butt to set the fare default?
June 7, 2009 at 3:53 pm
by Ben Schiendelman
With Transit Now and Sound Transit 2, both Metro and Sound Transit have capped out what sales tax they’re allowed to ask for – when we extend light rail again, we’re going to need a new source of income to pay for it. There are lots of options: A new MVET, tolls, part of the gas tax, a carbon tax, even a property tax. None of these are available unless authorized by the state legislature.
This won’t just be a matter of asking nicely. The Governor vetoed the option of a local vehicle license fee for transit. Chair and Vice-Chair of Senate Transportation, Senators Mary Margaret Haugen and Chris Marr, respectively, sent this letter (link removed due to a technical issue, email us if you want it) to the Governor requesting the veto. Essentially, the chairs would like local option taxes to be on the table for other “transportation modes” – like, say, highways.
The state has had little will to increase gas tax past the 2005 9.5c package, and with driving down, they’re left with a huge backlog of underfunded highway projects. They’re looking increasingly to local government to fill some of those gaps – local government that lost access to the MVET a decade ago.
This is a multi-decade trend. Transportation project funding has been shifting from primarily federal to primarily state, and now local – I can only speculate as to why, but the recent RTID package was another manifestation of the larger government failing to build the political will to fund projects, and passing the buck down to the local level. I think this letter, and the Governor’s action, is another sign that we’ll be asked to fund highways locally once again.
The problem, of course, is that at the local level and the state level, we seem to have different aims. Voters in the city want to build mass transit and increasingly a streetcar network, and want relief for overcrowded buses. Sidewalks are getting wider, excess parking is frowned upon, density in the city is slowly going up.
The state hasn’t caught up to this thinking. There is still a belief in Olympia that a wider highway will decrease congestion – there’s still a belief that congestion is something you can decrease! So several billion goes into infrastructure for cars, and virtually nothing goes into infrastructure for people.
So what do we want the next state budget to look like? What funding options do we want to build our next rail line in the city? And how do we get there? If enough of us start talking to our legislators, we can make it clear that our next transportation budget needs to look very different, but what is it that we want to say?
June 7, 2009 at 12:10 pm
by Martin H. Duke
 Back in April of 2007, Andrew Smith created the Seattle Transit Blog. For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, STB quickly became the preferred focal point for people interested in transit-related discussions.
However, one reason for the blog’s success was Andrew’s intent to make sure that content was frequent and current. To that end he accepted the inquiries of other bloggers, including Ben and me later that year.
As the blog continued to grow, Andrew handled most of the business and technical aspects behind the scenes. He also built an impressive set of contacts in the establishment. Most visibly, he was the one that made sure that there was a post every day, when the stable of bloggers he built was too busy with other things and didn’t come through.
Most of all, Andrew has become a friend to all of us: not just another member of the pack, but the one who serves as the nucleus, the soul of the group. He may have let others get a lot of face time (in the photo above, witness me in the background ranting to the meet-up attendees), but he was the decider that kept the personalities in balance.
Meanwhile, STB has become a full-fledged community with thousands of readers, where both transit riders, political leaders, and the news media itself find out what’s going on in the transit world. It’s gone from a stream of personal opinion pieces to a semi-professional news and advocacy organization. A cadre of intelligent commenters from inside the transit agencies make sure we stay grounded in fact, and when the time comes we’ve shown we can mobilize for change: the community around this blog deserves a small part of the credit for Proposition 1 going to the ballot and passing in 2008, and a somewhat larger one for the defense of East Link in the last legislative session. It’s a community I’m proud to be a part of.
As he announced Friday in typically understated style, Andrew is leaving the blog to focus on some other projects, most notably his infant daughter. As a father myself, I can appreciate his shift in priorities, but we will definitely miss his unique voice on both the blog and in our internal communications.
I’ll leave to others the discussion of what this means for the future of volunteer media in our region, coming on the heels of Dan Bertolet’s sabbatical at HugeAssCity. Our hope is that, by having several of us replace the various functions once performed by one man, we can keep the blog’s traditions in both volume and quality. For my part, I’m going to be the new front man, so please direct all brickbats about our editorial direction my way.
Good luck, Andrew, in your future endeavors, and don’t be a stranger. And thanks for taking a chance on a blogger with a wafer-thin resume and a lot of passion for transit.
June 7, 2009 at 8:30 am
by Martin H. Duke
 Warning: This is likely to be the most car-loving post ever on STB.
Saturday, I say goodbye to what was once my favorite possession: a 1999 Mustang Convertible. It will not be replaced.
The clock started ticking when we moved to Columbia City, where bus service is already pretty good, from cul-de-sac hell. With Link about to arrive, bringing 20 hours a day of frequent service, it was clear that there was little or no reason to maintain a second car. Even before the train, having both cars out of the garage is exceedingly rare, although that’s partly because I’m a transit zealot.
Although the memories I’ve had with this car will be cherished, I’m not going to miss the $100+ a month in insurance and other costs (with no car payment, assuming no driving, and neglecting depreciation), as well as the space it took up in the garage.
A lot of the discussion about taking cars off the streets gets bogged down on the point that the Seattle region is far from fully accessible without at least occasional access to an automobile. And that’s true. On the other hand, there is huge potential to improve the options and economic situation of many two (or more) car families given good transit, bike, and walkability options.
Martin’s old car goes up for auction 9 am, Saturday, June 13, at 18226 68th Ave NE in Kenmore.
June 6, 2009 at 5:34 pm
by Martin H. Duke
 Forward Thrust Plan. Photo by Oran Seattle’s last Streetcar was torn up in 1941. Tipper Pete tells us it was along 8th Ave NW in Ballard, and replaced with diesel and trolley buses. Somewhat later, the rails were pulled up and the steel used to support the war effort.
It’s been 41 years since the failure of the first Forward Thrust transit measure.
In 2020, the opening of Northgate station is likely to eliminate or truncate Route 41.
In more current news, a Thursday trip on Route 941 swayed so much that some passengers were thrown from their seats.
June 5, 2009 at 12:02 pm
by Martin H. Duke
 By the Author The 42 and 42X are the two routes, along with the 194, that most closely duplicate Central Link. The 42X will be eliminated and the 42 will be dramatically scaled back in route length, service headways, and service span.
The 42 is basically being retained as a shuttle for the Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS) so that they have a door-to-door connection to downtown. They cared enough about transit access to send a bunch of people to the County Council meeting to demand their very special bus line, but not enough to design their brand-new building so that it actually faced the light rail station, or even the nearest bus stop. It has plenty of parking, though.
[UPDATE: Tipper Carl points out that ACRS is so transit-oriented that on the very same webpage, it says to find out about bus service to the Bellevue location by calling Community Transit. Heh.]
The 42 is also infamous as the route where, until recently, you could get your next hit of crack. Even more infamously, it’s a route I take almost every day. Elsewhere in the world:
- Joe Biden says intercity rail funds are on the way. Checks should go out by the end of the summer. (H/T: Gordon)
- In other Biden news, he and Sec. LaHood met Wednesday with selected State Governors and transportation officials. Washington was not on the list.
- STB Hero Geoff Simpson (D-Covington) is upset at the Governor’s veto of the MVET authorization.
- The Rail Passenger Association of California and Nevada is concerned that deteriorating rolling stock could force a halt to many Southern and Western Amtrak routes. As Cascades has its own trainsets, it ought not to be affected. (H/T: Lloyd)
- Transit planners ask Congress to fix New Starts Funding, since FTA rules routinely force agencies to lowball ridership estimates. For all the doubters, those rules were used to generate Link ridership estimates.
June 5, 2009 at 11:32 am
by Andrew Smith
This New York Times article discusses the transit realism of the Taking of the Pelham 123 remake (a movie about a hijacking of a NYC subway car):
Accomplishing this feat of relative realism in a place so inhospitable to most human endeavor, much less moviemaking, was possible largely because New York City transit officials — who must balance train schedules with shooting schedules — decided to pull out most of the stops for the production and granted unusual access to busy platforms like that of the Flushing line at Grand Central Terminal, where the first hijacking scene takes place.
“We thought, ‘This is our movie — it’s about New York City Transit — and we really wanted it look great,’ ” said Alberteen Anderson, director of film and special events for M.T.A. New York City Transit, whose office has helped arrange several complex subway shoots, often to see the movies made from them, like “Money Train” and “The Cowboy Way,” end up as clunkers.
If you’re a fan of the NYC subway, I suggest reading the whole thing. From the previews I’ve seen for the new Pelham, it has me worried that it’s going to lose most of the humor that made the original such an enjoyable film. I guess I’ll have to watch and see.
So I’ve been thinking, what are the best transit movies? I loved the original Pelham. The French Connection had a few great subway moments, including Gene Hackman as Popeye Doyle car chasing an elevated B train in a wild – and illegal – scene. One of the best movies of any sort. Speed was a transit movie, but I can’t say I liked it. Any thoughts? What’s your favor transit, train or bus movie?
This will be my last post here for a long time. I’m retiring from STB to free up time to spend on my other endeavors. I started the blog two years ago with no idea what would come next. I’m really proud of the what the blog has become, and it’s been a real joy to write for such a smart audience and read such thoughtful discussions. I am sure the discussions will continue unabated and I look forward to reading more great posts from the other contributors here and more lively, informative discussions in the comment threads.
June 4, 2009 at 4:35 pm
by Ben Schiendelman
From today until June 19th, Cascades service between Portland and Eugene, trains 500 and 504, will be replaced with bus service. Those are both northbound trains – the 507 and 509 southbound will run normally. It looks like this just affects a particular time of day.
The Coast Starlight will be unaffected – meaning late as usual.
The reason given is ‘needed track work’. There’s no information about what project this is. Just a quick heads up!
June 4, 2009 at 11:10 am
by Ben Schiendelman
Early last week, the state’s Joint Transportation Committee (meaning House and Senate combined) met to start discussing exactly how much money they plan to ask Santa Claus for this year. TVW finally has the video posted.
As we’ve covered before, getting light rail over I-90 means the state government has to give up the reversible express lanes. The law now says that the state must come up with a valuation for those lanes by December 1st.
The state (especially Speaker Chopp) wants as much as they can get from those lanes. We’re watching carefully to be ready if they decide to overstep their rights to the highway. The US DOT has been very transit-friendly as of late, and I don’t think they’d take kindly to the state trying to charge a transit agency for a transit-intended project paid for almost entirely by federal dollars.
I encourage you to watch the video!
[We're not going to embed it, because it has a tendency to freeze up in Firefox. -- Editor]
June 4, 2009 at 7:47 am
by Martin H. Duke
We’re going to have a old-style STB meetup on Wednesday, June 10, at the Pyramid Alehouse, 1201 1st Ave S.
No surprise guest speakers. No MC. No pre-registration and paypal. Just good company. I’ll show up by 6pm, but since there’s no program do whatever you like.
So that we get about the right size area, I’d appreciate it if those that intend to come say so in the comments.
June 3, 2009 at 9:39 pm
by Martin H. Duke
 Tukwila Station, by Oran, who didn't attend As many of you no doubt know, this morning Sound Transit offered many members of the press an end-to-end ride on Link Light Rail. STB was there in force.
The multimedia will have to wait, but here are some random observations:
- Mayor Nickels was positively giddy to ride the train. I detected something beyond the standard excitement at a good photo-op in an election year.
- From my home in Columbia City, it took 45 minutes(!) to get to Westlake on the 42, but only 15 minutes to return on Link.
- As Andrew has pointed out in the past, it’s a looooong way from Rainier Beach to Tukwila. A stop at Boeing Access Road would really break that up nicely.
[UPDATE: Brian has posted his photos here.]
And now for a sampling of reactions from other media outlets: (more…)
June 3, 2009 at 7:04 pm
by Ben Schiendelman
This Friday will be the second installment of TCC’s Transportation Town Halls!
This is a great opportunity to hear about WSDOT’s plans for 520 tolls, Community Transit’s new Swift service, the Puget Sound Regional Council’s Transportation 2040 plan, as well as bicycle friendly community planning from the City of Tacoma. Ric Ilgenfritz of Sound Transit will also be there to discuss the opening of Link next month, and presumably he’ll field questions about ST2.
All the speakers present represent attempts to meet the challenges addressed in the first Town Hall, through demand management, better urban planning, and of course, transit!
I hope you can join us – I’m especially interested in hearing what Tacoma has to offer, as they’ve been doing a lot of work to rebuild their downtown for pedestrians, and the PSRC has a lot to say about where state dollars go for regional transportation projects.
The where and when: Friday, Noon-1:30, Seattle City Hall, Bertha Knight Landes room (right off the lobby).
Comments Off
June 3, 2009 at 3:03 pm
by Andrew Smith
 Garfield High School in Seattle, photo by flickr user Rutlo This is old news, but the ridiculous Bush-era holdover rule that prohibits public transit agencies from competing with private coach operators for sporting events also applies to public school buses. Many school districts that have high schools well served by transit have stopped using dedicated school buses and instead give bus passes to students. This FTA ruling, which already has resulted in the cancelation of shuttle service to Mariner’s games, will now cost public schools across the state millions, not to mention the costs across the nation, and comes at a time when tax receipts have fallen so precipitously that public schools all over are laying off teachers, shuttering programmes and raising fees for extra curricular activities.
This rule is terrible and has to go. Come on LaHood!
H/T to Oran.
June 3, 2009 at 8:01 am
by Ben Schiendelman
A few people have emailed recently to ask what’s going on for opening weekend – and hopefully, the answer is you!
It sounds like Sound Transit’s entire staff will be spread among the stations to answer questions, but with the load expected on opening day, even that will be nowhere near enough. Separately, Transportation Choices Coalition is organizing as many volunteers as they possibly can – as many as 200 – to give out information and answer questions.
I can’t think of anyone better for this job than readers of this blog. I bet half the people riding the system on opening weekend won’t even know what ST2 contains, where U Link is going, or what ORCA is – and this is our chance to inform them. The easiest thing we can do to make people excited about transit is to let them know what’s already happening.
Can you do a four hour shift to help this run smoothly? I know I will be. Email Shefali@TransportationChoices.org if you think you can – or if you just want more information.
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