Comments on: Infill Stations

By: Squints

Squints — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:52:22 +0000

Yeah, they’ll show a timeline of the entire 6,000 year history of the earth. At least it’ll save money, no?

By: Margaret

Margaret — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:04:10 +0000

I agree with you, Matt, but there’s always going to be someone trying to be witty. His comment didn’t sit well with me. Now, to the point of the article. Definitely Graham. The distance between Othello and the next station (can’t recall at the moment) is quite far.

I’m sure there’s going to be a decline in ridership in this area when it’s dark before 5 and when the weather is nastier than it’s been. I took a shuttle from SeaTac instead of the train because I would have to get off at Othello at 10 PM on a Saturday night. All along MLK there were groups of the saggin pants set and I didn’t see any security. Until this stretch of road can be made safe, I’ll bet there are others who feel as I.

By: Graham ST

Graham ST — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:08:29 +0000

BTW, they don’t call him ‘Douglas’ for nothin…:-)

By: Anandakos

Anandakos — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:59:06 +0000

Mike,

I think we all know that South Link will be at best a tepid success until a direct express bypass between BAR and SODO is built. I honestly expect that peak hour transit ridership to and from far southwest King County will decline when people are forced onto Link by the cancellation of the Federal Way expresses.

That is not to say that the line along MLK should not have been built. The line won’t reach Federal Way until ST3. Even when it does evening and weekend service should still be concentrated on the line with the highest density, even if the ride is a few minutes longer. But for people with a twenty-two mile daily commute, the belly east adding five stations will be a problem.

By: Anandakos

Anandakos — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:36:13 +0000

Huge problem: that BNSF SD-60 in the illustration. Can you imagine being in a three levels deep tunnel waiting for a scoot and having three of these monsters roll by pulling 20 articulated container cars?

Can you say alveolar spasm?

I will give the Cascadians credit for “Ventilation Ducts (proposed)” in the concept. At least they’re aware of the potential.

I’d still ask Susan and her friends if they’ve ever ridden the Builder through the Cascade Tunnel. If so, what did it smell like? How did your eyes feel? Did you cough?

Amtrak has done everything it possibly can to prevent the incursion of diesel fumes into Superliner cars, because of the Cascade, Moffat and Raton tunnels and Sierra snowsheds through which they pass. Imagine how much worse it will be standing on an unsheltered platform. Oy-vey!

By: Anandakos

Anandakos — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:19:53 +0000

Joshua,

If Link had a stop under Pine next to the existing bus station, the parking lots would be gone in no time. You know that.

By: Bryan McLellan

Bryan McLellan — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:05:29 +0000

Georgetown is only 5mi from KSS. I don’t feel like you get enough benefit in ridership on heavy rail to justify the stop time. Despite Georgetown being “up-and-coming”, industrial noise (argo yard, I-5) and height limitations (Boeing Field) will keep it from exploding residentially from TOD like is possible in RV.

If sounder and link met at BAR, you would get additional benefits like the transfer to Seatac. BAR would also be the only link station you’ll see between the Duwamish and Beacon Hill south of SODO station for a while, maybe ever. You won’t get much TOD in an industrial area, the zoning is intentional to keep it that way. Industry would probably be easy to get behind a P&R here since on-street parking is drying up as the streets get rebuilt from downtown south and it would fit the nature of the zoning well.

By: News Roundup: Votes, Polls, and Surveys - Seattle Transit Blog

News Roundup: Votes, Polls, and Surveys - Seattle Transit Blog — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:01:15 +0000

[...] you missed our post and poll about Infill Stations last week thanks to our service outage, it’s never too late to go there and vote. I’m [...]

By: Z

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:55:25 +0000

San Francisco just got a W5S class, first one in the US that i know of from Melbourne.

By: Z

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:51:49 +0000

I think the plan to replace the terminal with a 52 story tower evaporated with the economy. replacing CPS with a combination Metro layover, and intermodal (LINK, ST Regional Express, and Greyhound) terminal may not be a bad idea at all. you could sell the air rights to a private devloper to help offset some of the cost of the project. Obviously you would want several levels dedicated to buses (Lower level(s) for Layover parking) surface level deck for Local service layover/terminal, upper level for Regional Express/Intercity terminal/Layover, than whever the private devloper wants to put ontop.

By: lightning

lightning — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:13:02 +0000

I was talking about the upper lot on the east side of the tracks.

By: katie

katie — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:25:08 +0000

Metro will still need a place to lay over all the buses that will continue to come from the East side, south Seattle, and South King County even after Link extends north and east. There are routes that won’t be replaced by Link like the 101, 106, 150, etc. that lay over at CPS, having a consolidated layover location for buses remains valuable even if buses aren’t in the tunnel.

By: alexjonlin

alexjonlin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:45:44 +0000

This line isn’t build yet, but looking at South Link plans, the gap between South Federal Way and Fife/Port of Tacoma is huge. How about put in a Milton station?

By: alexjonlin

alexjonlin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:34:17 +0000

I feel like I heard something about that, yeah. I suppose it would be better to have all our intercity transportation stuff in the same place.

By: Anc

Anc — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:50:48 +0000

Well, yeah, they might not directly replace a line, but they are going to be sucking up alot of riders, so the lines will have to be readjusted. Or at least I would hope they would be. Same would be true for Streetcars I would think.

By: Zed

Zed — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:49:42 +0000

That’s true, but when the station was dropped the streetcar wasn’t even a glimmer in its daddy’s eyes.

By: Bernie

Bernie — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:20:33 +0000

An extension of the Streetcar will be way cheaper than a second underground station would have been and I think serve the neighborhood better. It certainly helps the streetcar ridership.

By: joshuadf

joshuadf — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:18:57 +0000

It’s true that they’re 1-3 blocks closer (depending on building), if you’d like to walk past parking lots into an open-air station. I did it in the summer when I had meetings at Met Park or Seattle Children’s Research Institute (1900 9th).

I still argue that the express lane access is the only reason for Convention Place Station, though. 1-3 blocks is not too far to walk, and walking through the already built-out area toward Westlake is much nicer than the parking lots!

By: Zed

Zed — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:13:03 +0000

It’s old only in the sense that the main mail sorting facility isn’t in SoDo anymore. The garage used to be more heavily utilized than it is now.

By: Zed

Zed — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:09:48 +0000

It was in the original ST plans, near Broadway and Roy, but funding and the need to move the alignment to the Montlake Cut did it in. I was bummed when they cut the station because I lived at 10th and Aloha at the time. If any neighborhood in Seattle could use two stations, it’s Capitol Hill.