Metro Begins to Open Transit Feed Data

Posted on by John Jensen
Screenshot-01
One Bus Away is powered by Metro's GTFS feed.

We reported last week that the innovated Walk Score website had added support for valuing transit access, but didn’t mention that this feature wasn’t available here in Seattle. Why’s that? King County Metro hadn’t provided open access to it’s transit data and instead required each project to be approved on a case-by-case basis.

That’s slowly changing. Metro has began releasing its GTFS (Google Transit Feed Specification) data to developers who sign a disclaimer without individual project approval. Eventually, access to this data should be even easier.

“The goal is a click through agreement that permits the development community direct access to our data,” said Stephen Krippner, a program manager in Metro’s IT department. “We obviously are not there yet, but we are headed that direction.”

Metro has been doing some sweeping efforts to improve its relations with third-party developers, including hosting a workshop last month. Other agencies in the region could stand to learn from Metro’s efforts. Metro itself could stand to learn from Portland’s Tri-Met which requires neither a disclaimer nor a click-through agreement to access its developer resources transparently.

The GTFS data is the same information that powers the Google Maps transit functionality and third-party apps like One Bus Away. Developers interested in accessing the GTFS data should contact Stephen Krippner at stephen.krippner@kingcounty.gov.

County Budget Committee Advances 2010 Metro Budget

Posted on by Martin H. Duke
180 by Atomic Taco
"180" by Atomic Taco

Last summer we described Executive Kurt Triplett’s proposed response to the Metro budget crisis, which involved a 9% (310,000 hour) cut in the 2010-2011 biennium.  The Budget Committee of the King County Council has softened the blow by deferring most cuts till 2012-2013, in the hope that the state legislature will provide the additional taxing authority to avoid the blow altogether.

The bottom line for riders, although this budget has not yet reached final approval:

  • no significant reduction in service frequency or span on any routes, at least for the next two years;
  • a 25-cent fare increase (except youth) in 2011 to go with the one long planned for 2010;
  • full speed ahead on RapidRide, including the F line; and
  • return of bus wraps, but with a 15-inch gap that allows riders to actually use the windows.

Details below the jump.

Continue reading “County Budget Committee Advances 2010 Metro Budget”

Legislators Back SR520 Option A+

Posted on by Martin H. Duke

The Times reports that a 12-member panel of legislators endorsed Option A+ (pdf) for the 520 bridge, which basically makes it a 6-lane road but eschews any sort of direct connection to the University.  The ‘+’ indicates some pedestrian and HOV/transit access enhancements not shown in the video.

This option is bad news for transit in two ways: it doesn’t provide a good connection from SR520 to the UW Light Rail station, and it’s underfunded by $2 billion.  (The more transit-friendly options are even more expensive.)  There’s much speculation that this shortfall is behind many Olympia shenanigans (by Seattle rep Frank Chopp, no less) to soak Sound Transit for the I-90 crossing.  Of course, no one is questioning $157m in lids through extremely wealthy neighborhoods on the Seattle side alone.

Yesterday’s meeting materials are online.  A video of the much less controversial East end of the bridge is here.

Comment of the Day: The Wife’s Cell Phone

Posted on by John Jensen
Picture of derailed Link train from KOMO.
Picture of derailed Link train from KOMO.

Yesterday’s Link derailment near the O&M facility in SoDo caused no injuries and no passengers were on-board, but the incident did cause significant delays for riders on other trains. Unfortunately for those elsewhere on the line, communication with at least some riders as pretty abysmal:

Comment by Gary — 2009-11-17 — 16:31:13
I flew back into Sea-Tac last night and took the light rail from Tukwila to the International District, boarding at 9:45 pm. Let me share my own experience. It was not a “minor delay of 10-20 minutes.” The trip to the International District took 1 hour and 20 minutes rather than the usual 30 minutes. The train would just stop for extended periods without moving in the Rainier Valley. There were no announcements of what was going on. I only found out what was going on by calling my wife on my cell phone and asking her to check the news. I pressed the intercom button on the train to call the operator and ask what was going on, and no one responded. There was no alternate bus made available, we were just stuck on the train. While I understand this was an accident, Sound Transit really needs to do a much, much better job of communicating with its ridership and reacting to a contingency next time if it wants to attract and retain riders.

We’ve been harsh on transit websites recently, but what about Link’s speaker systems? Link’s still working out its kinks but there’s just no excuse: It should be policy to tell riders when any substantial delay occurs and why it’s happening.

Bellevue Light Rail Workshop Tomorrow Night

Posted on by John Jensen

Transportation Choices Coalition let us know about a workshop being held regarding Bellevue’s light rail alignment that Sound Transit is holding tomorrow night:

Light rail is coming to downtown Bellevue and Sound Transit wants to hear from you. Join Sound Transit’s project team for an interactive workshop in downtown Bellevue. Up for consideration are several options to bring light rail to downtown including a possible tunnel. Learn more about the preferred route and stations, provide feedback to staff, and tell Sound Transit how light rail can best serve you.

WHEN: Wednesday, November 18, 4 – 7:00 pm, presentation begins at 5:00 pm.
WHERE: Bellevue City Hall 450 110th Ave. NE, Bellevue

Kevin Wallace’s ‘Vision Line’

Posted on by Sherwin Lee
Painting of the proposed 'Vision Line'
Painting of the Vision Line © 2009 J. Craig Thorpe commissioned by Vision Line Coalition, LLC

The Bellevue Reporter released details this morning on Kevin Wallace’s proposed alignment of East Link— what he dubs the ‘Vision Line.’  The proposal essentially calls for the use of the BNSF corridor (B7 alternative), which would bypass the South Bellevue Park and Ride, and an alignment along 114th Ave NE through downtown before crossing I-405.  This alternative would run right along the freeway and is furthest from the downtown core than any of the other DEIS alternatives.  To address the distance factor, the plan calls for a covered walkway that leads to the Bellevue Transit Center.  Wallace has stated before that he believes a surface alignment would be too disruptive and a tunnel would be too costly.

From the Bellevue Reporter:

The Vision Line aims to protect residential homes and downtown businesses. But it adds another option to a growing list of alternatives for Sound Transit’s East Link light rail project.

Wallace is asking that Sound Transit consider his plan as part of the East Link environmental-review process.

Arup, the San-Francisco based consulting firm that undertook the study, has full details of its Phase A study here.  One important thing to remember is that this first phase of the plan has not taken ridership into account, an integral factor into making East Link cost-effective.  However, Wallace believes that the ridership will be comparable with the other alternatives while still bringing down the costs of the Bellevue alignment.  We’ll have a follow-up soon with these concerns and questions addressed directly by Wallace.

Streetcar News: First Hill and SLU

Posted on by Martin H. Duke
Map by Oran
Possible alignments for a First Hill Streetcar. (Map by Oran)

Via Capitol Hill Seattle, Sound Transit and the City have agreed to accelerate the opening of the First Hill Streetcar from 2016 to 2013.

“We are now anticipating a Fall 2013  opening for First Hill Streetcar service,” Ethan Malone of the City’s Department of Transportation told us.

Earlier in the year, the City optimistically put forward a plan for opening the line in 2012.  Sound Transit is responsible for capital costs up to $132m. The City will begin construction in 2012  and is responsible for any construction overruns. Sound Transit will fund the line’s operating costs.

As the map at right indicates, the actual alignment of the streetcar is not yet determined, and will go through the Environmental Impact Statement process until 2011.

In other streetcar news, Ben reports that operators on the SLUT are announcing that on Thursday and Friday this week, Metro and SDOT will be experimenting with 12.5 minute headways instead of 15.  SDOT spokesperson Rick Sheridan said that the plan is not yet confirmed because “Metro Transit is still finalizing some details.”   In terms of the rationale, Sheridan said:

With ridership continuing to increase and more businesses moving into South Lake Union, the city wants to ensure that it can accommodate any additional ridership growth. By ending layovers at the end of each run and reallocating current staff, this experiment tests the line’s ability to increase frequency and capacity through slight modifications.

Regular Link Service Restored

Posted on by Martin H. Duke

[Attention RSS Readers: an early draft of Sherwin’s piece was accidentally posted and distributed this morning.  Please disregard it.]

According to KING 5, Tuesday morning’s service should suffer no adverse impacts from last afternoon’s derailment.

The Sound Transit website put a note up as I was typing this message.  Sadly, as of now there is nothing about this at all on the Sound Transit website: no acknowledgment that this happened, and no “everything is OK” message for the thousands of people that went to bed not sure if their service was going to be functional this morning.

Indeed, RPIN, Metro, and ST have nothing on this at all.

Breaking: Link Derailment @ O&M

Posted on by Brian Bundridge

[UPDATE from Brian:] I went up to check out how the clean up was progressing. The LRV is now back on the rails and clear of the SB track Damage to the pantograph and skirting is pretty bad and will most likely need to be replaced. The brandt rail truck is still blocking the SB track with several men and equipment working on the rails and/or checking out the damage to the guideway. Two BNSF trucks were also around with a heavy boom/crane truck. The wind and rain is really starting to pick up. While it has taken them a long time to get this mess cleaned up and ask a lot of questions, I have to hand it to the crew that is cleaning up the incident. I for one would not want to be in it!

[UPDATE: KING 5 reports that there may be disruptions on the Tuesday morning commute. Buses may run between Stadium and Mt. Baker whenever they decide to move the train, temporarily blocking both tracks.

Martin is planning to update here at 5:30 am tomorrow.]

A Link light rail vehicle has derailed on the wye switch on the elevated section of the Operations and Maintenance facility. The cause of this is unknown at this time but it appears that the vehicle “picked the switch”. No passengers were involved and the operator is fine. This train appeared to be going out of service when I saw it. I was curious as to why it stopped! Saw it all from my window. (pic to come later)

Expect minor delays of 10 to 20 minutes to light rail service. Trains are crossing over at the O&M and using the northbound tunnel for Beacon Hill and Mt. Baker Stations. The trains will cross back over at South Walden Street.

King 5 has aerial pictures of the incident here.

Future Link Headways

Posted on by Ben Schiendelman

With University Link under construction and Sound Transit 2 to follow, service frequency has become a hot topic.

Today, Link operates at peak frequencies of 7-8 minutes, dropping to 10 and finally 15 minutes during off-peak periods and on weekends. With average October weekday ridership of 16,200, today’s peak frequencies meet demand and will likely continue to through the next few years, but U-Link will change that.

The North Link Final Supplemental EIS operating plan summary (PDF), which only covers S. 200th to Northgate, the extent planned for in Sound Move, calls for 6 minute peak headways end to end by 2015, with an eventual increase to 5 minute headways between Northgate and Rainier Beach (referred to as “Henderson” in the document) sometime prior to 2030.

With Sound Transit 2, we’ll essentially get a new line – running from Northgate or farther north to Bellevue. Currently, the East Link DEIS operating plan summary (PDF) suggests four car trains every 10 minutes in 2020, with headways down to every 9 minutes in 2030.

An overall Sound Transit 2 operating plan I saw on paper suggested three 9 minute headway lines – One from Lynnwood to SODO or Rainier Beach, one from Northgate to Bellevue/Redmond, and one from Northgate to Sea-Tac/Federal Way. This would cause three minute headways between every other train south of downtown, and could cause problems in at-grade portions.

There’s another possibility here, though. Sound Transit could operate two lines, one from Lynnwood to Federal Way, and another from Lynnwood to Bellevue. This would keep headways south of the International District more stable, and make Bellevue headways higher overall. Either way, frequency from Northgate to the International District will be down to four or even three minutes with Sound Transit 2.

The limiting factor is largely the uncertainty associated with the MLK portion of Link – missing a light can add a minute or two to a trip, making it impossible to really shoehorn more trains in without degrading quality of service significantly. If we want another line through downtown, it will need to either go on the surface, or in a new tunnel.