The two main takeaways from my interview with SDOT Senior Engineer Darlene Pahlman:
The City of Seattle’s policy is that Link trains always receive signal priority, regardless of time of day, location, or direction of travel. The objective is that trains never stop between stations, aside from stops caused by unavoidable human factors.
The signal settings and algorithm is very complicated, and due to fine-tuning has many exceptions. It’s therefore very difficult to generalize into general principles. There are dozens of variables and thousands of permutations and it’s impossible to definitively state how the system will react without precisely defining the scenario and checking the code.
There’s some weirdness in the timestamp of this update, but Oran reports that he overheard on Metro’s radio that WSDOT is done and trains are running to Westlake again. Train headways are still at 15 minutes, reasonable given the original decision but highly questionable in the first place.
Sportswriter Joe Posnanski, a national treasure, does some deep thinking:
How long do you think the Yellow Brick Road was on the ballot before the people Of Oz and Munchkin Land actually voted for it? And, even more to the point, WHY did they vote for it? How in the world did THAT bond get passed? One, that road had to be ridiculously expensive to build. Yellow brick all the way from Oz to Munchkin Land? That’s really wasteful.
Second, was there even a need for this road? I would have to assume to that the Oz Anti-Tax groups opposed it. And those groups were right. Think about it: does Dorothy pass a single person the entire way to Oz? Even one? No. Not one person on a bicycle. From what I can tell, not one person commutes from Munchkin Land to Oz. Dorothy is passing scarecrows and rusted tin men and talking lions. But not another soul. There is absolutely no need for that road. And it certainly did not have to be made of yellow brick.
Third, what about loss of life in the road’s construction? The human cost. The feeling seems to be that about that about 20,000 people died building the Transcontinental Railroad. And that wasn’t opposed by two fairly violent witches, crazed monkeys and guards under a wicked spell. Plus the railroad had to wind through woods with lions, tigers, bears (oh my) and very angry trees who throw apples about as hard as Brian Bannister.
All in all, I think the Yellow Brick Road is the most wasteful and pointless public works projects ever.
If you’re interested in the Mercer Island Link station layout, be sure to attend Sound Transit’s community workshop on the subject this Tuesday, March 9th, from 5-7:30pm with the presentation starting at 6. It’ll be at the Mercer View Community Center (8236 SE 24th St.)
Learn about the East Link light rail system and view in-progress preliminary engineering drawings
Share your thoughts about the Mercer Island station layout
Tell us more about your community and how East Link can best serve you and Mercer Island.
To beat a dead horse for a moment, Mercer Island residents might let ST know whether or not they want direct Link service to the Downtown Bellevue core, as well as a line that serves the South Bellevue P&R, thus preventing I-90 commuters from having to use the Mercer Island Park & Ride to access Link by car.
The effort to attach amendments to the Transportation Benefit District bill to allow additional license fees for transit has met with partial success. Andrew Austin at the TCC’s blog reports the amendment for Pierce and Snohomish Counties was successfully added and passed the full House. The King County equivalentdid not come to a vote. The amendment passed 54-44 on a straight party-line vote, except for 7 dissenting Democrats: Finn, Green, Hudgins, Hurst, Kelley, Morrell, and Probst. The vote was the same for the whole bill, except Hudgins flipped to vote Yes. Now it’s on to the conference committee, and the amendment’s survival is questionable.
If I’m not mistaken this closes the door on explicit relief for Metro this session, although they may gain from reduced sales tax exemptions. In any case, Metro doesn’t really hit the wall until 2012, so there’s one more session in which to do something.
The Community Transit Board yesterday voted unanimously to give final approval to a previously discussed 25 cent local fare increase, effective June 1st, and sweeping 15% service cuts effective June 13th. There are some details of these cuts yet to be determined, but the Community Transit Blog gives a pretty good summary.
Although we talk about many good things that transit ridership can accomplish, the first duty of these agencies is to provide at least some mobility to those who have no alternative, especially if they make an effort to live somewhere with decent service. Although Community Transit is not alone in failing to provide basic service on Sunday, it’s a sad day for the region when a large county like Snohomish (aside from Everett) has to take this kind of step.
There is, however, a glimmer of hope for those most impacted by this decision:
The board did approve a $50,000 fund that could be used by community organizations to fill the gaps of missing Sunday service for those with the greatest need. Details of how that plan will work are being developed.
WSDOT workers are removing the scaffolding from their giant project over Stadium station this weekend, so they have to shut off the wires. As a result, from 10pm Friday till closing time Sunday, Link trains will turn around at Sodo Station and a free bus will serve Stadium and the tunnel stops every 15 minutes.
If somehow you haven’t heard enough about the Bellevue Link alignment, Transportation Choices is hosting a forum Friday in Bellevue with some knowledgeable and/or influential figures:
Panelists:
Don Billen, East Link Project Manager, Sound Transit
Trinity Parker, Government and Community Relations, Sound Transit
Bernard Van de Kamp, City of Bellevue
Patrick Bannon, Downtown Bellevue Association
WHEN: Friday, March 5, 12 – 1:30 pm WHERE: Bradford Center, 752 108th Avenue NE, Bellevue
The Times reports that safety legislation that aims to reduced distracted driving has passed in the House, although less encompassing in form than what originally passed in the Senate. The House bill would limit 16- and 17-year old drivers from using cell phones for calling or texting. Unlike the original Senate bill it does not change driving while talking on a phone without a hands free device from a secondary offense to a primary offense for all other drivers.
The House’s failure to change this just begs drivers to break the law. Its like saying the speed limit is 55 but police can’t give you a ticket unless you are driving 70. Laws must be readily enforceable or else they are pointless. Half measures like this lead to abuse, making it that much harding to change behavior when the law is strengthened. And the state is already seeing abuse of the current secondary offense based law. A PEMCO study shows that over the last 20 months talking on a cell phone without a hands free device has increase from 17% to 43% and 3% to 20% for texting.
What really gets me is quotes like this from Rep. Dan Roach (R-Bonney Lake) “The libertarian in me comes out with these types of issues”… “It’s not a Democrat and Republican issue. It’s a personal-choice issue.” Huh?
Drinking and driving isn’t a personal choice it is a public safety issue. Distracted driving isn’t any different.
The Brickyard P&R, which in 2008 was at 105% capacity and in the top 10 in utilization, is opening 200 more spaces this week, nearly doubling its capacity to 442 vehicles. This will be a relief to the residents of this area, filled with low-density, unwalkable, cul-de-sac oriented development, as it gives them good access to 10 Metro and Sound Transit routes, including expresses to Seattle and Bellevue. The $2.1m cost was covered by WSDOT’s Regional Mobility Grant program.
Presenting the first advertisement on Link light rail. It is an ad for III Marks Apartments next to Tukwila International Boulevard Station. I like the station symbol included, as it gets people thinking about locations relative to Link stations (and transit lines, in general).
Last November, Clear Channel Outdoor was awarded a contract from Sound Transit to manage all revenue-generating advertising for the agency. This likely explains the absence of ads in the first few months of service of Link. Even after November, there’s a dearth of advertising on Link. The economy obviously affects ad sales but there must be some other reasons why we haven’t seen more ads. I’ve joked that we should have some ads for the blog on the train. Is it a policy to only allow businesses along the line to advertise on Link? Neither Sound Transit nor Clear Channel Outdoor have responded to a request for more information.
This is somewhat paraphrased, but overheard on the Senate floor from Senate Transportation Chair Mary Margaret Haugen: “There is no one on the floor of this senate that has done more for transit than I have.”
Noting, of course, that the Regional Mobility Grant program Senate Transportation just stripped funding from was created by Senator Ed Murray…
Although the standalone bill that would add authority for a $20 license fee in King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties died in the House last month, Publicola reports that the same provision has been proposed as an amendment to SB 6774, an otherwise boring bill about Transportation Benefit District governance:
The amendments—sponsored by Reps. Scott White (D-46) and Sharon Nelson (D-34) for King County and Rep. Marko Liias (D-21) for Pierce and Snohomish—would grant the three county councils the authority to either pass a $20 vehicle-license fee to pay for transit, or to put a license fee of up to $100 before voters for the same purpose. (They could also impose a $20 license fee and put a measure on the ballot, but the ballot proposal would be limited to $80).
My math says a $40 fee alone would solve Metro’s funding problems, or a $30 fee plus a removal of sales tax exemptions similar to the House plan. However, if I read it correctly this authority would expire in 2015.
Erica says Republicans are hoping for a floor vote to identify who supports the amendments, which have not yet passed. Someone should tell them that avoiding drastic transit cuts beats doing nothing 3-to-1, even in off-year special elections in relatively conservative districts.
Both the House and Senate in Olympia have released details of their revenue plans. As we’ve noted before, to the extent that these eliminate sales tax exemptions, they will also slightly increase revenue at local transit agencies, all of which rely on sales tax for a large chunk of their revenue.
The House proposal (thanks Publicola) contains, by my count, $458m in new sales tax revenue from repealed exemptions in the 2011-2013 biennium. Our Metro revenue predict-o-tron tells us that that amounts to about $12.5m a year for King County Metro, or about 100,000 service hours. That’s about a quarter of the budget hole Metro faces in that period. For Community Transit, it’s about $2m, not enough to restart Sunday service, but enough to buy back about a third of the weekday cuts.
The Senate budget is presented in a way that makes it much harder to figure out what’s sales tax, but my count (see this) says that there’s about $180m for the state over two years, or $5m a year for Metro. An email to Sen. Murray to clarify the numbers did not generate a response in time for this post. Anyone who knows more about the taxes mentioned here is welcome to correct the record on this.
Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn announced this morning that a light rail ballot measure will come next year, in November, 2011. Publicola reports:
At the press conference this morning where he answered questions about the seawall proposal he sent to the City Council this morning, Mayor Mike McGinn also revealed that he has no intention of trying to put light rail expansion on this November’s ballot.
“I think it’s highly unlikely that we will propose light rail expansion this year,” McGinn said. “I think we will move forward in 2011″ instead.
His announcement comes just over a month after the Mayor polled the possibility of putting a light rail on the ballot this November. While it’d be exciting to have a ballot measure this year, we’ve editorialized that any proposal should be planned carefully — which would’ve been hard to do in just a few months.
McGinn ran on the promise of delivering a light rail ballot measure within two years of his election. Past comments have suggested he would pursue a plan to deliver rail to the west side of the city.
Transportation Choices Coalition hosted a bake sale at the Aurora Transit Center to raise awareness about the huge budget gaps currently facing local public transportation agencies.
Greenbaum Home Furnishings, the site of a proposed B7 Wilburton P&R, would be condemned. Image from Google Streetview.
For those who expected the Bellevue city council to finally come to consensus on a ‘B’ segment decision last night, it didn’t happen. The large expectations were that the council was to pick up on a vote, where it left off last Monday. From internal sources, rumor was that Mayor Davidson was intending to do just that until the word reached his ear about the damage a vote could do to choosing a tunnel for the ‘C’ segment. This was further coupled with a mass of discontent from B3 supporters. Either way, progress was limited yet again in last night’s study session.
A Mercer Slough flyer from years ago. Image from HistoryLink.org.
Remember that tonight is the night to show up in favor of your favorite East Link alignment:
The Bellevue City Council could make a very bad decision Monday night tonight, choosing to change its preferred alignment from the superior B3 alignment to the environmentally-questionable B7 alignment that skips the South Bellevue Park & Ride, instantly losing thousands of daily riders for East Link…
WHAT: Bellevue City Council meeting to discuss the light rail alignment in South Bellevue WHEN: Monday March 1 at 6:00pm. Public comments are taken at the beginning. WHERE: Bellevue City Hall, 450 110th Ave. NE (one block from the Bellevue Transit Center)
