RapidRide Interior, by Oran
- One more week to vote for King Street Station for “Partners in Preservation” money.
- PubliCola reports Sen. Patty Murray is cold to the idea of federal money going to Ballard/WS light rail; some dispute on whether or not McGinn has been working with Sound Transit or ignoring them.
- Homeless group SHARE/WHEEL complains they aren’t getting enough free bus tickets, will start riding the bus without paying; bonus points for a ludicrous self-comparison to Rosa Parks.
- Your Tacoma Tomorrow roundup: secession from Pierce Transit, progress on Tacoma Link extension, onebusaway in Pierce County, the fight over the Point Defiance Bypass, and Tacoma-Olympia buses.
- UW is hosting a forum this Thursday to discuss the future of the endangered U-Pass program.
- Seattle will do the environmental study for the Burke-Gilman missing link.
- SDOT looking for volunteers for their summer streets events.
- Maple Leaf unhappy with bus changes. 12th Ave schemes to get bus service.
- Amtrak train kills motorist in Klickitat County.
- Sound Transit’s bond rating improves.
- Anti-tunnel lawsuit dismissed.
- A nice treatise on numbering bus lines.
- “Why New Highways get built while Existing Roadways Crumble“
- DUI convicts now behind the wheel again, thanks to alcohol-sensing device; wouldn’t want reckless drivers to do anything drastic, like take transit!
- Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad receives an award for “outstanding historic rehabilitation.”
- Spokane freeway to destroy over 400 homes. That’s progress!
This is an open thread.
“Amtrak train kills motorist in Klickitat County.”
The story doesn’t give the details, but it’s more likely that “stupid motorist puts themself in harm’s way”. The P-I had a somewhat less inflamatory headline.
I really don’t find the Rosa Parks comparison off-base. In fact, Rosa had it better. She was told to move to the back of the bus. Cashless homeless folks are told to get off the bus.
If buses were meant to serve anyone, they were meant to serve those who have no other transportation, first.
Here’s the deal: We get a cheaper, more restful commute, and access to better lanes that allow us to fly by the SOVs caught in gridlock. In exchange, we hang out with all sorts of people who some might not choose to hang out with otherwise. If behavior is a problem, we have ways of dealing with that. (Although more security personnel on the bus would be nice, and reduce the biggest hole in Metro’s safety record: assaults on operators.)
In that same vain, I’d like to point out that eliminating the FRZ isn’t about keeping homeless people off the bus. It’s about better service, including for the homeless.
The homeless need transportation in order to get to job interviews and many other services. And remember, homeless people vote, too. We may want to keep that in mind when trying to get to 50%+1 for more transit funding.
That’s absurd. Rosa Parks was fighting the principle that seats should be assigned on the basis of race. These activists are fighting the principle that people should pay for services received.
If behavior is a problem, we have ways of dealing with that.
That may be true, but you’d be hard pressed to find riders that believe those ways are at all adequate.
20 rounds of 9mm. Always adequate, rarely needed.
Cashless homeless folks are told to get off the bus.
No, they’re not.
Share/Wheel’s little “protest” is pretty ridiculous. Given that drivers don’t do fare enforcement, it’s unclear who they will be protesting against.
Drivers do fare enforcement on an ad hoc basis. If you’re out of money, you never know whether the driver will give you a hassle or not.
Mike,
“Hassle” does not equal “enforcement”. I always do what we’re instructed to do – tell folks that there’s a fare, and leave it at that. Some may see anything short of “sure! Come on aboard!” as “hassle”. Tough.
Maybe you do, but not all drivers do the same thing. It has been said repeatedly on this blog that the driver is supposed to ask once nicely for the fare, and if it’s not forthcoming, to just push the “didn’t pay” button and let it go. So, I make sure to always have my fare. But sometimes my card isn’t read properly and I can tell that tapping it more times isn’t going to help, or I forget that I didn’t buy a pass this month and step on the bus without cash in my pocket. So I try to explain it to the driver, expecting him to do as stated above, but he keeps saying “You need to pay your fare.” I just sit down at that point because I figure I’ve fulfilled my responsibility, and I’ve never been thrown off or anything, but my point is that some drivers do more than they allegedly should.
As buses move toward off-board payment or pay-at-all-doors, there will be tickets issued for riding without paying. This issue will be more at the forefront then. There will need to be some sort of system for issuing ORCA cards with some reasonable cash value to the homeless.
But even then, someone could sell their ORCA pass for cash at a card reader by tapping the card to demonstrate the value on it. Hence, the need for databasing recipients.
Yeah… that’s ridiculous. Rosa Parks was discriminated against b/c of her skin color. These people are being ‘discriminated’ against by not allowing them to get a free pass. Totally the same.
From the comments on Publicola:
Discounted Metro Bus Ticket Books – $100 (Downtown Seattle)
Date: 2010-04-22, 4:57PM PDT
Reply to: sale-z2ktx-1705477812@craigslist.org
$165 worth of tickets, yours for only $100!!!
I have 3 metro bus ticket books (20 tickets at $2.75 each, face value $55 per book) worth $165 available. Buy one book or all three.
Email me to arrange a pick up in Belltown or Downtown Seattle or I can mail them to use if you pay via paypal.
Location: Downtown Seattle
http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/for/170547781...
I guess all the SHARE “clients” traded their bum-tickets for smokes and booze?
Time for no tickets, just ORCA.
Temporary disabilitie passes with stickers need to go, too, as those get sold as well. With ORCA, when a person gets a replacement for a lost or stolen card, the old one is (hopefully) deactivated. Conversion to ORCA will eliminate (or at least substantially decrease incentive) for black market disability passes used as flash only.
To solve the problem with distrust of SHARE/WHEEL giving out bus tickets, let someone else administer this particular program (and keep a database of who is getting ORCA cards). If SHARE/WHEEL throws a fit about that, then they really will look ridiculous. I want the homeless getting access to ORCA cards, too.
If someone asks for change for the bus on the street, offer them an ORCA reload, just like if someone wants money for food, offer to buy them a meal.
Or perhaps SHARE/WHEEL is getting ACORNed. They’ve made a few enemies with their in-your-face tactics. I wouldn’t be surprised if some plants have been sent in to stir up trouble. And this ad sounds fake.
Come on.
I’ll just say, I’m glad Metro put honorary “Rosa Parks’ seat” stickers on the first row of seats after her death. I don’t think SHARE/WHEEL should get the same.
RE The Amtrak incident in Wishram. Even incidents like these that have to do with trains begin to scare people about at-grade rail. Does STB have any stats on how safe at-grade rail is? Because that’s what we need to get to for a cheaper and more sustainable option.
You could recover some costs if you billed the estate of these morons.
I’m building a schematic map that I can use as a basis for drawing things on with which to pester the mayor, city council, King County Metro, Sound Transit, and my dog. (Actually, I don’t have a dog.) It’s modeled after the WMATA DC Metro map, and to a lesser extent the brief schematic map NYCTA toyed with in the 70s, both of which were of course influenced by the iconic Tube map.
There are a few tweaks I’d like to make to it, but as a first pass I’m pretty happy with it. Let me know what you think! http://www.lanechng.com/SOAS.pdf
You should put more neighborhoods on it, especially in West Seattle.
I wasn’t aware just how meaningless a suspended license is. This is really outrageous. Does anybody know who in Olympia sponsored this ignition interlock law?
It appears to be a section of HB 3254, from the 2007-2008 session, which became effective 2009-01-01.
The section reads
For details on how the Department of Licensing issues ignition interlock driver’s licenses, see Chapter 308-107 WAC and the DOL’s ignition interlock device webpage.
Allowing the interlock license right away would be more reasonable if at the same time they stopped issuing the occupational/restricted license that Dorn’s lawyer said is difficult to enforce. (Why does the TNT quote Dorn’s lawyer on this point instead of the DOL spokesman?) The cost of the interlock (high, I hope) is an additional incentive to take transit (beyond the cost of gas), but for people who simply can’t take transit (e.g. must carry tools) there is still an option.
If we ever move to traffic fines that are proportional to income then the cost of choosing the interlock over transit ought also to be so adjusted.
The breathalyzer ignition lock has been around for years. I knew somebody in 2003 in Pierce County who had one in his car.
That’s true, but “ignition interlock driver’s licenses” (and presumably the speed in which drivers can get one) are the new twist from the 2009 the TNT article referred to.
Well, I’m not sure what that means. If he has the ignition lock, that presumes they gave him a driver’s license during his probation/sentence, otherwise why would they have installed the lock?
New York gets creative with its MetroCards.
Be sure to click on the “bored booth attendants” link and read the comment about the MTA’s “self-expression police.”
NYCMTA should print these on the Metrocards they issue.
#8 is the best one.
Pardon my language, but this one can’t be mitigated:
[expletive] SHARE/WHEEL.
If you’re blowing through 20,000 free tickets in three weeks, than you’re giving your clients too many.
2 ticket per day, per client, to get from the tent city or shelter bed to some other destination of importance. No exceptions.
Give them an unlimited supply, and are transit system will become a permanent 24-hour rolling homeless shelter. (Oh wait, it already is!)
(I really should copy-edit my outrage. Nothing makes one look more ignorant than multiple typos in an angry post.)
(“then”…”tickets”…”our”)
Anybody got any apartment recommendations near Link between Beacon and Othello?
I’ll be moving in June and am deciding between Rainier-Beacon, Capitol Hill, and the U-district (north of 50th). I’m in a bit of a dilemma because the U-district is closest to work, Capitol Hill is the most walkable and closest to the downtown buses, and Rainier has Link. I’ve looked around MLK and see a lot of apartments but few vacancies. I’d also rather find a place that somebody has lived in or knows that the owner/manager is conscientious and not an a-hole.
(I wish Brooklyn Station were open now. That would be ideal and then it wouldn’t matter where I live. But that’s ten years away. :( )
If you’re not allergic to buses, that area of the U District is perfectly livable. You have single-seat rides to plenty of destinations. What would living near Link get you until UW station opens anyway?
Increasing ridership by 1. Helping build the rail-riding base and urban villages in south Seattle. Countering my Save Our Valley friends who won’t take transit now that their favorite bus routes are modified (106 and 42). I’ve long thought about living in Rainier Valley and maybe now’s a good time. Or maybe it’s too much of an impractical dream.
I did live in the U-district for 14 years, and yes it’s very liveable, I’m just a bit tired of it. But a 20-minute commute would certainly be nice. (It’s currently an hour from Capitol Hill on the 49 and 30. From Rainier it would be 70 or 80 minutes, or 45 after north Link opens.)
I guess I’ll probably stay on Capitol Hill because it’s convenient in so many ways. And the problem here isn’t finding an empty apartment, it’s choosing from the 100-some buildings that are available. You pretty much have to choose one or two streets to avoid becoming overwhelmed with possibilities.
Still, I was just wondering if anybody knew of any particularly good places in Rainier-Beacon.
Well it’s not Rainier/Beacon but the Roosevelt area is walkable and has excellent transit access to downtown, the UW, Northgate, and Overlake (though only during peak hours).
You may want to look at getting a house, the south end is pretty low density which means there aren’t that many apartments to begin with.
There are apartments on Beacon Hill, I’m just not sure what’s currently available — or, for that matter, what size apt. you’re looking for and what your price range would be.
This one might be promising: http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/apa/1726436978.html
But who knows — they don’t give the address, just say that it’s 2 blocks from light rail. But hey, free internet. :)
Actually, searching for Beacon Hill on craigslist gives you tons of options. You could always ask for advice on any particular locations — there are a few of us who are from Beacon Hill and comment or post on STB.
Yeah I wouldn’t make myself miserable just to add one rider to link. An 80-minute commute is NEVER worth it.
Speaking of route numbering, I’ve found it odd how Metro chooses to reuse old numbers. There are routes that used to exist and they seem to have banned ever using those again for no reason. 6, 29, 32, et al. The 359 is the obvious exception. And yet, they reuse old route numbers on routes that aren’t close to the old route. The 49 used to be an express between the U District and Rainier Beach but now it’s the North half of the 7. So why use 49 for that route when 6 was available? Wouldn’t a 6 -> 7 connection make more sense than 49 -> 7? It’s not like the 40′s are grouped together by area.
The 40s tend to serve the U District, no?
For the most part, yes. The 41 and 42 being the exceptions.
As Seattle Transit grew, Route 40 operated to Sand Point as one tale of the 30 Ballard-Laurelhurst route. Then when the city annexed up to Lake City, the 41 was a shuttle route that ran from the end of the 7 15th NE route to Lake City and Northgate. Route 42 Empire Way was very similar up to last year and Route 43 was an 85th Street shuttle (Loyal Heights to Green Lake).
I’ll have to check the 1939 Beeler plan when I have a chance to see what the planned numbering scheme was. I do know that Routes 1 through 16 were trolley bus routes and 17 and above were diesel or gas bus routes. But I don’t think they reached into the 40s.
The 41 also used to extend from Lake City all the way to NAS Sand Point along Sand Point Way…used to be my one-seat ride to downtown until it was replaced by the 75 shuttle. :( (I believe it also ran as the 41 Blue Streak from the old N’gate P&R downtown.)
When I first saw the 7 split into the 49, I thought: cool, 7 x 7 = 49.
Way to fulfill that stereotype there Oran. :p
It seems like there are often “seem like each other” connections for Metro buses, rather than close numbers. This case is an example, where 49 is 7^2.
I love the article about bus route numbering, lettering and paint schemes. Sounds like a lot of cities around the world are route-number challenged as well. Wonder if a “great-renumbering” would ever take place here in the Seattle area?
Who remembers the re-signage scheme Metro had in the 70s? There was a great brochure where they listed every old route number and name and the new signage with “To” and “Via”. I wish I still had that brochure.
For example, the “18 Fauntleroy” was changed to “18 To Fauntleroy Via West Seattle Junction”.
The flip side of that would be “18 To North Beach Via Ballard”
I wasn’t around but I rode on the MEHVA excursions and saw an ad for that on the old bus.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/viriyincy/2916283615/
The ad says:
“7″ has long been the number for the U-district: 7, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 271, 272. The 252E was renumbered to 272, and the 252 local was modified to become the 271. There’s also a slight affiliation for “3″: 73, 83.
“4″ seems to be a more recent decision; the 49 joining the 43, 44, 45, 46, and 48.
As I commented in the other piece, it’s hard to distinguish “43″ and “49″ in the distance. “48″ too, but it’s easier to tell because it’s a diesel bus.
I think the 252, if I recall, is similar to the route today as when I drove for Metro back in the 80s.
I think they chose the 70-series routes for the University District because the 7 Rainier was originally through routed as the 7 15th NE (with three tales).
I think they used 49 to be somewhat historic – as the route used to be the 9 Broadway. I think the 9 is already in use. Also, I thought it was the 47 that was the express from Rainier Beach to the U. District (or was that from Beacon Hill?)
Wow, that’s very interesting about Tacoma Link. I didn’t know there was any movement afoot to have the line expanded (though everyone has wanted it to be extended). The only thing I heard was years ago about the Puyallup Indian Tribe wanting to extend it to the new casino. And correct me if I’m wrong, there was no extension of Tacoma Link, in ST2?
Does anyone know where the money will come to build this line out further? Are there any drawings about possible routes or stations? I looked up information on line and there is a ton of websites talking about possible expansion. A few of the sites talked about “seed money” available (including our very own blog here back in 2008).
Also found a nice map linking the streetcar with commuter rail on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Link)…and it’s not even Oran’s map…lol!
ST2 provides up to $80 million in matching funds for extending Tacoma Link. Tacoma Tomorrow has a bunch of stories about the streetcar here and here.
Does the use of “streetcar” all over the place imply that Sound Transit will no longer refer to Tacoma Link as such? I imagine that as South Link comes to fruition it will do nothing but cause massive confusion to have two very different transit modes sharing the “Link” moniker.
Thank you very much, I wasn’t aware of the matching funds.
Per #3 in the PubliCola article; Why is McGinn mucking up the works with ST and Senator Murray regarding getting Federal funding for the Link extendsion to Lynnwood? He should be working with them not against them. What gives?
And why hasn’t ST (apparently) heard from him in 2 months? Seems like as a board member he should at least be fully engaged. And, as someone who is actually proposing more LR for Seattle, he ought to be working with the people in this region who actualy, you know, can build it!
There is no upside to pissing off a US Senator. What is he thinking?
http://www.seattle.gov/planningcommission/docs/Introduction%20to%20Seattle%20Planning%20&%20Development%20History.pdf This is a really interesting presentation that provides an overview of planning efforts in Seattle and the Seattle area in Seattle’s history. It’s long but it’s worth reading.
I’ll have pictures of the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad award. It was quite a bit of fun down there!
http://hphotos-sjc1.fbcdn.net/hs002.snc3/10943_212195868897_506033897_2972853_5249516_n.jpg
Here is a picture of the Willamette with me firing the locomotive.
That is a great picture.
Since is an open forum, I just wanted to update everyone from a previous blog regarding bike lane access to the light rail stations…
There ARE dedicated bike lanes along S. McClellan Rd leading west towards Mount Baker Station, dedicated bike lanes along S. Alaska Rd leading west towards Columbia City Station and dedicated bike lanes headed west on S. Henderson Rd towards the Rainier Valley Station. Also the Chief Sealth Trail comes within a block of both Othello and Rainier Valley Stations. The bike access to Othello Station could be improved with a dedicated bike lane along Othello Rd.
I had to check it out for myself because I’ve been seeing a lot more bikers lately and just noticed that many are using that trail to get to/from the light rail stations. I believe this trail extends far enough north to the Beacon Hill station as well. So there really is good access to the stations via bike.
Here’s one of the locations mentioned in the Spokane article:
116 S. Ray St., spokane, wa. Amazing that this is still happening today in a city.
Kemper Freeman was on Dave Ross today, and Dave asked won’t Link will attract lot’s of new transit riders. Kemper, quoting from ST’s own EIS, told him that in the year 2031 East Link will have 51,000 riders, of those, 9,000 would get on or off in downtown Bellevue, and of the 9,000, 7,000 would have been former bus riders (their bus routes being cancelled to force people onto the train), so actually only 2,000 would be new riders.
Great interview by a great man. Thank you Mr. Freeman. I love your mall!
http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=577&a=17129
Late last night there was a huge fire underneath the south approach of the Ballard Bridge that SFD feared might’ve caused some structural damage; they closed the bridge until SDOT could inspect it. I headed over to SDOT’s Twitter page to see if they had any news. Nope—in fact, their twitter page hasn’t been updated in a day and a half now. The only way I heard of the bridge’s closure—and of its reopening about two hours later—was the MyBallard website and KIRO’s Twitter feed. (The Times, which initially just linked to MyBallard, finally got a story up at 1:09 saying the bridge had been closed. Of course, here at 6:45, that story has yet to be updated to say that the bride has reopened.)
I figured part of the reason SDOT was using Twitter was to be able to get out updates quickly, and at any time of day—no need to have someone in the office editing the webpage or sending out press releases. This was midnight to 2 a.m., not in the middle of the day, but to see absolutely nothing from SDOT on the closure of a major bridge for several hours is really ridiculous. Someone at SDOT was on the clock at that hour, and they should’ve been able to send out a tweet.
Hey bus drivers, Roger Valdez wants a word with you about your crazy driving.
Interesting ideas in the article http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/05/left-turn_accidents_like_fatal.html
“GRTC Transit in Richmond, Va., … a pre-recorded voice will soon tell pedestrians “Caution: Bus Turning” at intersections. ”
Note that the vast majority of the cases are turns where there is both a walk signal and a green light, so signaling is part of the problem too.
[...] our news roundup yesterday, we noted that ASUW (UW’s student government) would be hosting a forum today to [...]
King Street Station is losing badly in the preservation voting. We need all of your votes from today until voting ends on May 12.
While 1st place would be great, King St Station is at least near the top of the list. The rest of the money will be apportioned based on rank.