Photo by Oran

PubliCola breaks down a Metro report claiming that 88,000 riders a week (4.8%) fail to pay their entire fare,  and over 60% of those pay no fare at all (Metro has about 400,000 boardings per weekday).  The annual cost is $3.2m a year, assuming that about 30% evaders would not ride if enforcement were in place.  Orphan road also has a (shorter) summary if you prefer.  More after the jump.

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New Projected Times

The Washington State Department of Transportation, Rail and Marine division, held a meeting at Clover Park Technical College regarding the Point Defiance Bypass on Monday, May 17th. The meeting highlighted several key and important factors regarding the project, including the highly debated issue of the 10 grade crossings along the route.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), not the State of Washington, is requiring a project-level Environmental Assessment (EA) before Phase 2 of the funding can be made available for construction. The EA should be completed by the end of 2010 with the FRA issuing a finding in 2011. Construction of Phase 2 will start in 2012 with an estimated completion time of 2014. This will push back the 5th and 6th round trip of the Cascades to 2014/2015 as well. This does not affect the estimated start of Sounder service to Lakewood in 2013.  More after the jump.

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Point Wells (kingcounty.gov)

Last week, the Snohomish County Council authorized substantial upzones in seven urban villages, which may initiate a sequence that adds another station to North Sounder:

The ordinance allows for buildings up to 90 feet high, though a developer could build 180-foot structures by showing a need for more density…

There are six other urban centers: Highway 99 at the Mukilteo Speedway; Highway 99 at 152nd Street SW; I-5 at 164th Street SW; I-5 at 128th Street SW; 44th Avenue W. near the Mountlake Terrace-Lynnwood city line; and the Bothell-Everett Highway at Maltby Road.

Two of these are along Swift; three others will probably be served either by ST2 or ST3.  The other is about a mile from the Canyon Park P&R.  More good stuff below the jump.

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click to enlarge

It took me quite a few minutes of staring at the map at right (and the schedule) to figure out the path that Route 102 actually takes.

Two things are frustrating about this kind of graphic design.  First, lumping a bunch of routes into one map makes a lot of sense from a printing-paper-schedules perspective, but not when done online.

Secondly, it’s been about two years since Community Transit — not exactly rolling in cash themselves — managed to produce exceptionally clear and attractive route maps.  In the original thread on this topic, commenter sachtu adds insult to injury by pointing out that CT contracted with King County‘s GIS deparment to produce those maps.   So it would be a matter of Metro metaphorically literally walking across the street downstairs.

Some of you have requested that we put up a glossary to help assist those less familiar with the many enigmatic acronyms that transit wonks like to use.  Transitspeak is complex, but fortuntely, the STB staff delivered and we now have a new Seattle Transit Glossary, which can be accessed from the sidebar at the bottom of ‘Best Reference Posts.’

Long hours were put into the making of this glossary, but even after about a hundred proofreads, the possibility is still there that we missed a few acronyms or terms you’re dying to know about.  If that’s the case or you find anything wrong (broken links, misplaced definitions,etc.), please let us know.

This video shows a blip at every stop that someone queried using One Bus Away in a day.

WSDOT

Beginning Monday, the 1st Ave S to Spokane St. on ramp will be permanently closed for demolition, with a replacement going up in late 2011. This will cause large disruptions in West Seattle service.  Routes 116, 118 and 119 get new schedules; 21,22, 56, 57, and 85 get reroutes; and 15, 18, 37, 54, 55, 113, 120, 121, 122, 125 will likely experience delays:

Passengers on these bus routes should plan for extra travel time, particularly during the afternoon commute. On trips heading west and north toward Seattle, these bus routes will probably have more normal travel times.

It’s going to be a bad decade to commute out of West Seattle.

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill superimposed on Seattle.  Image from here.

The Economist advocates for more drilling. In a weird way their argument is sound:

So long as Americans do not reduce their consumption of oil, refusing to drill at home means importing more of the stuff, often from places with looser environmental standards. The net effect is likely to be more pollution, not less. Nigeria, for example, has had a major oil spill every year since 1969, observes Lisa Margonelli of the New America Foundation, a think-tank. Putting a price on carbon would eventually spur the development of cleaner fuels, and persuade Americans to switch to them.

There is no way to really eliminate this kind of thing without using less oil.

I try not to get in the business of directing epithets towards average people who believe climate change is a hoax. Although I believe they are wrong, like most of them I haven’t actually studied the peer-reviewed literature, instead relying on the judgments of people and institutions I trust. I reserve my scorn for the leaders who take advantage of that trust, ignore their responsibility to examine the evidence with an open mind, and go on to mislead their constituents.  In a way, what’s worse is leaders who acknowledge the gravity of the problem but don’t seem interested in doing anything about it.

Climate change aside, everyone understands that oil spills  are just one way in which petroleum use does large economic and ecological damage. It blows my mind that an increase in the gas tax — with revenues directed towards developing alternatives, mitigating oil’s impacts, reducing other taxes, or whatever your pet cause is  — is so unpopular as to be beyond the pale in American political discourse.

The new priority seating area

You may have noticed a change in the priority seating area on some of Metro’s buses lately. Metro is retrofitting its 60-foot low-floor articulated bus fleet with a new configuration for the priority seating area that matches the one found on the newest hybrid buses in service (6800 series). The new configuration features a split 1+2 flip-up seat and a barrier in front of the first row of front-facing seats. The barrier replaces the flip-up front-facing 2-person seat. Metro fleet procurement says this arrangement will “enhance passenger safety.” In addition to enhanced safety, the new arrangement adds an extra seat while a wheelchair user is occupying the space, even if it means a net loss of 2 seats per bus.

In related news, Metro is currently evaluating rear-facing ADA seating positions for passengers with mobility devices and a passive restraint system. The rear-facing position and passive restraint system is widely used on European and Canadian transit buses and can be seen locally on Swift BRT buses. No decision has been made to proceed with their installation, which could be on all new buses or specific buses like RapidRide.

Sound Transit today re-opened the Northbound I-5 Olive Way exit ramp marking the completion of major work on one of the first contracts as part of the University Link Light Rail extension. The exit was closed for a year-long project to prepare I-5 for the twin tunnels that will be bored underneath connecting University Link into the existing system.

Sound Transit reports the project was completed on-time and under budget despite earlier reports of being behind schedule, and considers this a great milestone for U-Link.

The three alignments (B2M/C9T, B2M/C11A, B7/C9T)

In our news roundup yesterday, we told you about efforts in the Bellevue City Council to continue seeking B7 as a viable East Link alternative, despite ST’s preferred pick of B2M for the B (South Bellevue) segment.  The move is not unexpected as the four-member quorum has been very reluctant to favor B2M (which would run trains along Bellevue Way and up 112th Ave SE along the edge of the Surrey Downs neighborhood: see map).  At an earlier council meeting, Mayor Don Davidson wanted B7 upgraded to preliminary engineering as a provision for the term-sheet with Sound Transit, but that amendment was not approved.  On Monday night, the council agreed to commit $200,000 to award four contracts which would evaluate several issues:

The latest contracts will include a review of Sound Transit’s noise evaluation, a review of the agency’s B7 analysis, an environmental review of the Mercer Slough wetlands, and a study about relocating the South Bellevue Park and Ride so that it could connect with the B7 alternative.

To pay for the latest review work, the council agreed to shift $300,000 from an earlier road project that was completed under budget. That will bring the total allocation for work on East Link to $1.07 million. Of that, $200,000 is set aside for the four consultant contracts, leaving $293,000 in the city’s analysis and development budget for light rail.

Though it’s not surprising to see the council continuing to commit money to study B7, it’s hard to see the wisdom in relocating the South Bellevue Park and Ride, which would add millions to the cost of East Link (taking away B7′s cost advantage), a tab Sound Transit will most likely not pick up.

Ad in DC Metro station, photo by VeloBusDriver

• “Promise” that Greenwood would get sidewalks after annexation probably a myth.
• The many types of ORCA users.  ORCA policy in the Ride Free Area.
• Managing bikes, peds, trains, and cars on Broadway.
• Tacoma Tomorrow stuff: Pierce Transit finances, problems with PT’s planning.
• Bellevue City Council still trying to get B7.
• Metro printing 2 million schedules instead of 4 million, reducing distribution points, saving $85,000 $255,000 annually.  Time to get a smartphone!
• Intercity Transit (Thurston Co.) will ask voters in August to increase sales tax from 0.6% to 0.8%.
• Sen. Patty Murray brings up Bel-Red planning as a positive example.
• Student input about U-Pass changes.
• Redesigning the waterfront — in Edmonds.
• If Metro buses had “love seats“, would you sit in them?
• Pierce Transit launches “adopt a stop.”  Email adoptastop@piercetransit.org for more info.
• Gates Foundation has problems with the tunnel.
• Clark County wants light rail?
• TriMet looks at cuts.
• Union Pacific fighting California High Speed Rail.
• Should fares be higher in the peak hours?  Here, Metro does it one way and everyone else does it the other.

This is an open thread.

Seattle is revising the neighborhood plans for the areas surrounding three Link stations: “North Beacon” (Beacon Hill), “North Rainier” (Mt. Baker), and Othello. This process acquired a bit of fame when a few anti-density residents filed a last-minute appeal to obstruct the process.  Within the next week, the next round of meetings will occur:

NORTH BEACON
Friday, May 14, 2010
6:00-7:45 pm
Asa Mercer Middle School
1600 S. Columbian Way

NORTH RAINIER and OTHELLO
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
6:00-7:45 pm
Filipino Community Center
5740 Martin Luther King Jr Way S.

These kinds of things could benefit from some more participants who understand the importance of density in bringing amenities to a neighborhood, in addition to the environmental imperatives.

Moments ago, Mayor McGinn released his much-anticipated “Walk. Bike. Ride” initiative.  Contrary to some earlier speculation, it is not a ballot measure, but a set of planning steps and some expenditures within the existing budget “to focus aggressively on early implementation of projects that will improve walking, biking, and neighborhoods.”

It’s not clear at the moment where the money in the budget is coming from, or the extent that these are new projects. [UPDATE: These are all being funded through existing Bridging the Gap or general fund appropriations.] The full press packet is here.  We hope to get those answers soon, though I’m pretty sure the instant transit projects are ones already underway.

Key elements of the plan:

• an update to the Transit Master Plan, analyzing corridors, modes, and developing an implementation strategy.  It also includes a feasibility study “of expanding light rail to Ballard and West Seattle.”  We’d heard inklings of this before.
• For transit in 2010, bus bulbs and signal upgrades to 3rd Ave downtown and the Rainier/Jackson corridor; additional trolley wire to allow more 36s to be electric; and First Hill Streetcar route selection.
• 2010 pedestrian improvements in the Westlake Hub, Bell St. boulevard, summer streets, Aurora corridor transit plaza murals, and all-way walks at 1st & Cherry and 1st & University.
• 2010 bicycle lanes on Columbian Way, 125th St in Lake City, Roosevelt Way in Roosevelt, 7th Ave downtown, Nickerson St, and Greenwood Ave;  a bicycle signal at Fremont & 105th.
• An update to the Bicycle Master Plan in 2011.
• A 2011-12 budget with more focus on city street maintenance and the bike/ped master plans.

This would appear to be one of those things where you really have to see what the new plans and the new budget are before you can evaluate their impact.  Still, the general direction appears to be positive.

Photo by Erubisu SEA

Switch heater installation will  continue (and hopefully finish) this weekend, resulting in 30 minute headways from 10pm Friday through the close of business Sunday.  Link will be operating single-track from between Columbia City and Stadium, so riders will be directed to one platform.

This resumes the work that began at the end of April.  By taking a three-week break, Sound Transit avoided the entire Mariners and Sounders homestands, where weekend ridership is a bit higher.

The switch heaters are supposed to weatherproof the system in the event of another Snowpocalypse.  We got a little lucky in that El Niño prevented any serious weather this winter.

[UPDATE 8:20pm: Mike Lindblom of the Seattle Times comments below that Metro is looking into bringing a Vancouver trolleybus into town to see how low-floors perform on our hilly streets:]

Among various facts left on our virtual cutting-room floor… Metro staffers mention they will likely bring a Vancouver trolleybus down here to see how it maneuvers on Seattle streets. One task would be to measure how well a low-floor trolleybus can clear certain hill intersections without bottoming out.

[UPDATE: Human Transit has a thoughtful reflection on trolleybuses.]

Ever since a Metro audit recommended elimination of trolleybuses to save money, people have been worried that this beloved institution may disappear.  As it turns out, that day may come soon:

Now the day of reckoning has arrived.  By 2014, the agency expects its fleet of 159 trolleybuses to wear out… County elected officials must decide by next year whether to retire the old trolleybuses, buy new-generation models or switch to some other technology.

I like to think I approach the trolleybus issue with an open mind.  After a couple of rounds of discussion in September, I came up with this.  While I’m officially agnostic on what would cost more (smart doubts about the audit here), quite aside from aesthetic and sentimental issues I think having some electric transit is a useful hedge against the possibility of much higher fuel prices.

One very unfortunate side-effect of the audit finding is that this issue now acquires a Seattle/suburb valence and therefore gets sucked into the endless and pointless fight over who “subsidizes” whom.  That bodes ill given the math on the County Council.

Montlake Plan (WSDOT)

I was all set to write a long treatise on how unimaginative a lot of planning for “open space” is, but then Frank goes and beats me to it.  I endorse everything in his post.

That said, you don’t have to go to Boston to find an example of sterile green space.  The I-90 lid is a poorly utilized stretch of green in the heart of our city, and we’re set to create a smaller version of the same thing in the Montlake neighborhood (see picture above).

Green space is very important if you’re asking people to forgo their own yards and live densely.  But that tradeoff requires ubiquitous but small parks with simple amenities like playgrounds, not a few linear mega-parks.  Really large public spaces are useful as a regional meeting place, but you only really need a couple of those per region, and we already have more than a couple.

In the cases of the waterfront and the SR520 lids, at the very least I’d like to see something besides grass and trees to attract people and make them vibrant urban spaces: P-patches and playgrounds.  Better yet, selling the land off to developers (with conditions) can place people close to jobs and transit hubs, solve some affordable housing problems, and as a bonus generate some revenue (in the sales price, future property taxes, and foregone park maintenance costs) for the government*.

More after the jump.

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An evening in the world’s largest metropolis, via Sullivan.

Get up and go from Stefan Werc on Vimeo.

by Mike Bjork

The FTA has a new (January) report on carbon footprints of various transit modes, based on 2008 data.  For electric transit, the authors use estimates based on the composition of that region’s power grid.  Here are the locally relevant figures:

For comparison, the Portland MAX, a more mature system, comes in at 0.213. The national champion is Maryland’s MARC commuter rail at 0.013.  Of large systems, BART (0.085) is very efficient with particularly clean energy.

Thoughts below the jump.

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If you liked Oran’s post about getting to Vancouver on public transit, you’ll love the new blog “Rebels by Bus.”  As far as I can tell, it’s all about pleasure trips, via public transit, to points all over Western Washington.

Enjoy!