Photo by Oran

• Dave Reichert votes to gut federal transit funding, part of a decisive anti-transit turn by the national Republican Party.
• Capitol Hill getting more and more density. First Hill not to be outdone.
• South Kirkland TOD update.
• Orphan Road has some smart observations about the Route 2 debate. Also, this.
• Metro would like your comments on its beta website.
• What density opponents get wrong about its environmental impact.
• Surprise! WPC hit job on transit contains many distortions.
• Route 358 is number one for security incidents.
• City gas tax could bring in big money.
• Phone snatching on light rail, now with arrests.
• Whatcom Transit renegotiating its student pass deal with WWU.
• Density and telecommuting.
• Guerilla wayfinding.
• Maryland considers levying sales tax on gasoline, just like most other goods.
• Why American subways take so long. Yglesias reacts with a lot of good points.
• Taking a second look at restrictive Taxi policies in Portland.
• How to talk to the Tea Party about Agenda 21.

Bus Path in Red, Key Stops Circled

Now that a number of West Seattle-bound buses have moved from 1st to 4th Avenue, there is now a nice opportunity for an intermodal connection with Link at Sodo. From northbound buses, there is a straightforward one-block walk to reach the station, allowing easy transfers to the Rainier Valley, the airport, and (eventually) UW.

Unfortunately, there is no such easy transfer to southbound buses. The only options to pick up a bus are all the way up at Walker or several blocks west to 1st Avenue. Because the only through east-west pedestrian corridor is on Lander St,  in either case it’s just under half a mile. The coming Route 50 is being diverted from Spokane St. largely to serve the station, and will turn before it reaches the existing stop north of Lander.

The obvious solution is another southbound bus stop, possibly just after the turn onto Lander. Metro’s Linda Thielke tells me that during the viaduct closure last year there was a temporary stop at Lander and 3rd, but could not confirm that any such stop is in Metro’s permanent plans.

Getting from West Seattle to the Rainier Valley is hardly the biggest deal in the system, but a new bus stop is a trivial accommodation. Although there are other reasons for the 50 to come that far north, a better connection would strengthen the case for keeping the 50 on Spokane St, creating a more direct connection between two sectors of the city.

Philosophically, I think we vote for way too many offices in Washington. It’s fair to say I’m a high-information voter, and I can hardly track the performance of a Lt. Governor, State Auditor, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Commissioner of Public Lands, County Elections Director, School Board, Port of Seattle board, and dozens of judges, to say nothing of the four executives and 15 legislators that represent me at one level or another.* I can’t imagine what it must be like to vote with only a mild interest in local politics. I suspect that if we abolished the entire structure in favor of appointments by Governors, County Executives, and Mayors — and simply held them accountable for performance — we’d probably be objectively better off.

Direct elections to esoteric board positions fundamentally erode accountability. Perhaps a close Port watcher can set me straight, but I think the Port of Seattle seems like a good example of an organization with an elected board and a nearly continuous whiff of scandal and mismanagement.

The bill in Olympia that would replace the appointed Sound Transit Board with an elected one has similar faults. Moreover, the wild swings possible with the mood of an electorate are particularly dangerous to any large capital project which requires steady and competent execution.

In spite of all this, many locals inexplicably like long and complicated ballots. For those people, it really comes down to institutional design. Districts might be arranged to dilute or concentrate the power of the urban core. Board positions could be unpaid or full-time positions, influencing the kind of person that runs for each. In the case of this bill, it’s a part-time position with nominal pay.

There’s a certain strain of opinion that is pro-transit and pro-rail in the abstract but believes that Sound Transit is hopelessly corrupt and/or incompetent. A lot of these people gravitated to the monorail project about a decade ago. Others have concluded that a failure of ST to adopt their preferred policy on a particular issue is proof of their perfidy. If you’re in that camp, then I suppose reforming the board couldn’t possibly make things any worse. Personally, I see ST as a well-intentioned bureaucracy that suffers under some unfortunate external incentives and constraints, and has some of the inherent weaknesses of large organizations. None of those weaknesses are actually solved by an elected board.

Furthermore, I think proceeding with all possible haste will get us where we want faster than trying to expend organizational time and energy trying to optimize governance. Writing the RTA law right in 1995 might have produced a better Sound Transit and a better rail system. Rewriting it now will do neither.

* Not an exhaustive list of elected offices!

Photo by Oran

• Seattle Council approves Roosevelt upzone; Godden, Harrell opposed; Licata waffles but votes yes.
• Beacon Hill and Othello upzone hearing February 29th.
• Lower speed limit bill is cruising.
• Portland appears to have solved the public restroom problem that so confounded Seattle.
• Seattle moving away from “auto-court” townhomes.
• Edmonds Mayor Dave Earling back on the CT board.
• 2011 was a record year at the airport.
• Route 7 passenger stabbed downtown.
• USDOT improving its transit funding formulas.
• Long Beach embracing bikes.
• Finding the least crowded subway car.
• Is there a “gender imbalance” in transit?
• I tend to think the DSTT is a overbuilt, but Almaty puts it in the shade.
• If you think Seatac Station is too far from the terminal, consider LAX, present and future.
• Tacoma concerned about lost event parking at the Dome.
• Using twitter to identify flows of people.

This is an open thread.

With pay-as-you-leave disappearing later this year, Metro is gathering data about its operational impact on the tunnel:

Metro has been doing a series of travel-time tests both on surface streets and in the transit tunnel to determine what operational changes need to be made next fall once all passengers are required to pay fares upon entering the bus. Metro and Sound Transit are involving the bus riders in this latest test.

If you are riding a bus in the tunnel between 4-6 p.m. next Tuesday, please look for signage that directs you to:

1. Exit the bus at the back door;
2. Enter the bus from the front door;
3. Board the southbound ST Express Route 550 at Bay C;
4. Note that Bay D will be moved forward about 30-40 feet at each station to enable faster boarding on the other southbound bus routes; and
5. Watch for buses in both directions to drop you off further forward on the platform than normal.

S. 200th Station rendering

Here’s what happened at the January 12th ST Capital Committee meeting, the video for which is archived online. Nothing earth-shaking, but if I sit through a 90-minute video a post is going to come out of it:

• Sound Transit is negotiating with Microsoft to build a pedestrian bridge across SR520 near the station on the company’s dime.
• Civil Engineering nerds will enjoy the discussion beginning at approximately the 25-minute mark.  Building light rail on a floating bridge introduces types of motion that have all dealt with separately before, but never in quite this combination. A gathering of the best and brightest have come up with two feasible solutions for the transition from the bridge piers to the floating sections, with the favored one known as CESURA — involving lots of little actuators to keep it steady.
• The discussion of S. 200th Street design mostly covered what we already know. However, the owner of the airport parking immediately adjacent to the station has some TOD plans for the property, and ST is working with him to design the interface with the station in a sensible way.

Photo by Oran

• The Republican Presidential candidates on urban issues.
• Don’t attack your bus driver.
• Don’t spit on the ferry.
• Seattle Council closely watching Gregoire’s transportation plan moving through the legislature.
• Seattle releases shortlist of pilot greenway corridors.
• This Mercer Island “TOD” project sure pays a lot of attention to parking.
• This is more like it: new development at Pine & 9th.
• How will Bellevue relate to Seattle in the future?
• Snow response around the country, with some factual errors about Seattle.
• GAO worried about 520 tolls.
• Vancouver considers dynamic parking rates.
• What happens when you lose focus on the car.
• How class and gentrification influence arguments about the retail mix.

This is an open thread.

Route 496

In the wake of voters rejecting a sales tax increase to preserve Pierce Transit service, outlying areas that voted heavily against the increase (and have lost most or all of their service) are trying to opt out of the Public Transportation Benefit Area (PTBA) entirely. Sumner is the latest casualty, joining DuPont, Bonney Lake, Buckley, and Orting. Background on the (complicated) PTBA exit process here. Routes 409,  496, and 497*, which connect various neighborhoods to Sounder, would be eliminated, potentially aggravating existing parking problems at stations.

Interestingly, this contraction may also affect vanpools. PT Spokesman Lars Erickson tells me that while vanpools that either originate or terminate within the shrunken boundary are fine, those that originate and terminate outside the PTBA may have to be eliminated under the law, pending a legal opinion the agency has requested.

The other interesting wrinkle is that all the cities above but Buckley lie in the Sound Transit district. Sumner is actually represented on the ST board by Mayor David Enslow. I have an email in to Mr. Enslow to see if he has any plans to try to mitigate the loss of PT service.

*The 497 serves the Pierce County portion of Auburn, connecting the Lakeland Hills subdivision to Sounder.  The loss of Sumner would isolate Auburn geographically, and by law PTBAs must be contiguous.

Photo by Eli Goldberg (Thursday morning, 15th & 45th)

• Why Link wasn’t as reliable yesterday as in other snowstorms: one of the trains clearing ice overnight stalled.
• Demand for office space increasing.
• Zack Hudgins (D-Tukwila) introduces a bill to legalize personal car sharing. Bill text here.
• Roger tangles with John Fox’s arguments over Roosevelt.
• I-90 Express Lane ramp on Mercer Island closes for four weeks starting Monday, disrupting peak-direction buses.
• Car crashes increase by a factor of 10.
• CT’s double talls are faring well.
• Shovel your sidewalks the right way.
• Suggested snow improvements for the B Line.
• Tips for biking in the snow.
• ST Express bus catches fire (!) No one injured.
• Obesity and driving are correlated.
• Preliminary Eastgate development plan coming soon.
• Federal Way politicians still peddling silly rhetoric.
• Vancouver seriously looking at gondolas.
• National rehabilitation through a rail network.
• Making dense development attractive.

This is an open thread.

Now old news, but here it is:

Last week, PubliCola reported on a proposal by a few freshman Democrats to institute a 1% income tax*, offset by lower B&O and sales taxes. Most notably for our purposes, it would also generate $1.6 billion by extending the sales tax to services. Overall, the State would come out about $500m ahead.

I’m no political pundit but I suspect this is DOA. Nevertheless, it’s important to note that a broader sales tax base would have huge implications for local governments, particularly transit agencies. A couple of years ago, I estimated the fiscal impact of taxing all services as $100m a year for Metro. For comparison, the temporary CRC that basically stabilized Metro’s situation generates $26-28m a year; Metro’s long term deficit is on the order of $60m. All of Metro’s expansion plans come back into play, and then some.

Community Transit’s entire funding gap would disappear, and then some; Sound Transit could suddenly afford Federal Way, the Bellevue tunnel, an Aloha extension, and just about everything else coded “if funding allows”; and Pierce Transit would recover from its recent collapse. And that’s to say nothing about renewed city transportation budgets.

This would be a game changer.

* 1% is the rate; it is NOT a tax on “the 1%”

• Pierce Transit floating the possibility of shrinking its service boundary, by almost half.
• ORCA survey results.
• Transportation For Washington responds to the Governor’s plan.
• Other transportation bills this session, mostly relating to auto safety.
• UW issues report on 520 tolling impact on low-income families. (via)
• Downtown Kent apartment building a year away.
• First Hill Streetcar maintenance facility will be on Dearborn St.
• Bridges of Spokane St.
• This site finds the lowest Amtrak fares (H/T: Brian Bundridge)
• US Senator Chuck Schumer trying to save the transit tax break.
• Snohomish Commuter Rail not likely.
• Parking lots as public spaces.
• New York City subway shuts down — gasp — certain lines for a few hours, for maintenance.
• NYT says Honolulu elevated line gaining “critical mass”.

This is an open thread.

 In February Community Transit will execute a substantial service reorganization coupled with a 20% reduction in hours, making the total decline 37% since 2008. As usual, they have an clear and graphically appealing website that goes through all the changes, and the schedules themselves are available as well.

The area maps are exceptional, with different colors for Swift, Commuter routes, and everything else.

Page 3 of this document provides important details that I haven’t seen reported elsewhere. There’s relief for Metro and other transit agencies in addition to a whole lot of highway maintenance spending.

The spending will go on:

»»  State operations and maintenance to maintain 90 percent of state highway pavement in fair or good condition, operate ferry service and preserve bridges to avoid weight or traffic limitations – $2.67 billion
»» Grant funding for cities and counties to address critical pavement and bridge structure needs – $310 million
»» Grant funding for transit to mitigate potential service cuts to passengers that would affect their ability to get to work, school and other destinations – $150 million
»» Stormwater retrofit projects to prevent polluted stormwater from reaching Puget Sound – $250 million
»» Washington State Patrol to prevent the elimination of up to 12 percent of the trooper workforce that keeps our highways safe – $200 million
»» Passenger rail to help operate service on Amtrak trains – $100 million

And the one new, big chunk of revenue authority:

»» Either allow local governments the option, through councilmatic approval, to impose a 1 percent increase in the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax, with proceeds to be dedicated to local road and transit needs, or allow transportation benefit districts the option, through councilmatic approval, to adopt up to a $40 vehicle license fee for local road and transit needs.

Other revenue sources, mainly fees, are listed at the end of the post. Reaction after the jump.

(more…)

[UPDATE: Here's the audio. I should have said that Rep. Armstrong said a lot of good things in his segment, although I took issue with an implication that was telling but that he probably didn't even intend.]

Rumor has it I’ll be part of a panel discussing the Governor’s transportation proposal on The Conversation with Ross Reynolds on KUOW at around 12:20 today. Listen here.

Federal Way City Hall (wikimedia)

In last weekend’s post I said that Link could only get built beyond the Federal Way city limit by cancelling all other South King projects. That statement was a failure of imagination. There are ways to do it, although I think they’re all unpalatable and we’d be better off just waiting for ST3:

• Delay. Sound Transit could restore the revenue target by collecting taxes for longer, and pushing back completion accordingly. Given the steep drop in projected subarea revenues, it would probably be a significant delay. Meanwhile, delaying construction also pushes back retirement on the bonds, pushing back the entire ST3 timetable.
• Run at-grade. While saving money, this has obvious drawbacks with respect to operating speed and interaction with traffic.
• Local match. Just as Bellevue did, cities along the line could find ways to chip in.
• Eliminate a station. There are only three, and S. 200th is already in final design. But if reaching Federal Way suddenly became a primary objective, cutting Kent/Des Moines Road could save some money.

For the record, although South Link should hardly be the highest priority in the region, I don’t share the apparent anger of some commenters that it’s being built. No system is ever designed in a purely optimal fashion, and over time patterns adjust to accommodate built infrastructure. If South King (and Pierce) leaders want it built there, then by all means build it there, and it will do some good where it lies.

Time and Cost (520or90.com)

It’s a bit of a customer service cliche to say that your time is valuable. It’s instructive when people reveal just how valuable it is, and the new tolls are 520 are an excellent case study.

If the traffic maps are any indication, quite a few drivers are looking at a situation like the one at right (generated by this) and choosing to take I-90.  It is a bit cheaper, but anyone that makes this decision is valuing their time at $2.38 an hour.

Of course, the value of one’s time varies from day to day, and many people are making their decision without the tradeoffs displayed quite so clearly. However, lost in complaining about the tolls and their supposed inequity is the simple fact is that travelers have a new transportation choice. If they’re in a hurry (like most freight presumably is), there’s now a fast way across the lake. If they’re not in a hurry, they can still be thrifty.

For transit users (on 520) this is an unqualified win, and it would be an even broader transit win if I-90 were tolled too.

One more thing about this morning’s audit post: I should clarify that I think “balance” in journalism is overrated. I think it’s most important to engage with the strongest, most truthful arguments on both sides, which is different from getting one quote per faction. In our better moments it’s what we try to do here, albeit imperfectly. Nevertheless, if the Times is going to attempt balance, they should do it right.

A few thoughts about the upcoming Sound Transit audit:

State Auditor Brian Sonntag

• I look forward to it. Sound Transit has a very strong track record with audits. At worst the auditor identifies something ST could do better, which is a win for everyone.
• I don’t understand what’s so sinister about the truncated plan for Link in South King County. When ST formulated ST2, South King was supposed to collect about $2.7 billion*. Two years later it was projected to be about $850m less. Meanwhile, the Link segment that reaches Federal Way was to cost between $376 and $432m (2007 $) and the whole segment below S. 200th between $700 and $800m (2007 $). If we pay less in taxes, we’re going to get less rail.
• I don’t blame Federal Way Mayor Skip Priest for being grumpy that rail isn’t going to reach his city this time around, but his resentment isn’t used constructively.  If he thinks South King should cancel essentially all other ST projects in the subarea — which is what it would take (Page A-13) — to get Link to Federal Way, then he can take that up with his fellow mayors and the South King ST Board reps. If he thinks the South King pie should be bigger, that’s an issue for the State Legislature. Insinuating the funds are somehow being mismanaged doesn’t help either cause.
• Meanwhile, Federal Way is paying for far more than “not getting light rail.” For starters, Federal Way enjoys extensive ST Express service that’s worth around $3m a year. Secondly, most of the rest of their contribution is going to planning and construction of the line that has to be built if Link is ever to get to Federal Way.
• Lastly, I generally like Mike Lindblom’s reporting but I’m irritated that the Times article quotes rabidly anti-transit think tank guy Mike Ennis and “balances” it with agency spokesman Geoff Patrick, who is fairly constrained in the kind of thing he can say. It’s not as if there aren’t well-known pro-transit organizations and politicians that could more forcefully address Ennis’s heroic attempts to construe everything in the worst possible way.

* Unless otherwise noted, all figures are in year of expenditure dollars.