Sound Transit’s expanded night-owl bus service is starting on August 29 with service between Redmond-Seattle and Lakewood-Seattle. In 2025, the agency originally proposed three night-owl routes that would provide service to most Link stations while trains are not running. While two of these routes will start this month, the north route to Everett has been delayed until 2027. Sound Transit declined to share the cause for the delay, stating: “We are continuing to work with our partners to expand ST Night Bus service but do not have specific updates about Everett to Seattle service to share at this time”.

Sound Transit contracts ST Express route operations to King County Metro, Pierce Transit, and Community Transit. These three agencies generally, but not always, operate the routes that serve their counties (King, Pierce, and Snohomish, respectively). For the night-owl routes, Metro will operate the route to Redmond and Pierce Transit will operate the route to Lakewood. Sound Transit is expected to contract the Everett route to Community Transit, though negotiations between the two agencies may be taking longer than expected.

Continue reading “Sound Transit expands night-owl service to Lakewood, Redmond – not Everett” | 1 comments

Update: Normal service on the 1 Line and 2 Line resumed shortly after 2pm on Sunday.

Late last night, an empty Link train derailed while turning around using the pocket track at International District/Chinatown station. The train was on its way to Stadium station to help ease the crowds of Ed Sheeran fans waiting for a train home. It appears the train derailed at the switch and may have damaged the overhead wire. As of this morning, the train has been removed from the station and crews are inspecting the tracks and overhead wires. Sound Transit has not responded to our request for comment.

Continue reading “Derailed train shuts down Link service downtown” | 85 comments

In 2019 Amsterdam committed to removing 10,000 street parking spaces in 5 years to make a more liveable city, repurposing the space for sidewalks, bike lanes, and transit. Local residents were enthusiastic after they were removed. Now Amsterdam is removing 10,000 more spaces by 2030. (Not Just Bikes)

This is an open thread.

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Seafair is happening Friday-Sunday at Genesee Park. Metro has a transit access page and area map. Route 50 goes to Genesee Park from Columbia City, Othello, and SODO Link stations. Columbia City station also has a shuttle bus between 9am and 6pm on festival days. The page has a list of Link P&Rs and how many parking spaces each one has. That in itself might be interesting to peruse if you’ve never seen all the parking space numbers together, as I never have. It’s missing a couple P&Rs: Tukwila Intl Blvd and Angle Lake.

Other neighborhood festivals are causing reroutes, as happens every summer weekend somewhere. Metro’s Weekend Update has the list. I see Issaquah Front Street Eatery, U-District Boba Fest, Lake City Summer Festival & Parade, Magnolia Summer Parade, and Cherry Hill’s Umoja Fest Parade.

Ballard Link update

Sound Transit says the rest of Ballard Link from Seattle Center to Market Street can be finished by 2042 if it achieves the following milestones:

1. Identify $1 billion in cost savings or new revenue by 2030 to begin acquiring property.
2. Complete final design by 2032.
3. Get full funding by 2033.

For those keeping score, that’s 5 years late (2037 to 2042), comparable to the 2 Line.

Potential funding sources are longer-term bonds, a higher debt limit, station area value generation (leveraging growth from development), third-party funding, or permitting reform. I don’t know how growth from development is compatible with giving land for low-income housing as ST is required to try first.

Sound Transit, Seattle, and King County jointly released a South Downtown Hub framework report. This is a 99-page vision for the greater CID2 and Midtown station areas between Cherry Street, Royal Brougham, Alaskan Way, and I-5.

This is a Friday Roundtable and open thread.

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• Cartoonist Brett Hamil still thinks about the driver who drove up the tracks to Mount Baker Station (South Seattle Emerald)
• Metro Set to Go It Alone on RapidRide R Line, Won’t Seek Federal Funding (The Urbanist)
• Sound Transit Asks Riders to Weigh In on 2027 Service Plan (The Urbanist)
• King County Metro pledged to boost bus security. How is it going? (The Seattle Times, $; free via SPL)
• Bremerton Fast Ferry Headed for 35% Weekday Service Cut This Fall (The Urbanist)
• WA has blocked over 100,000 federal attempts to access license plate data (KUOW)
• Congress Budgeted Billions for Big Transit Projects. Trump Isn’t Spending It. (The New York Times, gift link)
• Everett Transit’s 2027 Transit Development Plan is available for review (Everett Transit)
• Tips for getting around Seattle for Torchlight Parade, Seafair Weekend Festival (SDOT Blog)
• Turn your ORCA Card into a bicycle lift pass + 4 other ORCA card sticker designs (Seattle Bike Blog)
• Ballard Goodwill may be redeveloped into 300-unit apartment building (My Ballard)
• ‘Record time’ — Belmont Village opens with 31 new shelter homes on Capitol Hill (Capitol Hill Seattle Blog)
• City Council passes bill limiting land-use-related appeals; Saka amendment fails (West Seattle Blog)
• Issaquah Leads State With Program to Self-Certify Backyard Cottage Plans (The Urbanist)
• Katie Wilson tries to find balance in move from organizer to mayor (The Seattle Times, $; free via SPL)
• Op-Ed: A Multiuse Path Building Spree Can Tackle Sidewalk Deserts (The Urbanist)
• Washington state’s clean-energy bottleneck leads to calls for reform (KUOW)

This is an Open Thread.

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Since smashing ridership records following its blockbuster round-the-clock service during the FIFA World Cup, Link light rail has been plagued by a myriad of disparate service disruptions. Just a few days after the USA vs. Belgium match, an open hatch door took down the catenary wire near UW Station, leading to service being suspended in the central core of the system for most of the day. Mechanical issues disrupted trains on July 10th and again on July 20th, when brakes on a train wouldn’t release. Then the following day on July 21st, a power outage resulted in a temporary suspension of service between Beacon Hill and Tukwila International Blvd stations.

In an emailed statement to Seattle Transit Blog, Sound Transit spokesperson Henry Bendon provided a deeper explanation of the recent issues:

Sound Transit identified a hatch door becoming unsecured on a series 1 LRV as the cause of the disruption on Thursday, July 9. After we addressed the disruption and identified the cause, we inspected all similar vehicles before clearing them for service and also changed our inspection protocol. That issue has not recurred and we do not anticipate it posing future problems. 

[The 7/20] service disruption was the result of an unrelated LRV mechanical issue. Service reliability continues to be a point of focus for Sound Transit. Our expanded monthly maintenance window program has dramatically cut down unplanned disruption time, and our incident response times have also improved. That maintenance program – and most of our planned work – was suspended for the duration of the World Cup. It will resume [the week of July 27th].

Although the recent disruptions all do seem to stem from disparate root causes, it appears that the suspension of the agency’s monthly maintenance program during the World Cup may have incurred some latent effects, compounding with existing known issues with the Siemens-manufactured Series 2 vehicles.

In response to criticism of perceived lackluster communication protocols during service disruptions, Sound Transit also highlighted both its digital and field efforts to keep passengers informed in real time:

We appreciate all public feedback and are constantly working to improve our operations and rider experience. In addition to web alerts, text alerts, and in-station screen announcements during an incident, Sound Transit deploys Fare Ambassadors, Staff Ambassadors, contracted security, and our Field Activity Specialist Teams (FAST) responders, all of whom are available to answer questions and who prioritize sharing information to keep passengers informed and moving safely to their destination.

Operators are also trained to deploy messaging informing passengers if a train is not moving for an extended period of time. Of note, operators, especially during a disruption, are monitoring and coordinating with Link Operations via radio, navigating changing schedules and routes in real time, and keeping passengers safe – all while incident conditions are constantly evolving.

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Manila’s jeepneys and emerging metro rail network. (Evan Edinger)

Evan Edinger and Not Just Bikes tour London’s bike path network. They compare it to a decade ago and to The Netherlands.

Musical interlude: Via con Me (It’s Wonderful). 1950s Rome with scooters and streetcars.

This is an open thread.

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• Pierce Transit Goes to Voters for First Funding Increase Since 2002 (The Urbanist)
• I-5 Expansion Over Columbia River Stumbles Forward with Federal Greenlight (The Urbanist)
• Rant and Rave: Reader grateful for ‘No turn on red’ signs (The Seattle Times, $; free via SPL)
• SDOT Prepares to Roll Out the Route 8 Red Carpet on Denny Way (The Urbanist)
• Pioneer Square homelessness effort exceeds original goal (The Seattle Times, $; free via SPL)
• What ST heard in comments about the Tacoma Dome Link Extension (Sound Transit)
• RapidRide I Line construction update (Metro Matters)
• Swift Green Line Extension: Project Update (CT News)
• With Major Reforms Years Away, City Could Make Temporary Changes to Housing Fees Next Year (PubliCola)
• Renton’s World Cup legacy, future hopes seen in Legacy Square (The Seattle Times, $; free via SPL)
• Park (or ride) the bus: Visitors enjoy transit options during summer soccer extravaganza (WSDOT Blog)
• Getting to games in Seattle: Skip traffic, parking with these transit tips (SDOT Blog)
• Free transit rides for active military and veterans during Fleet Week (Metro Matters)

This is an Open Thread.

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After nearly two months of various council deliberations and public commentary, the Seattle Transit Measure is officially heading to voters in this year’s November General Election. This measure proposes to renew funding for boosted transit service in Seattle, first enacted in 2014 (and reduced in 2020) for 10 years.

Mayor Wilson’s proposal in June faced a litany of amendments and emerged from the legislative process relatively unscathed. The adopted amendments largely require additional reporting by SDOT and Metro regarding the impacts of purchased service and other statistics.

Continue reading “Seattle Transit Measure renewal headed to voters in November” | 12 comments

Why have two downtown lots have remained empty for over a decade? The story of the Seattle Times lot and the Pioneer Square Station lot. (Build Core)

Housing price dynamics in the US, UK, and New Zealand. (Patrick Boyle)

This is an open thread.

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