The last Amtrak Pioneer on May 10, 1997, by WashARP
New Studies: Amtrak has completed the studies to possibly return two long distance trains back in service. The North Coast Hiawatha (Trains 9 and 10), which would run from Seattle to Chicago via Stampede Pass, lower Montana, and North Dakota. The cost of the train would be steep at nearly $1.2 billion dollars but has a farebox recovery of 58% and serve nearly 380,000 passengers a year, putting it in Amtrak’s top 5 best performing trains.
The Amtrak Pioneer (Trains 25/26), which would has several different options. The first 2 options would serve Seattle to Denver or Salt Lake City via Portland, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, (Wyoming or Colorado, optional route) This however would be around $400-500 million dollar start up, 40% farebox recovery and serve between 107,000 to 111,000 passengers a year, putting it in tier with the lower performing trains. I will have more about this 2 trains in a 2 part series starting next week.
Washington State DOT: I was pleased to come across this report on an HSR workshop that WSDOT hosted but was displeased with some of the notes:
Shared corridors will only allow trains a maximum speed of 79mph, even after the installation of Positive Train Control. This means trains that run together, freight, Sounder, etc, will be restricted to only 79mph. My opinion is passenger trains and freight trains should increase speeds accordingly, meaning, where applicable, 90mph passenger trains, 70mph intermodal/container trains, and 60mph non-tonnage restricted freight trains.
I was pleased with the rest of the report as WSDOT is looking proactively at all manufactures for future tilting equipment. Requirements such as 8 inches of cant deficiency, 290 to 350 passengers a train, powered locomotives at both ends of the train and faster acceleration above 79mph. This still of course fits within the range of Talgo but it also allows bids from other manufactures, such as Alstom and Bombardier.
Gobble Gobble: Amtrak will be running the special “Turkey Trains” for the Thanksgiving week, November 25-29. These trains will use conventional Horizon or Amfleet (or a mix) with a journey time of 4 hours and 15 minutes. The extra trains will only run between Seattle and Portland. There will not be any extra Seattle – Vancouver BC service. Trains are now available for reservation but as I scanned through already, several trains are sold out or near sold out!
Pierce Transit, the Tacoma Police Department, and Tacoma Public Schools are partnering to crack down on youth misbehavior near local high schools, starting this morning:
Starting Friday, Oct. 30, Pierce Transit, the Tacoma Police Department, and the Tacoma Public Schools are partnering for “NOT ON OUR BUS,” a three week zero-tolerance enforcement operation of unlawful and disruptive conduct on bus routes, at transit centers, and at bus stops near certain high schools.
Uniformed Pierce Transit Police and Security Officers along with Tacoma Police Officers will increase their presence on buses and conduct spot checks of identified bus stops and boarding areas near high schools. Undercover Pierce Transit Police and Security Officers and Tacoma Police Officers will also be riding buses and monitoring transit centers to enforce the State of Washington and the City of Tacoma’s Unlawful Transit Conduct Codes.
Emphasis areas:
Pierce Transit Routes: 1, 10, 11, 16, 51, 53
Pierce Transit Facilities: Lakewood Mall Transit Center, Tacoma Community College Transit Center, Tacoma Dome Station, Tacoma Mall Transit Center
Tacoma High Schools: Foss, Lincoln, Mt Tahoma, Stadium, Wilson
Riders [in violation] may be held immediately accountable by exclusion from Pierce Transit services for 90 days.
According to spokesman Lars Erickson, this effort was inspired by an incident with some students last September, as well as an increase in criminal and disruptive behavior by minors over the last three years.
As for how a transit ban is enforced, he said:
Our Pierce Transit Police Officers or Security Officers regularly issue exclusions. An alert with names, photos and violation information are posted in the operator’s lobby. Each violator’s info is put into a database, so we can track individuals and incidents. Our recidivism rate is less than 3%, which we consider exceptional.
Kitsap Transit “No More Paper Transfers” flyer by Mike F
This Saturday, October 31, 2009, will be the last day Kitsap Transit issues paper transfers for cash paying customers. Beginning the next day, Sunday, November 1, cash paying customers must pay for each leg of their trip or use an ORCA card to receive a two-hour transfer. [Update: Commenter Mike F notes that there is no Sunday service in Kitsap Transit so the new policy will take effect on Monday.] ORCA cards can be obtained for free online or in person at various locations until the end of January 2010. The cards will cost $5 afterwards.
Kitsap Transit is not the first local transit agency to eliminate paper transfers. In 2006, Everett Transit stopped issuing paper transfers and reduced their fare by 25¢. With Everett Transit as part of the ORCA system, transfers are once again issued and honored. Community Transit and Sound Transit will follow Kitsap Transit in replacing paper transfers with ORCA cards beginning January 1, 2010. Also starting in the new year, ORCA will be the only way for cash paying customers to transfer between transit systems. So if your trip involves services from more than one agency and you pay your fare in cash, you’ll need to get an ORCA card and put money in your E-purse to get a two-hour transfer. While King County Metro and Pierce Transit will keep paper transfers for use within their systems, I recommend getting an ORCA card while they’re free.
Old Seattle train stations, unknown era - Vintage Seattle
Continuing yesterday’s article with projects South of Downtown.
Seattle: I may have been seeing things this morning but it appears the the King Street Station clock has stopped working. I’ll e-mail the City of Seattle on Monday if it appears that way.
Construction bids for the new Seattle Amtrak Maintenance Facility seem to be slow. So far, only McGraw-Hill Construction appears to be the only bidder Construction is estimated to take 36 to 40 months. This would provide about 382 jobs according to Recovery.org. More below the jump.
As the countdown clock in our sidebar indicates, we’re 30 days away from Swift’s opening day on Sunday, November 29th. They’re borrowing some pages from Link Opening Day:
Swift will begin service at a community celebration from 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 29 at the Swift Crossroads Station at Highway 99 and 196th Street SW in Lynnwood. The family event will feature music, games and a christening of the Swift buses. As a special treat, customers can ride Swift buses for free until midnight on that day.
Anyone interested in being one of the first 200 passengers aboard the first run of Swift on Nov. 29 are encouraged to send an email to swift@commtrans.org with the subject line “Swift Bus Ride” and include their name, phone number, email address and city of residence.
There are 80 passengers per bus, so with VIPs and media I’m guessing that ticket would get you on one of the first 3.
Swift is the region’s first branded bus rapid transit line. Find out everything you ever wanted to know about it at the comprehensive Swift website.
The National Transit Institute has recognized Pierce Transit and one other agency (LA County’s Metro) with the Model Program Award:
The second recipient of this year’s Model Program Award, Pierce Transit, … developed and implemented Project Innovation in 2008. Project Innovation is a multi-faceted program that creates an employee volunteer-based research and development arm of the agency. During a Project Innovation cycle, five teams of employees from across the agency participate in intensive training and then work independently to brainstorm ideas for projects or initiatives focused in the areas of increasing ridership, making transit “cool,” and green or sustainable practices. The ideas are then vetted and tested for applicability, cost, and benefits to Pierce Transit, before being presented to the Board of Commissioners.
In 2008, 19 ideas were presented to the Board, including “Real Time Bus Information System,” “Customer Appreciation Days,” Energy Star Certification,” “Workplace Wellness Initiative,” and “Big Belly Solar Trashcan.” Of the original 19 ideas presented, the Board approved 16 for further study or immediate implementation. These 16 ideas were provided resources through the budgeting process. The 2009 Project Innovation team ideas will be presented this fall.
The NTI, based at Rutgers University, is funded by the “Federal Transit Administration to develop, promote, and deliver training and education programs for the public transit industry”.
According to Pierce Transit spokesman Lars Erickson, Project Innovation has already resulted in operating savings that avoid service cuts, many of the seed ideas for PT Tomorrow, the pilot “Big Belly” solar trash can that saves on garbage collection costs and reduces litter, and the plan to install cameras on buses beginning next summer.
It’s time of the month again for the latest updates for BNSF trackwork around the Pacific Northwest. If you are new to this type of post, this covers news for Sounder, Amtrak, BNSF and Union Pacific Railroads and covers passenger rail throughout the Pacific Northwest.
In Part I I’ll discuss all the work North of Downtown Seattle.
Blaine: BNSF and WSDOT finished the new Blaine Customs Siding and related construction several months in advance. This project will allow for faster and more reliable Amtrak Cascades trains and less delays as freight trains are inspected.
I argue that County Executive candidate Susan Hutchison is dead wrong on transit. The PI covers it. The Times contrasts how Constantine and Hutchison would fix Metro.
Ian Lurie’s comments on the Sound Transit website are basically sound, constructive ones. I’d quibble that his search critique ignores that a search for “Seattle Bus Schedule” should turn up Metro before Sound Transit.
However, I think a grade of F- is a little harsh. Trip Planner and schedules are on the front page. The content available on the site (in terms of reports and data) is light years ahead of Metro. That doesn’t matter to most visitors, but it’s important to openness and transparency. I’m not a fan of letter grades for this kind of thing but that deserves at least a D.
I don’t know much about the graphic design of websites but there are three things that would be prominently featured on my ideal agency front page, below the jump.
Getting started/New Riders – text and video, in multiple languages, on how to use the service. Ask them where they’re going, a couple of questions to determine their fare classification, and then serve them a custom video (built out of some standard building blocks) showing them exactly what to do and what fares to pay. I’ll let the user interface people figure out the best way to do that.*
Trip Planner/Schedules/Maps – Lets me quickly access information to create my own trips, assuming I know what I’m doing.
Personalized Accounts – I should be able to register for an account with the site where I can indicate what routes I care about and at what times. I should also be able to indicate a preference for RSS, email, robocall (?), or SMS alerts, which will tell me about service disruptions on those routes, and buses that are late over a certain number of minutes (via onebusaway). When I go to the website with my cookie stored it should give me a summary of alerts and next bus/train information for those routes.
* Here’s one workflow for this:
1. Pick a language.
2. Input start and end points, via either a map or the text interface
3. Are you under 18, 18-64, or 65+?
4. Produces a graphic/text trip representation much like Google Maps.
5. Prominently display two options: (a) Watch a video on how to ride the bus/train – showing fare payment (customized for either boarding or off-boarding), asking for transfers, etc. This should be customized for the inter-agency policies as necessary. (b) If applicable, learn about a cheaper way to take this trip by using ORCA. Do NOT mention ORCA otherwise — too much choice makes it confusing.
The National Transit Institute has recognized Pierce Transit and one other agency (LA County’s Metro) with the Model Program Award:
