These graphics are marvelous depictions of the geographic connectivity provided by a bus network using streets.
It would be great if One Bus Away could do one of these moving dots-on-a-map that would include the movement of Link trains, and the buses that feed in and out of the stations. That would be educational.
Also good would be one that covers a day of bus movements all over King County.
If you know people on the Regional Transit Task Force now at work for the King County Executive, please have them look at these graphics.
Ubiquitous use of a bus locator app on cell phones directly attacks the “where is the damn bus” issue while waiting at a bus stop. The how-do-I-get-there-on-a-bus problem is also addressed with the right apps.
With a bit of computer programming skills, anyone could do this. King County Metro has their transit data feed available for public download (it includes the LINK). Happy hacking!
Brian it is queued up already. We have way to many videos so we might have to do a few wednesday open threads.
Is the OneBus visualization the stops that people are querying or the locations of the people doing the querying based on cell phone info? I assume the former?
It is the former (stops queried). We don’t store records of user locations from GPS or cell info.
Ugliness about Kemper Freeman and his I90 anti-Linkness
I was annoyed when I saw this earlier. But, it’s also completely unsurprising. Man, he’s one [ad-hominem]. “Wah, wah, wah, liberals hate me because I’m from Bellevue and a developer. Wah, wah, wah, transit folks don’t know what they’re talking about.” Yeah, um, it has nothing to do with liberals, Freeman being a developer or from Bellevue. It has everything to do with him being an [ad-hominem], pure and simple.
Calling people [ad-hominem] who do not think exactly like you reflects more poorly on you than it does the person you are trying to slam.
Ah yeah, you’re sort of right, he’s not an [ad-hominems]. But sure, he has his dominion to protect from other big firms even if it’s not in the best interest of the public at-large and punishes transport users. Kemper Freeman’s life is dedicated to placation. Anyway, we’ll see how the Supreme Court rules.
The problem isn’t that he disagrees with most people on this blog. The problem is that he is trying to subvert the democratic process and the will of this region’s people. Anyone who is actually trying to damage our democracy to get their way deserves to be a called an [ad-hominem].
“If you would call me the day after, hopefully, we won, I would say to you: ‘We didn’t win — the state of Washington won,'” Freeman said. “‘We’ve just saved Sound Transit from themselves.”
Kemper’s condescending attitude reminds me a lot of Dick Cheney…who has a similar track record of failure. It’s as if these men try to compensate for their failed theories by inflating their egos.
Way cool. How’s it made?
A bit of aimless hacking in Processing, using the Trimet GTFS feed. It’s a pretty basic visualization, actually – the coordinates are unprojected, which is why the whole city looks squished – and there’s no base layer to give context to the data.
Relevant section of the Washington State Constitution:
SECTION 40 HIGHWAY FUNDS. All fees collected by the State of Washington as license fees for motor vehicles and all excise taxes collected by the State of Washington on the sale, distribution or use of motor vehicle fuel and all other state revenue intended to be used for highway purposes, shall be paid into the state treasury and placed in a special fund to be used exclusively for highway purposes. Such highway purposes shall be construed to include the following:
(a) The necessary operating, engineering and legal expenses connected with the administration of public highways, county roads and city streets;
(b) The construction, reconstruction, maintenance, repair, and betterment of public highways, county roads, bridges and city streets; including the cost and expense of (1) acquisition of rights-of-way, (2) installing, maintaining and operating traffic signs and signal lights, (3) policing by the state of public highways, (4) operation of movable span bridges, (5) operation of ferries which are a part of any public highway, county road, or city street;
(c) The payment or refunding of any obligation of the State of Washington, or any political subdivision thereof, for which any of the revenues described in section 1 may have been legally pledged prior to the effective date of this act;
(d) Refunds authorized by law for taxes paid on motor vehicle fuels;
(e) The cost of collection of any revenues described in this section:
Provided, That this section shall not be construed to include revenue from general or special taxes or excises not levied primarily for highway purposes, or apply to vehicle operator’s license fees or any excise tax imposed on motor vehicles or the use thereof in lieu of a property tax thereon, or fees for certificates of ownership of motor vehicles. [AMENDMENT 18, 1943 House Joint Resolution No. 4, p 938. Approved November, 1944.]
Ya know, reading that you’d almost think (agendas aside) that Freeman has a point on this whole Constitutional requirement for use of funds thingy.
I have no idea as to the merits of the case (or the lack thereof). However a number of people with more expertise claim the case by Freeman and his co-plaintiffs is weak.
For one thing State Amendment 18 funds were a very small portion of the overall project budget. Something like 80% or 90% of the money came from Federal Highway funds. For another there was an agreement in 1976 to make the center lanes capable of future conversion to rail.
If Freeman does win the case it opens a rather large can of worms as the state could be on the hook for paying back all of the Federal Highway Funds with interest. There is also the whole breech of contract angle with the 1976 agreement as I believe some of the parties only signed on because of the provision for future conversion of the center lanes to rail.
Another question would be if the state would have to pay back Sound Transit’s contribution to R8A since if Freeman wins it would mean the I-90 center lanes can’t be converted to exclusive transit use, even for buses.
I’m not sure what Sound Transit’s “plan B” would be in case Freeman wins.
Rail on 520 bridge to Redmond? Rail to West Seattle? Quicker completion dates for extension to Lynnwood and Federal Way (or even Tacoma). Capitol Hill Streetcar extension to Aloha Street?
Regardless … we all voted for Rail to the East Side via I90 … that has to count for something too.
The East sub-area funds will need to be spent providing service to the East sub-area so except for 520 the rest of those are highly unlikely.
An issue with rail on 520 if Freeman wins the lawsuit is to make sure the funding package is structured in such a way as to avoid having any Amendment 18 funds spent on the portion of the corridor used by rail. If the court goes with the plaintiffs’
“one drop” standard for Amendment 18 funds it could screw a lot of things up and not just rail projects.
If Freeman does succeed, which would be a grave mistake for everyone (including his own property intrests on the eastside) a logical use for the funds would be to implement sounder on the eastside, from Redmond to Bellvue and on south to Auburn and Tacoma helping alleviate the mess on 167 and 405, a project which should have been part of ST2 to begin with IMO.
Chris,
a number of people with more expertise claim the case by Freeman and his co-plaintiffs is weak
Who? I’d like to read more about the legal aspects of the Constitutionality claim. Section 40 cited above seems to fail to mention rail at all.
The construction of the I90 express lanes was a separate issue where the money was guaranteed under the condition that they would be modified for high-capacity transit (rail) at a future date. I90 is Federal and not a state road so doesn’t fall under the State Constitution
Who? I’d like to read more about the legal aspects of the Constitutionality claim. Section 40 cited above seems to fail to mention rail at all.
Well there are a couple mentioned in the article on Freeman, but I’ve seen some other people claim that Freeman’s argument is weak as well. No links offhand, sorry.
As I say I’m no expert, but at least some of those who claim the plaintiffs case is weak don’t really have any skin in the game.
Don’t kid yourself, the plaintiffs have one goal in mind and it isn’t protecting the taxpayer from the misuse of Amendment 18 funds. If the plaintiffs win this case expect them to try to find similar arguments to block the expansion of link to the North or the South. For that matter I would expect them to try to “recover” the Amendment 18 funds used to buy the ROW Central Link uses along SR 599, I-5, and SR 518. After all a goal of many Sound Transit critics has been to try to redirect the Sound Transit revenues toward road building.
Jeff,
Since the Feds paid for about 90% of the bridge, it makes every bit of sense to say that Kemper and his friends’ 10% paid for the decking on the general purpose lanes. That’s about 10% of the cost give or take.
The State of Washington therefore paid nothing, nada, nicht, zero for the reversible lanes. Hence, no problem with the 18th Amendment.
One could even argue that since the decking sits on a Federally funded structure (the pontoons) the Feds have the right to charge the state rent for supporting that decking on the general traffic lanes. Could be a great reason for a toll.
All biases aside: the Feds paid for 90-95% of the I-90 bridge ST needs for rail.
Kemper and his employees have a history of frivolous lawsuits under their belts. But since these folks have money to burn – and enjoy seeing themseles in the paper – don’t expect this extremely weak lawsuit to be the last one.
The thing that really bugs me is hardcore anti-transit people feigning support for BRT (which took the place of monorail.)
You know things are getting goofy when the same people who hate transit because of necessary public subsidies – are also promoting free bus service. Either Kemper/Niles/Horn/Talmadge et al think we are all really stupid when they float their contradictory arguments; or, these folks are just completely removed from reality.
The court briefs filed by Phil Talmadge and Sound Transit are online.
How did you all know what this is relevant to…? Did I miss something in the TriMet video?
This is an open thread. Gordon posted a link to an article on Kemper Freeman further up which mentions the lawsuit against the State.
Also many of us are a bit obsessed with transit issues so sometimes we assume everyone we’re replying to is familiar with all of the same background we are.
Got it – I just didn’t connect the law to the other comment.
What was Amendment 18 intended to prevent? Were they really trying to keep money away from public transportation, or just from being put in the general fund?
“If you would call me the day after, hopefully, we won, I would say to you: ‘We didn’t win — the state of Washington won,'” Freeman said. “‘We’ve just saved Sound Transit from themselves.”
Did anybody else catch the irony in Kemper Freeman’s statement?
Freeman is building hundreds of thousands of square ft of retail, office, residential and entertainment real estate in a fairly small small swath of Bellevue. Just the kind of high rise density he complains is required to justify light rail.
Without high capacity transit, Kemper’s “Miracle Mile” downtown Bellevue turns into a 24×7 parking lot nightmare in less than a decade.
In other words, Sound Transit (and light rail supporters) are actually saving Kemper Freeman from HIMSELF.
Was reading up on Bergen, Norway’s new Light Rail Line “Bybanen” in a past issue of Tramways & Urban Transit and there are a couple of interesting facts.
1. adding sensors to the track/OCS for train position information (next train in ## minutes) was according to them remarkably simple and inexpensive to do …
2. their Stadler Rail Variotrams will all have free on-board wi-fi.
That would have been sweet when I was there in 2005. I walked a lot!
A few things…
1) Went to Vancouver last weekend and noticed that work may have started on the drop ceiling in the King Street Station waiting room finally or maybe I am seeing things? I took a picture of it and would love to know when that work will start. I offered to yank it down myself…lol…the conductor didn’t want me to…SIGH.
2) Been emailing Marcus Clark at Sound Transit about the possibility of a Graham/Orcas Street Station along MLK Way. I asked what it would take to place a station here since the ridership would be high and would fill in a gap. I pointed out that this station was included in the original Sound Move ballot measure and also there is contingency left from ST1 to pay for it. I’m not sure if I’ve gotten a final yes or no (appears to be a maybe for the future), but he did say that the Board agrees with me. Maybe something to be added for ST3?
3) Commented on ST’s web re-design and also emailed KCM, CT and PT about their websites. I told them that they all should come together on one central design and to look at the TransLink and Tri-Met websites for guidance. Whether they listen or not is another story. I also mentioned that they should all paint their buses in the same color schemes like another blogger mentioned before. Great idea, but will they listen? I just want them all to come together to help everyone ride all these modes seamlessly and effortlessly and not feel like it’s too much work.
I wonder how easy it would be to add another outside-platform station into the mix on MLK? perhaps they would stagger the platforms so that they were on opposite sides of Graham/Orcas streets … which would require less street width changes at one location.
I think the 2nd two things are big issues and won’t be addressed in any short timeframe.
I do think some sort of unified transit portal with a consistent interface for trip planning and looking up schedules and routes is in order.
Have you used any trip planners for other cities? Metro’s pales in comparison to just about any other agency I’ve lived with. I’d go so far as to call it an embarrassment, but at least they have something, which is more than I can say about some cities…
You know if we had one transit agency for all of the greater Seattle area things would be a lot easy for the riders: One website, one fare structure etc.
Hmmmm…. Unified portal, definantly. Unified Branding, I can’t see a problem. Unified fare structure would be a bit more work, but as a layman I have to say I like it. However I am pretty convinced that ST with it’s focus on capital projects needs to be kept separate from the regions operators. ST is doing alright in this recession, but imagine if PT, Metro, CT, etc could dip into their pot. Also I have to wonder about unifying the operators. Wouldn’t that be taking a bad thing, 40/40/20, and just making it worse?
The Unified Branding concept isnt new. Several regional systems already do something similar. New York MTA/NYCDOT, Minnapolis, San Diego all have various levels of unification, most of which share a common livery with appropriate lettering, and public information operations (Schedules, websites, route numbers) for related agencies.
Of course is a wholescale rebranding of things a good use of taxpayer dollars? Probally not, especally in these times.
Some things could be done through regional agreements to enhance the feel of a truely interoperable and regional system. These include small things such as standardizing the format and layout of schedules, maps, and other public information. This includes online, at the stop, and through printed materials.
Bus stop flags are another thing that could share a common look and feel, while maintaining an operator’s uniquie identity. Design elements from ST’s flag such as the operator’s band, logos, etc could be could be made more standardized, so while the flag would be unique to the operator, they all would have the same information on them (operator branding, stop #, route # with desination information (or not), customer service # etc.
Some other look and feel stuff could be done with websites, and online trip planning. Again maintaining the unique look and feel of each agency, while standardizing the information presented. After watching ST’s subarea equity policy, and Metro’s 40/40/20 rule i dont think that consolidating the agencys will do much to address regional intergration. Nor will any cost savings associated with consolidation, as the bigger the agency gets the more overhead expenses you have, (which would probally outweigh any cost savings from consolidation of top jobs).
The Seattle P-I reports on where the city is at with its long overdue code changes allowing street food.
DePlace said his agency expects to propose a year-long test of as many as 10 street-level food-vending sites as part of an experiment. Among those being considered: Broadway at the Sound Transit rail station site and at a new plaza planned for Westlake Avenue near the streetcar line. Other possibilities include Occidental Park.
Not sure about anyone else, but I’ve been seeing a lot of street vendors at night on Cap Hill and downtown when there are events going on. Something must be changing… That is one big thing this city lacks that you see in just about every other city in the US. Love those street vendors. There used to be a lot of coffee stands, but they’re gone now. I just want the street food vendors to come back.
There used to be a whole bunch of street food vendors under the monorail terminal at Westlake before Westlake Center and Westlake Park were built.
it would be cool to have Hot Dog carts and Pretzel carts (among other types of food) on the streets like in NYC …
They do it right in Portland. We were there a few weeks ago and had lunch at one of their multiple street food courts. One is here, on 5th Ave between Oak and Stark:
Central Link Light Rail – UPDATE: Bus Bridge changed to SODO
Posted Date: 05/02/10 – 11:00 p.m.
Updated Date: 05/02/10 – 11:00 p.m.
UPDATE: Sunday, May 2, due to incomplete repairs at Pine St., it will be between 7am to 9am before the trains can enter the tunnel. The bus bridge will be from SODO to Westlake; not Stadium as previously reported.
Does anyone here know what the “incomplete repairs at Pine St.” are?
what happened at Pine Street?
The announcement is pretty vague.
For the first time, I could hear the driver annoucement in the car, though.
The switch to Sodo station for the turnaround is ruining the day of lots of Mariners fans.
I hope someone in ST rethinks that one before the next tunnel closure.
Why would it be ruining anyone’s day who is going to the M’s game? Just hop on any bus at SODO and ride it to Royal Brougham Way. The bus stop is actually a shorter walk to Safeco than the Link station.
Don’t they have enough buses operating in the “bus bridge”?
80 grumpy people standing around a bus stop at 12:15.
no buses. two trains.
While we were pulling away, I saw 20 people in three different groups give up and walk over to 4th. It was not good service.
You can’t “rethink” the closure–there’s nowhere for trains to turn around north of Stadium station.
They can turn around just south of the stadium station.
Oh, I forgot Stadium is center platform. Would work out OK then since they could easily cross over on the switches right there.
That update is nearly gibberish! I had to read the reply comments to understand what a “bus bridge” is. I was wondering how such a large and seemingly permanent piece of infrastructure as a bridge could get moved to SoDo.
And the purpose of this graphic is what? Trimet may be the darling of transit enthusiasts but it does a poor job of connecting low income people with job opportunities.
North Portland is one of the lowest income sections of the city. Five miles away is the Rivergate Industrial Park which is home to about 80 or more businesses. Many of these businesses are distribution facilities that pay well and are great opportunities for low income people to move up. Unfortunately Trimet’s service to that area is best described as poor.
If you have to be at work before 5 a.m. or get off at 11 p.m.don’t plan on using the bus. And don’t try leaving in mid day. There are no services from about 8:15 until 3:30.
As I have said to people before our sunday open threads are just fun little videos. That is all.
Just got back from a trip which involved riding the Washington DC Metro Rail. They did a terrible job of integrating in bicycles with their trains. So I am very thankful that LINK cars have specific hooks for hanging bicycles and that the seating for handicap people could be used for an additional bicycle.
That said, Maryland DOT seems to be smoking crack with their bicycle route signs. I was driving all around the back of the state and noticed these signs on roads with no shoulders and 55mph speed limits. And intelligently no bicycles. It looked like a series of death traps to me.
On the other hand they did seem to be building some dedicated bicycle paths along the Metro rail route. And at the Union Station there was a “Bike Station” that was packed and down near the Mall there were some bicyclists and traffic did seem to be giving them room to ride. (I was walking everywhere down there.)
And I did spot one recreational rider mid day and one electric bike commuter. The electric bike was on a 35mph back road and they were doing maybe 25. So almost able to keep up with traffic and not become road kill.
Also the MetroRail fare cards had a nice feature for tourists and that was after 9:30am you could buy a day pass. Seems to automatically fix the commuter problem of scamming the system by delaying the time they become active. On the other hand the turnstile did refuse entry once which I take to be because the reader was dirty. The guard did a manual scan and let us through. They also have a similar cash card but it doesn’t have the day pass feature. Seems like it would be possible to rig up. As the only place you had to have it loaded with cash was to exit the parking garage. (not free! and I think a good idea that we should do here. Why should parking be free at P&R lots?)
On ridership, packed in the downtown core at rush hour. Not quite Japanese rail packed but definitely “crush” capacity. And those riders we did talk to were glad it was there. With 5 lines into/out of the city you can really get around with it.
I think you answered your own question regarding bicycles. On a system that busy that’s regularly operating at crush load, there’s simply no room. People take priority over bicycles.
I took my bike on Link the other day, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out where the hooks were, so I stood with it in a wheelchair zone. It was only when I someone load their bike on a train going the other direction that I figured it out. I was expecting a clearly marked area right inside the door. Instead it’s behind a partition, with a single sign below waist height. The partition seems like it would make it difficult if not impossible to hang a bike in a crowded car, and it doesn’t allow enough room to stand with your bike. Hanging perpendicular to the wall ensures bikes jut way out into the aisle. They should’ve done it like MAX did: no partition between the bike zone and the door, hanging parallel to the aisle, with large markings to indicate it’s a bike zone.
As for DC Metro, you’re not the only one who thinks they have problems with bicycles. And with ideas like this, from a Fairfax County Supervisor, it’s not hard to see why they have issues: “I don’t believe a bicycle is a transportation device. I think it’s a recreation device.” Amazing stuff.
There should definitely be better signage inside. We do have icons on the outside showing which doors are by bike hooks.
Yeah, there was a sign in front of the station (Tukwila) which mentioned the icons, so I at least knew which door to go through, though once on the train I was baffled. Go figure.
I had sent an e-mail to Ethan Melone, the planner for the Seattle Streetcar project, to set the record straight on the potential revival of the Waterfront Line. Here is what he said:
“The First Avenue Streetcar has been identified as a possible component of the Alaskan Way Viaduct program, to be evaluated. We will be considering that corridor in a broader context as the City develops a Transit Master Plan over the next year. We will be considering whether or not to build out a streetcar network from the existing Lake Union Streetcar and the planned International District/Capitol Hill line. There is limited space on First Avenue to accommodate such a system, but that location might be well suited if it was part of a center city streetcar network.
There will be room for a streetcar on the waterfront once the Viaduct has been demolished, however, it would take a significant amount of area in the wide public space that will be part of a post viaduct waterfront. The Central Waterfront planning process is just beginning, but will be considering and evaluating how to be best use this new public space.
As such, no decisions have yet been made with regards to whether or not the streetcar will return to the Central Waterfront.”
I am not sure whether I am going to stay in Seattle long enough to see the post-viaduct waterfront, but I’d still be anxious to see the WFSC revived.
I just read this entry and that response from Mr Malone is just infuriating. First, the First Avenue streetcar line is NOT a replacement for the Waterfront Streetcar. It never had been and it never will be. In fact, both lines are needed and would be a great component of the streetcar network.
Second, the Waterfront Streetcar does not need to (and in my opinion) should not take part of the public area alongside the waterfront. Instead, it should be in the median as is true in San Francisco along the Embarcadero. It is a transportation mode and should not need to be worried about a child chasing a let-go ballon.
It is obvious that the decision has already been made regarding the streetcar. It is incredibly infuriating for taking a piece of infrastructure which has already been paid for and essentially left to die. Shame on you SDOT!
Ok, rant over.
I agree. I don’t see why we can’t have both. The infrastructure is there, we just need to house the rolling stock. Sure, the waterfront will most likely never have the frequency of say 1st Ave should it be built, but it’s a great heritage railway and tourist attraction. Seems like a no-brainer to me. On a side note, the whole painted bus thing in the style of the rolling stock is really tacky.
Like I’ve said before, I don’t see why the new First Hill Streetcar can’t share the new streetcar barn with the old Waterfront Streetcar trolleys? Tie the lines together at 5th and Jackson, find some real estate in either Chinatown or Little Saigon and share the barn between the two lines. It’s not hard and it’s a no-brainer. Yes, the Waterfront line will be down again for a few years, but at least the old trolleys may be put to some good use in the meantime.
Wait so now they’ll be considering whether to build the streetcar network? I though that it was just an issue of when! We’ve had the network plan for a few years now.
And McGinn constantly saying that he’s going to see it to fruition.
… the wide public space that will be part of a post viaduct waterfront
Note that this is code for “barren windswept plaza”. The public space on the waterfront needs to be better programed than a broad paved area with the occasional trash can, light fixture, tree, or public art installation.
In any case there is no reason the streetcar can’t be in a median as someone above mentioned.
Say something like this (W to E): piers-sidewalk/plaza-SB cycletrack-buffer/curb-parking-SB travel lane-SB travel lane-SB streetcar track-planting median/station island-NB streetcar track-NB travel lane-NB travel lane-parking-buffer/curb-NB cycletrack-wide sidewalk-buildings.
Why not put the streetcar on the waterfront side? That would eliminate many traffic conflicts. Pedestrians (and bikes?) on the walkways would be near the streetcar stops. Except for the ferry terminal and parking at the Edgewater and Mytle Edwards Park, is there any real reason for vehicles to be going to the west of the waterfront walkway (exceptions for the service vehicles for the restaurants and other businesses, which ought to be going there at less crowded times).
Great idea.
Hi everyone
My PC died last week and as I can’t afford to either repair it or get another one, am resorting to one in the KCLS Library – which is fine, but it makes my communications somewhat infrequent at present….
Anyway, have a couple of questions this week:
How is King Street renovation project coming along – has it begun it? Haven’t been to Seattle for a while.
When is the Sreetcar plaza supposed to start?
Is Rapid Ride still on track for this June or October?
When will SDOT repave 15th Avenue NE in the University District – it is currently full of potholes.
I think 15th is going to be repaved Summer 2011. There’s a doc somewhere, I just don’t feel like finding it at the moment.
Is that 15th north of the Ballard Bridge? 15th/Elliot was paved from the bridge to Western/Denny in 2008.
No, 15th Ave NE in the U-District.
“How is King Street renovation project coming along – has it begun it? Haven’t been to Seattle for a while.”
They’ve moved the baggage operations out of the north side of the building, I know. I don’t know what work they’ve started doing.
I’m interested in when they’re taking down the suspended ceiling. I had heard it was supposed to have been in April. Anyone been down there since April 23 (last time I was in the building)?
Maybe before May 8, Train Day?
Yep, looks like something is going on up there…can’t get anyone at SDOT to reply to me.
Hey Everyone. I made a new website that helps people calculate the cost of driving based on their address. Check it out here: http://www.transitgeek.com/driving cost estimator/. Let me know what y’all think. Also, feel free to steal my code and make something better!
Are there limits? It didn’t work for my address in Turkey.
shouldn’t be limits, if the address isn’t found, it’s Google’s geocoder’s fault.
Ooops, previous post had incorrect url, try this one: http://www.transitgeek.com/driving cost estimator/. Admins, can you combined these posts?
Why did you put spaces in your URL? It will cause you headaches in the long run.
Eventually I will transfer it to a new domain or perhaps just evansiroky.com.
OK, sorry for the quadruple post, but can we get a preview option for posts on this blog?
I second a request for a preview button.
Also, Evan, HTML is allowed.
It has been confirmed on multiple fronts that Metro will be putting the RancidRide coaches (6000 series) on the route 174 next shakeup. This seems like a dumb idea to me, but I had a thought today–hopefully Metro will put ad wraps on them. I don’t care if they’re advertisements or just wraps to make them be in the color scheme of the rest of the fleet. If they don’t, it’s almost like false advertising. I believe that people would “get used to” them on the 174 and then come October 2 and all of the sudden there a bunch of changes would make it confusing.
Other notes:
The 180 trip leaving Auburn Station at 3:03am and arriving at SeaTac at 3:44am on Saturdays will be the only other trip scheduled to use a RancidRide coach.
South Base will be getting rid of most of its 2300 coaches for the Summer shakeup, with a few dozen or so remaining. There are a LOT of 6800 series listed, which leads me to believe that the teal hybrids are going in service.
The 1200 vans are not listed anywhere, and the 1900 vans are listed on all of the van routes, so expect those to go back in service.
Just because the 1900’s are assigned, doesn’t mean you will see them. They were assigned to all van routes at the beginning of winter shakeup in Sept 09. But we didn’t even see them out until almost the end of the shakeup in January. And even then only a few were out. Then they got pulled. So yes the intent is to have them back, but just because the pick sheets say a 1900 is assigned, doesn’t mean it will happen right away.
Interesting fact on the weekend Sounder service. I’ve added up all the special weekend Sounder trains this year for the Mariners, Sounders and Seahawks (I’m guessing on Seahawk service since that schedule isn’t out yet), but it would come to 28 weekends (16 Mariners, 4 Sounders and 8 Seahwaks). That’s over half the year that there is weekend Sounder service.
Would be nice to add service for Folklife, Bumbershoot, Taste of Seattle, concerts at Qwest, Safeco and Key and possibly even Storm games (would be nice to have a special with the Seattle Monorail) and other special events happening in and around downtown Seattle that could show high ridership. I’m seeing how we could extend these 28 weekends to 52 weekends.
How much does it cost to run one weekend Sounder train round-trip?
IIRC, Sound Transit says they break even on those runs
There was a Britney train too.
If there were a Broad Street station, Sounder specials to Seattle Center events might make sense, but otherwise you’d still need to get yourself from King Street Station to Seattle Center. When I’ve looked into it, it doesn’t seem like Seattle Center is well served by transit during the events. Excepting the monorail, of course.
If we get E60LFRs as replacements for the Bredas, I can take cool shots like this:
If you’d like to see a similar visualization for Seattle, check out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uEdAmPa3G4
Also, OneBusAway access over the course of a day:
These graphics are marvelous depictions of the geographic connectivity provided by a bus network using streets.
It would be great if One Bus Away could do one of these moving dots-on-a-map that would include the movement of Link trains, and the buses that feed in and out of the stations. That would be educational.
Also good would be one that covers a day of bus movements all over King County.
If you know people on the Regional Transit Task Force now at work for the King County Executive, please have them look at these graphics.
Ubiquitous use of a bus locator app on cell phones directly attacks the “where is the damn bus” issue while waiting at a bus stop. The how-do-I-get-there-on-a-bus problem is also addressed with the right apps.
With a bit of computer programming skills, anyone could do this. King County Metro has their transit data feed available for public download (it includes the LINK). Happy hacking!
Brian it is queued up already. We have way to many videos so we might have to do a few wednesday open threads.
Is the OneBus visualization the stops that people are querying or the locations of the people doing the querying based on cell phone info? I assume the former?
It is the former (stops queried). We don’t store records of user locations from GPS or cell info.
Ugliness about Kemper Freeman and his I90 anti-Linkness
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011756951_kemper02m.html
I was annoyed when I saw this earlier. But, it’s also completely unsurprising. Man, he’s one [ad-hominem]. “Wah, wah, wah, liberals hate me because I’m from Bellevue and a developer. Wah, wah, wah, transit folks don’t know what they’re talking about.” Yeah, um, it has nothing to do with liberals, Freeman being a developer or from Bellevue. It has everything to do with him being an [ad-hominem], pure and simple.
Calling people [ad-hominem] who do not think exactly like you reflects more poorly on you than it does the person you are trying to slam.
Ah yeah, you’re sort of right, he’s not an [ad-hominems]. But sure, he has his dominion to protect from other big firms even if it’s not in the best interest of the public at-large and punishes transport users. Kemper Freeman’s life is dedicated to placation. Anyway, we’ll see how the Supreme Court rules.
The problem isn’t that he disagrees with most people on this blog. The problem is that he is trying to subvert the democratic process and the will of this region’s people. Anyone who is actually trying to damage our democracy to get their way deserves to be a called an [ad-hominem].
“If you would call me the day after, hopefully, we won, I would say to you: ‘We didn’t win — the state of Washington won,'” Freeman said. “‘We’ve just saved Sound Transit from themselves.”
Kemper’s condescending attitude reminds me a lot of Dick Cheney…who has a similar track record of failure. It’s as if these men try to compensate for their failed theories by inflating their egos.
Way cool. How’s it made?
A bit of aimless hacking in Processing, using the Trimet GTFS feed. It’s a pretty basic visualization, actually – the coordinates are unprojected, which is why the whole city looks squished – and there’s no base layer to give context to the data.
Relevant section of the Washington State Constitution:
SECTION 40 HIGHWAY FUNDS. All fees collected by the State of Washington as license fees for motor vehicles and all excise taxes collected by the State of Washington on the sale, distribution or use of motor vehicle fuel and all other state revenue intended to be used for highway purposes, shall be paid into the state treasury and placed in a special fund to be used exclusively for highway purposes. Such highway purposes shall be construed to include the following:
(a) The necessary operating, engineering and legal expenses connected with the administration of public highways, county roads and city streets;
(b) The construction, reconstruction, maintenance, repair, and betterment of public highways, county roads, bridges and city streets; including the cost and expense of (1) acquisition of rights-of-way, (2) installing, maintaining and operating traffic signs and signal lights, (3) policing by the state of public highways, (4) operation of movable span bridges, (5) operation of ferries which are a part of any public highway, county road, or city street;
(c) The payment or refunding of any obligation of the State of Washington, or any political subdivision thereof, for which any of the revenues described in section 1 may have been legally pledged prior to the effective date of this act;
(d) Refunds authorized by law for taxes paid on motor vehicle fuels;
(e) The cost of collection of any revenues described in this section:
Provided, That this section shall not be construed to include revenue from general or special taxes or excises not levied primarily for highway purposes, or apply to vehicle operator’s license fees or any excise tax imposed on motor vehicles or the use thereof in lieu of a property tax thereon, or fees for certificates of ownership of motor vehicles. [AMENDMENT 18, 1943 House Joint Resolution No. 4, p 938. Approved November, 1944.]
the whole thing can be viewed here: http://www.leg.wa.gov/lawsandagencyrules/pages/constitution.aspx
Ya know, reading that you’d almost think (agendas aside) that Freeman has a point on this whole Constitutional requirement for use of funds thingy.
I have no idea as to the merits of the case (or the lack thereof). However a number of people with more expertise claim the case by Freeman and his co-plaintiffs is weak.
For one thing State Amendment 18 funds were a very small portion of the overall project budget. Something like 80% or 90% of the money came from Federal Highway funds. For another there was an agreement in 1976 to make the center lanes capable of future conversion to rail.
If Freeman does win the case it opens a rather large can of worms as the state could be on the hook for paying back all of the Federal Highway Funds with interest. There is also the whole breech of contract angle with the 1976 agreement as I believe some of the parties only signed on because of the provision for future conversion of the center lanes to rail.
Another question would be if the state would have to pay back Sound Transit’s contribution to R8A since if Freeman wins it would mean the I-90 center lanes can’t be converted to exclusive transit use, even for buses.
I’m not sure what Sound Transit’s “plan B” would be in case Freeman wins.
Rail on 520 bridge to Redmond? Rail to West Seattle? Quicker completion dates for extension to Lynnwood and Federal Way (or even Tacoma). Capitol Hill Streetcar extension to Aloha Street?
Regardless … we all voted for Rail to the East Side via I90 … that has to count for something too.
The East sub-area funds will need to be spent providing service to the East sub-area so except for 520 the rest of those are highly unlikely.
An issue with rail on 520 if Freeman wins the lawsuit is to make sure the funding package is structured in such a way as to avoid having any Amendment 18 funds spent on the portion of the corridor used by rail. If the court goes with the plaintiffs’
“one drop” standard for Amendment 18 funds it could screw a lot of things up and not just rail projects.
If Freeman does succeed, which would be a grave mistake for everyone (including his own property intrests on the eastside) a logical use for the funds would be to implement sounder on the eastside, from Redmond to Bellvue and on south to Auburn and Tacoma helping alleviate the mess on 167 and 405, a project which should have been part of ST2 to begin with IMO.
Chris,
a number of people with more expertise claim the case by Freeman and his co-plaintiffs is weak
Who? I’d like to read more about the legal aspects of the Constitutionality claim. Section 40 cited above seems to fail to mention rail at all.
The construction of the I90 express lanes was a separate issue where the money was guaranteed under the condition that they would be modified for high-capacity transit (rail) at a future date. I90 is Federal and not a state road so doesn’t fall under the State Constitution
Well there are a couple mentioned in the article on Freeman, but I’ve seen some other people claim that Freeman’s argument is weak as well. No links offhand, sorry.
As I say I’m no expert, but at least some of those who claim the plaintiffs case is weak don’t really have any skin in the game.
Don’t kid yourself, the plaintiffs have one goal in mind and it isn’t protecting the taxpayer from the misuse of Amendment 18 funds. If the plaintiffs win this case expect them to try to find similar arguments to block the expansion of link to the North or the South. For that matter I would expect them to try to “recover” the Amendment 18 funds used to buy the ROW Central Link uses along SR 599, I-5, and SR 518. After all a goal of many Sound Transit critics has been to try to redirect the Sound Transit revenues toward road building.
Jeff,
Since the Feds paid for about 90% of the bridge, it makes every bit of sense to say that Kemper and his friends’ 10% paid for the decking on the general purpose lanes. That’s about 10% of the cost give or take.
The State of Washington therefore paid nothing, nada, nicht, zero for the reversible lanes. Hence, no problem with the 18th Amendment.
One could even argue that since the decking sits on a Federally funded structure (the pontoons) the Feds have the right to charge the state rent for supporting that decking on the general traffic lanes. Could be a great reason for a toll.
All biases aside: the Feds paid for 90-95% of the I-90 bridge ST needs for rail.
Kemper and his employees have a history of frivolous lawsuits under their belts. But since these folks have money to burn – and enjoy seeing themseles in the paper – don’t expect this extremely weak lawsuit to be the last one.
The thing that really bugs me is hardcore anti-transit people feigning support for BRT (which took the place of monorail.)
You know things are getting goofy when the same people who hate transit because of necessary public subsidies – are also promoting free bus service. Either Kemper/Niles/Horn/Talmadge et al think we are all really stupid when they float their contradictory arguments; or, these folks are just completely removed from reality.
The court briefs filed by Phil Talmadge and Sound Transit are online.
http://www.courts.wa.gov/appellate_trial_courts/coaBriefs/index.cfm?fa=coabriefs.searchRequest&courtId=A08
Search by case number. It is 833494.
How did you all know what this is relevant to…? Did I miss something in the TriMet video?
This is an open thread. Gordon posted a link to an article on Kemper Freeman further up which mentions the lawsuit against the State.
Also many of us are a bit obsessed with transit issues so sometimes we assume everyone we’re replying to is familiar with all of the same background we are.
Got it – I just didn’t connect the law to the other comment.
What was Amendment 18 intended to prevent? Were they really trying to keep money away from public transportation, or just from being put in the general fund?
“If you would call me the day after, hopefully, we won, I would say to you: ‘We didn’t win — the state of Washington won,'” Freeman said. “‘We’ve just saved Sound Transit from themselves.”
Did anybody else catch the irony in Kemper Freeman’s statement?
Freeman is building hundreds of thousands of square ft of retail, office, residential and entertainment real estate in a fairly small small swath of Bellevue. Just the kind of high rise density he complains is required to justify light rail.
Without high capacity transit, Kemper’s “Miracle Mile” downtown Bellevue turns into a 24×7 parking lot nightmare in less than a decade.
In other words, Sound Transit (and light rail supporters) are actually saving Kemper Freeman from HIMSELF.
Was reading up on Bergen, Norway’s new Light Rail Line “Bybanen” in a past issue of Tramways & Urban Transit and there are a couple of interesting facts.
1. adding sensors to the track/OCS for train position information (next train in ## minutes) was according to them remarkably simple and inexpensive to do …
2. their Stadler Rail Variotrams will all have free on-board wi-fi.
Bybanen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bybanen
Variotram:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variotram
That would have been sweet when I was there in 2005. I walked a lot!
A few things…
1) Went to Vancouver last weekend and noticed that work may have started on the drop ceiling in the King Street Station waiting room finally or maybe I am seeing things? I took a picture of it and would love to know when that work will start. I offered to yank it down myself…lol…the conductor didn’t want me to…SIGH.
2) Been emailing Marcus Clark at Sound Transit about the possibility of a Graham/Orcas Street Station along MLK Way. I asked what it would take to place a station here since the ridership would be high and would fill in a gap. I pointed out that this station was included in the original Sound Move ballot measure and also there is contingency left from ST1 to pay for it. I’m not sure if I’ve gotten a final yes or no (appears to be a maybe for the future), but he did say that the Board agrees with me. Maybe something to be added for ST3?
3) Commented on ST’s web re-design and also emailed KCM, CT and PT about their websites. I told them that they all should come together on one central design and to look at the TransLink and Tri-Met websites for guidance. Whether they listen or not is another story. I also mentioned that they should all paint their buses in the same color schemes like another blogger mentioned before. Great idea, but will they listen? I just want them all to come together to help everyone ride all these modes seamlessly and effortlessly and not feel like it’s too much work.
I wonder how easy it would be to add another outside-platform station into the mix on MLK? perhaps they would stagger the platforms so that they were on opposite sides of Graham/Orcas streets … which would require less street width changes at one location.
I think the 2nd two things are big issues and won’t be addressed in any short timeframe.
I do think some sort of unified transit portal with a consistent interface for trip planning and looking up schedules and routes is in order.
http://tripplanner.kingcounty.gov/help/atis-help-ww.html
Have you used any trip planners for other cities? Metro’s pales in comparison to just about any other agency I’ve lived with. I’d go so far as to call it an embarrassment, but at least they have something, which is more than I can say about some cities…
You know if we had one transit agency for all of the greater Seattle area things would be a lot easy for the riders: One website, one fare structure etc.
Hmmmm…. Unified portal, definantly. Unified Branding, I can’t see a problem. Unified fare structure would be a bit more work, but as a layman I have to say I like it. However I am pretty convinced that ST with it’s focus on capital projects needs to be kept separate from the regions operators. ST is doing alright in this recession, but imagine if PT, Metro, CT, etc could dip into their pot. Also I have to wonder about unifying the operators. Wouldn’t that be taking a bad thing, 40/40/20, and just making it worse?
The Unified Branding concept isnt new. Several regional systems already do something similar. New York MTA/NYCDOT, Minnapolis, San Diego all have various levels of unification, most of which share a common livery with appropriate lettering, and public information operations (Schedules, websites, route numbers) for related agencies.
Of course is a wholescale rebranding of things a good use of taxpayer dollars? Probally not, especally in these times.
Some things could be done through regional agreements to enhance the feel of a truely interoperable and regional system. These include small things such as standardizing the format and layout of schedules, maps, and other public information. This includes online, at the stop, and through printed materials.
Bus stop flags are another thing that could share a common look and feel, while maintaining an operator’s uniquie identity. Design elements from ST’s flag such as the operator’s band, logos, etc could be could be made more standardized, so while the flag would be unique to the operator, they all would have the same information on them (operator branding, stop #, route # with desination information (or not), customer service # etc.
Some other look and feel stuff could be done with websites, and online trip planning. Again maintaining the unique look and feel of each agency, while standardizing the information presented. After watching ST’s subarea equity policy, and Metro’s 40/40/20 rule i dont think that consolidating the agencys will do much to address regional intergration. Nor will any cost savings associated with consolidation, as the bigger the agency gets the more overhead expenses you have, (which would probally outweigh any cost savings from consolidation of top jobs).
The Seattle P-I reports on where the city is at with its long overdue code changes allowing street food.
No word yet on whether whiny business improvement areas (BIAs) will successfully influence the pending legislation.
Not sure about anyone else, but I’ve been seeing a lot of street vendors at night on Cap Hill and downtown when there are events going on. Something must be changing… That is one big thing this city lacks that you see in just about every other city in the US. Love those street vendors. There used to be a lot of coffee stands, but they’re gone now. I just want the street food vendors to come back.
There used to be a whole bunch of street food vendors under the monorail terminal at Westlake before Westlake Center and Westlake Park were built.
it would be cool to have Hot Dog carts and Pretzel carts (among other types of food) on the streets like in NYC …
They do it right in Portland. We were there a few weeks ago and had lunch at one of their multiple street food courts. One is here, on 5th Ave between Oak and Stark:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=350+SW+5th+Ave,+Portland,+OR&sll=45.521124,-122.676178&sspn=0.001438,0.003422&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=350+SW+5th+Ave,+Portland,+Multnomah,+Oregon+97204&ll=45.526825,-122.668211&spn=0,0.02738&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=45.521151,-122.676323&panoid=Y12vseMLuAtWjTWa5HIuZg&cbp=12,125.09,,0,5.26
http://www.soundtransit.org/x72.xml
Central Link Light Rail – UPDATE: Bus Bridge changed to SODO
Posted Date: 05/02/10 – 11:00 p.m.
Updated Date: 05/02/10 – 11:00 p.m.
UPDATE: Sunday, May 2, due to incomplete repairs at Pine St., it will be between 7am to 9am before the trains can enter the tunnel. The bus bridge will be from SODO to Westlake; not Stadium as previously reported.
Does anyone here know what the “incomplete repairs at Pine St.” are?
what happened at Pine Street?
The announcement is pretty vague.
For the first time, I could hear the driver annoucement in the car, though.
The switch to Sodo station for the turnaround is ruining the day of lots of Mariners fans.
I hope someone in ST rethinks that one before the next tunnel closure.
Why would it be ruining anyone’s day who is going to the M’s game? Just hop on any bus at SODO and ride it to Royal Brougham Way. The bus stop is actually a shorter walk to Safeco than the Link station.
Don’t they have enough buses operating in the “bus bridge”?
80 grumpy people standing around a bus stop at 12:15.
no buses. two trains.
While we were pulling away, I saw 20 people in three different groups give up and walk over to 4th. It was not good service.
You can’t “rethink” the closure–there’s nowhere for trains to turn around north of Stadium station.
They can turn around just south of the stadium station.
Oh, I forgot Stadium is center platform. Would work out OK then since they could easily cross over on the switches right there.
That update is nearly gibberish! I had to read the reply comments to understand what a “bus bridge” is. I was wondering how such a large and seemingly permanent piece of infrastructure as a bridge could get moved to SoDo.
And the purpose of this graphic is what? Trimet may be the darling of transit enthusiasts but it does a poor job of connecting low income people with job opportunities.
North Portland is one of the lowest income sections of the city. Five miles away is the Rivergate Industrial Park which is home to about 80 or more businesses. Many of these businesses are distribution facilities that pay well and are great opportunities for low income people to move up. Unfortunately Trimet’s service to that area is best described as poor.
If you have to be at work before 5 a.m. or get off at 11 p.m.don’t plan on using the bus. And don’t try leaving in mid day. There are no services from about 8:15 until 3:30.
As I have said to people before our sunday open threads are just fun little videos. That is all.
Just got back from a trip which involved riding the Washington DC Metro Rail. They did a terrible job of integrating in bicycles with their trains. So I am very thankful that LINK cars have specific hooks for hanging bicycles and that the seating for handicap people could be used for an additional bicycle.
That said, Maryland DOT seems to be smoking crack with their bicycle route signs. I was driving all around the back of the state and noticed these signs on roads with no shoulders and 55mph speed limits. And intelligently no bicycles. It looked like a series of death traps to me.
On the other hand they did seem to be building some dedicated bicycle paths along the Metro rail route. And at the Union Station there was a “Bike Station” that was packed and down near the Mall there were some bicyclists and traffic did seem to be giving them room to ride. (I was walking everywhere down there.)
And I did spot one recreational rider mid day and one electric bike commuter. The electric bike was on a 35mph back road and they were doing maybe 25. So almost able to keep up with traffic and not become road kill.
Also the MetroRail fare cards had a nice feature for tourists and that was after 9:30am you could buy a day pass. Seems to automatically fix the commuter problem of scamming the system by delaying the time they become active. On the other hand the turnstile did refuse entry once which I take to be because the reader was dirty. The guard did a manual scan and let us through. They also have a similar cash card but it doesn’t have the day pass feature. Seems like it would be possible to rig up. As the only place you had to have it loaded with cash was to exit the parking garage. (not free! and I think a good idea that we should do here. Why should parking be free at P&R lots?)
On ridership, packed in the downtown core at rush hour. Not quite Japanese rail packed but definitely “crush” capacity. And those riders we did talk to were glad it was there. With 5 lines into/out of the city you can really get around with it.
I think you answered your own question regarding bicycles. On a system that busy that’s regularly operating at crush load, there’s simply no room. People take priority over bicycles.
I took my bike on Link the other day, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out where the hooks were, so I stood with it in a wheelchair zone. It was only when I someone load their bike on a train going the other direction that I figured it out. I was expecting a clearly marked area right inside the door. Instead it’s behind a partition, with a single sign below waist height. The partition seems like it would make it difficult if not impossible to hang a bike in a crowded car, and it doesn’t allow enough room to stand with your bike. Hanging perpendicular to the wall ensures bikes jut way out into the aisle. They should’ve done it like MAX did: no partition between the bike zone and the door, hanging parallel to the aisle, with large markings to indicate it’s a bike zone.
As for DC Metro, you’re not the only one who thinks they have problems with bicycles. And with ideas like this, from a Fairfax County Supervisor, it’s not hard to see why they have issues: “I don’t believe a bicycle is a transportation device. I think it’s a recreation device.” Amazing stuff.
There should definitely be better signage inside. We do have icons on the outside showing which doors are by bike hooks.
Yeah, there was a sign in front of the station (Tukwila) which mentioned the icons, so I at least knew which door to go through, though once on the train I was baffled. Go figure.
I had sent an e-mail to Ethan Melone, the planner for the Seattle Streetcar project, to set the record straight on the potential revival of the Waterfront Line. Here is what he said:
“The First Avenue Streetcar has been identified as a possible component of the Alaskan Way Viaduct program, to be evaluated. We will be considering that corridor in a broader context as the City develops a Transit Master Plan over the next year. We will be considering whether or not to build out a streetcar network from the existing Lake Union Streetcar and the planned International District/Capitol Hill line. There is limited space on First Avenue to accommodate such a system, but that location might be well suited if it was part of a center city streetcar network.
There will be room for a streetcar on the waterfront once the Viaduct has been demolished, however, it would take a significant amount of area in the wide public space that will be part of a post viaduct waterfront. The Central Waterfront planning process is just beginning, but will be considering and evaluating how to be best use this new public space.
As such, no decisions have yet been made with regards to whether or not the streetcar will return to the Central Waterfront.”
I am not sure whether I am going to stay in Seattle long enough to see the post-viaduct waterfront, but I’d still be anxious to see the WFSC revived.
I just read this entry and that response from Mr Malone is just infuriating. First, the First Avenue streetcar line is NOT a replacement for the Waterfront Streetcar. It never had been and it never will be. In fact, both lines are needed and would be a great component of the streetcar network.
Second, the Waterfront Streetcar does not need to (and in my opinion) should not take part of the public area alongside the waterfront. Instead, it should be in the median as is true in San Francisco along the Embarcadero. It is a transportation mode and should not need to be worried about a child chasing a let-go ballon.
It is obvious that the decision has already been made regarding the streetcar. It is incredibly infuriating for taking a piece of infrastructure which has already been paid for and essentially left to die. Shame on you SDOT!
Ok, rant over.
I agree. I don’t see why we can’t have both. The infrastructure is there, we just need to house the rolling stock. Sure, the waterfront will most likely never have the frequency of say 1st Ave should it be built, but it’s a great heritage railway and tourist attraction. Seems like a no-brainer to me. On a side note, the whole painted bus thing in the style of the rolling stock is really tacky.
Like I’ve said before, I don’t see why the new First Hill Streetcar can’t share the new streetcar barn with the old Waterfront Streetcar trolleys? Tie the lines together at 5th and Jackson, find some real estate in either Chinatown or Little Saigon and share the barn between the two lines. It’s not hard and it’s a no-brainer. Yes, the Waterfront line will be down again for a few years, but at least the old trolleys may be put to some good use in the meantime.
Wait so now they’ll be considering whether to build the streetcar network? I though that it was just an issue of when! We’ve had the network plan for a few years now.
And McGinn constantly saying that he’s going to see it to fruition.
Note that this is code for “barren windswept plaza”. The public space on the waterfront needs to be better programed than a broad paved area with the occasional trash can, light fixture, tree, or public art installation.
In any case there is no reason the streetcar can’t be in a median as someone above mentioned.
Say something like this (W to E): piers-sidewalk/plaza-SB cycletrack-buffer/curb-parking-SB travel lane-SB travel lane-SB streetcar track-planting median/station island-NB streetcar track-NB travel lane-NB travel lane-parking-buffer/curb-NB cycletrack-wide sidewalk-buildings.
Why not put the streetcar on the waterfront side? That would eliminate many traffic conflicts. Pedestrians (and bikes?) on the walkways would be near the streetcar stops. Except for the ferry terminal and parking at the Edgewater and Mytle Edwards Park, is there any real reason for vehicles to be going to the west of the waterfront walkway (exceptions for the service vehicles for the restaurants and other businesses, which ought to be going there at less crowded times).
Great idea.
Hi everyone
My PC died last week and as I can’t afford to either repair it or get another one, am resorting to one in the KCLS Library – which is fine, but it makes my communications somewhat infrequent at present….
Anyway, have a couple of questions this week:
How is King Street renovation project coming along – has it begun it? Haven’t been to Seattle for a while.
When is the Sreetcar plaza supposed to start?
Is Rapid Ride still on track for this June or October?
When will SDOT repave 15th Avenue NE in the University District – it is currently full of potholes.
Thanks
Tim
RancidRide will be opening October 2.
I think 15th is going to be repaved Summer 2011. There’s a doc somewhere, I just don’t feel like finding it at the moment.
Is that 15th north of the Ballard Bridge? 15th/Elliot was paved from the bridge to Western/Denny in 2008.
No, 15th Ave NE in the U-District.
“How is King Street renovation project coming along – has it begun it? Haven’t been to Seattle for a while.”
They’ve moved the baggage operations out of the north side of the building, I know. I don’t know what work they’ve started doing.
I’m interested in when they’re taking down the suspended ceiling. I had heard it was supposed to have been in April. Anyone been down there since April 23 (last time I was in the building)?
Maybe before May 8, Train Day?
Yep, looks like something is going on up there…can’t get anyone at SDOT to reply to me.
Hey Everyone. I made a new website that helps people calculate the cost of driving based on their address. Check it out here: http://www.transitgeek.com/driving cost estimator/. Let me know what y’all think. Also, feel free to steal my code and make something better!
Are there limits? It didn’t work for my address in Turkey.
shouldn’t be limits, if the address isn’t found, it’s Google’s geocoder’s fault.
Ooops, previous post had incorrect url, try this one: http://www.transitgeek.com/driving cost estimator/. Admins, can you combined these posts?
ugg, really don’t want to post encoded url, but looks like I have to: http://www.transitgeek.com/driving%20cost%20estimator/
Why did you put spaces in your URL? It will cause you headaches in the long run.
Eventually I will transfer it to a new domain or perhaps just evansiroky.com.
OK, sorry for the quadruple post, but can we get a preview option for posts on this blog?
I second a request for a preview button.
Also, Evan, HTML is allowed.
It has been confirmed on multiple fronts that Metro will be putting the RancidRide coaches (6000 series) on the route 174 next shakeup. This seems like a dumb idea to me, but I had a thought today–hopefully Metro will put ad wraps on them. I don’t care if they’re advertisements or just wraps to make them be in the color scheme of the rest of the fleet. If they don’t, it’s almost like false advertising. I believe that people would “get used to” them on the 174 and then come October 2 and all of the sudden there a bunch of changes would make it confusing.
Other notes:
The 180 trip leaving Auburn Station at 3:03am and arriving at SeaTac at 3:44am on Saturdays will be the only other trip scheduled to use a RancidRide coach.
South Base will be getting rid of most of its 2300 coaches for the Summer shakeup, with a few dozen or so remaining. There are a LOT of 6800 series listed, which leads me to believe that the teal hybrids are going in service.
The 1200 vans are not listed anywhere, and the 1900 vans are listed on all of the van routes, so expect those to go back in service.
Just because the 1900’s are assigned, doesn’t mean you will see them. They were assigned to all van routes at the beginning of winter shakeup in Sept 09. But we didn’t even see them out until almost the end of the shakeup in January. And even then only a few were out. Then they got pulled. So yes the intent is to have them back, but just because the pick sheets say a 1900 is assigned, doesn’t mean it will happen right away.
Interesting fact on the weekend Sounder service. I’ve added up all the special weekend Sounder trains this year for the Mariners, Sounders and Seahawks (I’m guessing on Seahawk service since that schedule isn’t out yet), but it would come to 28 weekends (16 Mariners, 4 Sounders and 8 Seahwaks). That’s over half the year that there is weekend Sounder service.
Would be nice to add service for Folklife, Bumbershoot, Taste of Seattle, concerts at Qwest, Safeco and Key and possibly even Storm games (would be nice to have a special with the Seattle Monorail) and other special events happening in and around downtown Seattle that could show high ridership. I’m seeing how we could extend these 28 weekends to 52 weekends.
How much does it cost to run one weekend Sounder train round-trip?
IIRC, Sound Transit says they break even on those runs
There was a Britney train too.
If there were a Broad Street station, Sounder specials to Seattle Center events might make sense, but otherwise you’d still need to get yourself from King Street Station to Seattle Center. When I’ve looked into it, it doesn’t seem like Seattle Center is well served by transit during the events. Excepting the monorail, of course.
If we get E60LFRs as replacements for the Bredas, I can take cool shots like this:
http://www.trans-continental.ca/vancouver/2009nfe60lfr/2556_3.jpg.php?z&p=full-image.