How many of you were riding Link on this day in 2009? From the ST Press Release:
Sound Transit’s Link light rail celebrates its fourth birthday today amid continued strong ridership growth and record-setting trends this summer. The line has carried more than 30 million riders since it opened to the public on July 18, 2009.
Link has seen double-digit annual ridership growth since opening and averaged almost 32,000 weekday boardings in June, a 14% increase over June, 2012. Link also saw its busiest day ever when it carried more than 38,000 riders on Tuesday, June 11.
Great news to share on a birthday! While a bunch of wonks like us can debate anything to death, I think we can all agree that Link is leaps and bounds better than any service this area has ever had.
Four years from now we’ll be a year past U-Link opening and only four more years to the opening of North Link. That itself is exciting to think about. Here’s to the next four years and the next forty!
May’s Central Link Weekday/Saturday/Sunday boardings were 27,428/23,844/17,412, changes of +3.1%, +4.1%, and +9.3% respectively over May 2012. Sounder’s weekday boardings were up 7.7%. Tacoma Link ridership declined 3.2%. Weekday ST Express ridership was up 6.2%.
Community Arts group ROCKiT and the Beacon Hill Merchant’s Association are teaming up to provide a packed afternoon of music, arts, and culture this Saturday, July 20th. Stepping out of Beacon Hill Station there will be maps as well as red balloons marking the paths to different event areas. There will be live music from 4pm-9pm, a Bite of Beacon event at Stevens Triangle Park (4:30 until gone) as well as specials at nine participating restaurants, and a scavenger hunt.
It’s time for STB to prepare its 2013 primary endorsements. As always, if there any non-obvious races with strong pro-transit, pro-density candidates please let us know, with links, in the comments.
On Monday, at the full City Council meeting, all the cards were laid out on the table, and the Ship Canal Crossing Study didn’t quite have a flush.
The study will, if funded, build on the work being done in the Ballard to Downtown Rail Study to make sure any new infrastructure serves everyone. It will start with the options for transit crossings, figure out how they’ll work with the existing bridges, where bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure should be, and where cars should go.
In order for this study to give answers that the city needs in time for Bridging the Gap and Sound Transit 3, it needs to start at the beginning of 2014. It takes three to four months after the council approves funding for a project for the scope to be written, bid on, and the contract awarded, so the funding has to come well before the beginning of 2014 – really, now.
So on Monday, council member O’Brien ran an amendment to the first quarter supplemental budget to fund the study starting now, instead of in 2015, where it’s currently scheduled.
After a long debate, three other council members stepped up: Conlin, who’s been a good friend to transit for some time; Bagshaw, who supports bicycling infrastructure (and this would be a biggie); and Harrell, who put mayoral politics aside to support this critical study. Thank you to all three of them, and of course to O’Brien for running the amendment.
The other five, though, had other ideas. I can’t speak to Burgess’ or Godden’s motivations. On Facebook last night, Clark indicated she hadn’t gotten a briefing on the crossing – this is understandable if it’s the case, as this was previously just before the Government Performance and Finance Committee, but she’s a member of that committee, so I’m surprised. I’m following up to find out who’s been briefed.
The two who are especially frustrating are Licata and Rasmussen.
Licata, the same day as the amendment, ran an insert in the Seattle Times with one of the worst false premises I’ve ever seen in Seattle politics. On Metro, it says: “We must not reduce its service in order to build major new rail projects.” This is unreal – in no universe is Metro’s funding shortfall related to rail. The worst part about a campaign message like this is that it makes people less able to understand what’s going on with transit funding – and because they’ll waste their time on a fake battle, it makes getting Metro revenue harder. It’s completely irresponsible on Licata’s part.
According to one source, Rasmussen has been briefed more than once on the ship canal crossing and the importance of the timeline. Unfortunately, he decided that it was worth risking rail to Ballard to add a little bit more funding to the Fauntleroy Green Boulevard project – a street reconfiguration that doesn’t even include bike lanes.
This may have been the last chance to have the ship canal crossing study done early enough that it could influence BtG or ST3. I plan to get more details from SDOT about the shortest possible timeline for the work, and whether it could still provide guidance before being entirely complete. I’ll report back on a path forward in the next few weeks.
Update: Sally Clark was briefed by SDOT and the Mayor’s staff on this project on May 2nd.
UPDATE: Seattle Transit Riders Union’s Katie Wilson tells me that “WTF” rally will likely be moved to a different day, due to a separate, large public event which will occur at the Federal Building at the same time. I’ll add more information here when I get it. — Bruce
STRU @ Pride
This Saturday at noon, the Seattle Transit Riders Union is hosting a rally at City Hall Park, to protest the failure of the Washington State Legislature to provide King County Metro with a local revenue option to stave off possibly the largest round of cuts — 17% of Metro service — in the agency’s history. Speakers include King County Council Member Larry Phillips, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, and District 46 Representative Jessyn Farrell. The theme is “WTF, Olympia?” — as in, “Where’s the Funding?”:
“The failure of the State Senate to pass a transit funding option for King County is irresponsible and unacceptable,” says Katie Wilson, General Secretary of the all-volunteer Transit Riders Union. “How are we supposed to get to work, school, or to look for a job? How are disabled people, seniors and students supposed to get around? Our legislature failed all of us: not only will bus riders lose service, traffic congestion will get worse, and the economy and the environment will suffer too.” […]
In this legislative session, bills that would have improved the quality of life for workers, students, immigrants, women, bus riders – for all of us – struggled to make it through but failed, because an obstructionist bloc of Republicans and turncoat Democrats betrayed us. We’re fed up, and we know many others are too – so it’s time to get organized!
City Hall Park is at 3rd Ave & Yesler, right by Pioneer Square Station. I’ll be there, and I suggest that if you’re interested in a stable, sustainable funding source for Metro, you be there too.
This weekend, we learned that Councilmember Mike O’Brien will be introducing an amendment to the budget at 2:00 today to move the Ship Canal Crossing study from 2015 back to 2014.
This study is key for both Bridging the Gap’s renewal in 2015 and for a potential Sound Transit 3 in 2016. For Bridging the Gap, as the Ballard Bridge is high on the list of SDOT’s priorities, having a plan for configuring the ship canal crossings is key to making the right investments for repair or replacement. For Sound Transit 3, we need to be sure SDOT has the right data to ensure Sound Transit’s next line works well with existing traffic and transit service, and potentially serves bicycles and pedestrians, whether it’s a bridge or an undercrossing.
ST3’s project list may be locked down early in 2015, as the legislature needs to provide them authority, and any Sound Transit proposal must go through a state expert review panel before it goes to the voters. Bridging the Gap will probably be assembled in early 2015 to go before voters in November of that year. To be ready, a year plus long study must happen soon to be complete before BtG or ST3 are put together.
With both SLU and Ballard growing quickly, no matter what your priorities – cars, transit, bicycles, pedestrians – this study is a key piece in serving everyone. Delaying the crossing study could lead to missing high priority transit projects, or wasting money on fixes that turn out to be temporary.
Tukwila’s transformation into a full-fledged urban center is charging full steam ahead. The major components of the effort roughly divvy up into the construction of Tukwila Village, and transformation of Tukwila International Boulevard (TIB) into a true transportation corridor with improved safety, sidewalks, and transit access.
Specifically: increased access to the new light rail station; reduction of Tukwila’s crime rate; and revitalizing the neighborhood around South 144th St. and TIB by adding a library, a police resource center, plaza/park, and residential/retail spaces.
1: The Transportation Corridors Comp Plan element will refocus on TIB, when reviewed in 2014, with further updates. The various committees executing the overall Comp Plan will work on its elements from April-July 2013, with the city council considering possible changes from August to October.
In addition, a public safety-oriented sidewalk policy will be established. Most recently, the city of Tukwila also approved an ordinance (login may be required for access to the ordinance text) for acquisition of up to 7 properties along TIB, including condemnation if necessary.
“We are indeed completing our appraisals and will start negotiations with the property owners in the next few weeks,” said Derek Speck, Tukwila economic development administrator. “This summer we will go to council for direction in terms of what the city would do with the properties once we’ve acquired them.”
This can’t wait for the next news roundup. 
