Month: February 2014

With no major projects opening I don’t think anyone expected 2013 to be a huge year for Link.  Everyone was wrong. In the fall it was revealed that the University Link extension to Capitol Hill and Husky Stadium will likely open 6-9 months ahead of schedule and $100 million under budget.  And now we know Link’s ridership grew 11.3% over the year.  It was projected that Link would average 27,900 weekday boardings in 2013.  When it was all said and done the number turned out to be 28,953.  It’s hard to imagine how this past year could have been any better for the young system.

December’s Central Link Weekday/Saturday/Sunday boardings were 29,659/20,921/18,462, growth of 18.2%, 20.5%, and 15.5% respectively over December 2012. Sounder’s weekday boardings were up 14.2% (up 8% on the South Line, 18% on the North Line).  Total Tacoma Link ridership was up 0.3% with weekday ridership declining 2.3%.  Weekday ST Express ridership was up 4%, with most growth occurring on Crosslake, South King and Pierce routes.  Complete December Ridership Summary here.

Yes, that’s correct.  Link’s ridership grew 18.2% in December to bring the yearly growth rate for 2013 to 11.3%.  My charts below the fold. Continue reading “2013: The Year of Link – December’s ST Ridership Report”

Ben originally reported on House Bill 2111, which would enable Sound Transit fare inspectors to issue citations immediately to fare evaders when they are caught, instead of having to mail the citations. The bill was amended on the floor of the House and passed out of the House unanimously on February 13, as Engrossed Substitute House Bill 2111.

ESHB 2111 got a hearing in the Senate Transportation Committee on February 24 and was amended to allow the citation to not include information on the perpetrator’s personal vehicle (which would seem a common-sense improvement, when one is being ticketed for riding a train without paying).

Amazingly, a representative from the Municipal and District Court Judges Association objected to the idea of Sound Transit not including this information, as it would make the citation non-uniform with other traffic citations in the state. In particular, it would allow Sound Transit to print a smaller form than the standard one. The irony here is that it was a district court administrator who had requested Sound Transit to find a way to not have to mail out citations in the first place, since the district courts handle that expense. Indeed, the Administrative Office of the Court has been denying Sound Transit’s requests to print a smaller form that doesn’t include the perpetrator’s personal vehicle information since 2012, and has been bureaucratically unhelpful in how they would do a better form.

On Wednesday, the committee members gave the concern a collective facepalm and voted to pass the bill out of committee, with the amendment, and just one No vote.

The bill next has to get out of the Senate Rules Committee, and get voted on by the full Senate by next Friday, March 7. Members of the Rules Committee are listed here. If you wish to contact your state senator, you can look her/him up here.

• There’s money to improve Puyallup and Sumner station access, but no consensus on how to spend it.
• First Hill Streetcar design flunks fire safety evaluation, may slide opening day by a few months.
• Overlake Village redevelopment plans ($).
• Kshama Sawant decisively backs more funding for Metro.
• Dan Bertolet argues incentive zoning drives people out of the city by reducing the overall number of units.
• Lots of free-thinking at Kirkland’s transportation forum ($), but at the very end of the article, a commonsense idea for an express busway.
• Seattle DPD looking at more pedestrian retail areas.
• CT holding public meetings to figure out where to put new service.
• West Seattle Transportation Coalition issues backhanded endorsement of Metro funding; quoted rhetoric continues to be highly distressing.
• Fixing Capitol Hill’s street grid.
• Mayor Murray apparently close to securing the last block of funding for Puget Sound Bike Share.
• Viaduct traffic plunges.
• Olympia bus attack recorded by a camera.
• Ben summarizes the process of Sound Transit expansion.
• SDOT renovating a unique old trolley stop. Workshop Thursday.
• New Freighthouse Square concepts.
• Rep. Gerry Pollet (D-46) pushing a bill to prevent minor increases in density in single family neighborhoods.
• Federal Way TC has a pigeon dropping problem.
• Let’s bury I-5.

This is an open thread.

Fado Irish Pub, Thursday, 2/27/14, 5:30pm to 7:30pm

Hello, Seattle Transit Blog readers!

Seattle Subway is excited to begin another year of outreach and education. This year we’re starting off with a volunteer meetup at Fado Irish Pub, tomorrow, 2/27, from 5:30-7:30pm. There will be food and drink (for the first 40) provided by us to thank last year’s volunteers and welcome new volunteers who share our vision of fast reliable transit connecting our neighborhoods.

Fado Irish Pub & Restaurant is located at 801 1st Ave, Seattle, WA 98104, on the corner of 1st Avenue and Columbia Street, within 3 blocks of the Pioneer Square Link Station’s north entrance.

We have an exciting agenda this year:

• Support the Move King County Now campaign’s efforts to save King County Metro from severe cuts. Subways take time to build, we need frequent bus service in the meantime.
• Continue our educational outreach on the benefits of constructing an automated subway to every neighborhood in Seattle and to communities throughout the region.
• This year we’ll have a chance to comment on the results of the Level 2 Analysis of the Ballard to Downtown corridor as well as Level 1 Analysis of the Ballard to U-District corridor and the Downtown to West Seattle corridor.  Translation – We  have a chance to influence what Sound Transit is going to build!
• [Insert your agenda item here] We’ll have a board up where YOU can tell us your thoughts on what we should work on this year.

This is going to be a great year, hope to see you at Fado!  RSVP here.

Although its practical impact has likely been minimal, one might find it a bit sloppy that the Seattle Streetcar has no way to properly accommodate ORCA cards, so that fare inspectors must accept the mere presence of one as a valid fare. SDOT’s Ethan Melone confirms that those days are soon gone.

For the South Lake Union line, here is timeline:

1.      Prep Work – Brackets (By SDOT Structures), ORCA Post/Baseplate/Conduit (SDOT Signal) – Completed end of March

2.      Router Cabinets/Final Wiring – Completed April

3.      Metro Testing/Startup – May

The First Hill Streetcar will open with ORCA support later this year.

It will surprise no one that the King County Council sent a tax measure to the ballot yesterday that would prevent deep Metro cuts and raise money to work off some of the road maintenance deficit. It might surprise some of us that the vote was unanimous, including four Republican* councilmembers representing suburban and exurban areas of the County. From a Move King County Now press release:

“Our continued economic competitiveness is paramount,” said King County Council Vice Chair Jane Hague. “As a King County Transportation Benefit District Board Member, I cannot stand by and watch our infrastructure deteriorate.”

The April 22nd measure will authorize a 10-year 0.1% increase in sales tax and $60 vehicle license fee (replacing the expiring $20 CRC license fee) and would, if revenue projections are accurate, just about cover Metro’s deficit.

On the same day, the Council approved a 25 cent fare increase in March 2015, and required Metro to create an implementation plan for the low-income fare by June 1 of this year:

If an interlocal agreement is reached with the King County Transportation District for the distribution of voter-approved revenues, the fare would start in 2015 at $1.25 for eligible adults and the youth fare would remain at $1.25, with these fares rising to $1.50 in 2017. Absent the interlocal agreement, the low-income fare and youth fare would be set at $1.50 starting in 2015.

The eligibility threshold for the low-income fare would be 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, currently $22,980 for an individual. Adults in a family of four earning up to $47,100 would also be eligible.

*The Council is now officially nonpartisan, although four current members were originally elected as Republicans.

This weekend, we heard a rumor that WSDOT had found the money to fulfill their promise of viaduct mitigation funding through the opening of the SR99 Deep Bore Tunnel, scheduled for the end of 2015, a commitment which had been cast into doubt a couple of years ago.

This money, which amounted to about 40,000 hours of Metro service per year, was intended to provide drivers an alternative to driving on SR99, and to compensate Metro for increased running times on SR99 routes. Metro had used the money to improve schedule reliability on West Seattle routes, and add trips to high-performing commuter and all-day service in West Seattle, Ballard, and on Aurora. Those added peak trips are packed full of riders, so premature loss of this funding would have resulted in a “pre-bloodbath bloodbath” of cuts in July, falling extremely hard on West Seattle.

The potential loss of this mitigation money was one of the two fiscal swords hanging over Metro this year. The other, even larger one which remains, is the structural post-recession deficit of 600,000 hours per year. King County voters will get a chance to vote on additional revenue for Metro in April.

Quote from Dow:

“This is great news for everyone who commutes on the SR99 corridor, especially those coming from West Seattle and Burien,” says King County Executive Dow Constantine. “Viaduct mitigation has reduced traffic and increased transit use, and will continue to help manage the impacts of construction on businesses and the traveling public.”

[UPDATE: As many commenters are pointing out, there are many errors on this map.]

Someone at codeforseattle made this visualization of the cuts that Metro proposes. Black dots represent eliminated stops; red stops will experience longer waits, and green dots will actually have shorter waits thanks to route consolidation.

Given the parks on this map, green was not a good choice, but it’s still a powerful expression of the stakes this year.

This afternoon the King County Council will likely vote to put a tax package on the ballot that would prevent devastating cuts to Metro service.  This afternoon the campaign, Move King County Now, will hold a kickoff event at Fado Irish Pub.

Join Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke, Kenmore Mayor David Baker, King County Executive Dow Constantine, King County Council Chair Larry Phillips, King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski, and King County Council Vice Chair Joe McDermott.

Appetizers will be served. The first 40 guests will receive a free drink ticket!

Co-sponsored by: Transportation Choices Coalition, Downtown Seattle Association, King County Labor Council, Futurewise, Fuse, One America, Washington Conservation Voters

Time: Today, Feb 24, 5:30-7:30pm

Location: Fado Irish Pub, 801 1st Avenue, Seattle

RSVP online here or on Facebook.

LA Metro: Promoting Mass Transit from EMBARQ Network on Vimeo.

Metro in Los Angeles has the best brand identity and graphic design of any transit agency in the US, in my opinion.