Month: December 2014

In the wake of Prop 1’s passage, the City of Seattle finds itself in a position to purchase more bus service. For some bus routes, however, that may be easier said than done.

Consider the 120. Serving White Center and West Seattle along Delridge Way, it claims 7,000 riders in a largely transit-dependent part of town and serves one of 15 designated bus priority corridors in Seattle’s Transit Master Plan. As one of the city’s 10 busiest routes, it would be a good candidate for RapidRide treatment someday.

Despite its popularity, the 120 drops to half-hourly service in the evenings and on Sundays, and would probably benefit from the supplemental funding enabled by the recently-passed Prop. 1. However, since more than 20% of the route’s stops are outside the city limits, the 120 is technically ineligible for Prop. 1 money. This has caused some legitimate concern from West Seattle residents:

After city/cnty guests leave @wstcoalition -co-chair Helmick says Route 120's ineligibility for Prop 1 $ is "obscene"; brainstorming ensues

— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) November 12, 2014

If the City of Seattle would like to improve service on the 120, they have a few options:

1. Create a “short turn” version of the route that doesn’t stray too far from the city line. Some trips would end at the Burien Transit Center and others end closer to Seattle (possibly at the layover space at 15th Ave SW and SW Roxbury in White Center)
2. Find a way to use some of the $3M in Prop. 1 “regional partnership” funds to partner with Burien or the County, though it’s not clear that additional service on the 120 is the highest priority for those funds
3. Convince Burien to provide matching funds for the rest of the route
4. Annex White Center (!)

Of all of these, the first is probably the most straightforward. Burien City Manager Kamuron Gurol told me via email that his constituents had not expressed significant desire for more service on the 120, but were instead focused on the potential loss of service on the commuter express routes 121 and 122, both of which were spared the axe in the recently-improved budget.

A shortened 120 is not optimal. Even setting aside potential rider confusion, a 120 that terminated at, say, Westwood Village would be roughly 1/3 shorter than the normal 120. Nonetheless, it may be the path of least resistance for providing more frequent service between the Delridge area and Downtown.

And thus we get our first lesson in the interesting budget and planning games that will start to happen in the wake of Prop. 1. The chess board just got a little more complicated.

Sound Transit recently held an open house on Mercer Island to discuss some updates to the Mercer Island Link station. I wasn’t able to attend, but the materials are available online.

The meeting focused on two updates to the station design for riders arriving by car or by bus. First, ST is considering a second parking lot near the community center to handle overflow traffic from the always-packed Mercer Island park-and-ride. Many Mercer Island residents have been adamant that they will only use the station if they are given ample, free parking, and ST is working to find ways to accommodate them.

Second, staff showed a new concept for handling buses. We’ve known for a while that Sound Transit plans to remove the bus ramps at I-90 and Rainier, meaning that all Seattle-bound riders in the I-90 corridor will be transferred to Link, either at Mercer Island or South Bellevue. Therefore it’s important that the bus connection at those stations is as painless as possible (see Adam’s posts here and here for more on good and bad bus-rail transfers).

Previous concepts for bus transfers at MIS involved a loop through the neighborhood before returning to I-90, not too different from today’s configuration.  Neighborhood feedback sent those concepts back to the drawing board, and everyone is better off for it.  Since buses will no longer continue on to Seattle, the whole configuration can be rethought around the new goal of providing a great transfer experience. The latest setup converts 80th Ave, which straddles the freeway and is adjacent to the Link station, into a transitway. Buses will exit the Westbound HOV lane, drop passengers off in front of the station, and get right back on the freeway going the other way, like a bucket brigade. Riders will be deposited directly atop the escalator for the Link station. This should make for very smooth bus-rail connections.  By planning for the connection at this early stage, Sound Transit has created a much improved rider experience.

So will all existing I-90 buses take advantage of this new transitway? It’s not clear yet. The diagram above mentions two lines in particular, ST 554 and Metro 216. I asked Metro’s Jeff Switzer why those routes were singled out, since there are many more that will be affected when buses no longer go past Mercer Island, and he said that while “the legend does not accurately reflect the specific routes” and would be corrected, Metro consulted with ST to provide low- and high-end estimates for the number of buses that would serve the station into the future. In other words, the service concept was vetted against current and future demand, but the routes themselves are still TBD.

Switzer added that no decisions have been made with respect to specific service changes on I-90 once East Link opens, and that a robust public outreach process would be included as the opening day got closer. One can imagines a similar process to the recent ST/Metro U-Link workshops occurring sometime around 2020.  This will be a great opportunity to re-think the Eastside network all-up.  If one-seat rides into Seattle are no longer be possible via I-90, those buses might be re-configured as all-day connectors to Link stations and other regional destinations, providing enhanced regional mobility.

Proposition 1’s November passage greatly deepened SDOT’s role in transit service planning, with the new Transit Division being created to oversee the intergovernmental purchase of service hours and also to formalize SDOT’s role in transit improvements more generally.  Yesterday, Mayor Murray and SDOT Director Kubly announced the division’s first Director, Paulo Nunes-Ueno.

Longtime transit and bicycle advocates will recognize Nunes-Ueno, who has been a visible and vocal advocate for smarter transportation policies. The NYU and UW graduate has spent his career primarily overseeing employer programs and policies, first with Metro working as a Commute Trip Reduction Program Manager, and for the last 7 years as Director of Transportation and Sustainability for Seattle Children’s, one of the country’s best employer transportation programs. He was also instrumental in Children’s sponsorship of Pronto Cycleshare.

As an aside, Nunes-Ueno will now work for the city that once fined him $500/day for the mildest possible form of urbanist civil disobedience, defying city policies by installing a sandbox for his kids in the public planting strip in between the sidewalk and his neighborhood street.

In private conversations with SDOT staff, we have been encouraged by the rigor and thoughtfulness with which they’re approaching the Prop 1 spending, and we are hopeful that Nunes-Ueno will be an adept administrator who enables his staff to do good, and assuredly contentious, work. Prop 1 service hours begin in June 2015.

The city’s media release is after the jump.

Continue reading “SDOT Hires Transit Division Director”

Just a week ago, commenter Ricky alerted STB readers to the fact that the 10-year contract for operating the Seattle Center Monorail was coming up for renewal, and being discussed in the City Council’s Parks, Seattle Center, Libraries, and Gender Pay Equity Committee this past Tuesday. Chad recognized the opportunity, and called upon the city council to integrate the monorail into the ORCA fare system, as part of the contract renewal.

City councilmembers found a barrage of emails waiting for them Monday morning, and swung into action. Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, one of the committee members, had a lot of questions regarding the future of the monorail for Seattle Center staff at the meeting, including plans for a potential expansion of access to the south terminal across 5th Ave to street level.

On the topic of ORCA integration, Rasmussen said he wanted a plan by the end of the first quarter of 2015 on how such integration can occur, and will introduce amendments to the operating contract to make that happen. He added, “We need to have certainty that [the monorail] will be integrated into the ORCA system.”

Councilmember Mike O’Brien, who is not on the committee, made an appearance to ask some pointed questions relating to ORCA integration. He explained the transfer surcharge problem, in which someone who just spent $2.50 on a bus downtown is probably going to choose a free bus transfer to get to the Seattle Center over a ride on the monorail that costs another $2.25.

Committee Chairwoman Jean Godden issued a statement later in the day:

At today’s Committee meeting we took a vote on the legislation authorizing a concession agreement with Seattle Monorail Services. As congestion increases, I support further exploration of how we can better integrate our transit system. I’m intrigued by the amendments Rasmussen is working on related to fare box integration.

Councilmember Rasmussen, who chairs the Council Transportation Committee, had more to say by email later when asked for more specifics:

I would like the ORCA card to be as convenient and universal as possible for the various public transportation modes which includes the Monorail. What I am asking the Seattle Center and the Monorail operator to come back with a plan for the use of the card on the Monorail by the end of the first quarter 2015. What I would expect is that they assess and provide the City Council Transportation Committee with information on what it would take financially and technically for the Monorail to be able to accept the ORCA card in the same manner that all other transit agencies do.

When asked if he would require the monorail to accept PugetPass, UPass, and inter-agency transfers, Rasmussen responded,

I would like the Orca card to be as useful and convenient as possible. The purpose of the three month study period is to understand the challenges and costs of the various options you stated before we give the go ahead. I am working for an integrated, seamless fare system for the region regardless of the public transit agency that is used.

Rasmussen’s proposed amendments to the contract are expected to be ready for the December 15 full council meeting.

Thomas Ditty, General Manager of Seattle Monorail Services, graciously agreed to an interview.

Ditty was not favorable to a contract extension, after an expensive 15-month bid process in which SMS beat out two competitors, due to the possibility that SMS might then not get the contract at the end of that process. But he said, “We will do whatever the City wants.” He called comparisons to other transit systems “apples to pears.” “The monorail is the only transit system in Seattle that makes a profit.” He listed Seattle Center funds that receive money generated from the monorail’s profit.

Ditty gave the number of monthly pass purchasers as roughly 150, annual ridership of over 2 million, annual revenue over $4m, and practical minimum headway of 5-6 minutes.

• Amtrak’s FY 2014 financials are in. To sum: despite record ridership, a 93% farebox recovery, and a $500m Northeast Corridor surplus, Amtrak still lost $1B last year. Why? Depreciation and long-haul routes.
• Mercer will never be congestion free, but the city is trying to make it less bad through better signalization.
• The most underdeveloped Link station area, Rainier Beach, wants a grocery store.
• Sound Transit looking to build a second, temporary Park & Ride on Mercer Island. ST would operate it for the 5 years when South Bellevue P&R is closed. Once East Link opens, ST would transfer management to the city.
• More traffic violence: 18-year old Bellevue teen kills 77-year old man crossing the street.
• The Transit App now shows Uber.
• BART will finally study a 2nd Transbay Tube, with preliminary ideas for an Alameda-SoMa-Geary corridor with spurs to Outer Richmond and Daly City via Golden Gate Park/UCSF/Inner Sunset.
• Council candidates sounding more and more provincial: New District 4 entrant wants  “to encourage real estate development in the U District and in Roosevelt” but to “leave other 4th District neighborhoods pretty much pristine“, with neighborhood councils having “real rather than advisory authority”. ($)
• Community Transit hoping for a 2018 opening of “Swift II” from Canyon Park to Boeing-Everett.
• Downtown’s first parklet opened yesterday on 2nd Avenue between Pike and Pine, adjacent to the new-ish Elysian Bar.
• Southern California preps for its first freeway removal project (Long Beach).
• Deep-bore tunnel slipping into 2017? Repair work is behind schedule and the “contractor has nothing on the table right now with the state that shows how [meeting the 2016 target] can be done.”

This is an open thread.

Last week the Times reported on the Washington Department of Labor & Industries fining Metro $3,500 for unacceptable work conditions, specifically too much pressure to skip bathroom breaks to stay on schedule.

Transit operators and their union have long griped about inadequate bathroom breaks and the lack of access to toilets…  Some have resorted to adult diapers or urinating in a bottle… maintenance crews replace 60 driver seats per year that have been soaked by urine, according to Local 587 Vice President Neal Safrin…

Desmond said he’ll re-emphasize that the driver rule book allows restroom breaks even when buses are behind schedule.

But he also acknowledges there is self-imposed pressure among transit operators to skip restroom breaks so they avoid being late and upsetting passengers. Beyond that, many drivers feel loyalty to their regular customers and want to make sure they get to work on time.

Longtime readers will recall increased “scheduling efficiencies” as part of the 2009 audit results, which said “that the use of scheduling software could avoid deadhead runs, shorten layovers, and thus save between $12m and $19m a year.” Even at the time, our commenters worried about the effect on driver health.

This sorry episode illustrates that there are many ways to cut a budget. These cuts are often grouped together into “efficiencies,” which has the connotation of cutting waste. And everyone is for reducing waste! But the real effect on riders and other stakeholders varies widely.

There are genuine freebies, like negotiating a better price for buses or eliminating a program that everyone agrees isn’t working. There are false economies, like deferring capital expenditures that would save future operating costs (speed and reliability improvements) or maintenance costs (new buses). And then there are cuts that, while helping to keep buses on the road, also make the system a worse one in more subtle ways. In this particular case, Metro is putting its drivers in normatively awful working conditions, also making buses less reliable. Earlier in the financial crisis, King County cut back on shelter cleaning and customer information. Again, the degradation is hard to quantify but nonetheless real.

It is a genuinely difficult dilemma to trade off bus service hours against these other values. However, we shouldn’t allow standards in these areas to continually ratchet downwards as we accept dirty stops and mistreated drivers as the new normal.

There’s a fine internet cottage industry taking photos of buses under certain conditions (generally at off-peak times and near the end of a route) to show that they are “empty.”  To flip the script a bit, Strong Towns asked people to photograph the parking lot of their local shopping center or mall during Black Friday — which should be the highest parking demand of the year.

Now obviously there’s no way to verify that these photos are of reasonable dates and times for Black Friday peak demand, local economic conditions may vary, some stores are simply struggling, and there are almost certainly lots elsewhere in the nation that are full. Nevertheless, the minimum sizes of these lots are often mandated by local regulations, resulting in astounding wastes of space most of the time.