Month: February 2015

STB will have a series of posts this week on Spokane Transit Authority’s April ballot measure, and the STA Moving Forward plan, which that measure seeks to implement.

This is an open thread.

A bipartisan group of Senators yesterday announced that they had reached agreement on most elements of a transportation package that included authorization for Sound Transit 3. The authorized tax levels were lower than the Sound Transit request, which limits the potential size of the package and increases the reliance on sales tax. However, the agreement would still allow the agency to proceed with a package roughly the size of Sound Transit 2 (ST2).

The Senate agreement would permit up to $11 billion in tax revenue over 15 years. There is some confusion resulting from there being two different $15 billion sums in the discussion. The original Sound Transit request is for $15 billion, would provides room for the Board to explore which tax types are least unpopular and find the optimal package size.

The second $15 billion is a potential overall capital project package size, which ST staff used in an exercise and Martin speculatively mapped to projects. Staff picked this number because it was the same size as ST2 and therefore considered politically practical, but the ST board has not decided on the package’s size. Due to bond financing, a $15 billion package requires about $9 billion in taxing authority.

Continue reading “Senators Agree to Transportation Package with ST3 Authorization”

This coming Monday, February 16, is not only the first weekday in King County Metro Transit’s, Sound Transit’s, Pierce Transit’s, Community Transit’s, and Intercity Transit’s service change, but it is also Presidents Day.

Metro will be running a “Weekday & No UW” schedule (which really means reduced runs on certain UW routes).

Sound Transit will be running regular weekday schedules on ST Express and Sounder. However, Central Link will be running the Saturday schedule, and Tacoma Link will be running the Sunday schedule.

Pierce Transit, Intercity Transit, Everett Transit, the Seattle Monorail, the South Lake Union Streetcar, and Washington State Ferries will be running a regular weekday schedule.

Community Transit will run regular weekday levels on local service, but will only be running commuter routes 402, 413, 421, and 855.

Kitsap Transit will be running most services on a weekday schedule, except that certain buses serving the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard will not be operating.

The West Seattle and Vashon Water Taxis will not be in service.

• “This will degrade transit service”: a 12-week closure of Aurora’s bus lanes begins March 7 and will delay over 25,000 riders per day. ($)
• On Tuesday the City Council’s Transportation Committee formally approved the Prop 1 agreement, including the critical ‘no supplantion clause” and adding a new Seattle Transit Advisory Board (yes, STAB). The formality now moves to the full council, acting as the Transportation Benefit District.
• In an editorial, the Times again calls for a transportation package, and explicitly asks for ST3. ($)
• The Tacoma News Tribune looks at Sounder operations during the upcoming Tacoma station rebuild.
• Another hat into the ring for West Seattle’s District 1: Brianna Thomas, a field organizer who doesn’t own a car and wants West Seattle Link in ST3.
• Outright climate skepticism hasn’t been much of a factor in state climate negotiations. Enter state Republican representative Matt Shea (Spokane Valley):  “there is some pretty significant scientific evidence out there that there has not been warming.” ($)
• You thought Nickels had it bad during the snowstorm of 2008? That’s nothing on the MBTA’s growing PR nightmare. Boston was a transit-free city on Tuesday.
• In a nod to the tunnel building of old, Plan B to reach Bertha includes, basically, large scale pick axes.
• WSDOT doubles down on its “70% complete” figure for the deep bore tunnel.
• Much needed market rate housing is coming to the heart of the International District.
• “Shock, betrayal, and anxiety”: I guess those are the words we throw around when discussing rezones these days. (Shoreline)
• Down in the UDistrict, an appeal has been filed to stop the big planned rezone. The Urbanist wrote about the rezone here.

This is an open thread.

A week ago, Publicola’s Darren Davis invited his readers to submit “impassioned, prosy comments” on the Seattle Department of Transportation’s fare change proposal for the one, soon to be two, streetcar lines the department manages. Intrigued, I decided to take Darren up on his idea, and drill into the details of SDOT’s proposal, to see if there were any devils worth writing about. It turned out there were.

SDOT’s fare proposal has four central components:

1. Harmonizing the streetcar fare with Link Light Rail, by reducing the adult fare by a quarter, and raising the youth/senior fare by a quarter.
2. Implementing the ORCA LIFT program, a regional reduced fare for low-income adults.
3. Implementing a new, streetcar-only day pass, available from streetcar ticket machines.
4. Ceasing the acceptance of the paper transfers issued on King County Metro buses. Transfer credit will be available only when using ORCA.

(Currently, streetcar-only day passes exist, but are sold only in advance, to bulk purchasers. The existing day pass is pretty obscure: I didn’t even know that fare media existed despite regularly using and writing about transit for the 4.5 years I’ve lived here. This is the first time Seattle will be selling streetcar day passes from ticket machines on the street, and for all practical purposes, this will be the first time the public will be exposed to them.)

Parts (1) and (2) of SDOT’s proposal, harmonizing single-ride fares, are grand ideas, and I support their implementation wholeheartedly. They achieve the stated purpose of the streetcar fare change, which is to enhance regional integration of transit, and give transit riders a more predictable, comprehensible experience.

More after the jump. Continue reading “Seattle’s Streetcar Fare Proposal is a Step Backwards”

On Valentine’s Day, Metro and Sound Transit will implement their February service change, bringing a handful of small changes to the transit network. This is the last ‘quiet’ service change for a while, as upcoming service changes promise to be much more extensive. June will bring a taste of Prop 1 improvements, September will fully flesh out Prop 1 while restructuring tunnel service for ULink, and next March will bring the big ULink bus restructure. In the meantime, here’s what you can look forward to next week.

Metro 

• Route 7: Tweaks the schedule to improve the Prentice Loop
• Route 50: Reinstates the VA loop
• Routes 55, 111, 114, and 143: These routes will no longer serve Bell, removing 25 buses from Bell Street Park during the PM peak.
• Routes 193, 303: These two First Hill peak routes will have their last trips leave much later (7:40pm).
• Route 204: Sees its evening service span expand by one hour.
• Routes 212, 255, 312: Minor schedule changes.
• DART 913: Route revision in Kent.
• Route 628: A new peak-only route serving North Bend, Snoqualmie, and Issaquah Highlands.

Sound Transit

• 522, 592: Minor schedule changes.
• 590, 594, 595: Major schedule changes to better meet demand.
• 574: Southbound frequency reduced from 15 to 20 minutes from 12-3pm.

Fare Changes (March 1)

• Metro fares go up by $.25 across all fare categories except Access, which rises by $.50.
• Link fares go up $.25.
• The new Low-Income Fare, “ORCA Lift“, begins.

Construction Detours

In early April, routes 4, 8, and 48 will begin an 8-month detour, on which more this afternoon.