Month: October 2016

The last time we had a civic discussion about a new basketball/hockey arena, let’s just say it didn’t go well. There was politically convenient fear mongering about our Working Waterfront and industrial jobs. There was the hypocritical HIGHF (Hey! I Got Here First!) form of corporate NIMBYism from the Seattle Mariners. There was charmingly predictable concern trolling about traffic, where disaster is always around the corner if only _insert project_ is built. To top it off, many arena supporters then poisoned the well by bitterly gendering their disgust.

While we’re still no closer to bringing leather balls and wooden sticks back to Seattle, the recent proposal by developer Chris Hansen offers us the welcome chance of a civic redo. In one fell swoop, his offer to plug the funding gap for the Lander Street Overpass protects Port interests while improving traffic outcomes; and his proposal to build the new arena without public funding relieves us of another reason for (legitimate) infighting.

A contestable premise: Stadia don’t belong in urban neighborhoods, they belong on the urban-industrial edge.  Stadia are infrequently used, special purpose structures that fragment neighborhoods. As the most egregious example, Husky Stadium is used less than 10 times per year. On account of those select fall Saturdays, thousands of bus passengers have to walk farther to transfer every day, thousands of students and faculty cannot live nearer their university, and hundreds of acres of asphalt lay mostly idle.

If we build a new arena in Sodo, we should tear down the Key and return housing to Seattle Center. Seattle 2035 calls for “Uptown” (Lower Queen Anne) to be an Urban Center, the same designation as Capitol Hill, Downtown, or Northgate. Just a mile from downtown, LQA currently only houses about 10,000 people in predominantly low-rise structures, or only 1.5% of the city’s population. If ST3 passes, a subway station will be located two blocks away at Queen Anne/Mercer, with quick access to Ballard, South Lake Union, Downtown, the Rainier Valley, and SeaTac. Lower Queen Anne needs people, not occasional large events.

Key Arena sits on 48 historic parcels covering most of 4 city blocks, and it’s only used for 18 Storm games and every 3 weeks or so for concerts and other events. If there were a successful renovation and if that were to draw a team, you could add another 40 days a year of activation. But that would still leave 280 days a year in which people would walk, bike, bus, train, and drive around it as an obstacle, rather than to it as a destination.

Stadia on the periphery are much better for a city and its residents. Upper Sodo is perfect for sports, acting as a partially-activated and aesthetically pleasing bridge between an urban core and heavy industry. LQA and the Mercer Mess will never work well for SOV access, and if we build the neighborhood for people that’s kinda the point. The subway station we hope to build should be accessible to as many Seattleites as possible as often as possible. Since the top of Queen Anne is set to be ossified as a Single-Family Zone, the four blocks of Key Arena offer precious mid or high-rise capacity. And with a 135′ arena already on site, tall housing is already ‘in scale’.

Sodo will never be good for dense housing, but LQA will. LQA will never be good for SOV access, but Sodo will. And while Sodo is less transit-accessible than LQA will be, better to solve an occasional problem than limit an everyday social good (housing). Mr. Murray, tear down this Key.

That was in 2009.

The Lynnwood Link Extension, which will bring light rail service to Shoreline, Mountlake Terrace and Lynnwood, is seven years away from opening and is preparing to break ground on construction in 2018. Sound Transit is holding a series of open houses in November on the final station designs, including renderings and concepts for new stations, at three locations in the three cities. Each open house will focus on the specific stations in the area, but an overview will be available at an online open house at Sound transit’s site  beginning November 15.

Sound Transit staff will be present at the three open houses to answer questions and respond to feedback from the public on a variety of issues, including designs, project plans, station names, potential impacts, public art, and related projects from other agencies.

Continue reading “Station Design Open Houses for Lynnwood Link Coming Next Month”

• I was going to write a final piece about I-732 is a very important ballot measure, arguably more important than ST3, but Ramez Naam’s essay is perfect.
• Capitol Hill and First Hill upzone proposals.
• Tacoma Transit goes deep on the potential PT restructure.
• New zoning “bargain” will make it harder for new construction in poor areas.
• Council discusses killing Pronto now or launching a series of experiments, including (gasp) placing them by Link stations.
• New towers proposed by Town Hall. All the more reason to scoot 5th & Madison station a bit up the hill.
• The tradeoffs of ST fare enforcement.
• PT gets an FTA grant to explore using Uber and Lyft to solve last-mile problems.
• Metro to remove two ‘problem’ bus shelters at Alaska Junction, then decides to ‘hit pause.’
• Why Rob Gannon is a good choice for Metro GM.
• Sound Cities Association looking for a transportation analyst.

This is an open thread.

Community Transit has released their proposed 2017 budget, which estimates $19 million in additional sales tax revenue thanks to the passage of the 2015 ballot measure, for a total of $172 million in operating revenue and $134 million in operating expenses.

CT plans to use the additional funding to increase bus service by 6 percent, building on recent expansions and service improvements. More detailed plans will be released closer to planned implementation in March and September, but the transit development plan from May proposes 6,000 service hours spent mostly on evening service for the Swift Blue Line and routes 101, 113, 115, 201, 202, and 222. Routes 119 and 120 would also see an increase in mid-day service. Conceptual plans for a South Snohomish County route restructure in the September service change would come along with additional weekend service and additional trips on commuter routes. A final plan for the September service change will be released early next year for public comment.

CT placed an order for at least 57 buses from three different manufactures in August, and plans to operate new service and replace older vehicles with the new fleet. The 2017 budget allocates $63.4 million for the new buses, taking a plurality (but not majority) of capital funds; the rest is spent on upgrades to transit centers and building the Swift Green Line ($50 million), machine upgrades and new security cameras ($13.6 million), and other costs ($4.7 million total). The entire Green Line will cost $73 million, but operations will be funded by an expected $50 million in federal grants; the project will be CT’s largest, surpassing the Blue Line when it opened in 2009 for $29 million.

Of the leftover funds, including routine administrative costs and wages for employees, $4.4 million is allocated towards planning and development. With planning and design work on the Green Line about to wind down, CT will fund early planning of a possible Swift Orange Line that would open in 2023 to feed Link light rail at Lynnwood Transit Center, likely to serve southern Snohomish County. CT expects Swift lines to open every few years, with a goal of a complete network by 2030, extending to Edmonds, Marysville, eastern Mill Creek, and Arlington.

A public hearing on the 2017 Proposed Budget will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday, November 3 at the monthly Community Transit Board of Directors meeting at 7100 Hardeson Road in Everett (accessible on Everett Transit route 8). Written comments can be sent to riders@commtrans.org or Community Transit, 7100 Hardeson Road, Everett 98203.

With the (60′) trolley replacement project now complete, the last of the Breda trolleys will take its final in-service ride tomorrow afternoon with a ceremonial trip from Beacon/Spokane to Atlantic Base.

The lovably awful buses – dubbed ‘Frankenbuses’ by many – have a complicated and storied history in Seattle. Originally a “DuoBus” of electric trolley and diesel power, they began service with the introduction of the Downtown Transit Tunnel in September 1990, running as trolleys underground and where there was wire, and as a standard diesel bus otherwise.

They were difficult or impossible to source parts for, and generally recognized to be a disaster. The imported Italian parts were so scarce and expensive that Metro began hiring sheet metal workers to make replacement doors themselves. In the late 1990s, nearly a third of the fleet needed an engine or transmission rebuild annually. 

Metro plodded along through their 12 year service life, eventually replacing them with the sort of diesel hybrids familiar to the tunnel today. Metro repurposed 59 of the 236 coaches as trolleys between 2004-2007, their diesel engines removed and their current collection system overhauled. As a Capitol Hill resident who moved here in 2009, they were all I knew until Link came along, and would be familiar to any recent rider of Routes 7, 36, 43, 44, 49, or 70.

They were notable for their poor ride quality, their pavement-destroying weight (8 tons heavier than a standard bus), their frequency of dropped wire (Bellevue/Pine anyone?), their distinctive musty smell, and their old-timey ‘Stop Requested” bell. But the fact that they lasted 26 years, and the amount of sweat equity put into them, has made many nostalgic about their sendoff.

No matter how much we can justifiably complain about transit policies here and there, we should also recognize genuine progress and bullets we’ve dodged. We could have lost our trolley fleet after a 2009 audit found the aging fleet cost more to service and operate than running diesel hybrids instead. Thankfully Metro persevered and purchased a sleek new generation of trolleys, adding purple to Metro’s color palette and much-needed off wire operation to its bag of tricks. When I stand at Broadway and John today, I have a 2-minute subway and brand-new trolleybuses coming more frequently than ever. Things are getting iteratively better all the time, and it’s time to send the tired ones off.

Metro’s event release after the jump.

Continue reading “Twilight of the Bredas: Last Ride Thursday”

One of the most practical objections to agency-built parking is that it is a very expensive way to lure a rider to the system. The tens of thousands of dollars spent to build a space could fund other capital improvements that would also build ridership, while using the land more intensively would cost nothing and also bring riders.

Metro’s new Multifamily Park & Ride program is an attempt to address those issues while also connecting Metro with more of the voters that pay for the service, at least those don’t have good options besides their car. Funded by a $543,900 Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) grant and Metro staff time, the program will change the agency’s role from providing parking to connecting riders with under-used, privately owned parking spaces near frequent transit. The total cost is $777,000 including the contributed staff time.

The first lots will open in the first quarter of 2017. Multi-family and mixed-use (at least partly residential) buildings must have at least 20 spaces and be within 1/4 mile of a frequent (every 15 minutes or less) transit line or an existing park-and-ride.

According to Project Manager Daniel Rowe, although Metro wants the price to compare favorably with driving and parking downtown, there are no formal limits on parking rates and there is no direct subsidy to reduce parking costs. “There are more challenges involved with managing daily parking so most properties offering parking in this pilot program will probably offer monthly parking,” Rowe said, but they “would like to have at least one property offer daily transit parking” to explore that more flexible business model in the pilot.

Residential lots are the target because that’s where spaces are available during commuter hours. Rowe added that “other types of parking (church, commercial, city owned) are being explored through our lease lot program.”

ORCA integration is not part of this project, but Rowe said “there is potential to integrate ORCA with our next generation work.”

Though this is not quite in Metro’s core mission of driving buses, the under-used parking spaces in apartment buildings are a product of bad zoning laws and market failure due to the difficulty of managing a parking program. Brokering a connection between parking supply and demand seems like a low-cost way to better use the region’s land while cheaply netting some new Metro riders in the process.

If you haven’t ever registered to vote before, you still have time. If you turn 18 on or before November 8, you are eligible to register and vote.

If you are registered in another state, and want to vote in Washington State instead, you still have time to register here.

But you have to go to your county’s elections office during regular business hours, by close of business Monday, October 31, and register.

In King County, new voters can still register at the King County Administration Building at 500 4th Ave, or at the election headquarters in Renton.

The King County Administration Building is just a block east of Pioneer Square light rail station. Voter registration is open there 8:30 am – 4:30 pm through this Friday, and then next Monday.

The county elections HQ is at 919 SW Grady Way, in Renton. Normal office hours there are 8:30-4:30 Monday through Friday, but the office will be open through 6 pm this Thursday and Friday and next Monday, and will be open Saturday 9 am – 3 pm. Metro’s F Line stops at Lind Ave SW and SW Grady Way three long blocks east of there. The F Line also serves Tukwila International Boulevard light rail station.

In Pierce County, you can still register at the Pierce County Elections Center, 2501 S 35th St, accessible via Pierce Transit route 3.

In Snohomish County, you can still register at the Snohomish County Elections Office, 3000 Rockefeller Ave, in downtown Everett, 1st Floor, Admin Bldg West.

If you are on the fence about registering here, consider that Regional Proposition 1, a major regional expansion of light rail and other transit service, is on the ballot.

Those who have already registered have dozens of ways to return your ballot. You can also vote in person at your county elections office (but not at the King County Administration Building). More walk-in voting locations will become available a few days before the election.

Eight months after Kevin Desmond’s abrupt departure for Vancouver, BC, Metro again has a General Manager. Later this morning, County Executive Dow Constantine will name Interim GM Rob Gannon as the permanent General Manager.

By deciding against a wider candidate search and going with an internal hire, Gannon represents a choice for continuity. Metro appears content with its progress and trajectory and has chosen the least disruptive path. The politically complex nature of the GM position may also have dissuaded many from a larger candidate pool and made an internal hiring process more attractive. Whereas Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff reports directly to the ST board, the Metro GM has two layers of interim management – County Executive Dow Constantine andd KCDOT Director Taniguchi – between himself and the King County Council.

Speaking briefly with Gannon yesterday, he charted a safe and steady course for Metro, unwilling to elaborate on specific changes or directions other than those already contained in the Metro Connects Long Range Plan. He emphasized safety, customer service, and interagency partnerships, but understandably held his more detailed cards close to his chest.

Not a transit wonk by training, Gannon’s background includes a decade of upper level Human Resources Management, first at the University of Montana and then at Metro. Though having someone with more explicit transit chops would be desirable, executive HR skills will serve Gannon very well as he manages relationships between Metro’s 4,500 employees, ATU 587, intergovernmental partners, and the general public. And with smart minds like Ted Harris newly at the helm as Operations Manager, Gannon’s skill set and experience may provide well-rounded leadership.

STB congratulates Gannon and wishes him the best.