Last week Sound Transit released its 2nd Quarter ridership numbers. While agency ridership was up 6.8% overall over the same quarter last year, that masked a lot of variance. Link was up 14.5% (over a quarter that had U-Link stations but not Angle Lake), but ST Express actually dropped 0.6%, a setback ST blames on low gas prices. Sounder was up a modest 1.6%.
Weekday Link boardings were up to 73,907. The line was just short of 6 million boardings for the quarter. The average train had 233 boardings on a single run.
The three most popular stations are Westlake, UW, and Capitol Hill, in that order. Rainier Beach, Stadium, and Sodo have the fewest weekday boardings.
A RapidRide bus at the current Federal Way Transit Center
Sound Transit’s Federal Way Link Extension has moved into the design phase, two years after all but confirming a meandering alignment along Interstate 5 at the request of local jurisdictions. With construction slated to begin in 2019 and an opening date set for 2024, Sound Transit has compressed the entire station design review process into the next year and change. From now until September 22, Sound Transit is soliciting design feedback through an online survey and public open houses next month. Public feedback will be used to design the stations beyond the concept stage (where they are now) to “reflect the spirit of our communities and residents”.
Like the Angle Lake extension that opened last year, Sound Transit has opted to go for a design-build package to expedite the process and bring cost certainties for the project. As we recently reported for Lynnwood Link, Federal Way Link will be subject to current market conditions as well as uncertain federal funding, which may lead to reduced amenities and other corner-cutting measures.
Light blue line shows Tacoma Link Expansion Image: Sound Transit
The Capital Committee is expected to discuss the proposed names for the six new stations in the Tacoma Link Expansion during its September 14 meeting. If approved by the Capital Committee the recommendations, which also includes the renaming of the existing Commerce Street Station, will then go before the full board.
The proposed new station names are:
Old City Hall – 7th and Commerce
Stadium Way/S 4th – Stadium Way and S 4th S
Stadium District – N 1st St and N Tacoma Ave
Medical Center North – MLK Way and Division Ave
6th Avenue – MLK Way and 6th Ave
Hilltop District – MLK Way and S 11th St
Medical Center South – MLK Way and S 19th St
The Tacoma Link Expansion project will move the existing Theater District Station a few blocks north to 7th St and Commerical, where it will become Old City Hall Station. With the relocation of the Theater District Station, Sound Transit said residents requested the existing Commerce Street Station, located at 11th and Commerce Street, be renamed the Theater District Station.
While light rail usage soars in Seattle, ridership on the Tacoma Light Rail drags behind. Although a $29,000 annual subsidy from Tacoma’s Business Improvement Area covers the $1 ticket cost, annual boardings have dropped 8% after peaking in 2012.
Just two months in, stationless bike share is clearly resonating with Seattle riders. Ridership is far higher than previous efforts, bikes are making their way to underserved communities, and more companies are jumping into the fray with brightly colored rides.
The city is on the one hand promoting it as a key part of urban mobility (Pronto 3.0!), while on the other making it clear that this is just a pilot. Bike friendly Councilmember Mike O’Brien has said he’s “skeptical” of the business model.
So what is the business model? The Pronto debacle seems to have made it clear that the city has no appetite for publicly-subsidized bike share in the near future, so it’s on Ofo, LimeBike, Spin and the rest to make it pencil on their own.
The future Northgate Station under construction Image: Lizz Giordano
The opening of three light rail stations in 2016 made for a busy year for Sound Transit. And with 58 more Link stations coming online by 2041, along with 21 new bus rapid transit stations, the transit agency is streamlining the project development process to expand the transit system quicker than initially proposed.
To speed up project timelines, one of the key strategies of the System Expansion Implementation Plan is to shrink the amount of time each project spends in the planning phase.
The biggest change in the planning process moves the identification of the preferred alternative to much earlier in the process, prior to the completion of a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS). Rather than the board choosing a preferred alternative from a set of options, after all, are studied in the draft environmental impact statement. The transit agency said this change will avoid the “time-consuming necessity of studying numerous other alternatives.”
ST has set a goal of choosing a preferred alternative in 18 months, which in the past generally took 2-3 years.
“This streamlined process came out of public feedback during development of the ST3 Plan, when the public and stakeholders indicated a strong desire to deliver projects earlier than proposed,” wrote Kimberly M. Reason, spokesperson for ST in an email. “As a result, we identified what it would take deliver projects earlier, and, after more work, committed to more aggressive timelines.”
As the rebuilt SR 520 bridge reaches Montlake tomorrow, a look back at the original SR 520 bridge on its opening day, where cars queue to drive across for the first time. A glimpse too at other Seattle freeways then under construction.
The ridership study assumes that the monorail accepts both E-purse and passes. Ridership increases between 155,000 and 346,500 annually (or 7-16%). However, various costs to participate in ORCA and lower average payments result in a first-year revenue hit between $359,000 and $660,000. By the third year, the net effect will be somewhere between a loss of $253,000 and a gain of $122,000. These estimates do not include startup fees that might be assessed by the sponsoring agency, in this case King County Metro.
Mayor Murray proposed a 25 cent fare increase, on top of one already planned for October, to make up for the loss. This would bring the one-way adult fare to $2.75, and the release expressed cautious optimism that it would result in a modest net financial gain.
If all goes well, the Council will approve a budget that includes funding for SDOT staff to complete negotiations with Metro to resolve the remaining issues. Mayoral spokesman Will Lemke doesn’t anticipate big problems because “not a lot of money is moving around.” In an email, Metro said they “see no immediate concerns” with the idea, although the agreement would have to be approved by the ORCA Joint Board.
SDOT wasn’t able to immediately produce a best-case estimate on when riders might first tap onto the monorail, but my sense is that sometime in late 2018 or 2019 is a reasonable guess.
The monorail is one of the few truly traffic-separated transit options in the region. Until Link gets there in 2035, the monorail may be the fastest way to many places beyond downtown when Mercer and Denny are clogged. Also, chances of the NBA returning to Key Arena are climbing, putting stress on roads in neighborhoods that have grown immensely since the Sonics left.
A 250-passenger train leaves each station every 10 minutes, with 5-minute headways at seasonal peak times. It operates 7:30am to 11pm on weekdays and 8:30am to 11pm on weekends.
“Seattle Center is becoming more connected to downtown, and the Monorail is the best path between these two important hubs,” said Mayor Murray.
Dow Constantine, King County Executive announces new fare proposal Image: Lizz Giordano
King County Metro Transit wants to simplify bus fares by establishing a flat rate of $2.75 for passengers — eliminating zones and peak-rate fares.
Calling the current fare system one of the most “complicated” in the country,” Dow Constantine, King County Executive, announced a proposal to streamline fares at a press conference Thursday. The change could take effect as soon as July 2018 if approved by the King County Council.
“I believe that access to opportunity depends on providing people with safe, affordable and reliable ways to get around this region,” Constantine told the crowd. “Rising home prices means a lot of folks have been pushed further and further from the place where they earn their living, for them this new fare means more money in their pockets.”
According to Metro, roughly 65 percent of riders will see no change or a reduction in their fare with the proposed $2.75 flat rate.
Currently, riders traveling between two zones during the morning or evening commute pay $3.25, the proposal would reduce that cost by 50 cents. However, for riders traveling during off-peak hours, the new fare would increase the cost of their ticket by 25 cents. There will be no change in cost for riders that qualify for ORCA Lift, youth, senior and disabled fares.
“We will make Metro fares simpler and we will make boardings faster, and faster boardings mean more service,” Constantine said.
Also included in the proposal is an additional $400,000 in funding for the Human Services Ticket Program which provides subsidized bus fares to human service agencies serving low-income residents. With 44 percent of these subsidized fares used during off-peak hours, Metro said this additional funding will help offset the higher cost these riders would pay under the new fare system.
The agency said this change was not about increasing revenue, predicting the fare change along with an increase in funding for subsidies for low-income riders would make only a marginal difference.
“I think it makes a lot of sense to do away with the higher two-zone fare,” wrote Katie Wilson, general secretary of the Transit Riders Union in an email. “It’s not right to make someone who commutes to Seattle from Kent because they can’t afford to live here pay more for their ride, even though it’s more expensive to provide the service.”
However, Wilson is concerned about the impacts of the off-peak fare increase on lower-income riders who don’t qualify for a reduced fare.
Costs are rising for Lynnwood Link, due to both economic conditions and increasing scope. Sound Transit is choosing to delay its delivery by six months in an effort to limit those increases.
Until today’s board meeting, the plan for the line between Northgate and Lynnwood Transit Center cost $2.4 billion, including vehicles and part of the maintenance facility, and completed in December 2023. The $2.4 billion estimate was consistent with the initial, pre-ST2 cost estimate in 2005.
Several factors have inflated the cost to $2.9 billion, or by 21%:
The construction boom has increased the bids from contractors, and created skilled labor shortages, increasing estimates for construction costs by $190m.
A decision to use a single contractor rather splitting up design and build added $120m to up-front costs. This decision reduces risk and the necessary contingency funds. Indeed, this increase is basically offset by design and contingency funds coming in $113m under budget.
Increases in scope have added $190m. These include better bus transfer facilities; evolving codes and regulations in partner cities; tree replacement ($32m!); and temporary noise walls, traffic control, and parking to minimize construction disruption. While some of these things are good, they reflect the general tendency of cities to extract concessions in exchange for permits.
Right of way acquisition has increased by $101m, due to high real estate values. Values increased by 44% since 2014, well in excess of the expected 25%.
With new money from ST3, there’s no reasonable change in ST2 costs or revenues that can affect the schedule. However, ST CEO Peter Rogoff has ordered a six-month pause to value-engineer the line and recover some of the cost increases. This places the line’s opening in mid-2024. This delay will also allow chaos around federal funding to settle before signing contracts backed by those grants.
Risks remain: federal funding is uncertain, the construction market is still hot, and cities and agencies haven’t given final approval. The project is at 60% design.
Most other light rail projects are either done with design and construction bid considerations (Northgate, East Link) or way too early to worry about these questions (most of ST3). Exceptions include the Federal Way and Downtown Redmond extensions, funded in ST3 and scheduled for delivery at roughly the same time as Lynnwood Link. There is no news for these projects, but I wouldn’t be shocked to hear some when new estimates come out.
