Month: January 2018

The stats suggests that a few of you are interested in the Ballard to West Seattle light rail alignment in ST3. Your first shot to ask questions directly of agency staff is coming up in a couple of weeks.

West Seattle: Tuesday, Feb. 13, 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Alki Masonic Center

Ballard: Thursday, Feb. 15, 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Leif Erikson Lodge

Downtown: Tuesday, Feb. 20, 5:30–7:30 p.m. at Union Station

Can’t join us in-person? Our online open house goes live on Feb. 12: wsblink.participate.online.

There are several open debates on this alignment. Beyond the issues discussed at the link, Rob Johnson has expressed a desire to move the Ballard station west of 15th. In any case, the wish list generally costs money. Sound Transit hasn’t shown much inclination to let the schedule slip to take on some of these desires. The overall project budget, though fairly conservative at the time, is threatened by both a volatile federal administration and a Washington Legislature inclined to raid ST’s budget to fund tax cuts. The decision process is supposed to wrap up in the next year or so.

This confluence of conditions is not good for people who hope to broaden the scope.

State Senator Steve O’Ban (R-Tacoma) continued his pursuit of a directly-elected Sound Transit Board, grilling lobbyists defending the transit agency’s current governance during a public hearing on Senate Bill 6301 Wednesday. But now that a Democrat chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, it’s not likely the bill will even get a vote in that committee.

A similar bill, SB 5001, passed the Republican-led Senate in 2017, but the House Transportation Committee didn’t act on the legislation.

Sen. Steve Hobbs (D-Lake Stevens), who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, said he didn’t see the bill going anywhere. The public testimony did not convince him a directly-elected board was needed.

Currently, the 18-member Sound Transit Board is comprised of 17 locally-elected officials appointed by each county executive and subject to approval by the county council. The State’s Transportation Secretary also sits on the board but is a non-voting member. Ten of the board members must be from King County, four from Pierce County and three from Snohomish County.

SB 6301 would replace the current board with 11 members elected from single-member districts, with the first election held this November. To draw the lines for the 11 districts, the governor would appoint five members, who represent all five sub-areas, to a districting commission.

Continue reading “Bill to Directly Elect ST Board Not Likely to Get a Vote”

Follow the path of Link tunnels under the UW from Husky Stadium to U District Station.

Over the last few years, transit agencies have created incentives to take transit to New Years’ celebrations. Trains run later, and in 2017 Metro was free for the first time. While it’s worthwhile to provide attractive, safe alternatives for people, I’m sad to say that these improvements haven’t shown up in the accident data, courtesy of SDOT:

The collision count is from 5pm in December 31st of the listed year to 5am on January 1st.

Of course, there’s missing context here. The city’s Department of Special Events didn’t respond to my request for crowd estimates, which is the denominator of the numbers above. Metro said 160,000 people boarded a bus on NYE 2017, compared to 170,000 in 2016 and 300,000 in 2015. But that difference is almost certainly due to 2017 being a Sunday, while 2016 was a Saturday and 2015 a Thursday. The 160,000 figure is “about 17 percent more than average Sunday-service ridership in fall,” according to spokesman Scott Gutierrez.

The nice thing about no-fare days during major events is that we get a lot of the benefits of free transit without the downside (significant lost revenue). No one is going to skip buying a pass because of the holiday, but riders don’t have to deal with a flood of new (and drunk) users struggling through fare payment. If there were a way to make buses like a newspaper paywall, where the first few trips of the month are free, that would be a revenue and operations sweet spot. But quite aside from the safety impacts, it’s good to take advantage of these sorts of opportunities when they occur in the calendar.

• The Automotive Liberation of Paris. TL;DR: even with the best urban fabric known to the developed world, car traffic will go up until you make a multi-generational effort to reverse it.
• Seoul’s answer to a pollution crisis: Free public transit. The kicker is that it may not be very effective at dissuading people from driving, as drivers tend to be less price-sensitive.
• Every month Portland fails to liberalize its infill rules, more bungalows get replaced by mansions. Meanwhile in Seattle, we have scarcely even attempted to reform this aspect of our zoning.
• Seattle’s largest batch of single-family homes in decades ($) is pitched for ‘oasis’ site. I’m sad this will be just big-lot single family, but it’s probably impossible to get anything else past a loaded and litigious neighborhood association.
• ART is a victim of the “new bus blues.” Lots of finger pointing here, but multiple agencies have now reported cold weather problems with battery buses.
• Half-empty ferries leave Fauntleroy as cars wait in line ($). It does sound like WSF could make some slight improvements, but fundamentally, cars will never be spatially-efficient way to move humans. That idea, of course, does not appear in the discussion.
• I could do an entire roundup just on NYC transpo this week:
  • Driving a car in Manhattan could cost $11.52 ($). Ben Kakak’s take.
  • MTA appears to have massaged reports to blame Con Ed for subway problems ($); Kabak again.
  • How cuts in basic subway upkeep can make your commute miserable ($).
  • In new proposed subway elevators, local NIMBY concern trolls ($) see a terrorism risk.
  • After cyclists died, safer crosstown bike lanes ($) are planned for Midtown Manhattan.
• High speed rail could link Spokane to Cascadia megaregion, but don’t get too excited yet.
• As anyone who’s been on the Metro or ST beat knows, transit authorities sometimes resist change. Try to be understanding when they do.
• Nashville plans for a big boost in local transit, and is hoping its voters will step on board.
• Should transit agencies panic? Jarrett fighting the good fight against deleterious tech hype.
• Base train service is cheap, peak train service is expensive.
• Perry District eyesore to become cafe as Spokane encourages neighborhood development. I wish Seattle had policies to encourage reactivation of old shopfronts in single family neighborhoods.
• The convention center is getting bigger. So is its carbon footprint. Featuring Doug MacDonald: “The whole connection between reducing carbon emissions and transportation has to do with making it easier for people to get places where they don’t have to use their cars.”
• Sea-Tac wants to curb carbon emissions without limiting air travel. That’s a steep climb.
• A Roosevelt junior redesigned the streets around his high school, and his plan is better than SDOT’s. I’m really perplexed by SDOT’s flailing on #fix65th.
• NTSB report: Amtrak engineer missed speed-limit signs before train crashed south of Tacoma ($).
• Young Republicans, reformed lobbyists, and green Tea Partiers: Meet America’s eco-right.
• What do you do when a major polluter is holding Seattle together?
• Sightline: Your car of the future is no car at all. Part 1, Part 2.
• Local architect renders highrise Seattle of the near future.
• Why we need to reduce noise levels in cities.
• At Microsoft, “city” is in — even in the suburbs.
• TTC unveils strategy to grow transit ridership.
• Manchester united by Ordsall Chord.
• Practically redesigned: the British train ticket.
• Block off a street for people — not cars — this summer.
• How to fight climate change (without being insufferable about it).

This is an open thread.

In a 60 to 37 vote Wednesday, the Washington House of Representatives once again passed legislation to lower car tab fees, reducing funding for Sound Transit.

The bill adjusts the rate of the motor vehicle excise tax (MVET) Sound Transit collects. ST3 uses an MVET schedule from the 1990s, which critics say inflates the value of cars and increases the cost of renewing car tabs. Wednesday’s bill would change the valuation system and provide a rebate for past payments.

Many House Republicans argued the bill did not go far enough.

“This bill will provide some relief,” said Rep. Mark Harmsworth (R-Mill Creek) during floor debate January 24. “It even got as bad, Madame Speaker, that we had a bill introduced that has to create a payment program to pay for our car tabs… But we will take what we can right now.”

Last week the House tabled voting on the bill, HB 2201, in order to consider offsets to restore some or all of the funding the agency would lose due to a switch in the formula that tabulates car tabs.  ST estimates the agency would lose $780M in direct funding over the next 11 years, with indirect financial impacts, such as higher debt costs, costing the agency nearly $2.3B.

The bill easily passed out of the chambers last year but then lingered in the Senate.

Continue reading “MVET Bill Passes House Again”

This is an open thread.

• In response to growth, Chinese cities choose metros.
• Highway 99 tunnel in Seattle will open to traffic this fall ($), the state and contractors say.
• Morning Crank: Resolutely Pro-Housing.
• Here’s a PDF of PSRC’s funded 2017 Transportation Alternatives funding.
• Podcast ($): As Seattle faces an even worse traffic nightmare, do officials have a plan or are they just managing through the mess?
• Amtrak gives Oregon, Washington timetable for activating safety enhancements.
• Seattle-area rents drop significantly ($) for first time this decade as new apartments sit empty. Watch for anti-housing “concerned neighbor” groups to pivot from saying “more housing won’t make rents cheaper” to “these falling rents prove we don’t need more housing.”
• Santa Monica looks to cap Interstate 10 in new downtown plan.
• A farming tale: In Whatcom County, farmers have much to say about the urban-rural divide.
• SEPTA’s billion-dollar plan for new trolleys takes a step forward.
• In Phoenix, a light rail station designed for, and by, people with disabilities.
• Downtown San Jose transit village near planned Google mega-campus steams ahead.
• In Missoula, houses are replacing farmland. Can lessons from Vermont keep local agriculture alive?
• Democrats worry planned cuts to car-tab fees could endanger Tacoma light rail.
• Don’t leave the rear end of your car blocking the sidewalk, people.
• Tampa Bay Transit: How rapid buses left light rail in the dust. A less hyperbolic headline would be “Regional leaders favor rapid buses over light rail for cost reasons.”
• The Urbanist’s 2018: Goals, Obstacles, and Resolutions. I’m a big fan of the first two.
• Drivers should pay more to drive more, report tells TransLink.
• Curbed thinks backyard cottages may be a big answer to the urban housing crisis. My advice is to curb your enthusiasm a bit.
• 80.7% of all humans live within an hour’s travel of a city.
• House bill would require PTC by end of the year, and give the railroad industry a cool $2.6B ($) to achieve that.
• New Adidas trainers double as Berlin transit passes ($).
• Subway problems get headlines, but who’s going to solve NYC’s other transit crisis?
• California bullet train cost surges by $2.8 billion: “Worst-case scenario has happened.”
• Elements of Access: A Friendly Guide to Transport Planning.
• A herculean effort is underway to reconnect wildlife habitat east of Snoqualmie Pass.

This is an open thread.

Democratic legislators are reexamining legislation that would lower car tab fees, reducing funding for Sound Transit and potentially delaying the expansion of light rail around the region.

According to the News Tribune, State Sen. Marko Liias, (D-Lynnwood) said the party is looking at a range of ways to lower car tab fees, but also limit the hit to Sound Transit’s bottom line.

“I’m not with the transit advocates in believing that this is sort of the sky is falling and we’re not going to get light rail,” Liias told The News Tribune. “But I also am convinced based on everything we’ve seen over the last year it probably makes sense to just have a conversation about how we make sure light rail gets to Everett and Tacoma like it’s been promised.”

Last week the House tabled plans to vote on HB 2201, which passed easily out of the chamber last year with both Democratic and Republican support.

The bill adjusts the rate of the motor vehicle excise tax Sound Transit collects. ST3 uses a motor vehicle excise tax schedule from the 1990s, which many have criticized as inflating the value of cars and increasing the cost of renewing car tabs.

If passed, ST estimated the agency would lose $780M in direct funding over the next 11 years, with indirect financial impacts, such as higher debt costs, costing Sound Transit nearly $2.3B. Voters passed the $54 billion transit package in 2016.

Continue reading “House Tables Vote on MVET for Now”