March 2020 – Page 2 – Seattle Transit Blog

News roundup: left for dead

March 13, 2020March 12, 2020 by Martin H. Duke

Spokane’s new BRT buses ( https://www.citylinespokane.com/ )

Paid parking in Everett ($)?
Kent-Des Moines Station will have food trucks ($)!
Metro suspends fare enforcement to increase social distance.
Legislature gets rid of parking requirements for ADUs close to transit statewide — thanks to Sens. Liias and Das, and Reps. Fitzgibbon, Gregerson, and Barkis.
Judge hints I-976 may mostly take effect as early as March 27.
To prep for recession, make some projects shovel ready. But sidewalks require a lot more process then you’d think.
With a more sweeping bill left for dead, a slight increase in electric car market share is headed to Gov. Inslee’s desk.
State Transpo budget is done ($), little happens on the transit front.
A Covid-19 victim used Access last month ($).
The future of Spokane Transit.
How to cut bus service if Covid-19 demands it. But should that happen in Seattle ($)?

This is an open thread.

Bus lane cams finally pass the legislature

March 12, 2020March 12, 2020 by Frank Chiachiere

Heidi Groover, The Seattle Times:

The bill would allow a pilot program for the new cameras, to run through mid-2023. Seattle could use the cameras to detect drivers who stop in an intersection or crosswalk, drive in a transit-only lane or stop or travel in a restricted lane.
The cameras would be allowed in limited locations in and near downtown and on arterials that connect to certain roads into downtown. That would include the West Seattle Bridge, Aurora Avenue and Avalon Way, Fitzgibbon said. Cameras for enforcement of crosswalks and intersections will only be allowed at 20 intersections “where the city would most like to address safety concerns,” according to the bill.

See our previous coverage.

It’s amazing that it took so long and that the legislature felt the need to put so many restrictions on the city, but kudos to the legislators and advocates who got this one over the finish line. Here are links to Rep. Fitzgibbon’s house bill and Sen. Liias’ Senate version so you can see the sponsors and the roll call votes.

South King County changes to finalize this spring

March 11, 2020March 11, 2020 by Martin H. Duke

Way back in August, Frank told you about a raft of service changes that would accompany RapidRide I (Renton/Auburn). Although RapidRide will open in 2023, the Metro network revision will happen in September.

The status quo

The current Renton/Kent/Auburn corridor is far from the frequent grid ideal. There are two frequent routes. The 150 goes west from downtown Kent, then turns north on 68th Ave up to Tukwila and on to Seattle, The 169 goes east from Kent, then uses 104th and 108th Avenues before arriving in Renton.

Teleworking, solo driving rise in latest Commute Seattle report, transit use drops

March 10, 2020March 9, 2020 by Frank Chiachiere

Commute Seattle has released their 2019 mode split survey, and it shows a slightly higher percentage of single occupancy vehicle (SOV) drivers compared to last year, while remote work increased substantially, despite the fact that the survey was conducted well in advance of the 2020 Coronavirus semi-quarantine or Connect 2020. Transit use unfortunately decreased for the first time, on a percentage basis.

The regional revenue proposal for Metro

March 9, 2020March 9, 2020 by Dan Ryan

Metro buses in Bellevue (image: SounderBruce)

King County is contemplating a 0.2% sales tax increase that would replace the expiring Seattle TBD taxes and raise a total of $160 million annually for Metro. The package under discussion would extend the service hours funded by Seattle’s 2014 levy, currently about 350,000 hours annually in Seattle. It would add new funding for 450,000 to 550,000 hours elsewhere in the County.

The planned August 4 ballot measure must be filed by May 8. Effectively, the deadline for a King County decision is much sooner. Seattle is not yet on board and wants to see the County proposal this month so the city has time to deliberate whether to support the County measure or pursue their own. A series of meetings up through March 23 are scheduled to finalize the County’s proposal.

Metro is funded by a 0.9% countywide sales tax. Since 2014, this has been supplemented by a $60 vehicle license fee and 0.1% sales tax in Seattle. Those will expire at the end of December. I-976 removed the city’s authority for the vehicle license fee, but the tax continues to be collected while litigation is ongoing. With Seattle paying higher taxes than the suburbs, service became correspondingly more Seattle-centric. Suburban leaders want a countywide tax that extends the improvements in Seattle service levels since 2014 and ‘levels up’ the transit service outside the city.

Sunday Open Thread: Luxembourg’s Free Transit

March 8, 2020March 1, 2020 by Bruce Englehardt

Luxembourg no longer charges for in-country public transport for all 614,000 citizens and visitors, as of March 1.

This is an open thread.

Transit agencies respond to COVID-19 novel coronavirus

March 7, 2020April 7, 2020 by Bruce Englehardt

COVID-19 under an electron microscope (NIAID/National Institute of Health)

Last updated: March 20, 2020. Replaced by this article.

As you may have heard, there is an ongoing outbreak of COVID-19 novel coronavirus, a new strain of virus that is able to be transmitted from person to person. Several major employers have activated work-from-home policies and several large events have been cancelled and postponed.

For those who need to still get around, the transit agencies of the Puget Sound region have been responding to COVID-19 with new cleaning strategies, which we will summarize and update below.

In general, most agencies are encouraging riders to do the following:

Avoid public places and mass gatherings when sick
Avoid public places if at a high risk of infection (pregnant persons, over age 60, having an underlying health condition, having a weakened immune system)
Cover your mouth when coughing and sneezing
Wash hands frequently for 20 seconds
Avoid touching your face
Maintain a “social distance” of 6 feet between strangers
Telecommute if possible or avoid unnecessary trips

There are several websites with more information on preventative measures and information about COVID-19: Washington State Dept. of Health, King County/Seattle Health, Snohomish Health District, Tacoma/Pierce County Health Dept.

SDOT plans Route 40 improvements

March 6, 2020March 6, 2020 by Martin H. Duke

It’s hard to believe that Route 40, now the most obvious way to move between Ballard, Fremont, and South Lake Union, didn’t exist only a few years ago. It’s younger than STB, and yet it’s hard to imagine transit travel in that corner of the city without it. It draws 13,000 riders a day while being late on 20% of trips across the entire day.

Well now, it’s the 40’s turn to get the Move Seattle treatment. The objective is to cut peak travel time by 5 to 10% with priority treatments, which would make the route take about the same amount of time all day. The project is supposed to complete in 2024.

There are no details on specific projects, except that they’re focusing on pretty obvious chokepoints: SLU, Fremont, Ballard, etc. (see below) For now, Metro is asking you to take the survey and/or drop in at one of their open houses:

News roundup: reduced fare

March 5, 2020March 4, 2020 by Martin H. Duke

Free bus passes for the very low income formally passes the Council (for Metro).
Student U-Pass to go up $2/quarter.
Covid-19 tips for transit riders ($).
Metro hiring a “Reduced Fare Programs Chief“
The Union Street/Symphony name is now officially dead; we’re back to University Street pending further developments.
130th St Station now officially planned for 2025 ($). Congrats, everyone.
Bus stop adjustments in West Seattle.
RapidRide H (Delridge) moves to 100% design.
HOV lane crackdown in Everett. Good for the WSP.
Distracted driving fines ($) heading up.
Provide feedback on Kent/Des Moines Station.
Kent parking garage moving forward.
Bill would forbid construction that does not provide ‘net ecological gain.’ I would like to understand how this affects projects in practice, as environmental considerations are often used to stifle things that would be good for the environment.
SDOT is trying to meet new bike lane standards with business as usual.
Study: Uber and Lyft are horrible for the climate. And increase traffic deaths.
2 MAX stations closing permanently.
TriMet amends its stroller policy.

This is an open thread.

The case of the missing Montlake queue jump

March 4, 2020March 3, 2020 by Frank Chiachiere

Google Street View from 2017 and 2019. It’s like that Megatouch game they had at all the bars back before everyone got cell phones.

Like many cross-lake commuters, I often find myself waiting for a connection on the Montlake Boulevard concrete island where Eastbound SR-520 buses pick up before traversing the lake. My favorite activity while stranded on this island is to refresh One Bus Away and watch the bus schedules go to hell as the U-district jams up in the morning. When I tire of that, my second favorite activity is to glare at the single-occupancy vehicles (SOVs) who are banned from turning right but do so anyway.

The intersection is designed so that cars entering 520 use a slip lane behind the bus stop, leaving only buses and HOVs to approach the light at the stop and turn right onto an HOV-only lane on the freeway onramp. It’s a clever design that essentially creates a bus queue jump without needing a separate turn pocket, but it only works if SOVs aren’t allowed to turn right at the light.

Except, it turns out they are now. Kinda.

Podcast #90: Car sharing is back

March 3, 2020March 1, 2020 by Frank Chiachiere

Metro’s long range plan and the countywide ballot
RapidRide R (17:41)
Monorail expansion (28:15)
Car sharing (31:30)

Route 44 improvements are refined heading into 30% design

March 2, 2020June 10, 2020 by Frank Chiachiere

At a presentation (PDF) to the Transit Advisory Board, Seattle DOT identified a list of Route 44 improvements that would be carried into 30% design. It’s encouraging to see that most of the big stuff, like the bus (BAT) lanes and signal priority, advanced.

The initial ideas were just “concepts” so while we shouldn’t expect everything to advance through the design phase. At the same time, death-by-1000-cuts is usually how these projects die. So what got cut?

One somewhat major idea was a set of left turn restrictions, which would have presumably made buses go faster. The second was an interesting idea to close off Wallingford Ave N at 45th, and create a mini park, which was pretty neat but which I’m sure raised the eyebrows of Wallingford QFC shopper-drivers.

SDOT project manager Janet Mayer told me that the concepts were for reasons including “public feedback, infeasibility, lack of transit benefit, or lack of support from SDOT Traffic Operations or partner agencies.”

She did add that stop removals at I-5 will “most likely” be implemented by Metro as part of a restructure and that the reroute to 43rd in the U-district is underway right now as part of the trolley project there.

Sunday Open Thread: Snakeybus

March 1, 2020January 26, 2020 by Oran Viriyincy

It’s a game that crosses Snake and Crazy Taxi but with buses.