Light Rail from Ian Reynolds on Vimeo.
News roundup: this is why
- ST’s art plan for Federal Way.
- Everyone’s seduced by a plan to rebuild the West Seattle Bridge way faster.
- ST donating land ($) for affordable housing.
- This is why ($) bus drivers have to strap in wheelchairs.
- When things aren’t so easy, Seattle stops worrying about climate change.
- Mercer Island lawsuit going ahead.
- Comment on the 2021 CT budget.
- ST has a new Chief Safety Officer.
- Cars are back on Lake Washington Blvd. — for now.
- CARES act means basically no changes for Clallam Transit.
This is an open thread.
How important is Link to the network?
Like many transit agencies, Sound Transit predicts a constrained financial future and has cut transit service. Under Sound Transit’s initial 2021 Service Plan, Link would have continued its current operational pattern of 8 minute peak frequencies—stepping down to 15 minute and 30 minute frequencies—through 2021. In that document, the agency blames reduced peak hour demand for this proposal. Sound Transit has since backed away from this plan after collecting feedback. Nevertheless, a sole focus on reduced demand ignores the other consequences of infrequent service on Link. These consequences are not abstract; they are quantifiable. Ignoring them significantly and disproportionately reduces the value of the Link in Seattle. We should expect more effort to analyze the consequences of these reductions in much greater detail.
While ridership-based measurements, like Sound Transit’s citation of peak hour demand, are pervasive, they are quite limited. They are subject to errors and bias from sampling. More concerning, they tightly couple observed demand for transit with actual desire for transit. In doing so, they assert that demand for a transit route is a consequence of the area the route serves. They fail to consider that the underlying quality of transit service also drives use. Ridership-based measurements are logical to use when adding service: a crowded bus is a clear sign that more capacity is warranted. When used in reverse, they create cycles where low ridership drives a reduction in frequencies, making transit less practical and dissuading potential riders further. In reality, adoption of transit depends on both the needs of people served by transit and the qualities of the transit network that serves them. Unfortunately Sound Transit’s explanation of its service reductions only guesses at the future of the former while saying nothing of the latter.
Continue reading “How important is Link to the network?”Metro celebrates an all-hybrid/electric fleet
On Friday Metro celebrated the retirement of the last diesel bus—part of the fleet dubbed “the 1100s”. Metro’s fleet is now comprised only of diesel-electric hybrids, battery-powered buses, and electric trolleys. To celebrate, a “Gold Tire” retirement ceremony was held to recognize the last bus, which will be preserved by the Metro Employee Historic Vehicle Association (MEHVA) which you might be able to ride some day.
The ceremony comes several months after the last trip operated by an 1100 series bus, which last saw service in late March 2020, when route 200 was suspended. The first of the 1100s entered service in 1999. A more recent addition–the D40LF or “3600s” made by New Flyer, were added to the fleet in 2003 and last saw service in April 2020.
Continue reading “Metro celebrates an all-hybrid/electric fleet”Streetcar service may be cut again, as Center City Connector remains on hold
The Mayor’s budget proposal funds streetcar service in 2021 at current levels, with about 10% fewer service hours than before COVID. The Seattle Council however appears to be looking at further reductions, eyeing about $700,000 in operating savings for every 10% further reduction in service. Prospects for restarting the paused Center City Connector appear dim.
Overall, the City’s streetcar operations budget for 2021 is flat vs the original enacted 2020 budget. Cost increases nearly offset the 10% reduction in service.
Continue reading “Streetcar service may be cut again, as Center City Connector remains on hold”Sunday open thread: car-lite Ghent
It occurs to me that if you were to try to implement something like this in Seattle, you might start by demolishing the West Seattle Bridge.
ST draft service plan revised for better Link frequency
On Thursday, Sound Transit staff presented a revised draft 2021 service plan, which the ST Board will vote on in November.
Three routes have changes in the revised draft, vs. the original draft:
- Link Light Rail would be upgraded to 10-minutes off-peak headway, as compared to the long-term continuation of 15-minute headway in the first draft. Late evening headway would be 15 minutes instead of the originally-proposed (and current) 30 minutes. These upgrades would take place as part of King County Metro’s March service change.
- Route 555 (Northgate to Bellevue), currently suspended, would continue to be suspended after Northgate Link opens. Metro route 271 would be expected to handle the reverse-peak ridership on the corridor.
- Route 586 (Tacoma – UW), originally slated for elimination with the opening of Northgate Link, would continue on, with a stop added at Federal Way Transit Center. The presentation did not specify whether the new stop would be added in March or September of 2021.
15-Minute Link/bus network
photo by Spencer Thomas
While there is a lot of lost service in the King County Metro network due to COVID-19 and its economic impacts, Metro has nevertheless managed to make lemonade out of lemons by assembling an increasingly robust network of buses connecting to Link Light Rail stations at frequencies that match Link’s temporary off-peak frequency of every 15 minutes. Link’s frequency is planned to be every 15 minutes during off-peak hours, until late evening, likely through 2021. Sound Transit is preparing for a long pandemic. The recent spike in new cases and deaths backs up their pessimism.
The following routes that serve Link stations outside of, or just on the periphery of, downtown have 15-minute off-peak weekday headway. (Link now runs every 8 minutes during the peak period on weekdays.) Unless otherwise noted, they also have 15-minute headway during the day on weekends.
Continue reading “15-Minute Link/bus network”News roundup: returning
- Navigating the thicket of fare discounts.
- West Seattle bridge alternatives analysis is done.
- You can dine in the street for at least another year. Nice one, SDOT.
- WS low bridge fines are coming.
- An interview with Metro GM Terry White.
- Kevin Desmond leaving TransLink, returning to the United States.
- Lynnwood garage construction starts.
- Heidi Groover on KUOW.
- Car damages Alki bus stop.
- Vote on big Portland transit package will be close.
- Mulling a Portland-Vancouver ferry.
- Cascadia corridor process still chugging along, but it will be years before there’s any kind of plan.
- Boring Company tunnels are underdelivering.
This is an open thread.
Challenges, more closures for East Link construction
On October 8th System Expansion Committee received briefings on various capital projects. The centerpiece was a detailed review of East Link. The system is 85% complete, within the budget set in 2015, and on schedule for opening in July 2023. But there’s also some bad news.
Major civil engineering should be done in early 2021, and systems work by early 2022. Most of 2022 will be “pre-revenue” testing, and from September 2022 is 9 months of “float”. But some things are not going well.
Continue reading “Challenges, more closures for East Link construction”