Month: September 2021

Some things we didn’t mention over July:

• Mike Lindblom investigates all those broken escalators ($); over two months later, at least three of Pioneer Square’s are still broken
• County Council approves the final alignment for RapidRide J (Eastlake)
• Kitsap Transit piloting app-based on-demand bus service on Bainbridge Island
• Kitsap weekend service coming back
• Community Transit’s Transit Development Plan
• Farewell to BoltBus ($)
• Katie Wilson’s thoughtful proposal for free transit
• Say it ain’t so: Dongho Chang moving to WSDOT
• New rail cars ($) for Amtrak Cascades?
• Another scooter share is coming
• Anytime you read “Gee, look at all the cranes” — remember, it isn’t nearly enough
• Amazon offers $170/month to bike to work
• Pittsburgh has one app for all transportation

This is an open trhread.

Central Bellevue is the closest to Link Line 2, so it’s to be expected that there would be significant bus changes. Here’s what Metro’s working on:

ST announced yesterday that CEO Peter Rogoff “did not foresee remaining in his role” and will step down in the middle of next year. PubliCola reports that Executive Constantine, Councilmember Balducci, and Mayor Durkan had all expressed concerns about his performance.

Important things can happen in the remaining months. However, friends of Sound Transit will likely remember his tenure, dating to 2015, as presenting high highs and low lows. Hired from the Federal Transit Administration, he was advertised as the key to winning Federal grants. It’s hard to measure that promise against the counterfactual of someone else running things.

It’s been a few weeks since we’ve had real-time arrival for Link. ST’s John Gallagher says that it’s because Northgate testing doesn’t conform to the schedule, and the software isn’t flexible enough to accommodate that.

Next train times should be back on October 2nd — and more accurate, as the end-of-the-line problems move from Capitol Hill to Roosevelt.

With the East Link Connections project underway, Sound Transit and Metro have presented their first service proposals as part of the East Link Connections survey. The opening of East Link will be a huge event, and will transform what transit service looks like not just crossing Lake Washington, but how neighboring regions are connected. The south subarea of the East Link Connections study area includes Renton, Newcastle, Factoria, and Eastgate. Though not as significant as in other areas, the changes in this area nonetheless improves transit access overall, with brand new all-day coverage, more direct service to Bellevue College, and consolidation of peak-hour service.

Sound Transit:

The Fare Ambassador Pilot Program grew out of passenger feedback and community engagement that expressed discomfort with fare enforcement officers who resemble law enforcement. In response, Fare Ambassadors wear bright yellow caps, and carry yellow messenger bags that make them easy to recognize. Their focus is on passenger education and customer service rather than enforcement, with particular emphasis on how to purchase ORCA cards and passes and how income-eligible passengers can obtain ORCA LIFT cards.

“We want all passengers to feel comfortable asking Fare Ambassadors for assistance, whether they need help getting to their destination, or they’re having trouble purchasing fare,” said Sound Transit Chief Passenger Experience and Innovation Officer Russ Arnold. “Fare Ambassadors are here to provide help.”

Riders can expect to see the yellow caps starting this week. Read our previous coverage of fare enforcement here.

Some highlights from June that we never mentioned here:

• As you probably noticed, Link frequency is back to its long-term level, though headways through the Rainier Valley may never return to 6 minutes
• Lizz asks if transit ridership will come back
• Pierce gets a state grant for on-demand service to the tideflats and Port of Tacoma
• Whatcom and Skagit Transit are back to normal
• Intercity Transit, too
• So much stuff coming to Northgate
• Microtransit coming to Lynnwood ($)
• Tacoma Link fares coming in 2022
• Everett Transit inching toward merger ($) with Community Transit
• Metro Operator of the Year Mary Hopson
• Maintenance Employee of the Year Bart Hedlund
• Ferry fares going up Oct. 1 ($)
• Seattle starts using TBD to just give out ORCA cards
• Oil train derailment was sabotage?

This is an open thread.

Many of us have tried to forget the historic heat of Late June. Sadly, even Link trains had to reduce speeds. Areas south of the DSTT ran as slow as 20mph and caused delays of 3-10 minutes. This surprised me: elsewhere, Light Rail often operates in temperatures well in excess of Late June’s. ST’s John Gallagher explains:

There are basically two things going on. One is that extreme heat can cause the rails to expand and change shape. The other is that the turnbuckles that keep the overheard catenary wires taut can expand, causing the wires to sag a bit. Out of caution, we operate Link at lower speeds when it’s very hot to ensure that neither of these problems interfere with service should they occur. 

Mr. Gallagher says that ST has already added air conditioning to substations to make them more resilient. New track extensions include a spring system on the overhead wires to replace the balance weights on the original track, which should improve heat resistance. He adds that ST will conduct a review to see if there are other changes necessary for a warming world.

Without overreacting to a single instance of record heat, all trends suggest that there are more and more extreme heat events coming, and ST should look to mimic systems like Phoenix that already deal with those conditions.

• Important new report from the Disability Mobility Initiative (see video above)
• Lots of Metro bus service coming back in the fall service change Oct 2
• The ST board has delayed CEO Peter Rogoff’s contract renewal, possibly due to job performance questions
• A vision for what a neighborhood around NE 130th St station could look like
• SEPTA (Philadelphia) is proposing a new LINK-like wayfinding and naming scheme
• School’s back in session! Get your (or your child’s) ORCA Opportunity card if you qualify
• Washington’s shortage of homes is a state-wide problem
• What we talk about when we talk about gentrification

This is an open thread

As you may have noticed, August was extra quiet here at STB. This is the result of combination of factors hitting all at once, including some of our contributors moving on to other priorities.

But September is here, Northgate Link is less than 30 days away, and we’re back, or at least we aim to be. But we need your help. If you have ever thought “hey, it might be interesting to write something for STB,” now is the time! Drop us an email, contact@seattletransitblog.wpcomstaging.com.

PS: to clarify, we’re mostly interested right now in volunteer / unpaid submissions, although we are ramping up our ability to offer paid freelance assignments as well. More to say on that in the future!