Month: February 2022

• Avalon residents ask if a station there is really needed (!)
• Missing middle housing bill is dead, but ADU reform is not
• Some advice for YIMBYs on how to win more battles
• Bad behavior on buses and trains ($) is out of control, Metro seeking answers ($)
• New Sound Transit guidelines will avoid pedestrian crossings
• Tacoma Link needs $30m more (from $252m recently, $217m a year ago)
• State Supreme Court hearing arguments ($) that fare inspection is unconstitutional
• Just how fair is it that Metro gets so much Federal money?
• The supply chain comes for Metro’s maintenance ops ($)
• Feds sending $37m for Swift Orange
• If residents don’t want Mt Baker to be “desolate,” the key is lots and lots of commerce
• King County helmet law is gone; city laws remain
• Relatedly, two new safety-oriented positions are open: 1, 2
• How to restructure for Link in Tacoma
• Apple Cup train failure now has a cause ($)
• Driver shortage reaches ST Express
• South Sounder kills pedestrian
• New Amtrak locomotives
• A guide for transit to trails ($)
• Love on the bus

This is an open thread.

As expected, phase 3 of the East Link Connections restructure proposal is out. It was developed using feedback from phase 2, when the first proposed network was released. In the first network, a clear trend was a dramatic increase in coverage throughout the eastside, with bus service on many corridors that never had any service before. However, a common sentiment in the comments is that Metro is focusing on expanding coverage instead of increasing frequency on core routes. Commenters also wanted to see better weekend and evening frequency.

Dear Monsieur Jean-Marc Cote. His vision of 2000 didn’t materialize. But was that his lack of imagination or ours? How well can we envision public transit in 100 years? With good news for the future of Washington State public transit in the expected passage of the proposed $16 billion transportation package, it seems a good time to indulge in a bit of fantasy.

So let us indulge in fantasy but not fantasy fantasy. More like Fantasy Football. Constructed within reality. Studying what is at hand and making the most of it. That means no flying buses or “Beam me up, Scotty.” Instead, the fantasy is you as the master puppeteer. The Transit Czar. You calling the shots. You conjuring up your vision firmly within reality.

And our reality? There is the good news of an infusion of cash for local public transit projects. The other local transit news, however, is the loss of fare revenues and the pending Washington State Supreme Court ruling on the legality of fare enforcement on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and rail services.

Marko Liias:

OLYMPIA – On Tuesday, Senate and House Transportation Committee Chairs Sen. Marko Liias, D – Everett, and Rep. Jake Fey, D – Tacoma, unveiled Senate Bills 5974 and 5975 and House Bills 2118 and 2119 — Move Ahead Washington — a 16-year transportation proposal for Washington state.

The $16 billion package provides historic funding for preserving our infrastructure, combating climate change by reducing emissions, expanding safe, affordable transit options, and addressing harm caused in communities of color from our existing transportation system.

There are technically two distinct bills here being yoked together. One would direct about $5B collected via the Climate Commitment Act towards transit and multimodal projects. This represents an unprecedented investment in transit from a state government that has traditionally left such things up to local jurisdictions. It includes operating funds, free youth passes and a down payment on some unspecified high-speed rail projects.

The second would take $11B from various sources (notably NOT a new gas tax) and direct it towards (mostly) highway projects, including a significant amount of highway widening.

Full lists of projects and revenue sources here. More coverage from the Times.

Metro usually gathers a citizen sounding board when it’s planning a major service change. It’s a way to gather impressions after detailed technical discussion instead of drive-by comments.

They’re currently collecting applicants for the service change associated with Lynnwood Link. If you’re willing to approach it with an open mind, think about the community as a whole instead of your own needs, and commit the necessary time, it can be a rewarding experience and do some good for the region. Please consider it!

• Stephen Fesler https://www.flickr.com/photos/zheistand/5763940792/in/pool-seatrans/" title="Buses jammed on 3rd Ave">https://live.staticflickr.com/5144/5763940792_d463652a2b_z.jpg" width="640" height="408" alt="Buses jammed on 3rd Ave">also unhappy with how ST3 is turning out
• Transit update from West Seattle
• Rogoff says reduced fare enforcement partly responsible for collapsing revenues ($), ECB is skeptical
• And now the Supreme Court can make things even worse
• Plan for Kirkland’s Dan Ryan Tower ($) is coming together
• Venu Nimani is the new Dongho Chang, an unenviable position, but he says the right things
• East Link zoning blows
• Welcome to the new Community Transit Board
• Concrete strike drags on, affecting transit projects
• Pets now allowed on water taxis
• Fesler thinks big about the Rainier Valley
• Helmet law enforcement downgraded
• Lizz looks at the local record of traffic enforcement cameras
• A futuristic, electric foot ferry ($) for Bremerton
• CAHSR infighting continues
• What opened worldwide in 2021, and is coming in 2022

This is an open thread.

In the week between Christmas and New Year, King County Metro activated its emergency snow network (ESN) for only the second time. However, it felt different this time around. In 2019, the situation was widely understood to be an emergency (even prompting Governor Inslee to declare a state of emergency, limiting the hours vehicles could be driven).

This time, there was definitely snow, but it didn’t feel like… an emergency. While there was enough snow to make driving inadvisable, there seemingly wasn’t enough to justify drastic action. Even more confusingly, Metro kept the ESN in effect even when conditions were improving. By the last day of the ESN on January 1, 2022, the snow had cleared enough that many areas of King County had roads clear of snow and ice, and neighboring Pierce Transit was operating with 75% of its routes on regular (non-snow) routes. Even in its blog post about its continuation of the ESN into the new year, Metro points to “ongoing freezing temperatures and difficult road conditions in parts of King County” (emphasis mine). In any other time, difficult road conditions in just parts of the county would result in service in those parts of the county operating on snow routes, not keeping the entire county in the emergency snow network. So, what was different this time, and what can be done about it?