The first ever bus routes. (The Tim Traveler) Hint: They’re in France and have to do with Blaise Pascal.
Three good things about Metro buses and ST Express by a visitor. (Trains are Awesome)
The London Underground has express services. (Ontario Traffic Man via RMTransit)
This is an open thread.
I’m very anxious to see ridership numbers for Link this summer. If I were to guess, the numbers will be all time high by far due to events, summer travel season (flights, cruises, etc.), rebounding downtown and just the general packed trains I’ve witnessed at all hours. Link seems to be one of the few rail transit lines attracting visitors, choice riders, families that’s become unfortunately less common post-COVID nationwide. They are doing a very good job of creating good safe conditions onboard trains and in stations.
The more crowded the trains (and buses) get, the less opportunity there is to light up.
I’d still like to see mixed seat coverings, with vinyl in the back rows for easy clean-up.
No doubt that the existing core Link system is useful for many kinds of travelers and trips. That’s exactly what makes a rail system productive.
What it does gain in other kinds of trips it does lose some in school trips. That not only applies to colleges like UW and community colleges, but also to high schools that are reachable by Link (like Franklin and Roosevelt). It’s never been big enough in the past to lower summer overall Link use though.
A big factor that I hear from travelers is the increased prices on Lyft and Uber. The rides are approaching standard cab rates. Having a $3 Link option to get to SeaTac is very enticing — and SeaTac Link boardings have really increased in the past two years now that the train goes to Lynnwood. It may increase even more when FW Link opens (there appears to be a recent surge in SeaTac/ Angle Lake trips) but we shall see.
Finally, the I-5 work has so freaked out many nearby residents that they are looking to Link as the first option to consider when going into central Seattle, especially for evening and weekend events and meetups.
It is possible single day number is higher, but I am not sure about the average weekday ridership of any given month this summer.
Traffic on Monday and Friday these days are still noticeably lighter than Tuesday through Wednesday, which drags down the average weekday number.
I’verecently ran across a rather unique cable pulled people mover: the Haeundae Blueline Park Skycapsule in Busan, Korea.
It’s entirely designed as a tourist attraction, but seems like it could be an interesting solution for short distance medium capacity transit. They have it on elevated track. It’s built to a very narrow gauge, so both tracks running in both directions plus the emergency exit walkway take up about the same width as a single highway lane or light rail track.
Cable pulled automatic people movers tend to be extremely quiet, as both the track and wheels can be extremely smooth. It should also be possible to climb fairly steep hills.
This web page has a few photos:
https://awaytothecity.com/haeundae-sky-capsule-busan/
So often on here we talk of how Link stations along I-5 almost get to places that would be good to serve. Something like that, operated as a transit device rather than a tourist device, seems like it could be a useful walk extender.
Thats like the Oakland Airport Connector. Its actually a very good last mile (okay last 3-5 mile) connector for major destinations off the main transit/rail line. I recall it covers almost all its cost (largely due to automation, high fare, short distance and constant traffic all day long). Could be good a Link feeders here.
The Oakland Airport Connector is sort of like this, only used cars about 4 times longer and twice as wide as this. This means more right of way needed and more expensive track and supports.
They make up for it by operating it like a gondola: small cars every few seconds.
It’s a bit like the old PeopleMover ride at Disney World, in that it has very small trains operating very frequently, but the cars are enclosed so they can be operated in all weather.
Like so:
(Apologies for short length but best I’ve found so far showing frequency:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HsZvB_sHFKQ )
I’ve long advocated for a Harborview to Pioneer Square aerial funicular (Jefferson Street). The buildings are almost fully government owned so there would be little opposition. It would have been so much cheaper than the FHSC was — and much faster and more frequent. It could be automated with a cable-pulled train leaving every 2-3 minutes.
I hear more and more travel-time horror stories about trying to get between Capitol Hill and SLU. It’s too bad that the east-west streets are so narrow that trying anything above the ground may be fatally flawed without more property acquisition. Even a narrower profile like this may be DOA.
The difference here is this apparently operates much more like a gondola: small cars operating very frequently, so never more than a several second wait.
I assume there must be some way for them to detach the cars from the cable to get this level of frequency, but I’ve not seen much information about the technicalities. So far I’ve only found “How to Ride” type pages.
One of the side effects of the 2026 post-Link-openings bus route restructures will be the likely end of bus service on 5th and 6th Avenues downtown. That will give SDoT opportunities to double down on 3rd Ave bus priority, and to a lesser extent, bus priority on 2nd and 4th.
Metro routes 162, 257, and 311, and ST Express routes 510, 515, and 545 are the only routes using 5th and/or 6th. All are on the chopping block.
256 will replace the 257 and 311 and the 510 likely isn’t going anywhere from some time (maybe to 2nd)
Why would the 510 continue to Seattle? Won’t the 2 Line provide far more than enough capacity on the joint segment?
The ST Express restructure isn’t until Fall 2026, so the 510 will be running another year in spite of Link openings. ST is taking its own sweet time to decide which routes to change to what, and it probably wants to wait until after the World Cup to have a fallback and bus capacity beyond Link. It just had the initial scoping round, which asked people about current conditions and what they generally want, but had no route specifics.
I recently spent 10 days in Canada visiting Toronto and Ottawa. I want to report my experience riding the O Train—a combination LRT and heavy rail transit system serving the city of Ottawa. I rode just the LRT Red line, not the Diesel Green line.
What’s good about the O Train:
It’s totally separated from traffic through both tunnels and aerial structures. The Rideau station is really deep (similar to UW Stn) with some impressive escalators.
What’s not so great about the O Train:
Slow! Maybe it’s due to the stop density, but it just never felt fast like Link does between between Capitol Hill and UW or U District to Roosevelt and Northgate.
Remarkably bumpy ride. It felt like it we were traveling through switches every couple of minutes—like you experience going from Westlake to Capitol Hill. In addition, my outbound train clearly had some kind of mechanical issue—it sounded like a steam locomotive and seemed to be struggling. My inbound train was OK, but not any faster.
In both Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver the scale of TOD is stunning. The level of development around the Vaughn Metropolitan Center TTC station dwarfs what was built at Capitol Hill. Could a heavy rail metro like TTC could be saturated by TOD at this scale?
22 miles of track, 16 stations and 104,800 daily riders.
Really, not bad considering Ottawa isn’t really that big a city.
The Ottawa metro area is very slightly larger than Calgary and Edmonton, both with light rail carrying more people. So while it’s impressive, it still ranks last in light rail ridership for Canadian metros between 1.4-1.5M.
O Train Line 1 (the red color LRT) was also partially turned from the busway. The busway before light rail built a pretty good ridership base for the line.
I was in downtown Saturday and saw construction on 3rd Ave between Pine and Virginia (or Stewart) had started.
Glad to see that they’ve finally dealt with the irreparable concrete pavement there. They had cracked the old concrete on northbound lanes open and were putting on the new steel reinforcement. Not sure how long it will take. It didn’t seem like the kind of job they could nail in one weekend.
Well it appears they actually finished (southbound) and reopened today.
The other day, while eating dinner in capital, watching bus go by, I could not help noticing that at least 70-80% of the buses from routes 43 and 49, which are supposed to be trolleys, were actually diesel buses. What is going on with our electrification system? Clearly, the overhead wire was working because *some* of the buses that went by were trolleys. So, it seems Metro is having some major maintenance issues with its trolley buses. But, why? Aren’t trolley buses supposed to require *less* maintenance, due to fewer moving parts?
49 has been dieselized for a while because of SR 520 Roanoke Lid.
*SR 520 Roanoke Lid construction
But I feel like it is just an excuse. It is just one crossing that is impacted. 43 has been operating without wire crossing 520 for years.
43 is electric on weekdays and occasionally weekends. It runs off wire through Montlake Lid since WSDOT never replaced the wire it pulled down, apparently Metro has funds for replacement.
2, 12, 49 dieselized
The 12 is waiting for 1 1/2 blocks of wire in its new route between 15th & Pine and 16th & Madison. Metro says it intends to fill it.
This was a weekday. It was also during the early evening, with lots of 43’s and 49’s.
Sometimes they fill some runs with other buses from Atlantic Base during the weekdays. I’ve had a 43 show up as a Rapid Ride bus (then spend its day on the 44).
Link ridership down in July! And down 8% no less.
Probably people avoid8 g the chaos by switching to more WFH.
The ridership data needs to be adjusted still. Overall ridership is still higher, but avg boardings per day is lower. However, the 4th of July is counted as a weekend day due to holiday services, so it is not included as part of weekday averages. Additionally, the tail end of the month is looking very low in terms of ridership and likely does not have all the data ready. Give it a few days for the final number to be published.
@DM,
Ha, you are right. If you look at the daily numbers it is clear that the last four days of data for July are erroneous. And it appears that last two full days of the month are actually completely missing.
ST clearly needs to clean this data up, it’s erroneous. Bad on ST for not doing the necessary quality checks before publishing this. So let’s hope someone is aware of this makes the corrections.
Note: If you play some math games with the data that is good, it appears that there should be a bump in boardings of a few percent. This is in line with what you would expect given the ridership increases on some of the connecting services, but it is better to wait for corrected data.
ST! Correct the data!
@Mike Orr,
Like I said, the sister-in-law did a good job of buying a place half way between the station and the North City business district. No matter what she has to do, she is reasonably OK.
And there is also a Schlesien guitar repair place in Ridgecrest. I find that interesting. But don’t know anything about it.
Looks like the 2 Line has really come into form though!
Weekday ridership growth of 27% MoM to 10.8K boardings/weekday
@lurker,
Yes, very impressive. But data for the last 2 days of the month is also missing for the 2-Line. So ST really needs to clean this dataset up before we can have confidence in it.
ST! Cleanup your data!
That said, Downtown Redmond Station now has more boardings than Downton Bellevue Station. Good job Redmond!
Downtown Redmond is the sleeper hit I predicted it would be. It’s both a bedroom area and a destination. The number of trails and Marymoor Park have no equivalent in the rest of the 2 Line or in Snohomish/Shoreline or South King County. Plus the walkable urban blocks northwest of Downtown Redmond station, they have no equivalents either.
Seattle has these things but they’re more dispersed throughout the city, and only a few of them are right at Link stations. So even Seattle residents will go to Redmond for some of these — when crosslake service starts.
Some transit fan posted this complementary video about Downtown Redmond and TOD on the past day:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VWD0y-ZS-NI
Which one of you is this?
You have to love how it calls out other station and their station area failures.
@Mike Orr,
“ The number of trails and Marymoor Park have no equivalent in the rest of the 2 Line”
Of course all the ridership at Marymoor Park actually rolls up under Marymoor Village Station, and not under Downtown Redmond Station.
Additionally, weekday ridership at Marymoor Village Station is actually higher than weekend. Which implies that it is functioning as a commute intercept station and not a predominately recreation based station. And it is actually sixth out of ten in total boardings. So not that impressive.
As per Downtown Redmond Station, it also benefits from being a terminus.
@Al S,
I was just up at Shoreline South/148th Station and they are starting construction on a new TOD project just north of two other projects on the west side of the freeway.
They are scraping off about 8 houses and replacing them with an eight story building and 365 units (IIRC). Impressive given the other projects in the area.
And it looks like two more are about to get started on the Eastside of the freeway.
Still crickets at 130th though.
“I was just up at Shoreline South/148th Station and they are starting construction on a new TOD project just north of two other projects on the west side of the freeway.”
Watch the video! It explains that merely erecting an apartment building next to light rail doesn’t fully create a good TOD. It also explains how Redmond put a densified Downtown concept on the books even before ST2 (and way ahead of ST3).
What will these new Shoreline South buildings have, beyond a few floors of apartments and some token ground-level retail? Will there be a “there, there?”
regarding 130th:
It looks like the zoning isn’t ready yet:
https://seattlecitygis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/reporter/index.html?appid=ff89ad19b1064784aaef8a334a90584c
@Al S,
“What will these new Shoreline South buildings have, beyond a few floors of apartments and some token ground-level retail? Will there be a “there, there?”
Yep. Shoreline South/148th Station has everything it will take to eventually become a fantastic, and well rounded TOD site.
Walkable? Yes. Fantastic neighborhoods to walk through and with a quiet street grid to walk on.
Parks and Rec? Yes! Twin Ponds Parks is super close and, in addition to normal park activities, offers pickleball ball, tennis, and soccer facilities.
Adult athletic activities? Yes! Golf at Jackson Park Golf Course!
Not cut off by a freeway? Yes! In addition to the I-5 overcrossing at 145th, there is a new non-motorized crossing under construction at 148th! Access to the LR station can be had without even walking adjacent to traffic.
So what is the remaining criticism of TOD at Shoreline South/148th Station? That it doesn’t have enough coffee shops? Is that really the measure of success?
And let’s be honest, no business is going to go in where they don’t have the foot traffic to be successful. Meaning quite simply that businesses follow housing density. Businesses will come, eventually. But after residents.
But we shouldn’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Great things are happening at Shoreline South/148th Station, Shoreline North/185th Station, and MTS. And they will only get better in the future.
And, in a region where housing access is the #1 concern of many, are you really going to advocate against the several thousand units that are recently completed, under construction, or planned at Shoreline South/148th Station simply because they don’t include an arbitrary number of latte stands? Really?
I’m excited about what is happening at Shoreline South/148th Station. Is it perfect? No. Very few things are perfect. And even perfect things aren’t perfect enough for some. But it’s darn good. And it is a darn fantastic start.
@130th. Yes, the city has dragged its feet when it comes to upzoning. It has done so for years now. It will probably continue because of the election. It is quite possible that we will have a new mayor and a very different council. They could still make changes in the lame duck session but my guess is the new mayor/council will want to make bigger changes. It may take a while before they actually allow development there.
Yes, the starter line is a success. There were people who thought it wasn’t worth it, but obviously it was. It is the main reason there is an East Link. If we were just trying to get riders from the East Side to Seattle we would run express buses. But there are enough riders making trips *within* the East Side to justify a subway line.
What will these new Shoreline South buildings have, beyond a few floors of apartments and some token ground-level retail? Will there be a “there”, there?
Probably not. It will likely remain a fairly minor destination, just like most of the freeway stations. There will be some people heading there, for sure. But the freeway itself takes up a lot of space. So does the golf course. For those who want to actually golf it is the wrong end of things (Pinehurst Station is closer to the entrance but still not particularly close). Lakeside is probably the biggest destination in the area and it is a relatively small school. Unlike public school students, they have their own buses, even for high school. Staff have to get there, so there is that. The high school is a little bit closer to the 148th Station (than Pinehurst) but still not very close. The middle school is closer to Pinehurst station (and again, not very close). There are a couple churches in the area and there is bound to be more retail in the future. But it won’t be like Northgate, let alone Capitol Hill or Columbia City.
I doubt Downtown Redmond has more riders than Bellevue on weekdays, but it definitely serves a lot more people on the weekend than Bellevue Downtown does.
I don’t think Downtown Redmond station benefits much from being a terminal station because it is hard to be used as a station to transfer buses or person vehicles. Meanwhile Bellevue doesn’t have park and ride either, but at least its bus network reach more places in the region. So it is really impressive to see Downtown Redmond does this well.
I don’t think Downtown Redmond station benefits much from being a terminal station because it is hard to be used as a station to transfer buses or person vehicles.
I agree. There are two conflicting dynamics when it comes to a transit stop being a terminus. The first actually lowers potential ridership. Think of Capitol Hill. It gets a lot of riders from people heading north *and* south. So in general a terminus will have lower overall ridership than a station in the middle simply because riders can only head one direction.
But wait. What about people farther out that still end up taking the train? This is where being a terminus actually helps. A great example is Lynnwood Station. Everyone from Everett that wants to get to Seattle has to transfer there. (OK, not everyone, but most people.) Thus Lynnwood Station not only serves riders in the area but the large sprawling region to the north (i. e. farther out). In the case of Downtown Redmond there just aren’t that many people farther out. There are some in the north part of Downtown Redmond (including the main transit center) but that doesn’t stretch for miles like with Lynnwood (or in the future, Federal Way).
To put it another way, if Downtown Redmond or Marymoor Stations get a lot of riders because it is a terminus, where are those riders coming from? Redmond Ridge? I guess, but that area is pretty small and has very little feeder bus service. Avondale has better bus service but fewer people. If you are driving to the station from Sammamish, wouldn’t you just keep driving? I’m sure some people take a bus and transfer but that is true for any bus stop (and more likely with Downtown Bellevue). I think most of the ridership for Downtown Redmond is due to it being a relatively urban area. Folks walk to and from the station.
“Bellevue doesn’t have park and ride”
Yes it does, South Bellevue P&R. Which is luckily located outside downtown because cars don’t walk to destinations or transfer to local bus routes but people do.
What residents of every neighborhood need within walking distance is their everyday errands and activities: supermarket, pharmacy, medical clinic, post office, gym, a couple restaurant choices, etc. Barcelona Superblocks have these in every superblock.
Shoreline North has a QFC at 17th & 145th. That’s at the outer fringe of the walk circle; is a Stride 3 station planned there? The station area itself should have at least a large convenience store (not just beer and chips).
Pinehurst will probably be more limited given the smaller upzone, but again it should have at least a large convenience store.
It doesn’t matter if everything is in place on day 1. If substantial housing and retail are built out in 5 years, then it will be there for the next 100 years. Cities drag their feet with upzoning, but that shouldn’t be a reason not to push for density (housing) and a complete neighborhood (retail/services). Ideally Seattle, Shoreline, and Lynnwood would have upzoned these areas ten years ago when Link was planned; then more of it would be in place already.
@Mike Orr,
“ What residents of every neighborhood need within walking distance is their everyday errands and activities: supermarket, pharmacy, medical clinic, post office, gym, a couple restaurant choices, etc”
Yep, and there are 3 pharmacies and 2 major grocery stores with a mile of the Shoreline South/148th Station. And there are several restaurant options near both Shoreline South/148th Station and Shoreline North/185th Station. They aren’t really my style, and they are mainly along the historic neighborhood center (15th), but they are there.
And most of the new apartment buildings have a gym in them. So that is good too.
But hey, I look to my in-laws on this one. They moved from the dense part of Queens in New York to Shoreline North/185th Station. I thought for sure they would complain about access to a grocery store, but they loved the access at North City. They thought it was better than in Queens. And the store (Safeway) came with a pharmacy, and they did vaccinations there too,
So I don’t really get the complaints. These station areas are doing well and will only get better.
What about within a half mile? A quarter mile is generally considered an easy walk, and a half mile is the furthest most Americans are willing to walk. So these circles are the most important.
“I don’t really get the complaints.”
You have the opposite impression of Pinehurst station. Other people don’t get that.
What could your relatives walk to in their Queens neighborhood?
@Mike Orr,
“What about within a half mile”
While we tend to think of walksheds in terms of “from the station”, nobody actually lives “at” the station. So it really depends on where you live.
But my sister-in-law did a good job picking the location of her house in North City. I can assure you that the Link station AND the Safeway/pharmacy are both within less than a half mile of her house, just in nearly opposite directions.
Will everyone have it so good? No, of course not. That is the point of it being “location dependent”.
And again, I’m never going to give up on a few thousand units of new housing just because they don’t have a grocery or an expresso stand on every corner. Those things will come once the population rises to the point that such businesses can be profitable.
And, for the record, my sister-in-law actually has three grocery stores within less than a half mile of her house, although the two small ones are more like specialty food stores. But hey, that is still pretty good.
“I’m never going to give up on a few thousand units of new housing just because they don’t have a grocery or an expresso stand on every corner.”
Nobody is suggesting the housing shouldn’t be built. The biggest regional problem is the housing shortage. More multifamily buildings, with or without retail in the neighborhood, will allow more people to live within walking distance of Link stations. So at least they’ll be able to take Link to things they can’t walk to. But we should aim higher than that and encourage retail/services so that it can be a “complete station area” or “15-minute city”, because all neighborhoods should have that.
“Those things will come once the population rises to the point that such businesses can be profitable.”
The issue here is whether the zoning allows them to come, whether building regulations allow the right size/shape of businesses to be successful and give people a wide range of choices, and whether the building owners use the options they’ve been allowed to actually do it.
Most cities have gotten the message that station areas and new villages need retail as well as housing, and Shoreline has been above average. So I’m sure we’ll get at least something average at Shoreline South station, and your confirmation that one household has three grocery stores within a half mile is a great sign. (If I had more time I’d investigate the range of offerings at the two “specialty stores” to see how much they meet average people’s needs, but I’ll leave that for another day.)
Then there’s the building regulations. Pre-WWII Seattle neighborhoods have narrow deep shops, which allow more choices per block, and a shorter walk between the businesses. But recent buildings often have wide shallow storefronts, in order to fit the required parking behind them. That means only one or two shops per block, or not enough room for a medium-sized supermarket. National chains love these spaces because they have “high visibility” and limit competition, but that’s the opposite of what consumers and pedestrians need. So often the entire retail will be one bank or Starbucks or phone center store, and that’s not enough.
Then there’s what building owners do with the options they’re allowed and the storefront-shapes that fit the regulations. They can recruit businesses that meet a wide range of needs for a large cross-section of the population, or businesses that meet nobody’s needs or that the neighbors won’t walk to because it’s irrelevant for them.
Maybe I’ll go up to 145th and see what’s there now, and whether the sidewalk is rebuilt enough to be safe to walk on between 5th and 15th. The northern sidewalk was really bad the last time I tried it before Link, to the point I was afraid of being hit by cars.
If I do go up to the Shoreline South and North neighborhoods, what particular locations should I make sure to visit?
About TOD:
The concept is not just having a 15- minute walkable neighborhood. Yes that’s a basic element — but the value about being “transit oriented” ideally should include desirable destinations for people coming from anywhere in the line rather than just the station area.
A few examples:
– Medical and dental offices
– Specialized adult education facilities
– Nightlife and entertainment districts
– Indoor sporting events
– Government buildings that get high, region-wide visits (like airports and courthouses)
Residential density near a station is great and not every station needs to be a destination. But building a series of stations with similar land uses (like apartments and token retail) isn’t really taking full advantage of being next to transit. It might function just as well to have commuter buses to Downtown (the basic problem of many planned ST3 stations).
Finally, being able to feel like a hub with wonderful places to meet or see folks is important. It’s not entirely about being functional. It’s why things like sight lines, roof lines and focal and gathering points have value. That is what I sense is the most abstract and neglected concept in TOD generally that doesn’t get discussed in our modern times. We all love UW’s magical Rainier View with the Suzzallo library building and blooming trees — but there is little effort is being made to add similar environments at new Link stations. Give me more Buckingham Fountains, clock towers and Hammering Man’s to look at while I have coffee or ice cream with a date! (If we are going to pay for station artwork, let’s put less emphasis on it being more than a random piece and put more emphasis on it being a gathering point worth visiting.)
@Mike Orr,
“If I do go up to the Shoreline South and North neighborhoods….”
I’m not sure how far you typically walk, but generally speaking:
At Shoreline South/148th Station you can see the east landing for the new pedestrian bridge right at the north end of the station. The west landing is also now under construction across the freeway.
To the east of the station are several large fenced off areas that will become TOD, but not much to see yet.
At 145th and 5th they have started construction on the east roundabout, and the roundabout at 145th and the freeway off-ramps on the west side of the freeway is about half done. Lots going on and it isn’t always easy walking.
On the west side of I-5 you have one TOD project completed, one just completed, and one larger one that just did the scrape off. Across 1st from those projects is a sea of bland townhomes. Not too interesting, but still a huge increase in density.
Continuing north on 1st you come to Twin Ponds Park, which I sort of like. And it will become even more interesting once WSDOT finishes their salmon crossing projects at I-5 and 145th, and at SR 522.
If you follow 155th around to the east side of the freeway there is another large project underway on 155th proper, but they are going slow and I’m not sure exactly what it will be yet. But from there you can go up to Ridgecrest and catch a movie.
At Shoreline North/185th Station there is less overall construction underway, fewer townhomes, but nearly the same number of apartment units being built.
There are two apartment projects at the north end of the station. There are also 2 more large ones planned just to the north of those.
Rotary Park at 10th and 185th is slated for a major redevelopment. The whole triangular section from the high tension lines to the existing park is slated for redevelopment to include kids play areas, a splash park, food truck and vendor space, and an area for live music. The remaining houses get scraped off.
There is another large apartment project underway in North City proper, just over a half mile from the station. It is noteworthy because it is the first major residential project to be built under Ordinance 901, which aims to allow residential redevelopment while protecting pre-existing commercial space. The ordinance applies to the North City and Ridgecrest business districts.
One thing you will notice about the new TOD projects at both stations is that the retail space is empty. There just aren’t enough residents yet to justify a business moving in, particularly in high cost, new space. That should change as these buildings fill up.
Anyhow, go explore. There is a lot going on around all the light rail stations. It is good to see.
I’ll be focusing more on retail establishments to see what the residents have available.
I like Twin Ponds Park too and am glad it’s easier to get to. It used to be an ordeal to walk a way’s from an infrequent bus route. The last time I was there it was winter so it wasn’t at its best. So maybe I’ll stop by to see it in summer.
@Mike Orr,
“I’ll be focusing more on retail establishments to see what the residents have available.”
There is essentially zero retail in the new TOD zones. Several of the buildings have a small amount of space set aside for retail, but with the buildings not full yet, no businesses have been willing to take the risk.
What retail exists is pre-existing and is in either Ridgecrest or North City. Both districts are covered by Ordinance 901 which requires that approx 70% of pre-existing retail space be preserved.
Ordinance 901 came about because Shoreline lets the developer decide a lot about what gets built, as opposed to over constraining the developer. The result was that a lot of development gets built, but it is very much residential. And often residential only.
When the Post Office in North City got replaced with a 100% residential building, there was a lot of complaining. Eventually Ord 901 was passed.
“I’ll be focusing more on retail establishments to see what the residents have available.”
“There is essentially zero retail in the new TOD zones.”
You mentioned two specialty groceries and a Safeway. I’m as interested in those as in the new TOD buildings. To get a sense of what the residents have available now or may have in the future. If the TOD storefronts are still vacant, that adds some uncertainty because we don’t know what will go in there or when. But we can still tell something by the size and shape of the storefronts: what kinds of businesses can fit, and how many of them. Even the doorway placement tells whether the owner intends one or two or has the space designed so it could go either way.
Also, since the storefronts will get customers from the entire neighborhood and maybe beyond, the individual building doesn’t have to fill up before the storefront is viable. If there are other buildings on the next block or even houses, those are potential customers.
It can take a year for a new building to fill up with residents, especially if several open near each other at the same time. That happened in Capitol Hill and downtown in the 2010s. You don’t get a hundred people signing leases on the first day, you get a handful per month. It will probably be similar with the storefronts, one at a time. And of course, sometimes it takes a business months to remodel and get ready to open.
@Mike Orr,
North City:
The two specialty stores are at the north end of North City. Near the Les Schwab. One Indian, one Filipino.
Suni’s is closed. Arson. Although they now have a “Suni’s Express” across the street. But it is a poor shadow of its former self.
Easy Monkey and Monka Brewing are now both recently closed. No word on replacements.
Supposedly either the Monka Brewing building or the building for the teriyaki place next door are original World’s Fair buildings from 1962 that got relocated. Not sure which, because they both look the era.
Ridgecrest:
The Drumlin is back open, but I haven’t been in it yet.
The Crest is still open. Excellent place.
Cafe Aroma is back open after it got shut down for illegal Cabaret type activity. That is a polite term. I was told what was going on in there, but I can’t describe it in a public forum.
But hey, getting out and exploring is great fun. Good luck.
The house I grew up in in Bellevue had a 7-11 a half mile up a hill (164th & 8th), and a Safeway plaza a mile away (156th & Northup, now Trader Joe’s). Those were the closest retail; all the rest was further away (and still is). So that’s what I’m trying to avoid, and trying to get cities to reverse. Shoreline needs to consider retail access for the station areas and new villages, and for the areas in between them.
“the sister-in-law did a good job of buying a place half way between the station and the North City business district.”
That sounds like a good idea. That puts her a quarter mile from both. Those are the kinds of things we need to determine to tell which areas are walkable, since the options vary every five blocks.
Checking the map, I’m guessing the house is around 10th & 148th. That has a trail east through a wooded park to 12th and a street on to 15th. Going west the street jogs, so it curves down to 147th and then you have to walk back up to 148th to go the rest of the way to the station and the future ped bridge. When the ped bridge is completed, the west side of I-5 has a mostly-intact street grid, and it will probably be a quarter mile from the station to the southeast corner of Twin Ponds Park. I’ve only been to the park from the north side (155th & 1st NE) because it’s been harder to get there from the south side, but the ped bridge should open it up.
I wonder what effect it has when schools are out or in summer session.
I was told before this summer that once internship season started, some of the transit routes would be a lot busier. Those are a group of seasonal commuters who are very likely to use public transportation.
There have been 2-3 ballgames and events per day on most of the weekends and some weekdays, so that should translate to high ridership. It definitely translates to crowded Link trains north of Intl Dist because I’ve been on them.
@Mike Orr,
Link has been really crowded lately north of the ID. We accidentally transferred from the monorail to Link NB the other day right after a Mariner’s win. Absolutely packed, we could barely get on. But at least people were happy.
That said, I do wish ST would publish Same Month Year-to-Year data. It’s usually more informative than MoM data.
And, ya, I can calculate it myself. But that is a lot of calculations if you are looking for trend lines.
That said, with all the extensions lately it can even be hard to interpret even that data. For example, the ELSL has already been extended once and it doesn’t even have a full year of operation yet.
Crazy good progress.