Holiday service Monday, October 13: Metro, Sound Transit, Community Transit, Pierce Transit, Seattle Streetcars, Vashon and West Seattle water taxis, and the Washington State Ferries are on regular Monday schedule for Columbus Day/Indigenous People’s Day. This is the day to ride Sounder, water taxis, or peak expresses if your work schedule doesn’t usually allow it. Exceptions: The Seattle Monorail will start an hour later: 8:30am to 9pm. Kitsap Transit has regular service except these that won’t operate: routes 81 and 219, Annapolis foot ferry, Worker/Driver buses.
Melbourne, Australia, a highly livable city. (CityNerd) At 9:42 there’s a glimpse of a sibling of Seattle’s former waterfront streetcar.
City Beautiful has a series on Planning Basics. So far there are episodes on land use, zoning, and housing.
Michael Smith is away for three weeks so he’s not writing the Friday Roundup. I was going to have an article Friday on trails but it’s not finished yet. Michael will resume the column when he gets back.
This is an open thread.
Does the City of Seattle still have some bus or HOV or other lanes that get turned into parking on minor holidays?
Way too many bus lanes turn into parking off-peak (including on weekends and holidays). I think some of the most egregious are Blanchard/Lenora and 2nd/4th
I think this is a first for Seattle Transit Blog — a rerun! I like City Nerd but I think he just had a really good vacation. I really don’t see that much difference between L. A. and Melbourne. There are plenty of very urban areas in L. A. that have good transit. But so much of the city is just sprawling mid-density housing. Melbourne seems similar except they kept the streetcars. Hard to see that making that much difference. If you live in one of those urban neighborhoods it feels like a real city. You can walk around and get to a lot of amenities. Transit to other, similar neighborhoods is slow but at least the bus/train will get you there. But it is most-definitely not the world’s most livable city.
He says Melbourne has lots of areas where they never installed parking lots or garages, and most people treat transit as a first choice. And lots of arcades. I wish LA and Seattle had that.
Melbourne has one of the best regional rail systems in the English speaking world, which makes a world of difference in a sprawling metro area. LA has great bus service, but the regional system is far too slow.
I’ve never been to Melbourne so I can’t say if the trams are better than a good old LA Metro bus, but given that the regional system gets 5x the ridership in a metro area that’s one third the population, I think it’s fair to say that Melbourne has a vastly more usable transit system than LA.
And if you happen to live in a neighborhood with a tram – every neighborhood in Melbourne has a tram. It’s the largest tram network in the world. The LA comparison is no contest, and I’m generally high on LA
Melbourne is one of my favorite cities in the world. I’d move there if it had Sydney’s beaches. It isn’t cheap to live there though.
Stylistically, most compare Sydney to LA, while Melbourne is more NYC or SF.
I took a trip to Bainbridge Island last weekend and had my first chance to ride the Wenatchee–Washington State Ferries’ refurbished hybrid-electric ferry. It’s a nice ride. Much quieter than the diesel-powered Tacoma that is also running between Seattle and Bainbridge. The Tacoma vibrates and shakes much more violently as it crosses the Sound while the Wenatchee is much smoother.
During the Wenatchee’s renovation, 2 of its 4 locomotive-sized diesel engines were removed and replaced with electric motors and battery packs. Until shore charging is available the terminals, the Wenatchee will be running in hybrid-electric mode, but by 2040, WSF expects to have 22 electric ferries in operation around Puget Sound.