All posts by Brent White

One of the best improvements in the recent Metro service change was the one that cost essentially nothing: re-timing route 60 and 107 schedules on evenings and weekends to create combined 15-minute headway on the 15th Ave S corridor between Beacon Hill Station and Georgetown.

There is more scheduling cleverness still to be milked out of scheduling inefficiency on this corridor.

The Georgetown diversion

The most obvious opportunity is to remove the Georgetown diversionary loop on route 107, which currently has the unfortunate effect of adding several minutes to the commutes of students going to and from school at Cleveland High School and Mercer Middle School. Even when Cleveland students get out at the stop before the Georgetown diversion and hike along the narrow sidewalk the last few blocks, it still adds a few minutes.

The Georgetown loop increases the total time it takes to drive each run by approximately 10%. In the process, it likely causes a non-trivial loss in ridership, for reasons similar to the old Veterans Administration Medical Center loop on route 60, but not quite as pronounced.

Weekday headway alignment

Tolling in the new Highway 99 tunnel has finally started. Today is the first regular weekday commute to feel the impacts (as yesterday was Veterans Day).

WSDOT is encouraging tunnel users to avail themselves of the Good-to-Go Pass, by giving pass users a $2 discount. (If only someone could explain this principle to King County Metro and/or the County Council…)

Tolls are as follows:

• $1.00, weekends and 11 pm to 6 am
• $1.25, 9 am to 3 pm and 6 pm to 11 pm
• $1.50, 7 am to 9 am
• $2.25, 3 pm – 6 pm
• $2.00, for not using the Good-to-Go Pass

Let’s talk about what you see happening today. Are there any impacts to your bus route?

One thing that will impact bus routes today will be the Sounders’ MLS Cup Victory Parade, which will take over 4th Ave from sometime before noon, when the parade is scheduled to start at Westlake Plaza, until 1:30 pm, when the parade terminates at the Seattle Center.

If you haven’t already signed up for travel alerts specific to your route, now is a good time to do so.

This is an open thread.

Tomorrow is election day. If you haven’t mailed your ballot (making use of the free return postage) or a ballot drop box, do so right now. The deadline to drop ballots at the drop boxes is 8 pm Tuesday. Mailed ballots must be post-marked Tuesday. If you don’t mail it tonight, get thee to a ballot drop box.

Review the STB Editorial Board’s endorsements, if you like. You can also peruse King County’s online voter guide.

Accessible voting centers (which are open to all voters) will be open until 6 pm tonight and 8 pm Tuesday. Check the hours at each site. Seattle’s accessible voting center has moved to the Chinook Building at 401 5th Ave, room 124, between Terrace St and Jefferson St. It will open at 8:30 am today and tomorrow. If you aren’t already registered to vote, you can register in person at any of these voting centers, and then proceed to cast your ballot.

You can also make use of the online ballot marking program.

No excuses. No more poll tax. No more registration waiting period. Get it done.

Click on the “pic” link next to the television icon above to view the video.

This is an open thread.

Sound Transit is in the process of reviewing its fare enforcement policies, per a presentation last Thursday.

However, the single most impactful element of that process is still not on their radar. Sound Transit fare enforcement officers are directed to warn, and then fine (after repeat infractions) passengers who possess passes that cover the highest possible cost of a train trip for their payer category, or have tapped on to other services within the previous two hours that have at least as high a fare as the highest Link fare for their payer category, if the passenger failed to tap on for the ride.

Section 4.0 of Sound Transit’s Standard Operating Procedure for Fare Enforcement states:

This includes students who have received “free” passes from their school district. Students who got free passes from Seattle Public Schools who mess up once on tapping will be subject to the same treatment that students who tried to ride for free the first day of school before getting their passes issued. According to ST policy, it doesn’t matter that they have clear-and-obvious evidence with them that the trip is pre-paid.

Transit Service

• Sounder trains will serve both the Sounders’ playoff match Saturday and the Seahawks’ game Sunday.
• Relatedly, the Link Light Rail Red Line will also be open the full length of the line this weekend, before the bus bridge replaces Link service between SODO Station and Capitol Hill Station the following weekend and two weekends after that.
• Looking ahead, Sounder will also serve the next day of Global Climate Strikes, on a day most US students and workers won’t actually have to strike.
• Trailhead Direct season ends on October 27.
• Mountlake Terrace Transit Center surfacing parking closes for several years this Saturday for Link Red Line construction. Park-and-riders going to the U-District will have to park at a satellite lot.

Election Politics

• Mainstream Republicans of Washington has joined the long list or organizations opposing Tim Eyman’s Initiative 976. The list is far from comprehensive, since STB, which endorsed the No vote months ago, is not on that list.
• The Urbanist has published its 2019 general election endorsements. Long-time urbanista journalist Erica Barnett has also interviewed all city council candidates willing to talk with her. Ballots and slick ads abusing the popular term “accountability” hit mailboxes this week.
• In case you missed it, The Stranger endorsed Kshama Sawant, not Egan Orion, whose campaign paid for a wrap-around ad over the real cover designed to make it appear that The Stranger had endorsed him. Drama at The Stranger.
• Seattle Bike Blog is issuing City Council endorsements one by one.
• Oh, and since this is a transit blog, we should probably mention that the Transit Riders Union and Transportation for Washington have also issued endorsements.

After over three months of pouring concrete along the bus loop at Tukwila International Boulevard Station, the project is complete, and buses have returned to the loop as of 4:30 am this morning.

Riders on Metro’s A Line and route 124 are likely rejoicing. Riders on the F Line and 128, not so much.

Route 124 and the A Line both terminate at TIBS, so stopping below the station makes sense, and provides off-street layover space.

The F Line would have originally had stops on Southcenter Blvd in front of the station lot, but the City of Tukwila wouldn’t allow them.

As Martin pointed out Thursday, the Seattle Center will be holding a hearing on Wednesday, September 11, and taking email comments through September 18, on a proposal to raise monorail fares as part of the rollout of accepting the ORCA card, along with interagency transfers and passes.

The published proposal focuses on the fare increases. But, as part of joining the ORCA pod, transfer credit from other ORCA trips will be good on the monorail, and vice versa, according to Seattle Center Director of Communications Deborah Daoust. Likewise PugetPass, Business Passport, U-Pass, and the Regional Day Pass will also be good for covering part or all of monorail fare.

The regular fare is going from $2.50 to $3.00, while the youth, senior, and disability fares are going from $1.25 to $1.50.

At the same time, a new low-income fare category will be introduced, at $1.50, available only by using loaded fare product on the ORCA LIFT card.

The eligibility age for the youth fare will expand from ages 5-12 to ages 6-18. Five-year-olds, accompanied by an adult, will now get to ride for free.

US military personnel with ID can get the half fare, but not by using ORCA.

Monorail non-ORCA monthly passes will go up from $50 to $60, and the reduced fare non-ORCA passes will continue to be half the cost.

Daoust offered an explanation for the increase to $3.00:

The proposed adult fare considers many factors including the cost to Seattle Monorail Services of implementing changes in its ticket structure and the fact that it relies on ticket revenues to cover operating costs and some major maintenance. The increase also factors in increases in consumer price index (CPI). Other considerations include fare alignment with other ORCA providers and the acceptance of transfers when ORCA users combine a Monorail trip with other transit use.

The increase to $3 helps the Monorail to offset losses it will incur by participating in One Regional Card for All, since only =/-$2 will come back to the Monorail under the ORCA program.

Everett Transit and Community Transit have also rolled out low-income fares this year. The last holdouts in the ORCA pod from having such a fare are Washington State Ferries — for which the Washington State Transportation Commission recently approved a pilot project to have a low-income fare, once funding is found — and Pierce Transit.

As at happens, the monorail would be the second entity for which ORCA LIFT would actually be a discount of 50% or more from the regular fare, joining Kitsap Transit.

ORCA acceptance on the monorail and the accompanying fare increases are set to commence October 7, assuming there is no public backlash in the comment period.

Update: The DNC Resolutions Committee voted down a debate format for the climate forums 8-17. Protesters sung their displeasure.

Correction: The original version of this post stated that Sen. Elizabeth Warren had no climate statement on her campaign website. Actually, she has several, under “Latest Announcements”. The author apologizes for the error.

On Wednesday, Gov. Jay Inslee withdrew from the race for President of the United States. His plan to campaign on his success in fighting climate change was a case of planting his flag in quicksand, given that Washington State’s carbon emissions continue to rise($) quickly.

Indeed, we continue to build more roads, while the state barely invests in transit, and invests almost nothing in bike or pedestrian infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee will be voting today on the format of a CNN forum and an MSNBC forum on climate change next month — primarily whether one of both of them will be debates or “town halls”, in which candidates address the audience separately, one by one. Inlee’s low polling kept him from getting to participate in the CNN forum.

Within the DNC, Washington State Democratic Party Chair Tina Podlodowski is leading the call for a debate. The Sunrise Movement has led the charge from the outside. Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez is being blamed by various debate supporters as the leading opponent of the debate format.

Inside Climate News has analyzed the climate records and platforms of the major Democratic candidates.

Various candidates’ website statements on the climate crisis are linked below:

• Former Vice President Joe Biden
• Sen. Bernie Sanders
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren (See “Latest Announcements”)
• Sen. Kamala Harris
• Sen. Cory Booker
• Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand
• Sen Amy Klobuchar
• Sen. Michael Bennet
• Gov. Steve Bullock
• NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio – no climate statement on his campaign website
• South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg
• Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard
• Congressman Tim Ryan
• Former Congressman Beto O’Rourke
• Former Congressman John Delaney
• Former HUD Secretary Julian Castro – no climate statement on his campaign website
• Tom Steyer
• Marianne Williamson
• Andrew Yang

After a series of community meetings the Washington State Transportation Commission (WSTC) and its “Ferry Advisory Committee – Tarriff” (FAC-T) hold every two years, the WSTC is proposing a schedule of fare changes. Various options were presented to the WSTC at its June meeting, before the Commission settled on its proposal to go to the final round of public input.

The main fare policy changes include:

• 2.5% fare increases for vehicles on October 1, 2019 and May 1, 2020
• 2% fare increases for passengers on those same dates
• a separate 25-cent increase to the “capital surcharge” (which is already 25 cents) on May 1, 2020, dedicated to building a new hybrid diesel/electric ferry. That surcharge increase will be roughly 12 cents for senior, disability, and youth fares.
• increased penalties for reservation no-shows starting October 1, 2019
• a 3-year pilot project for accepting payment using WSDOT’s Good-to-Go Pass
• a 3-year pilot project for a low-income fare category.

Community Transit and Everett Transit are rolling out new low-income fares today, expanding the reach of the ORCA LIFT program that debuted in 2015, and expanded upon Kitsap Transit’s low-income fare program in place since 1985.

Meanwhile, Everett Transit regular fares climb to $2 (and remain $2.50 on route 70).

If your household income is 200% or less of the federal poverty level, you qualify for this low-income discount program. Both Snohomish County transit agencies are partnering with the Department of Social and Health Services at various locations to do the qualification process (which also started today). You may qualify for and get access to additional benefits while there. There are also lots of locations around King County that process qualification.

The ORCA LIFT card is free the first time for those who qualify, and then $3 for a replacement. Youth ORCA cards (for riders 6-18 years old) are usually $3, but the fee is waived if you get a youth card for someone in your household while getting the ORCA LIFT card.

The ORCA LIFT discount is good for two years before you have to requalify. The expiration date will be stamped on the card. After that, the card reverts to being a regular ORCA card.

Once you qualify, obtain your card, and load cash value or a monthly pass onto the card, your card account will be charged the following amounts when using the ORCA LIFT card.

• $1.50 on Everett Transit, except route 70 (new)
• $1.25 on Everett Transit route 70 (new)
• $1.25 on Community Transit local routes (new)
• $2.00 on Community Transit commuter routes (new)
• $1.50 on ST Express buses
• $2.50-$4.25 on Sounder
• $1.50 on King County Metro
• $1.50 on Link Light Rail
• $1.50 on Seattle Streetcars
• $3.75 on the West Seattle Water Taxi
• $4.50 on the Vashon Island Water Taxi
• $5.00 on eastbound Kitsap Transit foot ferries from Seattle to Bremerton and Kingston
• $1.00 on westbound Kitsap Transit foot ferries
• $1.00 on intra-county Kitsap Transit foot ferries
• $1.00 on Kitsap Transit buses

Monthly passes cost $9 per 25 cents of single-ride fare. So, for example, a $54 monthly pass covers the first $1.50 in fare for each ride. For services charging a higher fare than what is covered by your monthly pass, only the difference between the higher fare and the fare the pass covers will be charged. ORCA transfers are good for 2 hours, among all ORCA agencies except Washington State Ferries.

However, you have to use loaded ORCA product on the card in order to get the ORCA LIFT discount.

Pierce Transit and Washington State Ferries are the remaining members of the ORCA pod that do not have a low-income fare. Pierce Transit charges $2 regular fare, which is also what gets charged to ORCA LIFT cards. Washington State Ferries not only charges much more for any of their services in one direction (and free in the other), but also does not accept inter-agency transfers or passes.

See the table at this previous post for the current fares for all payer categories throughout the ORCA pod, except for Washington State Ferries.