All posts by Brent White

Lakewood Station finally gets a reverse-peak commuter trip from Seattle … on Black Friday only.
Photo from Sound Transit on flickr

Many transit agencies close down for Thanksgiving, and a few reduce service the day after.

Sound Transit is continuing its tradition of providing at least some Sounder service the day after, with two morning runs from and one morning run to Lakewood, a morning run from Everett, and the reverse in the evening. That unusual reverse-peak trip to Lakewood results in the second morning run from Lakewood arriving after Macy’s Holiday Parade is over. Those who want to take the occasion to ride all the way from Everett to Lakewood are scheduled to miss the connection by 4 minutes in the morning and 23 minutes in the evening. Sorry.

UW routes are running their full schedule through Wednesday, as the University of Washington is in session. Continue reading “Thanksgiving Closures / Friday Sounder Service”

Friday, November 11 is Veterans Day, a day most rural transit agencies treat as just another day, while agencies like King County Metro have traditional painfully reduced service. Thanks to SDOT funding, the only Seattle-only routes cut back on Veterans Day are those cut back due to the University of Washington not being in session for the day, and the West Seattle Water Taxi.

As Zach pointed out, transit still suffers deteriorated bus service on Veterans Day thanks to SDOT’s free parking days.

Here are the service levels for transit agencies around the region Friday: Continue reading “Friday is Veterans Day, with a Little Less Transit Service”

So you lost your ballot or left it at home and don’t have time to grab it. You can still vote in person at Union Station, or several other sites, as long as you are registered and in line by 8 pm.

If you still have questions about how you can cast a ballot, the King County Elections Department has a hotline at 206-296-VOTE.

The Pierce County Elections Department can be reached at 253-798-7430.

The Snohomish County Elections Department can be reached at 425-388-3444.

Thank you to everyone who has voted! If you haven’t voted, all the ballot drop boxes are open until 8 pm, with no postage requirement. Follow the directions on your ballot envelope. Sign, date, and put contact info on your outer return envelope.

Putting your ballot in US mail is probably no longer a good idea for this election. I talked to a co-worker last night who mailed his ballot on election day in a previous election, and it didn’t get postmarked in time.

Check out our election night open thread this evening for coverage of results.

High-capacity grade-separated transit doesn’t make traffic jams go away. It just adds capacity and gets transit riders out of them. Photo by SounderBruce / flickr

On the eve of what is likely the most important election of this decade, expect one last really, really busy evening rush hour on the newly-expanded Link Light Rail system, as the Seahawks host the Buffalo Bills at 5:30 pm Pacific Standard Time. For this game, there are no shuttles and no special Sounder service. Expect more congestion than usual on the buses and jump on the third (rear) car of the train if there happens to be one (and there probably will be as Sound Transit will be running all 3-car trains all day, including the extra trains after the game, and a few 2-car trains during peak to maintain headway, per Bruce Gray at Sound Transit). There will also be extra ST Express 550 and 554 buses after the game to help clear the crowd.

Your ballot should be in the mail today to be postmarked tomorrow. If using the postal service, don’t forget the first-class postage of 47 cents, or 68 cents if returning the heavy Snohomish County ballot.

Lots of ballot drop boxes and a few walk-in voting sites including Union Station remain open until 8 pm Tuesday.

Once again, here are STB’s endorsements, and everything you need to know about Regional Transit Proposition 1 / Sound Transit 3, at the very end of the ballot, if you are still undecided.

Union Station, where thousands of voters will queue up starting today to vote privately at accessible voting devices, instead of filling out their ballots at home and dropping them off at one of the many conveniently-located drop boxes, including the drop box on the east side of Uwajumaya, just east of Union Station.

Photo by SounderBruce / flickr
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Yes. This coming Tuesday, November 8, is election day.

Two more walk-in voting sites, featuring accessible voting units, open today in King County:

Union Station, 401 S. Jackson St — the building upstairs from International District/Chinatown light rail and bus station, and just to the east of King Street Sounder Station.
Friday, Nov. 4, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 5, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 7, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Election day, Nov. 8, 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Bellevue City Hall, 450, 110th Ave NE — just to the east and a half block south of Bellevue Transit Center.
Friday, Nov. 4, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 5, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 7, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Election day, Nov. 8, 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.

The King County Elections HQ, 919 SW Grady Way, in Renton, will also continue to be open for voting.
Friday, Nov. 4, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 5, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 7, 8:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Election day, Nov. 8, 8:30 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Pierce County will have six walk-in voting sites starting Saturday:

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All are open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, and 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday. The Pierce County Annex is already open for walk-in voting.

Snohomish County will have a couple more voting sites Monday and Tuesday:

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The Snohomish County Administration Building, 3000 Rockefeller Ave, 1st Floor Admin W Bldg in Everett remains open today for voting 9 am – 5 pm, and then next Monday and Tuesday 8 am – 8 pm.

There will be no walk-in voting sites open on Sunday in any of the three counties.

You must be in line by 8 p.m. Tuesday to vote at one of these sites.

You also have dozens of conveniently-located drop boxes available, 24/7, including four within a block of various light rail stations, if you just want to return your filled-in ballot and not have to pay postage. Drop boxes will cease accepting ballots at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

If you do mail your ballot back, it must be post-marked by Tuesday. If mailing it from home or dropping it at a mailbox, get it in the mailbox by Monday night. Dropping your ballot at a mailbox Tuesday does not guarantee a Tuesday postmark. Be sure to include first-class postage worth at least 47 cents (or 68 cents if returning Snohomish County’s huge ballot).

Whether mailing or dropping off your ballot, sign and date the return envelope, and include contact info in case your ballot gets challenged.

An additional newer option for voting is a markable online ballot at the Secretary of State’s website. The site includes a lot of other info regarding accessible voting. King County has its own markable online ballot page, as does Pierce County. Pay careful attention to the directions to make sure you have completed the process.

The Secretary of State’s website can show you your personalized text-based voters’ guide. You can also view TVW’s video voters guide for statewide offices and ballot questions online.

Check out STB’s general election endorsements, and review our ST3 library if you are still pondering how you will vote on Regional Proposition 1.

We are used to a debate about regressive taxation every time a transit proposition is on the ballot.

Sound Move (ST1) in 1996 was funded by a 0.0.5% 0.4% sales tax increase, a vehicle license fee of $30 per $10,000 value, and a 0.8% car rental sales tax. Sound Transit 2 in 2008 was funded by a 0.0.4% 0.5%% sales tax increase.

The failed King County Proposition 1 in 2014 featured a 0.1% sales tax increase and a $60 vehicle license fee increase, with a potential $40 rebate for low-income car owners who requested it. (Unsurprisingly, opponents of Regional Transit Proposition 1 who are now championing bus rapid transit were nowhere to be seen during that campaign, except for those who opposed that bus-only measure.) Seattle Proposition 1 in 2014 used the same revenue menu as the failed county proposition, which had passed handily in Seattle.

Community Transit Proposition 1 in 2015 consisted of a 0.3% sales tax increase within its district. Pierce Transit’s narrowly-defeated Proposition 1 in 2012 consisted of a 0.3% sales tax increase.

Regional Transit Proposition 1, a.k.a. Sound Transit 3, if approved by voters, will be funded by a 0.5% sales tax increase, a vehicle license fee increase of $110 $80 per $10,000 value, and a property tax of $25 per $100,000 value.

Property tax, which disproportionately taxes the wealthy, was added to the mix by ESSB 5987 last year. When the Sound Transit Board opted to make use of this much more progressive tax source for Regional Transit Proposition 1, some among the well-to-do started decrying the funding for RP1 as regressive. Sure, an income tax would be even more progressive. But if we had to wait until one is adopted in this state before we start funding essential services, like transit, we’d likely have to wait a long, long time.

So, back to sales tax, about which the well-to-do are complaining much less …

Continue reading “Do I-732 and Regional Prop 1 Mitigate Each Others’ Rough Edges?”

That was in 2009.