Routes 3 and 4 Will Stay on James Street

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After soliciting feedback last summer about a potential move to Yesler Way, Metro has decided to keep Routes 3 and 4 on James Street between 3rd and 9th Avenues: We considered this change as a way for the routes to avoid traffic congestion near the James Street I-5 ramps, improving their speed and reliability. About […]

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14th Avenue is the Wrong Spot for a Ballard Station

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Where shall we put Ballard’s lone light rail station? As Peter reported, Sound Transit is now in the process of reviewing the many potential alignments for Ballard/Interbay as we approach “Level 3” analysis. Last week’s Elected Leadership Group meeting (video link) was at times a reminder that needs of the riders who will eventually use […]

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Seven Places to Add Bus Lanes Now

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It was disappointing to learn that 3 of the 7 RapidRide corridors planned for the Move Seattle levy have been postponed indefinitely.  Fortunately, the most effective way to improve transit is also the least expensive: red paint. The Mayor’s budget promised 100,000 new bus service hours.  It’ll be a shame if those hours are spent […]

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WSDOT Plans Transit Improvements on SR-520

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Two pieces of good news for bus commuters on SR-520: one next month and another in 2023. Next month, WSDOT will install a temporary bus-only queue jump in the Montlake off-ramp.  This comes a few months after several advocates met with the agency to discuss potential improvements.  The queue jump will take advantage of excess […]

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News Roundup: Ditch Your Car

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What YIMBYs should learn from New York’s ethnic neighborhoods Lyft, Metro, and Zipcar want you to ditch your car Lime scooters are up and running in Tacoma LOL: This Teacher Was Taking Three Buses To Work, So Her Students Surprised Her With Better Public Transit Infrastructure Denver launches its version of ORCA LIFT This Q&A […]

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RapidRide Update: Some Now, More Later

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Several of Metro’s busiest routes are scheduled to be upgraded to RapidRide before 2024, while several others will get speed and reliability improvements but without the RapidRide branding, according to the agency’s latest Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). While RapidRide is a program of King County Metro, Seattle’s 2015 Move Seattle Levy promised “seven new RapidRide+ […]

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Streetcar Survives in Mayor Durkan’s First Budget

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Yesterday Mayor Durkan announced her 2019-2020 budget proposal, to be presented to the City Council, which will have an opportunity to weigh in. In the context of an overall effort to control spending city-wide, the SDOT budget increases by $128m over 2018 levels. Here are some transit highlights: The Streetcar lives! The budget includes $9m […]

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News Roundup: Master Plans

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SeaTac international arrivals terminal soars to $1B City Council looking at using public land for affordable housing Downtown Seattle Association argues for the CCC Parking-light TOD going in near Tacoma’s Freighthouse Square Minneapolis’ ambitious housing plan is facing the inevitable headwinds A mediator will be brought in to try and appease opponents of bike safety […]

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Rainier Freeway Station Closure Begins Sept. 22

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Rainier Freeway Station, at I-90 and Rainier will close for 5 years beginning Monday, September 22, for East Link Construction. You can read Sound Transit’s explainer for more details. Most routes (111, 114, 212, 214, 216, 218, and 219) will bypass the station and head into downtown, while the 554, 217, and some 212 trips […]

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130th St Station May Get Built Early

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Possible good news for North Seattle: the Sound Transit board’s capital committee will vote Thursday on a resolution to move forward with preliminary engineering for 130th St station, meaning it could open years earlier than originally planned. We started writing about 130th back in 2013, touting its potential for east-west connectivity and transit-oriented development.  130th […]

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Podcast #66: Streetcar Mailbag

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Answering your questions Elected boards (2:31) Earthquakes (9:20) Fare evasion (9:50) Streetcar alternatives (11:20) Light rail to Laurelhurst (19:00) East link frequency (22:00) Center platforms (24:20) Fare evasion and ORCA (28:20) Post-viaduct transit from the South (30:20) 4th avenue CID station (31:20) Seattle Circulator (32:59) City council (36:01) Post-viaduct transit from the north (40:55) Real […]

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Madison BRT is Testing the Limits of Electric Buses

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Mike Lindblom, in The Seattle Times: Federal money for Madison Street bus-rapid transit is on hold because Seattle and King County Metro can’t get the trailblazing electric vehicles that officials promised. The agencies sought clean, wire-powered trolleybuses since voters approved the Move Seattle property-tax levy in 2015 and the Sound Transit 3 ballot measure in […]

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Podcast #65: Post-apocalyptic soup

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Smoke! (0:00) Bikeshare out, bikeshare in (8:04) Time for a fare cut? (17:14) Waterfront shuttle (31:26) Metro is Number 1 (38:00) L’affaire Showbox(46:00) Upzoning the ‘burbs (57:01) http://traffic.libsyn.com/seattletransitblog/STB_podcast_65.mp3

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Upzone the ‘Burbs

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Mike Rosenberg has another excellent piece in the Seattle Times, examining why housing construction in suburban King County has slowed while Seattle remains red-hot. Overall, Seattle housing construction has grown 130 percent this decade compared to the average over the prior three decades, while housing development in the suburbs has dropped 43 percent from its […]

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News Roundup: Bikes, Housing, High-Speed Rail

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Allowing Seattle City Light to sell surplus land for affordable housing… …let’s use it to build mass timber social housing instead Josh Feit wants us to look past the Showbox: more housing, less nostalgia A ban on apartments hurts public education Nicole Grant in the Seattle Times: the city should add more ADUs Exploring Seattle […]

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