All posts by Martin H. Duke

• If half of Limebikes are unrentable at any given time, that seems like a problem.
• ST kicking bikes out of the train between University St and Chinatown during the “Connect 2020” period of great crowding; also, 5 cents/hour bike lockers.
• In the wake of the Amtrak derailment report, ST sacks its chief safety officer ($). There were significant procedural violations.
• There’s a new book out ($) on the troubled early days of Sound Transit.
• Now that the I-5 lid people are talking seriously about putting big buildings on it instead of a park, I’m excited.
• Two residents allegedly attempt suicide-by-Sounder ($) in the same day.
• Republican calls for special session to pass I-976 into law if overturned in court.
• Permit parking at Lakewood Station.
• When it comes to cars, efficiency is bad.
• Tacoma does some rezoning. Federal Way has big plans for their station, too.
• Lizz writes about the interurban to Everett ($).
• WSDOT lists projects immediately deferred by I-976.
• ST measuring “shear wave velocity” in West Seattle.
• Jefferson Transit passes a budget.
• Geek out on the NYC Subway map.

This is an open thread.

At first glance, there is little rhyme or reason to which buses use which avenues in Downtown Seattle. In fact, there is some structure to these allocations, although there are a bunch of exceptions. Assigning rules does point to some situations where a swap or two could allow heavy bus users to commit it to memory.

For simplicity, let’s only worry ourselves with outbound buses.

* Although the bus is ultimately heading north, board it at a southbound stop.

There are presumably myriad reasons for deviations from the rules. The 630, for instance, starts from First Hill so going all the way to 2nd would take time. But the simplicity advantages of swapping, say, the 41 for the 37 and 125 are pretty clear.

A glance at the CT system map doesn’t reveal any obvious rhyme or reason to the 2nd/4th split . As we have 5 years before all of those routes go away, perhaps a revision is not in the cards.

If I’ve missed something, please indicate that in the comments.

• All Tacoma public high school students getting free ORCA cards.
• ST schedules for today and tomorrow.
• Big development ($) slated for Lynnwood TC.
• Tim Eyman running for governor.
• More bike lockers, fewer bike racks at UW Station.
• West Seattle forum provides some Link planning feedback.
• Metro drivers pushing for more safety measures.
• New Seattle Uber/Lyft tax ($) approved.
• The Black Friday “fare strike” is dumb.
• WSDOT releases a list of projects ($) delayed by I-976.
• I personally like the new station exit numbers but you can fill out the survey.
• New permit parking in Mercer Island and Issaquah. If you want it enough, you can now always park there.
• Feds send Washington $10.4m for bus infrastructure improvements.
• Amtrak seeking customs preclearance to speed up Canada trips.
• $150,000 for 85th St BRT station area planning.
• Tacoma HOV lanes finally open.
• Hot Link construction pics.
• Flixbus service to Spokane getting some bad reviews.
• Vancouver, BC reaches tentative transit labor deal, avoids total bus shutdown.
• Alon Levy with clear thinking about fare evasion.

This is an open thread.

Frank and I will tape the next podcast this evening. Leave your questions for us in the comments. The usual question guidelines apply.

• KUOW interviews Pierce County Executive and ST Board dissident Bruce Dammeier on why he voted for I-976 — but he’s wrong on the vote totals and a bunch of other facts.
• Flixbus is the newest intercity bus company.
• Serious talks about an Everett Transit-Community Transit merger ($).
• Sound Transit holding public meetings on the South King Link Maintenance Facility.
• Dow Constantine lays out the fiscal hit from I-976.
• More big plans for 3rd Avenue.
• Tolling drops downtown tunnel traffic 20% on the first day.
• Tacoma Dome Link station might take out part of Freighthouse Square ($).
• Access bus vs. downtown building.
• Danny Westneat says it’s time for King County to go it alone ($) on light rail.

This is an open thread.

Katherine Khashimova Long recently published a fine piece of reporting ($) on how many “luxury” condos have unclear ownership, potentially mere financial assets that are left “empty as the city grows less affordable for its middle- and lower-class residents.”

That may very well be the outcome thanks to our many arbitrary restrictions on building enough housing supply to meet demand. But in a more-forward thinking policy environment, the desire of the world’s super-wealthy to park their cash in Seattle would be a huge opportunity.

• A bus lane and queue jump coming to… Olympia?
• Seattle car ownership ($) dropping.
• RapidRide G passes through another gate on the way to opening.
• If Seattle can’t afford sidewalks maybe just slow down the cars.
• Public meetings coming for Link extensions to Federal Way and Tacoma.
• Lawsuits against I-976 from both Seattle and King County.
• Nothing brings out the pitchforks like threatening a burger stand ($).
• Move Seattle releases its 3rd Quarter report.
• Congressional delegation says USDOT should just fund South Link already.
• Portland Subway could save 12 minutes per trip.
• Translink is on strike.

This is an open thread.

One can get election results at virtually any local outlet, but since you rightly eschew all news sources besides Seattle Transit Blog, here’s the stuff you won’t get anywhere else. Candidates we endorsed in bold.

I-976: Yes (55%) leads No (45%) statewide.

King County District 2: Zahilay leads Gossett 62-37

King County District 4: Kohl-Welles beats Doerr 73-26.

King County District 6: Balducci over Hirt 77-23.

King County District 8: McDermott over Neher 82-17.

Seattle District 1: Herbold 51, Tavel 48

As the first stage of the project to connect the East Link track to the existing line, Sound Transit planned three weekend closures to build a temporary center platform at Pioneer Square. ST needs it to continue operations during a 10-week project to actually build the track switch, from January to March 2020.

The second of these weekend closures finished the platform, so that ST could cancel the third closure yesterday. The closure would have been November 9-10.

Each closure involved a bus bridge serving stations from Sodo to Capitol Hill. Usually a feature of unplanned service disruptions, the bridge will return for three complete closures next year. They were supposed to run in pairs every 7 minutes.

I had bus alternatives (and, in one pinch, a car) and didn’t miss Link much on a quiet weekend. How did others think ST and Metro did with the bridge? How was signage, frequency, crowding, and reliability?

• SDOT wants to complete 90 blocks of red bus lanes by the end of 2020. It’s done 32 blocks so far.
• Beacon Hill mass elevator failure still a “mystery.” ($)
• An update on some transportation projects in Bellevue.
• More public restrooms coming to the Sound Transit system.
• Link to Downtown Redmond breaks ground.
• Mercer Island residents fear more bus service will bring crime, traffic.
• New station access proposals in Mukilteo and Edmonds.
• A serious injury during East Link construction.
• Lynnwood looks for input on upzones.
• NY MTA is mounting cameras on buses to ticket bus lane violators.
• Las Vegas/Los Angeles HSR shooting for 2023.

This is an open thread.

In a metropolitan area, or in a very large city that encompasses a wide range of economic activity, a high median income is a badge of honor. It usually involves some combination of an educated populace, vibrant research institutions, policies that help entrepreneurs, and high quality of life.

For a city, like Sammamish ($), that is a small part of a larger area, it means something slightly different. Policies in Sammamish are not creating high-paying jobs in Puget Sound; instead, they are skimming off the cream of that growth through exclusionary zoning.

Sammamish residents don’t have higher-paying jobs due to the business environment there. It’s because the zoning is designed to ban any home that a person in a less remunerative profession could afford, or any features that are attractive to most young people starting out in their careers.

This isn’t to slag on the personal choices of Sammamish residents: a place without poor people is likely to have less violent crime and schools with higher test scores. It’s a practical choice, if not an idealistic or commendable one. And if the merely affluent cutting themselves off from the poor is less than ideal, the plutocratic communities designed to ensure low property tax rates ($) that don’t pay for anyone else’s services are an inequality Chernobyl.

If County and State leaders are interested in doing something about inequality without entering the choppy waters of an income tax, they could do worse than forcing the annexation of these wealthy enclaves into larger neighboring cities, and shifting more of the tax burden from the local level to higher ones that make it harder to opt out of providing services for society.

We are hours from finishing up our general election endorsements. If there are races other than I-976, King County, and Seattle Council with strongly pro-transit candidates we should be paying attention to, please mention it in the comments.

• Stats show black riders receive every level of ST fare enforcement action ($) out of proportion to their fraction of ridership. See our previous coverage.
• Open house coming on Kent Station parking improvements.
• 130th St community meeting pushes for 2024 opening, considers upzones.
• Microsoft puts more money into the HSR study.
• Council formally approves ($) eliminating “environmental” appeals of density, transit, and bikes. Background here.
• Bellingham now looking at e-scooters.
• Bonfire of the Limebikes.
• Sound Transit working on improving its shaky real-time data.
• King County Council proposes full Metro electrification by 2035, ($) instead of 2040. But it’s aspirational, not a funded plan.
• Yancy/Andover Link alignment survives committee. The full board will decide on adding it to the EIS.
• Bill Radke asks Christof Spieler about Seattle Transit.
• In a good week for podcasts, Talking Headways talks to ST’s TOD team.
• Vancouver going red.
• Streetsblog’s Angie Schmitt will be in Ballard next Thursday.
• Missed this last week: The Seattle Times says to reject I-976

This is an open thread.

• A roundup of service changes in the outer counties.
• Columbia Street transit “pathway” is coming.
• Permit parking now at Kent and Federal Way TC.
• New construction pics from Northgate Link.
• Tomorrow is the last day to comment on the new Ballard and West Seattle options.
• Sound Transit hands out $40m in system access funds.
• Lessons from CAHSR.
• Problems with balkanized agencies, like Chicago. On the other hand, larger jurisdictions aren’t always willing to pay for transit.
• Donald Shoup is right. I’d add that virtually everything wrong with cities today comes down to parking.

This is an open thread.

• Sound Transit needs some Pierce County residents for its Citizen Oversight Panel.
• LimePod shuts down. More on this later.
• Part of the Mountlake Terrace Transit Center parking lot will close Oct. 19th for Link construction.
• Congratulations to Operator of the Year Neal Safrin.
• Connections to North Sounder just got better in Edmonds.
• Foot ferry ridership way up.
• Council stymies move to endorse second Montlake bascule bridge for transit.
• In the biggest news out of DC this week, AOC has a pro-density housing bill.
• Mr. Rogoff testifies in Washington.
• Metro needs applicants to the paratransit advisory committee.
• Danny Westneat is tired of voting on light rail ($); there are indeed many, many veto points for any project of consequence, except highway expansion.
• Metro rethinking service to Golden Gardens.
• Zoning the Ave.
• A deep dive on development at Northgate.
• A map of the streetcar system… circa 1896.
• Goodbye to the Amtrak dining car.
• Transit costs in New York are skyrocketing — and it’s not clear why.

This is an open thread.

The title says it all: