All posts by Martin H. Duke

• WSTC gets an incredible slate of transportation briefings.
• Riding Amtrak in a pandemic.
• Pierce Transit trying “Runner” on-demand vans ($) on the waterfront starting next month.
• Build the West Seattle Bridge out of wood?
• Many local government workers at home for the rest of 2020 ($).
• TriMet increases capacity by decreasing distancing to 3 feet.

This is an open thread.

As expected, the Seattle Council approved a November ballot measure to renew its
Transportation Benefit District 9-0 and preserve existing Metro service. The real action was in the amendments. (The discussion begins at 1:11:00 in the video above).

The expiring measure included a 0.1% sales tax and $60 vehicle license fee. As the latter may not be legal due to I-976, there was debate about increasing the sales tax rate. Regrettably, the amendment to raise the rate to 0.2% lost 5-4. Morales, Sawant, Mosqueda, and Strauss voted for the higher rate.

However, a compromise measure for a 0.15% increase passed 8-1, with only Pedersen opposed.

An amendment to extend the measure to a 6-year package, expiring in April 2027, passed 5-4, with Morales, Sawant, Lewis, and Gonzalez opposed. Detractors focused on the imperfection of a city measure with regressive revenue tools, and sought to create a “sense of urgency” for something better. Proponents argued, correctly, that 2024 is the right time to try a county measure, and that a city measure expiring concurrently would provide no contigency for a county failure. Move Seattle also expires in 2024, creating more traffic on the ballot.

There was maneuvering around the limits on various special accounts for West Seattle buses, free and reduced price ORCA, and the like. In the end, “essential workers” (in the pandemic sense) became eligible for ORCA subsidy.

Today at 2pm, the Seattle Council is voting to send renewal of the Transportation Benefit District (TBD) to the November ballot. As eight of nine council members are already on record in support, passage of something is inevitable. The uncertain parts are what amendments will go with it.

The baseline legislation is a renewal of the 0.1% sales tax for 4 years. This is a significant cut from the status quo both because it doesn’t include the vehicle license fee from 2014, but also because sales tax revenues have fallen sharply.

• Amendment 1 would extend the term to six years.
• Amendment 2 would raise the sales tax rate to 0.2%; this roughly replaces the lost vehicle license revenue for a typical level of economic activity.
• Amendment 3 would extend the ORCA opportunity program from seniors, youth, and low income people to include “essential workers” as commonly understood during the pandemic.

Amendment 2 is clearly an effort to devote more resources to transit, which is straightforward for advocates. Amendment 1 depends on your read of the political and legal situation. Amendment 3 is a difficult tradeoff between social justice objectives and getting as much bus service as possible on the road.

There are also rumors of an amendment to split the difference at 0.15%.

You can sign up to testify, beginning at 12pm, here.

A letter from King County Executive Dow Constantine and four Councilmembers (Balducci, Dembowski, Upthegrove, Kohl-Welles) expressed support for the Seattle Transportation District (TBD) effort, while pledging to pursue a countywide measure “at an appropriate time.”

The letter is delicately balanced between applauding Seattle’s effort to maintain service, while stressing the need for a regional measure “to provide the greatest mobility, equity, economic, and sustainability benefits.”

It specifically mentions the importance of “the equity and sustainability goals included in King County Metro’s Mobility Framework,” the agency’s (quite good) service allocation formula.

And then it makes its offer:

• Photo tour of Lynnwood Link.
• Amtrak Cascades pulls the Talgo trainsets.
• Yet another delay for the Missing Link.
• Metro operators to get their raises after all ($), after Council approves contract 8-1 [Dunn voting no], but layoffs likely.
• Seattle finally opening up streets to restaurants.
• Matt Baume tears up about Federal Way light rail.
• Lower speed limits save lives.
• No cars on parts of Lake Washington Blvd until Sep 8th.
• Filling of Battery Street Tunnel almost done.
• Interesting bus plans in Bremerton. The SR303 corridor could get some BRT treatments.
• Traffic is back.
• Old friend Kevin Desmond on the future of cities.

This is an open thread.

• SDOT starting to form a plan for the West Seattle Bridge. The study will take about 18 months (!).
• The low bridge is cracked too, but it doesn’t have to close.
• After protest, Metro managers promise to “do better” on race.
• Metro GM Rob Gannon taking a promotion in Montana, longtime Metro leader Terry White to take over the interim reins.
• Mercer Island nixes commuter parking/mixed use structure, may replace it with just parking.
• The I-90 bridge is getting its own documentary. You can watch it here.
• Local population still growing.
• Children’s Hospital is hiring a Transportation Planner.
• Current best practices for circulating air on buses.
• Read the results of Bellevue’s high tech vision zero project we wrote about back in 2017

This is an open thread.

There’s a certain thread of argument in transit advocacy that is frustrating because it is totally factually accurate, and yet completely misses the point. The latest example is this report on American light rail by the right-leaning Manhattan Institute, called The Economics of Urban Light Rail: A Guide for Planners and Citizens.

America has way fewer light rail boardings per route-mile than Europe and Canada. However, Seattle does well, one of only 5 in the US to have more than 3,000. No surprise: the strongest indicators of success are frequency and density around stations, two standards Link currently meets.

• TCC’s reaction to the Seattle TBD proposal.
• Redlining and Single-Family Zoning.
• RIP Mike Winkler,
• Oral arguments on I-976 ($).
• CT CEO Emmett Heath retiring ($).
• Spokane moving up the bike rankings.
• Uber and Lyft drivers make $10 an hour — or $23.
• Apartment construction has gotten harder — since 2019. ($)
• SBB with a funny piece on hidden sidewalks.
• Just no: a commercial airport in Thurston County?

This is an open thread.

Last month’s Times story that rents are dropping in West Seattle ($) since the bridge closed spurs two thoughts.

There’s something honorable about journalism that always tries to find the person who is hurt in any change to the status quo, so that readers can understand the human costs. But there’s also something perverse about spending years lamenting the “crisis” in housing affordability, and then went rent falls, centering the losses of the poor, poor landlords.

“In my 30 years of owning buildings, I’ve never experienced what I’m experiencing in West Seattle,” said landlord Morris Groberman, who owns four buildings in West Seattle and several dozen other apartments across the region. “It’s absolutely bleak.”

Relatedly, the easiest way to keep rent affordable and avoid “gentrification” is to not improve the neighborhood. A place with good transportation options, good schools, good jobs, and minimal crime is going to attract newcomers in a context of overall population growth. To avoid the tragedy of displacing people already there, there will either have to be deteriorating conditions or more housing. Personally, I prefer the latter.

• Sounder and Link fares return today, but Link headways are still way down.
• A new computer game lets you fix Seattle’s streets.
• Four more miles of Stay Healthy Streets.
• West Seattle Bridge is reparable, SDOT thinks. Transit priority on the low bridge chipped away ($), now in the night.
• There’s a survey for which Stay Healthy Streets should be permanent.
• Bruce Dammeier, Claudia Balducci to lead PSRC.
• Jetty Island Ferry closed for Covid ($).
• CT bus driver now a streaming star. Meanwhile, East Link ironworker will be a reality contestant ($).
• Carshare is back in Seattle — with GIG.
• ePark signs shutting down.
• TransLink going bigger on bus lanes.
• CAHSR faces a revolt in Sacramento.
• Alon Levy has constructive thoughts about why so many American infrastructure projects are disasters. It certainly matches my experience in successful and unsuccessful large organizations.
• Transit law enforcement now under the spotlight.
• To Understand a City’s Pace of Gentrification, Look at Its Housing Supply

This is an open thread.

• How race intersects ($) with transportation planning.
• Already, calls to chip away at bus priority on the low West Seattle Bridge.
• But the high bridge is reparable, at least for a while.
• Sound Transit audit ($) makes suggestions that could save hundreds of millions, but out of almost $100 billion in spending.
• Sam Zimbabwe goes national.
• Everett Transit fares start July 1.
• House Democrats propose $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill.
• San Francisco fulfills a transit planning fantasy.

This is an open thread.

• Somehow, with transit cuts coming everywhere, Via rideshares live for another day.
• $35m cost overrun ($) on Tacoma Link.
• Meet bus driver Clay McClure.
• Bus hits 3rd Avenue pole.
• The future of Pierce Transit ($).
• ST gets $2m from Feds for Everett TOD.
• ST Express returning to fares, more 550 runs July 1.
• Feds providing over 30 times more for more highways.
• Amtrak making deep cuts ($).
• USDOT sending 100m masks to operators for passenger use.

This is an open thread.

Metro announced yesterday that it is largely restoring pre-pandemic service levels on Monday:

The result is Metro will operate more than 11,000 weekday bus trips, or 85% of its pre-COVID service level. Saturday service will be 8,200 trips (99%) and Sunday service will be 7,000 trips (99%). Starting Monday, Metro’s will increase the number of transit operators providing service from 64% to about 80% of pre-COVID levels.

Ridership is still down about 70%, but King County is likely to enter Phase 2 soon and have activity pick up. Quite a few non-core routes will remain shut down, but many peak expresses will return.

The South Lake Union Streetcar and Trailhead Direct will not operate. Metro promises the Reduced Schedule and Canceled Trips pages will have specific weekday schedule information on Saturday.

As September’s service change will cut about 15% off last January’s route network, we may be at this service level for quite some time, and worse off on weekends.

• MASS Coalition is raising funds for three POC-led organizations that are doing vital work supporting and strengthening Seattle communities
• RapidRide H construction has started.
• “Online open house” about Mercer Island bus/rail interface.
• Mountlake Terrace Freeway Station closing for construction, July 6th till November.
• Everett Transit looking at revenue-boosting options ($).
• Oregon agencies want to keep buses running rather than switch to low-emission vehicles.
• No more trolleybuses on Broadway in Vancouver for five years.
• Transit not a disease-spreader in France or Japan.
• In light of the George Floyd protests, Metro will no longer provide buses to law enforcement

This is an open thread.