Martin joined the blog in Fall 2007 and became Editor-in-Chief in 2009. He is originally from the suburbs of Washington, D.C., but has lived in the Greater Seattle area since 1997. He resides with his family on Capitol Hill and works as a software engineering manager downtown. Key Routes: Link, 49, 10, 60
A lesser known part of the Sound Transit 2 package is a “station access study” for South Sounder. Beginning next week, there will be open houses.
Possible improvements the agency is studying include increased parking, pedestrian sidewalks, crosswalks and bridges, bicycle commute options, and transit facility enhancements.
All of the events occur from 4-6pm and are listed after the jump. Here’s to hoping the public shows up with something more than “build more free parking”. I’m no expert on these areas, but charging for parking would be a start.
Policy Objective: To set rates to achieve approximately one or two open spaces per block on average in a neighborhood business district
2010 citywide paid parking study results:
• Out of the approximately 13,500 paid parking spaces in the city, almost 60%, or 7,800 spaces, were included in the study. All neighborhoods with paid parking were studied, although some were sampled.
• Several neighborhoods, such as First Hill and Commercial Core, were quite full; several had low peak parking occupancy
New 2011 neighborhood paid parking rates
• A target occupancy range was projected so that a neighborhood’s parking rate could be increased, stay the same, or decreased to achieve the policy objective of one or two open spaces. This range works out to be 58% to 78%.
• Generally, if an area’s parking occupancy was higher than the target occupancy, than the rate needed to increase; if an area’s parking occupancy was below the range, thanthe rate needed to drop.
• With the new data‐driven approach, nine areas will see increased parking rates, nine areas will have the same rate as 2010, and four areas will have decreased rates by $0.50 per hour. Compared to current rates, 62% of paid spaces will see the same rate or a decrease in 2011.
Next Steps
• Rate installation rolls out beginning February 1 and concludes by March 30. Rates are set to change only once in 2011.
• Evening paid parking is expected to roll out starting in April 2011 and continue through September 2011.
• SDOT’s work on the variable pricing feasibility analysis is underway to potentially establish 2012 rates for different parts of day, for rates that change as frequently as on a quarterly basis, and for rates on a finer grain within a neighborhood.
• Another citywide paid parking study will occur this summer to monitor the affects of the rate changes.
Metro is going through the process of revising its routes throughout Bellevue and Redmond to take advantage of RapidRide B opening in October 2011. The first draft of these changes came out last October, and yesterday Metro released the latest iteration. Random observations:
The proposal trades peak commuter service for all-day service, a principle that I strongly support. Peak routes 225, 229, 247, 256, 261, 266, and 272 are all gone. Many all-day routes are lengthened; the 271 would join the ranks of 15-minute headway frequent routes, which in East King County are currently only the 545, 550, and what will become RR B.
It’s a great website. Route maps and system maps, plus explanations of each route that concisely explore the tradeoffs.
In the system map above you can see the tension between a simple, direct, gridded network and hitting the key nodes. The north side is sort of like a grid if you squint hard enough, but the south is spaghetti as everything gets funneled through Bellevue College, where the demand is, and Metro tries to serve winding suburban streets.
In retrospect, there are lot of problems with the placement and layout of the Eastgate Park and Ride.
STB takes a strongly pro-streetcar stance, but personally I’ve never been all that excited about them. They have a lot of the same problems as buses, are more expensive, and I’ve preferred to invest my enthusiasm in truly rapid transit.
However, one of the things I’ve learned over the years is that every mode has its place, and the place for streetcars is short-haul, high-volume trips where the speed doesn’t matter that much and the capacity does. Some advance material from the Seattle Transit Master Plan advisory process has convinced me that the Seattle Streetcar Network deserves a lot more support than it’s getting. More after the jump. Continue reading “Streetcars and the Transit Master Plan”
Pierce Transit is holding a series of Open Houses, beginning tomorrow, to explain the Feb. 8th ballot measure asking for more sales tax. Staff will answer questions.
Gig Harbor/Key Peninsula
Wednesday, January 12, 5 – 7:00pm
Gig Harbor Civic Center
3510 Grandview St, on Routes 100, 102
Sumner/E. Pierce County
Tuesday, January 18, 4 – 6:00pm
Sumner City Hall – Council Chambers
1104 Maple St, on Routes 408, 409
Lakewood/University Place
Wednesday, January 19, 4 – 6:00pm
Pierce Transit Training Center
3720 – 96th St SW, on Routes 48, 300
Tacoma
Monday, January 24, 4 – 6:00pm
The Evergreen State College (Commons Area)
1210 – 6th Ave, on Routes 1, 16, 26, 28
Tacoma
Tuesday, January 25, 4 – 6:00pm
Tacoma Goodwill Industries
Milgard Work Opportunity Center
714 S 27th St, on Routes 3, 26, 45, 48
Puyallup/South Hill
Wednesday, January 26, 4 – 6:00pm
Puyallup Library (Board Room)
324 S Meridian, on Route 402
The end of the year data shows continued ridership growth on the South Lake Union Streetcar. There were over half a million riders in 2010, a 15 percent increase over 2009, and 25 percent greater than ridership in 2008, the first full year of operation. The gains were driven largely by increased weekday trips. Average weekday ridership was over 1,800, peaking at over 2,200 in August 2010. While seasonal peaks continue to be evident, employment growth in South Lake Union led to sustained ridership growth. In fact, the month with the highest increase over 2009 was November with an increase of 128 percent.
For a fun but totally unfair comparison, at 1.3 miles it’s exactly 12 times shorter than Central Link (15.6 mi). The streetcar would have 21,600 daily weekday boardings for 15.6 mi at that rate of boardings per mile. Full 2010 Central Link ridership is not yet available, but is likely to be not too far from there.
If you’re looking to bail out from work today to beat the snow, Sounder’s giving you a new option:
In anticipation of adverse weather, two extra Sounder trains will operate Tuesday afternoon in addition to regularly scheduled Sounder trains. An early train will depart King Street Station southbound for Tacoma at 2:30 p.m. Another train will depart Tacoma Dome Station northbound for Seattle’s King Street Station at 3:50 p.m.
There’s talk of a snow coming Tuesday afternoon. As we all know by now, snow in the middle of the day means people stuck at work and disaster all around. From Metro:
Transit users should plan ahead for afternoon and evening trips that could be disrupted, delayed, reduced, or on snow routing. Even though weather in the morning may be clear, leave from a bus stop or park-and-ride that also has service when buses are on snow routes in case travel conditions deteriorate by the afternoon commute.
