I was going to post Monday evening, but thought I better wait at least another day and see how things go. As you may have heard traffic on I-5 has been better than expected both Monday and Tuesday and at the time I am writing this it is good as well. Perhaps the coolest mode of transportation in my opinion, the Sounder, carried 6,709 people on Monday and about 1000 less on Tuesday. I hope that the influx of new riders will like it and stick with it, certainly, it has to be better than driving alone. This shows that Seattle has the capability of using transit and taking cars off the road! Certainly Sounder wasn’t the only mode to experience increased ridership, the water taxi had 500+ people cross Elliot Bay, Metro had normal levels on Monday and increased levels on Tuesday. This may be people not able to get on Sounder? Who knows. I have read a lot in the local paper comment sections that this was planned, it is a conspiracy that Seattle chose to do this at the time the ST 2 vote was coming up. I have 2 thoughts on that, first being if it is a conspiracy, that is some effective planning across many sections of government in our state, which is extremely unlikely to happen and invalidates that possibility. Second, if it was a conspiracy, which I don’t think it was, maybe it is a good thing to show people this is a good alternative to riding alone? I see nothing wrong with that? It goes to show you that riding transit is a mindset. Certainly there are problems with transit, but without riders you won’t see any changes. Of course, there has to be a Yes vote on ST2 ballot to help. Transit can work and will work in Seattle. All these people could have stayed in their car and dealt with backups to Tacoma, but they didn’t! I think it’s a sign. More transit!
All posts by Nick L
Nick was the second blogger to join Seattle Transit Blog.
Bus Tunnel Security
King County Metro is making some changes in security when the opening of the tunnel occurs in September according to the Seattle PI. Basically KCM is renting cops to patrol the tunnel during operating hours. Previously it used to be 2 Seattle Police officers patrolling each station that were off duty and working overtime. It appears that will continue to be the case except they won’t be Seattle Police. Due to the rise in concern of safety on 3rd Avenue up above, this has people a little nervous. The new cops will be connected and a quick response away from real authority. However, they will not have authority to arrest or carry weapons.
Metro paid about $1.5 million annually to hire the off-duty Seattle
officers, Jacobson said. O’Neill said officers were paid a flat rate with no
overtime.
The new plan will cost about $1.7 million, including $984,000 for a
contract with Olympic Security Services Inc. of SeaTac and $770,000 for the
Sheriff’s Office to hire the additional commissioned officers for its Metro
unit, Jacobson said.
Do you feel this is a bad move? Would it prevent you from using the tunnel? I am excited to see it open again, I know I will be using it. I am not sure why now the plan is 200K more than prior service? The tunnel has been an example of cleanliness and safety in transit systems. I hope it continues to stay that way.
Numbers Shine for Sound Transit
Sound Transit released some stats on 2nd Quarter performance and their hard work is starting to pay off! Total ridership on Sounder, Link light rail, and Express buses went up 11% compared to last year. The Sounder alone went up 20% while Express buses went up 10% and Link light rail 2%. This is awesome, especially since Central Link isn’t even completed yet. In fact they had 3.5 Million people use Sound Transit in the 2nd Quarter. When Central Link is completed and rolling on its rails, I only see Sound Transit going up. In my perfect world, when ST Link is running to Everett and Redmond, the numbers will be as high as some other larger cities perhaps? San Francisco? Chicago?
Speaking of ridership the 19 days of pain are almost here, and as you may have heard Sound Transit added a Sounder round trip run for a total of 5 runs. The new trip starts in Puyallup at 6:17am and returns leaving King Street at 4:50pm. They have tweaked the normal schedule so make sure to take a peek if you are a regular. I see this as really the only way to sanity during this stretch of time. It will show the region that we need grade separated transit badly. In fact I hope people will use Sounder and see that it is the way to go even with all I-5 available. It provides Sound Transit with a great opportunity to showcase the Commuter Rail. So tell everyone about it that can use this awesome service. Too bad they couldn’t do 9 or 10 round trip runs! However Sound Transit is the agency that is adding service on buses and trains during the I-5 maintenance project. King County Metro is not adding any additional service as they are maxed out. Is anyone trying Sounder out for the first time? What are you doing to avoid this mess? Vacation? The coffee shop idea Mayor Nickels was talking about?
Double the Fun!
I am sure you may have seen the new Double Decker bus used by Community Transit, if not I snapped the photo above so you could see the massiveness. Community Transit is the second agency in the U.S. to put this type of bus into its regular service, the only other being Las Vegas. Unfortunately, I don’t use the CT route that uses this particular bus, but I have got to imagine the views are awesome! The bus seats 67 with room for 20 standing which is double a regular 40′ bus in the same footprint. I wonder how this compares to the articulated buses? The route 402 is currently using the bus as a testing period which will last approximately two weeks, before it rotates to another route for additional testing by Community Transit. I saw the release on the news and there was a lady who wouldn’t get on cause she was afraid it would hit the overpasses. It does clear the overpasses so don’t worry if that is stopping you. Has anyone rode the Double Decker yet? Any first impressions? I am glad to see CT pushing the envelope for innovation in modern transportation, it shows that this region is serious about transportation.
3rd Ave to Remain Tranist Only
As Andrew mentioned in an earlier post, Mayor Greg Nickels made an official announcement on Friday that 3rd Avenue will in fact remain a transit only corridor according to the Seattle PI.
Eighteen Metro bus routes, now above ground, will reroute to the tunnel
when it reopens, but 22 others will move to Third Avenue from First, Second and
Fourth avenues, theoretically freeing up space on those streets. That means
overall bus traffic will increase on Third once the tunnel reopens.“By shifting … buses onto Third, the buses will move more quickly and
there’ll be less disruption to traffic,”
This is good that the city is making transit priority. Especially since the people have become accustomed to having that restriction on 3rd Ave, the September shakeup should be really noticeable for downtown traffic.
Queen Anne Getting on the Bus
I found these cool advertising posters all over Lower Queen Anne (Uptown) recently, and thought at first that it was SDOT getting people to consider riding the bus. However, I did a little research and apparently there is a contest/pledge involved with this. Upon signing up for this you will receive 10 Metro tickets and some other goodies. This is put on by In Motion who has teamed up with SDOT, King County Metro, Uptown Alliance, The Greater Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce and Uptown merchants. Apparently there are prizes that you can win during your pledge of riding the bus, carpooling, walking, or biking. Plus as an added bonus if you are caught wearing your In Motion pin, you could win instantly. Sounds like a good deal to me, although I typically am not lucky in these types of situations. There are a few kickers however, you must live or work in Queen Anne specifically in the 98109 or 98119 zip codes (Sad times for me), own a car (you got to have something to reduce), and you must be 16. I think this is a cool way to get people to try making a commitment and potentially making it fun and enjoyable. It also helps get people that typically would be single occupants in one vehicle off the road. Of course, getting them on is one thing, keeping them on is another. Perhaps they will see the benefits outweigh the negatives. Also, if you like me, are kinda bummed out that it isn’t in your neighborhood, apparently it will make its rounds, next up is South Lake Union in the fall. It will be difficult when light rail gets here as it is hard to rhyme, although Get on the Train Jane, sounds cool? Perhaps this is why I don’t come up with these slogans! Is anyone participating in the In Motion contest? I’d be interested to see how much it increases ridership. Sorry for sub par pic, it was foggy, I didn’t want people to think I was too nerdy so I snapped and walked away.
Walkable Neighborhoods
Walking around Pike Place Market (by Greekafella- Wikipedia)
I found an interesting site the other night that rates your neighborhood in terms of walkability. The website Walkscore will search a specific address or whole zip code and based on their algorithm will calculate how walkable your area is. Things that influence scores are being in an area with a center or main street, being close to parks, restaurants, grocery stores, and many other things people go to. In my curiosity I then plugged in my address here in Seattle and it scored a 63 out of 100. I then plugged in every address I could think of. My hometown of Boise sadly was 0. I would have suspected as much though, Boise being extremely car-centric and very spread out. I read their website which basically describes the importance of walkability and they mention transit being important for walkable neighborhoods, however, they don’t use transit in their algorithm which they state is a flaw. Perhaps I would receive a 75-80 I am close to 4 bus lines. They show the importance of transit friendly, dense neighborhoods that help create happy neighborhoods and thriving businesses with plenty of foot traffic to keep them busy. Walking promotes social interaction, reduces C02, and helps promote good health in general. I realize this may be a utopia, but I think it is definitely able to be done. Interestingly, where I work in South Lake Union scored in the high 80’s if I remember correctly (I plugged a lot of addresses) I wonder if the streetcar shoots that up higher to 100 perhaps with a new algorithm? How does your neighborhood score? What might make it higher?
Tukwila Station Resembling Jet City
We are approaching July 2009 (I know we have a while yet), for me personally it couldn’t come fast enough. Certainly you don’t want to wish your life away, but I am really excited for Link. The Seattle Times had a nice article today describing the design of the Tukwila light rail station, which I thought was really cool. The V shape apparently is supposed to represent where the two wings meet the fuselage of a real jet. I have a hard time seeing this, but hey, what a unique way to represent Jet City! I admit, some art I just don’t see! In my fascination with the work of Sound Transit, I didn’t realize this station was the only one with a park and ride facility. I thought at first that it was in a weird spot, but after seeing the graphics on this article, I am convinced otherwise, it actually will be in a good spot for commuters. One reason to check the link is there are lots of pictures of the station, which is nice, because everytime I pass by I am always preoccupied on the bus getting my stuff/luggage ready to enter/leave SeaTac. Being on the freeway makes it hard to stop and look as well! I hear there are some awesome views off the platforms of the Tukwila station too. Pretty cool bonus for the commuter! However the real tingly feeling will come when you wisk by the traffic on I-5 as you cross over the freeway!
Sounder carries 7 Million!
Before its seventh anniversary Sound Transit’s Sounder has carried more than 7 million people to Seattle from Tacoma and Everett hassle free and best of all congestion free! My guess is that the ridership is about to skyrocket, especially in August when the I-5 nightmare begins. Sound Transit and King County Metro will be re-routing all routes that travel through the construction zones. This will be an excellent time to use Sounder. In fact, Sound Transit is allowing standing room to be used during this project. Again this is one of many reasons that show the importance of having rail separated from traffic. Sounder thrived in the snowstorms of 06-07, cruises right along when there are multiple accidents backing up I-5, and hey heavy rain…no problem for Sounder! I know one thing with backups from Seattle to Tacoma expected, I would hate to be that single occupant driver inching along I-5 in August. I think it is really unfortunate that they can’t add additional trains for the construction, but those that ride the Sounder and convert to using this awesome form of transportation they will be in luck because Sound Transit will be adding additional routes including a reverse route in the September shake up. I do wish I could ride the Sounder daily, perhaps someday it will be running all day and night? Anything you would change about Sounder? Anyone planning on starting to use it during construction woes?
Gas usage in Washington is lowest since 1968
An article today in the Seattle PI shows that gas use in Washington State is the lowest it has been in more than three decades. This is great! However there is still work to be done. Our neighbors to the north are using 2.8 gallons of gas per week per capita less than Washingtonians. Looking at the largest cities in these perspective regions (Seattle and Vancouver), this is possible because the densities of the two cities are very different. Vancouver is a little more than double the density of Seattle at 13,602.6/sq. mi. which would require less gasoline usage to get to and from the city. Seattle having a much larger metropolitan population means we are more spread out creating demand for more gasoline. However I think this article compliments Andrew’s nice blogs on Density and the string of density related articles coming from the PI lately.
“While mass transit is becoming more widely available and building restrictions have forced more dense development, the gradual decrease — starting in 1999 — seems to also be tied to the increase in gas prices, said Clark Williams-Derry, the Sightline research director of the Cascadia Scorecard 2007 report released in June”.
This is key to building a well-oiled transportation system. Density places more people at the doorstep of transit. If available, people will forget they ever depended on cars.
“The lower rate of consumption is partly because of decade-old development rules focused on creating “compact, complete communities,” said Peter Ladner… “.
I think our development is starting to head in this direction as well, take for instance Kent. The development of Kent Station has made living in Kent and the commuting much easier. If we can start making the cities we have more dense, and develop them around a reasonable transportation system, this will make for a better environment overall.