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And if you're heading north it's quite easy to get onto the train at SODO. The bus drops you off right next to the platform. You can hop on board in just moments.

Huh? Stadium is by far the easiest place to transfer southbound from Link. Only reason you wouldn't is to get a better seat. The stop is very close it's only a couple minutes to walk. Some of the scheduling sucks but worst case if you miss your 101/150 the next one comes in 10 minutes during peak. Now if you ride a low frequency local route there is a risk, so it's better to take the previous train to Westlake and transfer there. Often times they use a 40 foot bus and it gets packed, so best to get a...

One advantage about putting like rail tracks along freeways is that it’s free advertising for Link. If a freeway driver didn’t see the tracks, they may not be reminded that the train is an option to driving.

Yeah, it makes more sense to just pair it with a bus. A fair number of the riders are not interested in going to CID -- they just to go the other end of Broadway. Paring with a bus like the 60 would make the 60 faster while also increasing effective headways on Broadway for a lot of existing streetcar riders.

Bus only lanes on Broadway? That’s not going to happen. Right. Nor will they add bus lanes on Westlake. Or on Denny. Oh, wait... Of course it is challenging to add bus lanes to Broadway. But the existence of the streetcar makes it worse. If you were just dealing with buses you would take away parking and add skip-ahead here and there (like they will for the 40 and various RapidRide projects). But that is made more difficult because the streetcar can't just change lanes. Even if Katie Wilson went all in on transit lanes, the next more car friendly...

It doesn't work for transferring is my point. If you're going to transfer then get off in the transit tunnel, not on the busway.

More recently you have the DC Streetcar. It failed so badly they are going to replace it with a bus. Other streetcars are like SLU -- mostly symbolic transit. These are clearly failures but they are keeping them around anyway. So the idea that "rail can't fail" is ridiculous.

I remember the Lynnwood Park and Ride lot filling up (https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/lynnwood-light-rail-is-super-popular-but-theres-a-problem/). Given that, drivers are bound to find other lots to park in. I agree with Al, their should be real-time monitoring. You should be able to use your phone to figure out which lots have more space. In any event, it sounds like drivers have shifted to other stations. I'm not sure if the Federal Way lot is quite that full. It might be, but the dynamic might be different.

I’m not sure if “inflated” is the right description here. Every station has some passengers who only use it as a transfer to other modes (often buses). Stations with a lot of transfer opportunities will have more riders in this group (Lynnwood, Northgate, UW, Westlake, CID, Tukwila, Federal Way). Stations served by only one or two bus routes will still have some transfer ridership, but most passengers will be from the local area.

I think that's great feature and need to be built into navigation software. A lot of cities have dedicated some resource to travel demand management. I think having a feed like that is a great strategy for TDM. I think this is the most informative piece to keep drivers from driving. Finding out parking is full at entrance is too late. The VMT has already been generated.

I think every DSTT station is inflated. The transfer demand forecasted at two downtown tunnel transfer stations can also be inflated. Some people using DSTT today might go to somewhere in the middle of DSTT and proposed new tunnel whatever alignment that is. It is hard to prove that because a transit corridor align with proposed second tunnel doesn't exist.

“ I wouldn’t recommend to use that station because as I said getting off there has a good chance of missing your 150 or 594.” I’m not sure what you mean. Both of these routes stop on the busway next to the Link station so there’s no need to even worry about Link if you’re coming from or going to either stadium.

Any such revenue will have many and better alternative projects to fund. The CC or CCC Streetcar would have been a poor use of capital, ROW, and service subsidy. A cordon toll would improve bus flow; that is what happened in London and NYC.

The Roy Extension was silly.

re the article ST had a sham study on alternatives; the Board, led by Nickels wanted a streetcar. Objectively, electric trolleybus would have been a better choice. The overhead was already in place. Sadly, at that time, Metro was in a fiscal crisis and an audit suggested giving up on the ETB. That notion was beat back. Also, the current ETB fleets were high floor. Now, Metro has low floor ETB. Jamming the FHSC through an ETB network took extraordinary effort and special overhead. After all of that, the FHSC uses battery power on much of its alignment. That alignment...

“I wonder and am concerned with the poor coordination between ST and Metro…” Metro needs lead time to develop possible driver assignments and bid them out to the drivers well before a service change. When ST gives only 10 weeks notice in opening date, I can see how Metro can’t make changes that fast. Keep in mind that Metro not only has had different Link extensions coming online covering much the county outside of Seattle, they also have RapidRide projects in development too. Unless there’s a budget crisis, Stride looks like the only thing that would initiate new Metro restructuring...

Seattle may have spent STM funds on Route 106. The Route 107 headway is still anemic at 15/30.

Cities throughout the US had streetcars that failed. That included Seattle, Tacoma, and Spokane. All three NW cities developed around streetcars. The Seattle urban villages are linear along streetcar lines. Many streetcars were began by developers and later acquired by banks, utilities, or municipalities. Streetcars were changed; in Ballard several changed before the 1940 end. The Rainier Avenue South streetcar was ended before the rest of the network. My grandmother rode a streetcar between Fern Hill and downtown Tacoma; the fare was a nickel. Some streetcars were intercity; see the two Interurbans here; they were ended after SR-99 was provided....

Al S. I did not catch what text you were quoting. But yes, Link openings and bus network changes have usually been better timed; see March 2016, fall 2021, fall 2024. In 2025 and 2026, both the FWLE and East Link changes are awkward. Part is due to the plinth issue and ST's concern about overloading the 1 Line. Lynnwood Link changes are phased around East Link translake service and the Pinehurst station. In 2009-2010, the Link openings were in July and December and the bus changes lagged a bit, in fall 2009 and February 2010. I wonder and am...

One interesting fact to consider is that people without cars choose between similar shops or restaurants differently from how people with cars do. People with cars are focused on minimizing drive time and ease of parking. People without will first pick something close enough to walk to and, if that's not possible, focus on the the quantity of the transit. This often means picking a place further away if it's next to a Link station over a place that's nominally closer, but requires a slow, infrequent bus to get to. And, of course, if the place by the Link station...

It's not that simple. You have to balance Link access against all the other trips people want make in the region, with constraints on service hours. CT could have restructured things such that every local bus took the most direct route to the nearest Link station, but then many local trips that don't involve Link would require out-of-the-way detours and transfers. No matter what they do, it's not possible to please everyone.

Let's not forget that Stadium has the worst ridership in the link network outside of the new stations. I wouldn't recommend to use that station because as I said getting off there has a good chance of missing your 150 or 594.

I suspect Westlake is inflated by including everyone transferring to SLU.

I agree. The number of boardings at the stops other than Westlake are notably lower than Capitol Hill and U District. And among the riders Downtown are those that transfer to and from Link to Sounder or buses or the ferries, so they’re not all ending or starting their trips downtown. It helps to illustrate that Link should be viewed as a multi-purpose regional service rather than one to mainly carry workers to daytime Downtown Seattle office jobs. It’s a stark contrast to BART, where the all Downtown San Francisco stations get much higher use.

Yeah, having a protected walking connection at Federal Way between the garage and platform with activity along it would be a great thing to create! It’s hard to make those things really work well economically even if the development objectives encourage that. A similar cautionary situation has existed with BART’s San Bruno Station on the back side of Tanforan. The mall owner redeveloped the mall in anticipation of the BART opening and SFO proximity, including adding a food court with a dramatic atrium strategically placed just steps from the BART entrance. The mall has now failed economically and is slated...