With the sudden end to Colorado Railcar Manufacturing LLC, announced on December 23rd, 2008, left a huge hole in a unique market; The end of the only Ultra Dome passenger cars and the end of the only known FRA-Compliant Diesel-Multiple-Unit. The rest after the jump
I’d like to address four issues associated with proposed fare structure: one offers new information, the second discusses drawbacks of different fare approaches, the third addresses the ride-free zone, and the fourth affects South Seattle specifically.
On January 7 Sound Transit CEO Joni Earl sent letters to the local Congressional delegation requesting funding of a number of projects within the framework of the planned economic stimulus. STB has obtained a copy of one of these letters. The attached project list is more along the lines of what we’d been hoping for, …
Southeast Seattle isn’t the only area of the county that’s going to see big bus service changes when Link opens: the Pacific Highway corridor will see not only light rail service, but soon afterwards RapidRide. Our coverage of the first proposal is here. There are changes proposed to the 126, 128, 140, 154, 170, 174, …
The awesome photo on the right by Oran shows where Link crosses over the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) tracks that Sounder and Amtrak run on. At that spot was planned a transfer station between northbound Sounder riders to Link on their way to Sea-Tac, the Boeing Access Road station. Apparently, BNSF needs the space for freight operations there, …
So much news, so little time. The Central District News went to a Rainier Station open house and has some new information about the station. It’s great to see that the station will have entrances on 23rd Ave as well as Rainier. Here’s an aerial shot of the place the station will occupy. It doesn’t look …
The Chamber Group Simple Measures, performing on the Streetcar, via the PI big blog. The Nedler amendment that would tack on another $3 billion in transit funding to the Stimulus package has passed the House Rules Committee and is heading to the House floor. Email your congressional delegation and urge them to vote yes on the amendment. …
In the last ST Board meeting video, Sound Transit CEO Joni Earl described how stimulus funds could be given to Sound Transit. I learned some interesting facts on how the stimulus package will work in our region. Obviously, these could change as amendments come around, and as the conference committee meets after the Senate passes their …
Martin noted the cost and ridership numbers Sound Transit and the PSRC came up in a study of commuter rail on the Eastside BNSF lines. Comparing these numbers to previous estimates by pro-Eastside BNSF groups and to the costs of the services Sound Transit is operating or planning to, it becomes apparent that passenger rail service …
Continue reading “Opinion: Eastside BNSF Commuter Rail is Dead”
Andrew recently had a thoughtful post on how HB 1490, the Transit Oriented Communities bill, could backfire by making neighborhoods less inclined to accept transit service. There’s less reason to fear that now, as the latest version of the bill,which hit the street Friday night, significantly waters down some density requirements, while still being a …
Continue reading “HB 1490: Less Land-Use Impact than Before”
I wrote a post arguing for increased density on Beacon Hill over at the Beacon Hill Blog. I’ve cross-posted the text here below the fold, and turned off the comments, so the discussion can happen over there and hopefully we can change some minds in that neighborhood.
Here’s the “short list” of stimulus projects for the PSRC‘s FTA grants. The PSRC expects to get $135 million in FTA money for these projects. As you notice, there’s $316 million in projects here, so the actual grants are 42.5% of the list here in terms of cost. Thanks again to Rick Olson of the …
The PRSC has released the preliminary list of projects that will receive FTA grants from the stimulus bill in our area. Here’s a map of the projects, and here’s the pdf of the list. There’s a lot of money for new buses, $1 million for the monorail (!!!) and even $341,000 for preventative maintence on …
I managed to head out and get some photos of Link doing some testing today and uploaded it to my Smugmug account. Link normally does testing starting on the mornings and goes until 8pm. As of late, the trains have been running between Tukwila Station and Rainier Beach Station. They are doing full speed testing …
The Puget Sound Regional Council has released their approved project list to receive funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The only change from the initial staff recommendations is that the Metro hybrid bus purchase fund has been increased by $3m, by zeroing out funding for a Burien TOD project (I think it’s …
There has been a few e-mails regarding taking Sounder to see the Sounders FC and your in luck, at least for one direction. Those who live near the South Sounder line can hop on the 4:45pm train departing Tacoma to Seattle and get to today’s opening game of the Seattle Sounders FC vs New York …
