Center City Connector survives budget hurdle, may see improvements
Last week, the Seattle City Council Budget Committee reviewed SDOT funding for 2018, and some members appeared ready to reconsider city funding for the Center City Connector. The Mayor’s budget proposal would finance $50 million of the projects $177 million capital cost via bond sales backed by Commercial Parking Tax revenues. Another $14 million is funded via utility funds, with the balance from other sources including $83 million in federal grants.
To amend the Mayor’s budget, the first procedural step is a “green sheet” sponsored by three Council Members (so called because they were once printed on green sheets of paper). In a lengthy Committee discussion last week, Lisa Herbold, Kshama Sawant, and Kirsten Harris-Talley all appeared likely to support such an amendment. The deadline for submitting amendments was on Thursday, October 19.
The green sheets were published this morning ahead of a 9.30AM meeting of the Budget Committee. No proposal to reduce or delay Connector funding appeared. This moves forward the Mayor’s proposal to fund the streetcar as the budget is finalized over the next four weeks.
There was no comment at this morning’s meeting why members hadn’t introduced a green sheet proposal. Instead, CM Mike O’Brien introduced a Statement of Legislative Intent to extend additional funding for “speed and reliability recommendations for the South Lake Union and First Hill streetcar lines”. The SLI is co-sponsored by Council Members Sally Bagshaw, Lorena González, Rob Johnson, and Kshama Sawant. SLIs do not specify funding levels, but indicate a policy direction that Council Members wish for staff to evaluate.
Continue reading “Center City Connector survives budget hurdle, may see improvements”
| 55 commentsAre Ride-Hailing Services Helping or Hurting Transit?
As ride-hailing services grow in popularity and transit use declines in many cities, a new study reports Uber and Lyft are luring bus and light rail riders from the public transportation system. The study collected data from 7 major U.S. cities, including Seattle.
Previous studies suggested shared mobility services were complementing public transit, but researchers at the U.C. Davis Institute of Transportation Studies found ride-hailing services have reduced the use of bus services by 6 percent and light rail by 3 percent. The data did show ride-hailing serving as a complementary mode of transportation with commuter rail services, with ridership increasing 3 percent. High-quality, long-haul transit actually benefits from improved access while short-haul, low-quality transit has a lot to lose.
A 2016 U.C. Berkeley study found that of Seattle’s 54,000 Car2Go members at the time, about 3 percent sold their car and a further 9 percent abandoned plans to purchase another. Although most Car2Go users increased their Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) by moving trips from transit to Car2Go, this gain in VMT was more than offset by people that sold their vehicles and therefore paid for car use by the mile.
However, there are important differences in ride-hailing and car-sharing; cost, ease of access, and likelihood of traveling in a group.
“Although we found that ride-hailing can be complementary to transit and reduce vehicle ownership for a small portion of individuals, we found that (overall) these services currently facilitate a shift away from more sustainable modes towards low occupancy vehicles in major cities,” wrote the lead author of the report, Regina Clewlow, in a statement.
“It’s a sign that those transit systems aren’t meeting the needs of the traveling public,” said Andrew Glass Hastings, transit and mobility director at SDOT.
However, with increasing transit ridership in Seattle, that conclusion doesn’t apply here, said Hastings. Instead, he argued that “we can’t meet demand fast enough, and ride-hailing services are filling that need.”
With Seattle’s rising transit ridership, Hastings said other cities are beginning to follow the city’s lead reconfiguring their transit and street system, in part by prioritizing lanes for transit. And SDOT continues to make investments in HOV lanes, Hastings said, pointing to the seven RapidRide corridors planned — two-thirds of the Madison Street BRT line will be a dedicated transit lane.
Continue reading “Are Ride-Hailing Services Helping or Hurting Transit?”
I-405 express lanes successful, necessary for I-405 BRT
WSDOT’s express toll lanes on I-405 opened in September 2015. Having recently passed the two-year mark, the Legislature may consider next year whether they should continue. At stake is not only the improved efficiencies of the managed lanes. As Peter Rogoff highlighted last week, an end to tolling would force a rethink of the Sound Transit BRT program that only makes sense if buses can move reliably in well-managed lanes. The loss of tolling revenues would also defer highway investments benefiting drivers.
By many measures, the lanes have been a success. At peak, each express lane carries more vehicles than each general-purpose lane. In some places, vehicle throughput in the tolled lanes is up to 30% greater than the regular lanes. Overall, the busiest parts of the corridor are now transporting 20% more vehicles, or 30% more people, than before. Pricing allows more people to travel with greater reliability and higher speeds than the congested GP lanes.
The lanes have been popular with drivers from the beginning. Politically, they were less favored at first. Improved operations, a strategic retreat on night and weekend tolling, and toll-funded investments at the north end, have made the lanes more popular.
Transit Performance: The lanes also deliver faster and more reliable transit performance. Metro travel times on I-405 have improved 15-29% in the PM peak, and 3-7% in AM peak. Community Transit times have improved 7% northbound, and are more reliable in both directions. In 2015, Community Transit added $2.6m in schedule maintenance costs on I-5 (added service hours so buses could arrive at their scheduled times). Community Transit has not needed to make similar investments in the more reliable I-405 corridor. The variability of travel times on I-5 remains twice that of I-405.
Sound Transit reports a +1% improvement in performance on I-405 routes, vs. a 6% deterioration on other routes in the same time. Ridership has increased 4%. Continue reading “I-405 express lanes successful, necessary for I-405 BRT”
| 57 commentsSunday Open Thread: tram testing
Dublin’s Luas is a light rail tram system with two lines in service. Luas Cross City is an extension through the core of the city that will also connect the existing lines. It is anticipated to open for revenue service in December.
42 commentsIssues to Watch in the Seattle ST3 Alignment
Last month, Sound Transit announced an ambitious plan to wrap up alternatives analysis in 18 months for the Ballard-to-West Seattle ST3 plan. They’re not promising that this will actually bring delivery forward from 2030 for West Seattle and 2035 for Ballard, but it should reduce risk of further slippage.
We have a pretty good idea of where this line will go, as indicated by the “representative alignment” at right. However, there are three interesting questions that will affect how much this project costs and how many people it serves. Remember also that money is time; a more expensive project increases risk of not having enough money in time, and slipping out opening day by a few years.
The ship canal crossing. In a guest post last month, Seattle Subway covered a lot of the issues. A relatively inexpensive bridge would include a drawbridge that would open fairly frequently. More height means fewer openings and more costs. This is a fairly clear tradeoff of budget and schedule risk for escalating train reliability.
Or, with more cost and technical risk, Sound Transit could tunnel under the crossing. Given the depths involved, this would mean running deep underground through a lot of Ballard. This limits the number of potential stations but also avoids various mitigation headaches.
Similarly, a relatively low crossing could replace the current Ballard Bridge, with adequate space for cars, pedestrians, bikes, and transit. SDOT loves this idea because it would take paying for it off their plate.
Midtown Station. The default is for this station is 5th & Madison, which is well within the walkshed of today’s stations. Pushing the station further up Madison would bring dense neighborhoods and massive ridership generators into the system. Besides a pile of apartments, adding the hospitals and even Seattle University to the high-capacity transit network would right a historic wrong.
On the other hand, the downtown tunnel would have to be a few hundred meters longer, and the station would have to be deeper. Both would increase cost and risk. Moreover, it would require two undercrossings of I-5 instead of zero. Sound Transit performed this technically complicated operation once to build University Link, and has little interest in doing so again. Lastly, the known coalition in favor currently consists of the First Hill Improvement Association, a certain high-level transportation official, and me. That’s not enough.
Alaska Junction. From well before the ST3 vote, the segment to West Seattle has always been advertised as an elevated segment. For fans of Chicago, Tokyo, or the Seattle Monorail Project, segments of elevated track are a delightful part of an urban scene and often a welcome respite from the rain.
However, it’s worth observing that this region has never built elevated track through heavily populated areas. Sound Transit has always opted for an underground, retained cut, or surface alignment after receiving community input. Opposition even forced the monorail off Second Avenue, onto the current track on Fifth, before it died. Undoubtedly, some people will look at mockups like this West Seattle Blog photo and be horrified. Or they will ask — simplistically — why others are getting a tunnel and they are not.
That said, burying that track is essentially a beautification project, while the other modifications would be material improvements to the efficiency or usefulness of the train. So it’s a little harder to justify spending more money and possibly delaying delivery.
******
There is a very real tension between getting everything cheaply, and as soon as possible, and having light rail do everything we would like it to do. The coming process will be a strong indication of what people really care about most.
133 commentsMetro shuttle service to Seahawks games ends
Metro will no longer operate shuttle service from several park-and-rides to Seahawks games at CenturyLink Field.
The news came in an email from the Seahawks to season ticket holders:
The Federal Transit Administration has ruled that Metro Transit is no longer permitted to operate its game day bus service from the Eastgate, South Kirkland and Northgate park-and-ride lots. Seahawks fans that normally use this bus service will need to find alternate means of getting to CenturyLink Field for Seahawks games.
There are a number of great alternatives already in place, including regular Metro service, Sound Transit ST Express buses, Sounder Trains, and Light Rail service.
To find the best mode of transportation to CenturyLink Field on gamedays, visit Metro’s Trip Planner. Enter your address and find schedule information for transit options throughout the Puget Sound.
Long-time readers and Seahawks fans will recall that FTA rules restricting shuttle operations to sports events are not new. In 2008, the FTA declared that public transit operators could not operate shuttles to sports events if a private charter operator was willing to do so. After a charter operator entered the market, Metro was unable to offer game-day shuttles. Metro shuttles were restored in 2010, thanks to an appropriations bill amendment inserted by Senator Patty Murray. The amendment granted Metro an exemption from the FTA rule. The charter operators who had briefly taken Metro’s place were more expensive, less convenient to access, and did not accommodate handicapped fans. A subsequent lawsuit by charter operators against the Murray amendment was unsuccessful.
Metro’s exemption expired in 2016. During the 2016 season and early 2017 season, as Metro spokesperson Jeff Switzer explained to us, the Seahawks contracted for game-day operations and that partner subcontracted to Metro. The Seahawks now appear to have ended the arrangement with their contractor.
Continue reading “Metro shuttle service to Seahawks games ends”
| 37 commentsNews Roundup: Natal Creeks
- Portland for Everyone has an in-depth piece on an “anti-McMansion compromise” rezoning currently before their city council. It’s thoughtful and well written, and it makes me sad that our political leaders ran headlong away from a much more timid duplex proposal, at the first sign of NIMBY homeowner backlash.
- Portland sets priorities for how to spend $258 million affordable housing bond.
- Architects Newspaper discusses the history and context of proposed improvements to Freeway Park.
- Concerns over 14-story development project in the International District erupt at community meeting.
- PSRC is updating their regional growth center strategy and the Urbanist goes deep.
- Yes, SDOT is still working on 35th Ave SW.
- Auburn deciding where they should ask ST to build their next parking monstrosity.
- Cubed Seattle compares what you can get for $1,300 in this town. I like the LQA studio.
- San Diego’s regional transit agency gets vote-weighting reform that should shift the balance of power to urban areas.
- The Times wants to know ($) where you’d put more all-way walk intersections.
- Spokane Valley is no Seattle, but it’s maturing away from its surburban roots. Maybe they’ll stop reelecting Matt Shea? We can only hope.
- Spokane considering a historic-preservation ordinance; it is to be hoped it won’t take away from housing capacity.
- Seattle’s Office of Sustainability & Environment is running an interesting survey on disaster resilience; transit and transportation are explicitly things you can flag as a concern.
- Nashville contemplating a downtown tunnel for their light rail line.
- Drivers exhibit racial bias in obeying marked crosswalks, and rampantly ignore unmarked crosswalks.
- Some guy in a pickup truck almost ran over STB contributor David Seater.
- Meanwhile, autonomous cars are getting hit by human drivers because they actually obey traffic rules and drive defensively.
- The next mayor will need to be a traffic cop. Classic Doug MacDonald: articulate, exasperated, and generally right.
- The Atlantic asks three Seattle folks how to get more people to ride transit.
- SDOT pushes back on the #GivePedsTheGreen campaign with the a pair of disheartening, condescending blog posts that conflate and confuse the campaign’s primary demand.
- Citylab has a pair of great pieces: Obesity Thrives in the Suburbs and How Transit Use Could Rise in Rural America.
- Michael Goldman at the Urbanist has a four point plan for making Seattle housing affordable. I’d rate the ideas, respectively, as: great; great; meh; and right in principle, but not yet politically plausible.
- WSDOT considers closing a dangerous I-90 on-ramp in Spokane. Good job, WSDOT.
- The Spokane Regional Transportation Council is performing an update to their Horizon 2040 plan, and taking public comments. Reading the current draft, it appears to be the usual schizophrenic mix: pages of prose extolling the importance of demand management, cost-effective multi-modal investments, transit, biking and walking; coupled with a long list of planned highway and arterial capacity projects which will accomplish exactly the opposite of what the Council claims to want.
- Road runoff kills Coho as they return to spawn in their natal creeks; die-off rates are proportional to traffic volume, “tire dust” is one possible culprit.
- The North Broadway streetcar extension seems close to dead.
- Seattle Weekly tries to tease out the underlying difference between Grant and Mosqueda on housing policy.
- “Cities like San Francisco and Seattle … should pay more attention to who can afford to work in their schools.”
- Ex-Metro GM Desmond is leading TransLink onwards and upwards.
- Downtown Tacoma is blowin’ up.
- Light-rail over I-90 bridge wins Popular Science award.
This is an open thread.
46 commentsSupporting Transit-Oriented Development
Credit: VIA Architecture
Building transit doesn’t automatically bring growth and development. Just look at the Rainier Beach Station: eight years after opening, there are still are no multi-story apartment buildings towering over the track or mixed-use retail lining Martin Luther King Drive. Instead, there is little new development aside from a series of townhomes to the northwest.
In recent months during the working week, on average roughly 1,980 riders boarded the train daily at that station — about a quarter less than at other nearby stations.
“Why does transit-oriented development happen in some places, but not others?” was a questioned posed to a panel of for-profit developers speaking during Building Transit, Building Opportunity. The day-long conference, organized by the Puget Sound Regional Council, focused on techniques used around the region to build transit-oriented development.
“Upzone, that’s really the most important thing,” said Eric Campbell, CEO of Mainstreet Property Group, offering his advice to cities preparing for light rail. “The quicker we get there and think about what we are planning, the [sooner the] reinvestment will happen.”
And think big, don’t just do 10-acre upzones, he added.
Campbell pointed to Kirkland as an example. Because the city is not upzoning, older single-families are being torn down and replaced by larger homes. That doesn’t add density to the city, a key ingredient in creating walkable communities linked by transit.
Continue reading “Supporting Transit-Oriented Development”
| 27 commentsSTB Endorsements Beyond Seattle for November 7
These are Seattle Transit Blog’s endorsements for the November 7, 2017 elections outside Seattle. In Seattle, we endorsed Cary Moon for Mayor; and Teresa Mosqueda and Lorena González for City Council.
As always, we choose candidates entirely based on their positions and record on transit and land use.
.
45th Legislative District, Senate: Manka Dhingra supports the continued expansion of the regional transit network. Her opponent, Republican party operative Jinyoung Lee Englund, is focused on “skyrocketing car tabs” and familiar but ill-defined promises to reduce traffic congestion. Lee Englund is likely to continue the current Senate majority’s attacks on Sound Transit if elected.
King County Executive: Dow Constantine has a long list of accomplishments, including ST3, ORCA LIFT, the multi-agency U-Link restructure, the end of Metro’s 40/40/20 rule that kept it from rolling out new service in Seattle, getting ST into the transit-oriented development and affordable housing business, and the list goes on. Constantine’s opponent is running to oppose East Link.
Continue reading “STB Endorsements Beyond Seattle for November 7”
| 11 comments