10 days until the Downtown Redmond Link Extension opens on May 10. Sound Transit has more opening day details.

Seattle ST3 Project Updates:

• The Sound Transit Board is still nervous about the cost of the West Seattle and Ballard Link Extensions (West Seattle Blog)
• Meanwhile, Mayor Harrell has proposed legislation aiming to cut permit review times in half for ST3 projects in Seattle (Office of the Mayor)
• … and the FTA officially approved the FEIS for the West Seattle Link Extension (Sound Transit Press Release).

Other Transportation:

• Photos and videos from Sound Transit’s track replacement work that finished up last week (The Platform)
• Commute Seattle’s latest survey (conducted in October 2024) shows commute patterns are still slowly climbing toward pre-pandemic levels (The Seattle Times, $). Also on Metro Matters.
• Mayor Harrell announced additional measures to cut the city’s carbon emissions from transportation, including EV chargers and an e-cargo bike delivery program (KUOW)

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: Nervous” | 134 comments

Shenzhen Metro, staggering powerhouse. (RMTransit)

Shanghai Metro, the world’s largest. (RMTransit)

This is an open thread.

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17 days until the Downtown Redmond Link Extension opens on May 10. Opening day details.

Local Transit & Streets:

• Someone hacked crosswalk buttons to play a fake message from Jeff Bezos saying “This crosswalk is sponsored by Amazon Prime… please don’t tax the rich” (KUOW).
• Major utility work is finally prompting Pike Place Market to test closing Pike Place to general traffic (The Urbanist)
• Seattle City Council and SDOT are planning a major expansion of traffic cameras (The Urbanist)
• With its car ferries often behind schedule, WSDOT is running a 10-week test of supplemental passenger-only service between the San Juans (The Seattle Times, $). Meanwhile, the State Legislature is considering cutting funding for “foot ferries” as it tries to pass a transportation budget with minimal tax increases despite massive basic cost increases (The Urbanist).
• Metro’s new all-electric bus base in Tukwila is almost finished (Metro Matters)

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: Crosswalk Hack” | 159 comments

A walk around Zürich interviewing transportation engineering professor Norman Garrick. (Active Towns) Two rides on very different funiculars at 2:05 and 52:23. The first part of the video is the old town and, at the other end of the first funicular, a university. The middle part after that is a walk through a cemetery, which may be a little slow, but at 39:07 he talks about what North American cities can learn from Zürich. Other points talk about Zürich’s tramways and signal priority (44:17), trolleybuses (46:08), and a suburban tram line (56:30). What strikes me the most is how Zürich puts its inhabitants’ convenience and non-car mobility first; then everything else falls into place. And when it has a specific problem, it keeps trying different things until something works, rather than pointing fingers and not doing anything. Zürich’s population is 450K; the “urban area” is 1.5 million; and the metropolitan area is 2.1 million (defined as within an 80-minute drive from the airport).

This is an open thread.

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24 days until the Downtown Redmond Link Extension opens on May 10. Sound Transit recently announced opening day details.

Local Transit News:

• Surveys! WSDOT is asking for input on revising the state rail plan by June 24. This affects Cascades, Amtrak national lines, freight, and indirectly Sounder. There will be a passenger rail webinar May 22.
• Sound Transit is gathering input for its 2026 operation plan through April 2021. This will determine the ST Express bus restructures for East Link and Federal Way Link, and any changes to other ST Express routes and Sounder services. The phase 1 questions are minimal, but you can put anything you want in the text box.
• SDOT wants to increase Seattle Streetcar fares to $3, matching transit fares across the region (The Urbanist)
• Issaquah has officially adopted a vision for planning of the future terminal station of ST3’s Link 4 Line (The Urbanist)
• A Cascade Bicycle Club video tours a rebuilt section of Eastlake Avenue E around the new Eastlake bus layover facility (Seattle Bike Blog)
• The state legislature is considering giving Sound Transit the ability to issue 75-year bonds to stretch the blown budget of ST3 (The Seattle Times, $)
• All Amtrak Cascades trains are back in service but with reduced seating capacity as of last Monday (Everett Herald).
• Ferries! King County Water Taxi fuel tanks are switching to “renewable” biodiesel (Metro Matter). Meanwhile, Germany just named its first battery-electric seagoing ferry (MarineLog). Kitsap Transit is currently designing a custom battery-electric hydrofoil ferry.
• Sound Transit’s merch store opens today (Instagram)

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: ST Merch” | 177 comments

Where gondolas make sense and where they don’t, La Paz and London edition. (Wendover Productions) The Seattle Gondola Blog continues….

This is an open thread.

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As expected, Line 1 Line service through Downtown Seattle will be severely disrupted starting Monday as crews work to replace a cracked rail between International District/Chinatown Station and Pioneer Square Station. This work will require closure of the southbound tunnel between Westlake and Stadium Stations for 10 days.

Previously, Sound Transit has handled single-tunnel closures like this by splitting the 1 Line in two and reducing service along the whole line. This time, the agency is trying an “alternate service plan” which involves operating a shuttle train (instead of the typical shuttle buses used during full tunnel closures) through Downtown Seattle. Meanwhile, Link 1 Line trains will operate every 12 minutes north of Westlake and south of Stadium when it would normally operate at 8-10 minute frequencies during the day.

The shuttle train will run every 25-30 minutes between Westlake and Stadium stations.

Continue reading “Link 1 Line in Downtown Seattle reduced to “shuttle train” April 14-23″ | 46 comments

King County Metro announced today that the bus stops on the Montlake lid over SR 520, which are the last element of the Montlake interchange and lid to be completed, will open on Saturday, April 12th.

Prior to 2019, when it was permanently closed for construction of the lid, there had always been a freeway stop on SR 520 at Montlake Blvd. Every bus that took SR 520 through Montlake without exiting stopped at a pair of stops on SR 520 at the outer edges of the freeway. Of the routes that exited SR 520 to serve UW, they served the area in the eastbound direction only with a bus stop on Montlake upstairs. Speaking of stairs, the old stop in the eastbound direction was not ADA accessible, requiring passengers to be able to use stairs.

Continue reading “Montlake Lid Bus Stops Opening April 12th” | 39 comments

31 days until the Downtown Redmond Link Extension opens on May 10. Sound Transit recently announced opening day details.

WSDOT opened the state’s first e-bike rebate lottery today (Seattle Bike Blog). The state will award about 10,000 rebates at random. Households earning less than 80% of their county’s median income can get $1,200 off a qualifying e-bike; higher-income applicants can get $300.

Local Transportation

• Seattle City Councilmember Rob Saka (D1) took an unprompted “victory lap” on cancelled street safety improvements in North Delridge during a recent meeting (The Urbanist). Saka’s focus on a hardened centerline prompted a hyperlocal campaign to “Save Curby” (Westside Seattle Blog).
• On Saturday, transit advocates gathered along Bothell Way in Lake Forest Park to support completion of the Stride S3 BRT line (The Urbanist)
• “Vigilante” stop signs got SDOT’s attention in Capitol Hill (The Seattle Times, $)
• The Ballard Bridge will be closed for construction on multiple weekends this spring (SDOT Blog)
• A small handful of people have jogged or walked all 1,600 miles of Seattle streets (The Seattle Times, $)
• King County Metro’s Water Taxi’s summer sailing schedule starts Saturday, April 12 (Metro Matters)

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: Save Curby” | 112 comments