A humorous animated take on “the high cost of free parking”. I also laughed at “why jaywalking is a crime” and “the reason car dealerships are the worst” from the same show.

via Streetsblog

In the latest ST3 study concept, with a one-seat ride from Ballard to the Rainier Valley, there are a total of 14 sensible transfers in Seattle: two at Sodo, between West Seattle and Rainier Valley; four at International District/Chinatown, between Redmond and either West Seattle or Rainier Valley; two at Westlake, between Ballard and Everett; and six equally appropriate at two or more of those stations, because the direction of travel through downtown is the same. In a discussion with ST spokesman Geoff Patrick and other ST staff, STB learned about some preliminary concepts for how these transfers might work.

Of course, these concepts are very preliminary. The Board hasn’t even committed to a second tunnel, much less accepted detailed transfer concepts. But they do indicate a staff thinking hard about how to avoid the transfer mistakes of the past.

At International District, Sound Transit would excavate a cut-and-cover station under 5th Ave S, directly east of the current station (see the figure at right). The new station mezzanine would connect directly with the northbound platform in the existing stop. From the existing southbound platform, riders would climb to the surface, decline to the northbound platform, and then work over to the Green Line mezzanine without having to cross the street.

This concept is miles ahead of past station designs, and significantly reduces the frustration of Sound Transit’s refusal to consider a center platform at the current ID station. Direct street access to the Green Line Mezzanine would be a nice addition. But then Oran developed a far better concept, with a tweak from me, shown at right. The beauty of this configuration is that it maximizes the ease of the most important transfers at International District, which are between East Link and either West Seattle or the Rainier Valley. I imagine a setup like this would be a substantially more complicated project, probably more expensive and with more service disruptions during construction, and I suspect Sound Transit will find a reason not to do it. But it’s worthwhile to put the optimal configuration on the record.

Although the all-surface transfer at Sodo is much more straightforward, switching Central Link to the Green Line and a new tunnel will require significant work in the busway corridor. As Geoff Patrick put it:

Subject to refinement during the environmental review and design processes, the existing tracks north of Massachusetts would be reconfigured to connect with a new alignment proceeding north to the vicinity of the current location of Stadium Station where it transitions into a new tunnel. The existing Stadium Station would be relocated to the west side of the E3 Busway and would serve the West Seattle to Everett line through the existing Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel. All of the specifics will be subject to close review during the preliminary design and environmental review process, during which alternatives will be developed in consultation with the public, impacts will be evaluated and mitigation will be identified.

At Westlake, the Green Line will be traveling (roughly) North towards South Lake Union while the Blue and Red lines travel (roughly) East towards Capitol Hill.  As you can see in the figure below, the green line tunnel would pass to the  and below of the existing station. Stairs or escalators would connect the (mined) new mezzanine with either platform of the existing station. A transfer of this quality is crucial, as a decent Westlake transfer in this context fulfills the longtime wonk dream of a congestion-free transit connection between Lower Queen Anne, South Lake Union, and Capitol Hill, the informally discussed “Metro 8 Subway.”

On Tuesday I reported council testimony from the Office of the Waterfront that disclosed the new possibility of eliminating dedicated transit lanes on the future Alaskan Way. The Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) will include a new option that rechannelizes the roadway from 8 lanes to 6, retaining two general purpose lanes and a turn/ferry queuing lane in each direction. In his testimony before Council, Office of the Waterfront Director Marshall Foster strongly implied that the inclusion of this new option was at the behest of community groups in Pioneer Square, including long-time friends of the blog Feet First, and to that end my reporting included a 2013 blog post from Feet First that corroborated Foster’s testimony. The post called for shifting transit lanes away from Alaskan Way to the Sodo busway instead.

In subsequent correspondence with both Foster and Feet First’s Executive Director Lisa Quinn, they both strongly denied any intent to deprioritize transit. Lisa Quinn commented on STB yesterday:

In no way did Feet First propose eliminating a bus lane. Marshall Foster was mistaken and this was said out of context. The City made compromises to make the 8 lane highway work for people such as adding refuge islands etc. But, quite frankly, at the end of the day, there needs to be less lanes along the waterfront for people to cross. We have proposed other options to solve this safety issue for people crossing by eliminating the 2 turn lanes for the ferry to 1 lane. Additionally, we have called for more flexible lanes shared by freight and buses. Walking and transit are intrinsically connected. We need a transportation system that puts people first. The elimination of buses on the waterfront is not something Feet First has ever proposed.

In response, Feet First wrote a forceful blog post and quickly uploaded a joint letter from August – cosigned by TCC, Cascade, and Washington Bikes – that called for a narrower roadway but included suggestions that retained transit priority, either with shared freight/transit lanes or with expanded transit lanes from Dearborn to Columbia Street.

And that’s where the process gets a bit confusing. In Foster’s testimony he merely said “we got a lot of feedback from Pioneer Square and groups like Feet First” for a narrower roadway and then immediately proceeded into a discussion of eliminating transit to achieve it. But in a phone call this morning, Foster clarified that none of the groups he mentioned either asked for or support eliminating transit priority. So why the disconnect? Basically, the State and the Port.

Foster said the total number of comments asking for a narrower roadway hit “a tipping point” that forced the City to formally respond to their request, necessitating a SDEIS that studied a narrower roadway. However, Foster said the funding agreement between the State and the Port explicitly codifies two general purpose lanes in each direction, effectively prohibiting the City from studying reducing those lanes in the SDEIS:

Section II, A, 5: The Central Waterfront from Pine Street to Colman Dock will have two lanes in each direction plus a turning lane; the segment south of Colman Dock will have 3 lanes in each direction plus a turning lane.

So the City is in the odd position of being required to study a narrower channelization because enough of the community asked for it, but since the only mode not explicitly protected in its right-of-way allocation is transit, the City will study eliminating transit priority even though neither the City nor advocacy groups see that as a preferred outcome. Isn’t process fun?

We stand behind our reporting of Monday’s committee meeting, which relied on direct quotation of official testimony and published material, but we failed to grasp the full complexity of the situation and regret any hasty criticisms of groups such as Feet First.

Foster took a glass-half-full approach in our phone call, saying the DEIS is likely to show unacceptable impacts from eliminating transit lanes, and that such an outcome would actually backhandedly and belatedly codify the need for transit priority. And Mayor Murray’s office has been clear about its priorities while also deferent to process, telling us by email, “While the Waterfront EIS is considering more than one alternative, the Mayor is clear his priority is a new waterfront roadway with dedicated transit lanes.” And of course, all of us will have a chance to comment before the Final EIS is developed next summer. I hope that the walk, bike, and transit communities can coalesce around a vision for a walkable waterfront that also takes the mobility needs of 25,000 transit riders seriously.

This is part of a series of posts looking at Sound Transit’s candidate projects for ST3.

The communities on the North end of Lake Washington have been in an unfortunate no-man’s land when it comes to regional transit discussions. Straddling Sound Transit’s North and East King subareas, and used by plenty of Snohomish County residents, SR 522 has often played second (or third) fiddle to the I-5 and I-405 corridors.

The cities and neighborhoods along SR 522 – from Lake City to Kenmore to Bothell – realized somewhat late in the game that getting organized is the key to getting on Sound Transit’s radar. But organize they did and ST has responded with a proposal (pp. 70-83) for connecting SR 522 to Link via NE 145th St as part of ST3.

The plan comes in two parts. Part one is a BRT project along SR 522 that fills in the gaps in existing HOV lanes along the corridor. For $311M, ST would acquire property and conduct the capital projects necessary to keep buses on SR 522 running smoothly from the Seattle city line to Bothell, with a possible extension to I-405 BRT. A separate project would then connect those buses to the Link station at 145th.

Continue reading “ST3: BRT on SR 522 and NE 145th St”

October saw the largest gain in Link ridership in a year. In fact it was the bookend to what at first blush looks like a ‘bad’ year for Link. For the first time since the line opened in 2009 Link was held to single digit ridership growth for a 12 month period. From October 2014 to September 2015 Link averaged only 6.4% year over year growth.

However that number is a bit deceiving. It is important to note that the year of Oct. 13 to Sep. 14 was Link’s best 12 months on record. Ridership grew 15.9% in that time period. A significant part of the higher than normal (normal for Link being 10-11%) bump was special event ridership. The year from Oct. 13 to Sep. 14 had three Seahawks weekday home games, a Super Bowl Parade and the first Mariners season since 07 worth talking about. Special event ridership is nothing to scoff at. Seattle’s worst traffic days are generally tied into afternoon events (and god forbid a fish truck turn over during one of them). Not only does Link take tens of thousands of cars off the road during the regular commute, but it takes the most cars off the roads on the worst traffic days.

Long story short, Link only had a no good very bad 12 months because the year before it had extremely higher than normal growth. Were the numbers to be revised down to average only 10.3% (the average for the prior year, Oct. 12 to Sep. 13), the 12 months ending Sep. 15 would have seen 10.1% growth. So calm down, ridership is still strongly heading in the right direction. And enough editorializing, here are the numbers.

October’s Link Weekday/Saturday/Sunday average boardings were 38,297 / 22,138 / 25,205, growth of 17.8%, 0.3%, and 27.5% respectively over October 2015. Sounder’s weekday boardings were up 9.8% with ridership increasing on both lines. Tacoma Link’s weekday ridership increased 0.4%. Weekday ST Express ridership was up 3.3%. System wide weekday boardings were up 8.1%, and all boardings were up 5.3%. The complete October Ridership Summary is here.

My charts below the break. Continue reading “October 2015 Sound Transit Ridership Report: Link up 18%”

There are two open houses tonight for those of you interested in transit advocacy, one in Eastlake and the other in the Rainier Valley.

Roosevelt-Downtown HCT
The Roosevelt-Downtown High Capacity Transit project will hold an open house tonight from 6-8pm in the TOPS School Cafeteria in Eastlake, in advance of identifying a Recommended Corridor Concept in early 2016. The plan could include dedicated transit lanes, protected bike lanes, both, or neither, all dependent on community feedback and neighborhood negotiation. Given Eastlake’s vocal neighborhood residents and the natural constraints of the corridor, there are likely to be intense debates about the tradeoffs and relative priority of cars, buses, bikes, and parking. For the bike advocacy perspective, see Seattle Bike Blog, Cascade’s, or Seattle Neighborhood Greenways views. And if you can’t make it tonight, there’s another meeting in the UDistrict Thursday.

Wednesday, Dec. 9, 6 – 8 p.m.
TOPS School, Cafeteria
2500 Franklin Ave. E, Seattle

Thursday, Dec. 10, 6 – 8 p.m.
UW Tower, Cafeteria North
4333 Brooklyn Ave. NE, Seattle

SE Seattle Restructure
Metro will hold a meeting on the proposed restructure of Routes 8, 9, 106, 107, and 124 Wednesday evening at the Filipino Community Center. The proposal would combine Route 38 (south half of Route 8) and Route 106 to form a frequent all-day connection between Renton, Skyway, and the Rainier Valley, a meritorious idea that we’ve supported since it was first proposed in a service cut scenario in 2012. Unfortunately, the proposal also halves Downtown-Georgetown service and adds a duplicative 4th route between Mount Baker and the International District. We’d encourage attendees to listen to the planners and the community at this open house with an open mind, while also asking hard questions of staff. Suggested questions to ask:

• Could better all-day, evening, or weekend frequency on Route 106 be achieved  for the same service hours as extending the route to the International District?

• Why does Metro propose cutting service to Georgetown when the 2014 Service Guidelines Report called for 25,000 hours to be invested on the Route 124 and Route 131 corridors?

• The 2014 Service Guidelines Report did not target any additional investments for the Route 7 and Route 8 corridors. Why are the other 58 corridors targeted for investment being left behind?

• Are there additional options for a Route 106 terminus that would be less duplicative and create better network connections? What about the Central District, Yesler Way, First Hill, or South Lake Union?

• A major rationale for splitting the Route 8 in the ULink restructure was to restore reliability along the route. Does this proposal undo that work? Does Metro think a Renton-IDS route could be reliable for riders?

Wednesday, Dec. 9, 6 – 8 p.m.
Filipino Community Center
5740 Martin Luther King Jr Way S (MLK & Orcas)

• Judkins Park Station plan wins national award.
• Tacoma Link design concepts.
• Metro rolling out TripPool program to organize carpools to park-and-rides.
• Your guide to the new federal transportation bill.
• Seattle Times shows precinct maps for Seattle’s last election.
• City of Tuwkila has a new survey out on transit improvements.
• Community Transit approves a 2016 budget.
• Seattle gives “preliminary approval” to 58 stories at Rainier Square.
• 250 units in Roosevelt to go before Design Review.
• Because Frank jinxed it, mudslides close down North Sounder.
• Pedestrians die in collision with Metro bus near Northgate, in Auburn vs. Sounder train.
• Portland Streetcar tries closing stops to speed things up.
• WSDOT cancels ferry runs due to maintenance.
• Bertha may start up this month.

This is an open thread.

Start watching at 22:20

[Update: Mayor Murray’s office has responded, saying “While the Waterfront EIS is considering more than one alternative the Mayor is clear his priority is a new waterfront roadway with dedicated transit lanes.”]

Yesterday at the city’s Special Committee on Central Waterfront, Seawall, and Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Program,  Office of the Waterfront Director Marshall Foster quietly dropped a bombshell: the city will study the impact of canceling bus-only lanes on the future Alaskan Way.

As a refresher, current plans call for buses to exit SR 99 near the south tunnel portal at Royal Brougham, accessing a reconfigured two-way Columbia Street via dedicated bus lanes on Alaskan Way. Dedicated lanes have long been seen as essential mitigation for the loss of freeway access implied by the Downtown-bypassing Deep Bore Tunnel, so much so that former Governor Gregoire sold the plan as the “tunnel plus transit” plan.

To be clear, the proposal to cancel transit lanes is just one alternative in a new Supplemental Draft EIS.  The option with dedicated transit lanes remains in the EIS and is still on the table. Foster said that community feedback and concerns about pedestrian safety are driving the addition, and that the SDEIS will evaluate the impact of narrowing the street by 24′ by eliminating the the two transit lanes:

“We got a lot of feedback, especially in Pioneer Square…that we needed to look at a narrower Alaskan Way; that especially in the South End that the roadway was too wide. There was a lot of concern about pedestrian ability to cross that street safely and comfortably…based on that, we worked with the State, worked with King County, and the ferries, and we’re going to include an alternative that looks at a narrower Alaskan Way. The key thing that will change is that it will not include dedicated transit lanes south of Yesler.”

Foster specifically cited Feet First, the pedestrian advocacy organization, as a community stakeholder that had suggested removing transit lanes to narrow the roadway. And he’s right. In a September 2013 post Feet First decried the “8-lane highway” planned for Alaskan Way and rallied their supporters to submit comments in support of 3 ideas: overall lane reductions, variable ferry fares to manage demand, and moving the transit lanes elsewhere.

Continue reading “Waterfront Bus Lanes May Be Endangered”

In response to community complaint surrounding the largely rescinded Capitol Hill restructure – in which Route 11 reverted to E Pine Street after SDOT denied Metro’s request for needed improvements to 19th Avenue – Metro is proposing modifying Route 10 to serve Capitol Hill Station via E John Street and Olive Way.

Last week on the blog, David wrote about the merits of this idea, hailing it as an ‘administrative’, zero-cost change Metro could make to atone for the lost connectivity caused by the deletion of the off-peak Route 43 and the failure to move Route 11. Though it does little to help between those losing key frequency east of 15th Avenue, the proposal would do a number of good things:

• Restores frequent all-day connections between Pike/Pine, Summit, Capitol Hill Station,  and Hilltop
• Provides a new connection between Link, the 15th Ave E business district, and Volunteer Park
• Increases service on Olive and John from 5 buses per hour to 9
• Restores trolley service to the John/Olive corridor

Current ridership data also supports this change. Between Bellevue Avenue and 15th Avenue, Route 43 has double the daily ridership (2,240) compared to Route 10 (1,170). The stop furthest from either John or Pine, at 15th/Howell, currently sees 150 boardings per day. If adopted, those riders will have either a maximum 2-block walk to frequent service on Routes 8/10/11 or a 5-block walk to the south entrance of Capitol Hill Station at Nagle/Denny.

Metro is seeking feedback for six days only, given the need to having everything nailed down before the Christmas holiday. Please take their short 3-question survey and let them know your thoughts.

Full text of Metro’s blog post reprinted after the jump. Continue reading “Metro Proposes Moving Route 10 – Take Their Survey”