The Urban Traffic & Economics Lab at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has created GFTS (General Transit Feed Specification) data and a map of routes from 72 intercity bus operators in North America. An interactive version of the map is available here. The United States is often criticized for its lack of a fast, frequent, and direct passenger rail network. This map of intercity bus routes shows a more extensive system, though one’s experience on these routes may vary. The Northeast, Midwest, and central Florida stand out with denser networks than the rest of the country.

The full methodology for this work is outlined in the study, but it is worth highlighting how the authors defined “intercity bus”. Their criteria included:

1. Connects distinct metropolitan areas (excludes suburban/urban commuter services).
2. Tickets can be purchased independently (excludes Amtrak Thruway services that connect between rail trips).
3. Uses over-the-road buses (excludes many rural and tribal services operated with vans or transit buses).
4. Operates regularly most of the year (excludes seasonal/charter services).

Continue reading “Friday Roundtable: Intercity Bus Routes” | 58 comments

ST’s monthly extended overnight maintenance program heads to the Eastside next week: Link 2 Line service between Bel-Red and Downtown Redmond will be replaced by shuttles after 10pm each evening on April 14-17.

Local Transit:

• Riders of the Rapidride G rejoice: SDOT has finished fixing construction errors requiring steel plates at the Terry, Boylston, and 12th Ave stations (the Seattle Times, $).
• New transit challenge: a local couple rode all 10 WA State Ferries routes [*in Puget Sound] in one day (The Seattle Times, $).
• A pilot program will bring Sunday service to the Vashon Water Taxi this summer, expanding sailings to 7 days a week from April 12 through “early fall” (Captain’s Blog).
• Sound Transit is gauging public priorities for its efforts to triage ST3’s costs with a few questions (ST News Release). The short survey is open for an unstated period.
• Help name one of Community Transit’s original buses (CT News). Can you top “Bus McBusBus”?
• WSDOT should include much more higher-speed rail in its upcoming rail plan update (Op-Ed, The Urbanist).

More headlines below.

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: Bus McBusBus” | 176 comments

Previously we talked about the pilot route of Sound Transit’s overnight bus service which launched last weekend from SeaTac to downtown Seattle. This article will go over Sound Transit’s full overnight bus service proposal extended south through Tacoma to Lakewood, north to Everett, and east through Bellevue to Redmond.

Overview

Sound Transit plans to run new overnight bus service when Link is not running between about 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., which is slightly shifted from the pilot service which currently runs from midnight to 4 a.m. There will be 3 lines heading north, south, and east of Seattle. All three routes will run about every 30 minutes.

The exact service name, as well as specific routing, stops and schedules are still under consideration, but we’ll go over the existing proposal. For discussion purposes, much of the routing will be assumed based on the high-level map and existing ST Express routes. Sound Transit has been informally calling the routes “Night Bus” which we use. (King County Metro calls their overnight service “Night Owl”).

• South Express Night Bus: Seattle via SeaTac to Tacoma (and Lakewood)
  • Will replace the initial pilot service
• North Express Night Bus: Seattle via Lynnwood to Everett
• East Express Night Bus: Seattle via Bellevue to Redmond

Continue reading “Sound Transit Express Night Bus service” | 114 comments

The best US plazas. (CityNerd)

What is Detroit like? (CityNerd)

This is an open thread.

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The Link T Line in Tacoma will be closed and replaced by free shuttle buses between 6pm on Monday (April 6) until the start of service on Friday (April 10). The T Line will be closed for rail maintenance. The free shuttle will stop at the following locations.

Tacoma Dome:
-to Tacoma Dome: E 25th St & E D St
-to St Joseph: E 25th St & E D St

S 25th St:
-to Tacoma Dome: S 25th St & A St
-to St Joseph: S 25th St & A St

Continue reading “Alert: T Line Maintenance This Week” | 2 comments

Metro has announced a new stop schedule design that will roll out over the next few weeks. This is the first redesign of Metro’s bus stop signage in over a decade.

The primary difference is the how the departure times are listed. In the previous version, times would be listed in rows, with three values per row. Now, the times are listed in columns, read top to bottom. Additionally, PM departure times are now in bold, matching the online schedules.

Continue reading “Friday Roundtable: New Metro Stop Schedules” | 71 comments

Movies on Crosslake Link’s opening last Saturday.

Miles in Transit.

Classy Whale.

Trains are Awesome.

Unedited video of the speeches (starting at the five minute mark) as well as some of the initial riders (much later in the video). The rest of the video consists of “dead air” and some aerial video of trains and boats.

This is an open thread.

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It’s April 1 and today there will be a bigger-than-usual-dose of silliness. Share your favorite transit-oriented April Fools’ Day content in the comments!

Please head to today’s Midweek Roundup for serious discussion.

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The Crosslake Connection of the 2 Line was covered extensively by STB and basically every news outlet, so (most) stories related to that are not included here.

• In 2018, Claudia Balducci told The Stranger that East Link (now the 2 Line) would not turn Bellevue into the next Williamsburg. Eight years later, Balducci reflects on how she was “sort of right and sort of wrong” (The Stranger)
• Highland Park Bikelash Presents Early Test for Katie Wilson’s SDOT (The Urbanist)
• “Urbanist Dad” Ron Davis is running for WA House of Representatives in North Seattle (PubliCola)
• Man describes moments he stopped out-of-control Metro bus (The Seattle Times, $)
• Community Transit offers classes in how to use public transit for adults and kids (Cascade PBS)
• Path Clears for Bainbridge Affordable Housing Project After Appeal Dismissal (The Urbanist)
• The Joy of Numbered Streets (Human Transit)
• How to fix the broken gas tax (StreetsblogUSA)
• Seattle Advances Four Pilot ‘Low-Pollution Neighborhoods’ (The Urbanist)
• RapidRide I Line construction update (Metro Matters)
• SDOT will install a new mix of temporary barriers at Pike Place to see what works and what doesn’t (SDOT Blog)

This is an Open Thread. April Fools’ Day bits should be shared to the Foolish Roundup post. Off-topic and uncivil comments will be moderated.

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Sound Transit news release today:

Starting tonight, evening train schedules between Northgate and Lynnwood will be adjusted to accommodate construction work at Pinehurst Station. Beginning around 8 p.m., 1 Line trains will share a track between Northgate and Shoreline South, and 2 Line trains will turn back south at Northgate station, so that crews may work near the adjacent track. 

During this work, 1 Line trains will operate between Lynnwood and Federal Way, and 2 Line trains will operate between Downtown Redmond and Northgate. Passengers looking to travel further north will need to transfer to a 1 Line train at Northgate.

Sound Transit says riders boarding north of Northgate should expect 12-minute waits from 8pm to 11pm, and 16-minute waits from 11pm to end of service. The agency has not shared when it expects evening service north of Northgate to return to its regular schedule.

When both northbound and southbound trains need to share one track through Pinehurst Station, they also can only serve one side of the platform at Shoreline South/148th Station. This is due to the fact there is no way for trains to change tracks between Shoreline South and Pinehurst. This week, all trains stopping at Shoreline South will use the Lynnwood City Center (northbound) side of the platform after 8pm. Riders boarding at Shoreline South should check signs and listen to station announcements for updates.

Continue reading “Link service impacts from Pinehurst construction resume” | 28 comments