Stats show black riders receive every level of ST fare enforcement action ($) out of proportion to their fraction of ridership. See our previous coverage. Open house coming on Kent Station parking improvements. 130th St community meeting pushes for 2024 opening, considers upzones. Microsoft puts more money into the HSR study. Council formally approves ($) …
Earlier this month the Transit Riders Union (TRU) launched a new campaign called ORCA for All. You could categorize a lot of the campaigns TRU has run over the years under the theme “ORCA for All.” From the push for a low-income reduced fare that became the ORCA LIFT program, to expanding and improving the …
Lightning and transit ops Love for the NE Seattle restructure (2:29) Monorail and ORCA (9:41) Downtown Kirkland growth (13:22) Ridesharing redux (18:33) Wenatchee transit (32:44) Ill-timed fare enforcement (41:30) Download link
Sound Transit has a new plan to get rid of Rainier Valley surplus property, and wants your input. Free waterfront shuttle extended through October 31st. Yellow school buses also have a driver shortage, and a reliability problem ($). Bus lanes would help! ST officially finding a new name for University Street Station. Bill making bike …
Does Seattle housing policy help solve inequality? Getting rid of surplus ST property; ST rewarding cities that upzone a lot, unlike Seattle. More fare enforcement ($) on streetcars? The story of ReachNow’s abrupt shutdown. Study says e-scooters aren’t that great for the environment, mainly because of driving around for repositioning and cleanup. There are policy …
Until 2012, Seattle had the Ride Free Area, a certain section of downtown Seattle (including the entire DSTT) where one could board any bus through any door, exit any bus through any door, and not have to pay a fare. Funded by the city of Seattle, this was meant to make it easier for people …
Continue reading “RFA Revival: Make Link Free in the Tunnel”
UW Station stairs now always open. Latest Bike Master Plan is substantially less ambitious. ECB with more. The backlash is immediate. ST Board not wild about current fare enforcement policy. Kent Maintenance Facility battle escalates to the dueling consultant phase. House approves highway-intensive 2019-21 transportation budget. Praise for hero Metro driver. With more supply coming …
Orange and white Rider Alert signs are sprouting around the city like early March crocuses, which must mean it’s time for another Metro service change. Not so long ago, we dreaded these. Now we look forward to them. We’ve now had four years of improvements without any significant pain, as a combination of continued sales …
Continue reading “Metro Adds Hours, But Tunnel Closure Swallows Them”
Over the holidays, policy analyst David Gordon made an argument for assessing a county-wide payroll tax to make transit free. I don’t know enough about tax revenue to critique Mr. Gordon’s math, but the idea of replacing the regressive transit sales tax with a progressive payroll tax is certainly appealing. Free transit proposals have been bubbling …
Correction: The post originally stated transit would be free after 7 pm on New Year’s Eve. Actually, only Metro buses and the Seattle Streetcars will be free during that period. BTW, Link Light Rail will be operating later hours after midnight New Year’s Eve. The last southbound train departs UW Station at 1:56 am. The …
This is the second of two Q&As drawing from Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff’s interview with STB. This post has been edited for length and clarity. Find Part One here, and an unedited transcript of the conversation here. STB: How is the takeover of the Downtown Transit Tunnel going, and what are the plans for …
Fare enforcement Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 (1:10) ST3 Level 3 (STB, Seattle Subway) (17:51) JUMP Bike review (26:02) From the archives: Is bike share good business? Prospects for climate change legislation (31:33) Seattle TBD in review (35:08) Passenger rail (48:05) http://traffic.libsyn.com/seattletransitblog/STB_podcast_70.mp3
The Sound Transit board kicked off the agency’s 2019 budget process yesterday with a presentation from Sound Transit’s CFO, Tracy Butler. The big takeaway: in keeping with recent trends, projected costs will be larger than expected—but so will revenues. The board also voted to start contract extension negotiations with CEO Peter Rogoff, after some critical …
Continue reading “Sound Transit revenues are up—but so are costs”
https://www.flickr.com/photos/40441865@N08/41569085810/in/pool-seatrans/ SeaTac international arrivals terminal soars to $1B City Council looking at using public land for affordable housing Downtown Seattle Association argues for the CCC Parking-light TOD going in near Tacoma’s Freighthouse Square Minneapolis’ ambitious housing plan is facing the inevitable headwinds A mediator will be brought in to try and appease opponents of bike …
Allowing Seattle City Light to sell surplus land for affordable housing… …let’s use it to build mass timber social housing instead Josh Feit wants us to look past the Showbox: more housing, less nostalgia A ban on apartments hurts public education Nicole Grant in the Seattle Times: the city should add more ADUs Exploring Seattle …
Continue reading “News Roundup: Bikes, Housing, High-Speed Rail”
Ongoing updates: More US transit agencies that offer free monthly-or-longer passes for riders experiencing homelessness have been added to the post since publication. More will be added as they are found. On Wednesday, King County Metro General Manager Rob Gannon announced some changes to its fare enforcement practices, as a result of an audit. The …
Video by Welwyn22 For those of you who, like me, have been caught miscounting taps before boarding Link Light Rail or Sounder, Sound Transit is going to make the system more user-friendly. Per ST spokesperson Kimberly Reason, a change to the “tap off” tone, to make it unique from the “tap on” tone, is in …
Continue reading “Tapping ORCA Will Soon Get Less Confusing”
A recent presentation on One Center City / Convention Center expansion construction plans teased the possibility of an off-board payment zone on 3rd Ave all the way from Jackson St to Denny Way Ave, with all-door boarding. King County spokesperson Scott Gutierrez quickly threw cold water on the tease by pointing out that the plan …
Continue reading “Ride Free Zone Could Save 3rd Ave Bus Ops”
King County Metro is considering a modernization of its fare system, and has gone expeditiously through a lot of public process to get to two final proposals. The results of the second of two non-scientific surveys are available online. Out of 935 responses, 609 strongly liked the $2.75 flat fare proposal, while 147 somewhat liked …
Continue reading “Virtual Coinlessness & Affordability for Families”
I was going to write a final piece about I-732 is a very important ballot measure, arguably more important than ST3, but Ramez Naam’s essay is perfect. Capitol Hill and First Hill upzone proposals. Tacoma Transit goes deep on the potential PT restructure. New zoning “bargain” will make it harder for new construction in poor …