Holiday service Monday, October 13: Metro, Sound Transit, Community Transit, Pierce Transit, Seattle Streetcars, Vashon and West Seattle water taxis, and the Washington State Ferries are on regular Monday schedule for Columbus Day/Indigenous People’s Day. This is the day to ride Sounder, water taxis, or peak expresses if your work schedule doesn’t usually allow it. Exceptions: The Seattle Monorail will start an hour later: 8:30am to 9pm. Kitsap Transit has regular service except these that won’t operate: routes 81 and 219, Annapolis foot ferry, Worker/Driver buses.

Melbourne, Australia, a highly livable city. (CityNerd) At 9:42 there’s a glimpse of a sibling of Seattle’s former waterfront streetcar.

City Beautiful has a series on Planning Basics. So far there are episodes on land use, zoning, and housing.

Michael Smith is away for three weeks so he’s not writing the Friday Roundup. I was going to have an article Friday on trails but it’s not finished yet. Michael will resume the column when he gets back.

This is an open thread.

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Tonight, 6-8pm: Seattle Neighborhood Greenways is hosting “Community Crossroads” at El Centro de la Raza in Beacon Hill. The event will feature a panel discussion and community engagement opportunities considering the future of Seattle’s most dangerous corridors, including Aurora Ave N, MLK Jr. Way S., and streets in South Park.

The PSRC is taking input on its Regional Transportation Plan at three more events across King County this month. RSVP to an event near you.

Local Transit & Streets:

• King County’s proposed budget for Metro includes more funding for security, behavioral health experts, and bus stop cleaning as part of an effort to improve safety and security across its service network (The Seattle Times, $). More info from Metro.
• Public records show planned safety improvements to Lake Washington Blvd were practically shovel-ready before being abruptly cancelled (The Urbanist).
• The “Salmon Bone Bridge” (a sculptural pedestrian bridge) reopened last week after a second phase of fish passage restoration efforts on Longfellow Creek in West Seattle (the Seattle Times, $).
• If you’re on a Community Transit bus this month, keep an eye out for on-board survey team members seeking input on rider experience and service improvements (CT News).
• Kitsap Transit recently launched real-time bus tracking, customizable rider alerts, and more informational tools for riders (KT Headways).

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: Community Crossroads” | 137 comments

Sound Transit released its 2026 service plan proposal with an ST Express restructure and survey for feedback until November 7th. Last week ST previewed the changes in a Rider Experience and Operations Committee report, and STB commentators wasted no time in starting to comment on them. Ryan Packer at The Urbanist did an analysis the report. The proposal has new night owl express service, which Michael Smith covered in the last STB article.

The proposed changes are to several ST Express routes and new night owl service next fall, minor Sounder adjustments next spring (page 28 of the report), and the Link expansions we’ve reported on extensively. A timeline of upcoming transit changes is thus:

• In 3 months the Federal Way Link extension will open. (December 2025)
• In 7 months the full 2 Line (Redmond-Lynnwood) will open. (April 2026)
• In 9 months the World Cup will have extra service.
• In 11-ish months several ST Express routes will change. (Fall 2026)

This article looks at what options a passenger would have at various locations after the restructure. Where can they go on Sound Transit? How often? Which days? Symbols will highlight improvements/detractions from current service: (+) more frequent, (-) less frequent, (X) no service anymore. Every location also has non-ST service, but that’s too much to get into here.

Continue reading “ST Express 2026 restructure” | 174 comments

Continue reading “Sound Transit Proposes Night Owl Service” | 91 comments

Judkins Park station has two entrances to the west, on either side of Rainier Ave S. Rainier Ave runs under I-90 and the Link tracks. The west station entrances will be served by routes 7, 9, and 106. Unfortunately, these station entrances are cut off from the nearby neighborhoods by five on/off ramps that connect Rainier Ave and I-90.

Continue reading “Judkins Park Station Access Improvements” | 62 comments

Bob (bobco85) ranks every Link station on its access to a regional bicycle trail.

His focus is on biking and regional trails, so he doesn’t mention some smaller trails and parks that are withing pedestrian range, like Cowen/Ravenna Park a few blocks from Roosevelt Station.

We covered the Des Moines Creek Trail in a Friday Roundtable June. The next couple Friday Roundtables will also explore some pedestrian trails near Link.

This is an open thread.

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In the latest installment of uneasiness around ST3, Bruce Harrell rejected the idea ($) of jettisoning West Seattle or Ballard from the plan to balance the books. I would expect nothing less from the Mayor of Seattle. He also proposed another advisory group and some regulatory reforms.

No doubt, regulatory reforms would help. But it’s worth understanding why we’re here. Costs are spiraling ($) because construction dates keep slipping, and they’re slipping because the Sound Transit board — in particular, the Seattle delegation — is not making key decisions.

We are in year nine of ST3, and we still don’t know where many of the stations will be, much less started design. There is plenty of reporting, here and elsewhere, on all of these stations. But to illustrate, let’s focus on Chinatown.

Continue reading “We Are Here Because No One Will Make A Decision” | 101 comments

The Union St bus-only lane was added as part of the RapidRide G Line construction. This half-block lane will be used by Route 2, a busy bus route that runs between Madrona and Upper Queen Anne via downtown Seattle. While the rest of the projects part of the G Line construction are complete and in use, Metro busses have not used this bus lane or stop. King County Metro is concerned that the lack of a pedestrian signal across Union St may lead to a bus/pedestrian collision.

A key feature of the bus-only lane is that it acts as a modal filter to reduce the number of cars on Union St between 12th Ave and Broadway. People driving to destinations can still do so via 10th Ave and 11th Ave, and through traffic is significantly reduced. Fewer cars on this segment of Union St improves Route 2’s reliability and makes the street safer for people biking. Union St is a primary route for people biking between the Central District and downtown. Opening this lane to general traffic will slow down Route 2 and make biking on Union St more dangerous.

Continue reading “Friday Roundtable: Union Street Bus Lane” | 65 comments

Next Wednesday, October 8, 6-8pm: Seattle Neighborhood Greenways is hosting “Community Crossroads” at El Centro de la Raza in Beacon Hill. The event will feature a panel discussion and community engagement opportunities considering the future of Seattle’s most dangerous corridors, including Aurora Ave N, MLK Jr. Way S., and streets in South Park.

The Puget Sound Regional Council is updating its “Regional Transportation Plan” and taking input at a series of events across King County through October. RSVP to an event near you.

Local Transit & Streets:

• King County Metro Delays Planned Electrification Work, Pushing Out Fiscal Cliff (The Urbanist). Check out the discussion in STB’s comment section last week.
• Seattle is slowly moving forward with identifying future “Low Pollution Neighborhoods” expected to be established by 2028 (The Urbanist)
• In August 2025, 1/4th of new cars sold in Washington were plug-in hybrids or full-electric but that share is expected to decline after the federal EV tax credit expires ends today (KUOW).
• Theft of copper wire is severely impacting several WA utility companies and infrastructure agencies, including Sound Transit (The Seattle Times, $)

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: traditional system” | 68 comments

Average Ridership Per Trip

The plots below show the average weekday ridership by stop in each direction, color-coded by time of day. For a more detailed breakdown of how the plots are set up, please refer to the How to Read the Plots section of the article discussing Route 70.

Continue reading “Ridership Patterns for King County Metro Route 5” | 59 comments

CityNerd on the Pike Place and Pike Street pedestrianizations, interviewed by Kenji López-Alt. (CityNerd)

Why Americans don’t walk to school anymore. It’s about the sidewalks. (Evan Edinger)

This is an open thread.

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Week Without Driving comes from our campaign to have those in charge of our transportation networks and investment priorities understand the needs of nondrivers in their communities — in particular involuntary nondrivers who can’t drive or can’t afford to drive. This includes everyone from youth too young to drive, to people whose anxiety makes driving unsafe or really uncomfortable, to folks like my parents who are aging out of driving and can only drive in certain conditions. It includes people like me who can’t drive because of vision disabilities, others with chronic health, mobility, autism, epilepsy and other disabilities, people with suspended licenses or without licenses, without access to a working vehicle, who can’t afford gas, who have to share a vehicle they can’t reliably use to get where they want to go.

Altogether, nondrivers are about one-third of the population — and we all share the need to be able to get places but the inability to do so by grabbing the keys and going. The Week Without Driving is about our needs and imagining communities — urban and rural and everything in between, that could work better for us. 

Join me, and thousands of others, by not driving next week. To get more involved, check out one of the many events in Washington State next week.

This is an open thread.

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Local Transit News:

• Construction of RapidRide I is set to begin this fall (Metro Matters).
• After ventilation issues shut down light rail multiple times ($) over the past week, Sound Transit wants to increase planned maintenance to reduce unplanned closures (The Seattle Times, $)
• WSDOT announced another batch of major freeway closures starting this weekend (WSDOT Blog), so buses and trains may be extra busy.
• Metro Flex expanded to Overlake last week (Metro Matters).
• A previously-underused pedestrian bridge between Buckley and Enumclaw is very popular while the White River Bridge is being repaired (The Seattle Times, $)

Other Transportation:

• LA Metro extended the longest light rail line in the world with four new suburban stations on Friday (KTLA News)
• Buses would be much cheaper if they weren’t custom for every agency and could be built with non-American parts (Brookings)
• Transportation funding is at the heart of Congress’ latest budget impasse potentially resulting in another shutdown of the government (Transport Topics)
• Many cities are looking to heavy-duty ebikes for urban deliveries, but advocates disagree on whether they belong in bike lanes or car lanes (Curbed, $).
• Self-driving cars are going to make traffic much, much worse (Vox, $)
• How More Rail Could Take Trucks Off the Road (The New York Times, gift link)

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: controversial amendments” | 177 comments

Copenhagen’s automated metro has been running for 20 years. (dronthego) It has 4 lines, each running every 3-6 minutes and operating 24/7. Ridership is an average of 344,000 per day. Two lines combine downtown for 1.5 minute frequency. Agency promo page.

A train ride from Halifax to Montreal on VIA rail. Worse than Amtrak in most ways. And clips of how much better it was in 1965. (Not Just Bikes)

This is an open thread.

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Local Transit News:

• Sound Transit Outlines Promising Everett Link Cost Reductions, Bleaker Seattle News (The Urbanist). STB article in the works.
• Seattle eyes electric cargo bikes for greener deliveries (The Seattle Times, $)
• Sound Transit Leaders Plan to Give Fare Gates a Closer Look (The Urbanist)
• Beware, Seattle: Scooter accidents are on the rise (The Seattle Times, $). Nationwide study finds micromobility is replacing car trips across US; 40% of Veo riders don’t own a car; 28% don’t have driver’s license (Zag Daily).
• Growth, Gains and Greatness: One Year of RapidRide G (Metro Matters)
• Construction will close 57 parking spaces at Lynnwood City Center station (Community Transit Blog)
• Be a LOOKer! Stay safe and look both ways around tracks and trains (The Platform)

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: growth, gains, and greatness” | 195 comments

CityNerd looks at South Lake Union, its walkability and bicycle lanes, the notoriously unreliable route 8, the wide stroads, and Big Tech’s hidden motives for “colonizing” downtown areas.

How are the Sunday Movies going? Do you like the mix of topics and creators? Are there other topics or creators we’ve missed that you’d like to see?

This is an open thread.

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Sound Transit is in the early stages of building Stride 3, a new bus rapid transit service. It will run along SR-522 and Northeast 145th Street between Bothell and Shoreline South/148th Station. Additional right-of-way will be added along parts of the corridor to allow the buses to avoid congestion. One of the more controversial areas for such work is in Lake Forest Park. There has been both local opposition as well as high cost overruns in the area. This is a proposal for a solution.

Lake Forest Park Issues

One of the goals for Stride 3 is to provide bus lanes both directions along SR-522. At the same time, the various cities want to retain two general purpose lanes heading both directions. This means at least six lanes. While they plan on eliminating many of the center-turn lanes, they will still retain quite a few (e. g. northbound Bothell Way to 35th Avenue NE). Therefore, for much of the route they require seven lanes. In most of the street it is only wide enough for six lanes.

Thus Sound Transit plans on making the street wider. In some cases this won’t cost much at all. But it gets challenging as you go north. If you want to widen the street between 153rd and 155th you need a new bridge over Bsche’tla Creek. This involves a deep ravine and is thus expensive. Other work north of the creek would require taking some property and rebuilding a lot of the retaining walls. This has led to local opposition. This too adds to the cost, as it is likely residents will fight this in court. This relatively simple project already has a fairly high price tag ($581.5 million). This is in addition to the bus barn. The combination of local opposition and environmentally sensitive land could lead to much higher costs.

Continue reading “Fixing Stride 3” | 64 comments

Excerpts from the 1975 novel Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach. Twenty years earlier in 1955, California, Oregon, and Washington seceded from the US to form a sustainable environmentalist utopia. Since then there has been a cold war and little contact between the US and Ecotopia. Now an American journalist goes to Ecotopia to report on its conditions and the possibility of reunification. (There’s no possibility.) This article takes a look at Ecotopia’s transportation and urban forms, a retro-future vision from fifty years ago. The rest of the book has much to say about Ecotopia’s industries, economics, politics, education, and family structures, but this article won’t get into that.

William Weston flies to Reno, and takes a taxi across the border to Lake Tahoe. He has gotten special permission to bring an internal combustion engine into the country 20 miles to the nearest train station. He rides a train to the capital, San Francisco, and emerges from the main train station.

Continue reading “Friday Roundtable: Ecotopia Transit” | 20 comments