Midweek Roundup – Open Thread 53

Posted on by Nathan Dickey

Countdowns: Lynnwood Link (August 30); RapidRide G (September 14)

Pre-revenue testing has begun on Lynnwood Link. Photo courtesy of Sound Transit.

Transit Updates:

 WA State Ferries holding public meetings regarding the entire ferry system, via Zoom at noon on Monday, June 17, and at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 18

RapidRide G passes 90% completion milestone. Service is scheduled to start with Metro’s Fall service change on September 14, 2024.

Sound Transit’s monthly Capital Programs report for April is out.

Sound Transit’s Board officially lowers farebox recovery goals and opens the door to fare capping.

SDOT wants your input on street concept planning around future West Seattle Link Extension stations.

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup – Open Thread 53” | 41 comments

Midweek Roundup – Open Thread 52

Posted on by Nathan Dickey
A model for First Avenue? A quiet stretch of Leith Walk, a pedestrian, bicycle, and tram-oriented street in Edinburgh, Scotland, last Monday evening. Photo by Nathan Dickey.

Countdowns: Lynnwood Link (August 30). Video of testing at Shoreline North.

It’s Ride Transit Month (and Pride Month). Join the Transit Riders Union, Seattle Subway, and the Transportation Choices Coalition tonight at 5:30pm for the Ride Transit Month Social, located at Olmstead in Capitol Hill.

Transit Updates:

Sound Transit’s Fare Ambassadors begin platform payment checks.

Pierce Transit invites public comment on its proposed 2024-2029 Transit Development Plan. See our series last week for comment inspiration.

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup – Open Thread 52” | 109 comments

Tonight: Seattle City Council Position 8 Election Forum

Posted on by Nathan Dickey

From 7:00 to 8:30pm this evening (June 3), at the Haller Lake United Methodist Church (13055 1st Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98125), Colleen Echohawk will facilitate an election forum featuring Position 8 candidates Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Saunatina Sanchez, and interim incumbent Tanya Woo.

The forum will focus on both highly localized issues related to the 130th Street station, a new Lake City Community Center and safety on the Aurora Avenue, to citywide concerns like affordable housing, public safety, homelessness, and climate change.

The forum can be viewed in person or on Zoom. You can submit questions here, and see questions asked by others in the community, here.

The organizers (a group of North Seattle resident volunteers) recommend wearing masks to protect vulnerable members of the community. The church is accessible via Metro Routes 345 and 346, with stops 0.5 to 0.3 miles away, respectively, along Meridian Ave N.

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Fallen Trees Force Bus Detours

Posted on by Ross Bleakney

Several buses have been rerouted because of last night’s storm. This is causing delays as well as skipped stops. Check the Metro service advisory page to see if your bus is effected. This is a developing story, but here are the reroutes I am aware of:

10 — rerouted off of 15th Avenue E between E Galer Street and E Aloha Street due to downed power lines.

322, 372, 982, 986, 987, 988 and ST 522 — fallen tree near NE 92nd Street & Lake City Way NE

73 — rerouted off of 15th Avenue NE between Pinehurst Way NE and NE Northgate Way due to downed power lines.

75 — fallen tree near 20th Avenue NE & NE 125th Street.

118 — fallen tree near SW 250th Way & Vashon Hwy SW.

162 — canceled today (this may be related to the storm or coincidental).

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More Money and Oversight for Transportation Levy

Posted on by Nathan Dickey

As formally announced on Friday, previewed by The Urbanist on Thursday, and briefly reviewed on PubliCola on Saturday, Seattle City Council Transportation Committee Chair Rob Saka (District 1) is proposing an amendment to the 2024 Transportation Levy adding $100 million across several categories for a total levy amount of $1.55 billion over eight years, and adding more oversight processes. Tomorrow, the Seattle City Council’s Select Committee on the 2024 Transportation Levy will meet twice to discuss the proposed levy and this amendment: first at 9:30am, and then again at 4:30pm for a Public Hearing of the proposed Levy.

Rob Saka straying dangerously close to saying “All Modes Matter”

At its 9:30am meeting, the Committee will receive an overview of the City’s property taxing authority, (“Property Taxes 101”), hear a proposal from SDOT for a “Transportation Funding Task Force” which would spend 2025-2026 working on recommendations for improving stability and efficacy of transportation funding, and review the Transportation Levy including the proposed amendment. The 4:30pm meeting is tagged as a “Public Hearing” although public comment will be taken at both meetings.

The proposal adds funds for sidewalks, a “freight program”, EV charging, and reportedly includes language to increase oversight of Levy projects by not only the Levy Oversight Committee, but the City Council itself.

Continue reading “More Money and Oversight for Transportation Levy” | 10 comments

Better Transit in Pierce County: Corridor Improvements

Posted on by Troy Serad

This post is the fifth and final in a series, adapted from an article I wrote for my blog, Transportation Matters, a Pacific Northwest-flavored blog that discusses railway planning, urban planning, and related politics.

The previous post described four proposals for improvements to Pierce Transit. This article proposes three improvements corridors to conclude the series:

  • Make Targeted Bus Corridor Improvements
  • Implement New Buslines that Connect More Local Centers
  • Electrify the Core Local Buslines

Make Targeted Bus Corridor Improvements

Pierce Transit should exclusively seek corridor infrastructure improvements that are relatively straightforward, standardized, and affordable. Basic improvements—from queue jumps and bus shelters to bus bulbs and (near) level boarding—would do much to enhance existing bus lines. These incremental upgrades may be able to leverage funds obtained from an increase in the sales tax, via the issuance of long-term bonds, with their expense amortized over a several year period. Transportation benefit districts like those available in Tacoma could also support some improvements.

For transit, what Tacoma and Pierce County need more than anything else is rubber on the road: more service, more frequency, more options for getting around. Discussing major infrastructure improvements is pointless if there is no intention to run a frequent service. Even Pierce Transit’s $325-million (or more) Pacific Avenue project, featuring major rapid transit elements like median lanes and stations, would have seen peak frequencies of only 10 minutes. While that is a huge improvement over recent 30-minute headways for the Route 1—which was frankly unacceptable given the line’s importance and the claimed necessity of its conversion to BRT—it pales in comparison to BRT facilities like Van Ness in San Francisco. There, buses arrive every several seconds throughout the day. In Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., indeed in cities around the world, 10-minute frequencies are commonplace without extensive infrastructure upgrades. Just run more buses.

Continue reading “Better Transit in Pierce County: Corridor Improvements” | 13 comments

Better Transit in Pierce County: Pierce Transit

Posted on by Troy Serad

This post is the fourth in a series, adapted from an article I wrote for my blog, Transportation Matters, a Pacific Northwest-flavored blog that discusses railway planning, urban planning, and related politics.

The previous post described three proposed improvements to bus transit in Tacoma. This article proposes four improvements for Pierce Transit:

  • Secure a Sales Tax Increase for Pierce Transit
  • Increase More Busline Frequencies to 15 minutes or Better
  • Invest in a Pierce County Bus Transit Grid
  • Expand the Pierce Transit Service Area into Greater Pierce County

Secure a Sales Tax Increase for Pierce Transit

For significantly improved local transit service, Pierce Transit should seek a modest sales tax increase. This would secure several million dollars of additional annual revenue for transit operations, facility improvements and maintenance. A plan for how the money would be collected and spent should be given to voters sooner rather than later. Those plans should prioritize better frequency of the most productive buslines, superior connections on the service grid, and incremental reliability improvements over so-called BRT upgrades and expansions of coverage.

Today, Pierce Transit is supported by a 0.6 percent sales tax. Its voter-approved limit is 0.9 percent, which allows the agency to seek a sales tax increase of 0.3 percent, or an additional $0.03 per $10 purchase. For a large urban area with a dominant city of metropolitan importance, the current rate of support is low compared to our peers. As subarea transit expert Chris Karnes notes, Pierce Transit “is funded at half the rate [of King County Metro] in a county with a smaller tax base, with no supplemental funding from the City of Tacoma”. Community Transit, an agency serving a distributed suburban population like that found in Pierce County, also benefits from a 1.2 percent sales tax rate. This discrepancy should be reduced or eliminated. Pierce Transit needs to grow and there is excess financial capacity to do so.

Continue reading “Better Transit in Pierce County: Pierce Transit” | 36 comments