It’s become clear from comments that there’s some confusion about what the streetcar and BRT modes in the TMP actually mean. It is not, in general, the service quality of the South Lake Union Streetcar. You have to dig into the pamphlets to which each post links to understand what treatments the streetcar (or BRT bus) would receive.

In the case of the 4th/5th couplet, there are two options. The best one, presented at right, has a dedicated transit lane in both directions. The other alternative would do so only on 5th.

For cost reasons, in that project we’re likely stuck with the current configuration through SLU, unless one of the other lines is built.

As for Ballard/Fremont, the plan envisions dedicated transit lanes in the Ballard/Leary couplet, on Westlake between Valley and Nickerson, and on one or both avenues downtown as above. Elsewhere, it would operate in mixed traffic, although it would get other priority treatments like queue jumps and signal priority.

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I’m not sure why July 26th is the official day for good transportation events, but the City of Bellevue is hosting a bike ride of the Eastgate corridor, so that cyclists can provide suggestions to planners on how to make the corridor bike-friendly. Meet at 5:30 at Enatai Beach Park.

This is a great opportunity to help plan for the future of the Eastgate Corridor. Join representatives from the Mountains to Sound Greenway and City of Bellevue for a loop ride from Enatai to the Sunset Trailhead and back. You’ll be able to learn more about Greenway Trail options that are being explored, and provide your input to transportation planners on how to make this important corridor more bike-friendly. We’ll be back to Enatai Beach Park around 6:45 p.m. Please RSVP at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/eastgateI-90corridorbikeride.

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Of the all possible High Capacity Transit corridor projects in Seattle’s Transit Master Plan, nothing carries more riders than a fast streetcar from downtown to Loyal Heights via Ballard and Fremont. Up to 26,000 riders per day could use this line in 2030, which would run a train train every 8 minutes at the peak, 15 minutes evenings and weekends, and 10 minutes the rest of the time and save the average traveler about 8 minutes over the current situation.

On the other hand, the 7-mile rail corridor would cost $327m in capital, well out of range for Seattle without outside assistance. It also would run less frequently than the BRT option, which costs $111m, draws 21,000 riders and is cheaper overall per new rider ($3.11 vs. $4.53). Enhanced bus takes up the rear at $4.74.

No matter what you do, nothing is big enough to handle the demand in this corridor. Even running every 5 minutes, BRT simply doesn’t; only coupled streetcars come close.

But if you can’t afford it, you can’t afford it. On the other hand, if you build the streetcar here you get the SLU/First Hill connector for free.

Nelson/Nygaard looked at constructing a ship canal crossing. They estimated the cost at $50-70m, but judged it to not meet cost/benefit considerations.

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The Metropolitan King County Council this evening decided to give themselves more time before deciding on the fate of the temporary 2-year $20/car/year Congestion Reduction Charge (CRC). They will meet to discuss the matter again and vote on Monday, August 15. Jim Brewer, legal counsel, said that August 16 is the deadline to put the CRC on the November ballot. To put the CRC on the ballot that late would require 6 votes and an emergency clause. However, there is no immediate deadline for adopting it directly, not until the authorizing legislation expires in 2014.

Councilmember Reagan Dunn reaffirmed his position that he will not support councilmatic action (adoption without a public vote), “There’s no scenario where I’m able to accept passing this out of the council.” He might support sending it to the ballot if Metro continues to demonstrate additional efficiencies.

The public hearing, scheduled at 3 pm, began an hour late. Over two hours, over 50 citizens testified, most were in support of the council adopting the CRC with a supermajority vote. Only two spoke against it. After a brief recess, the council was scheduled to reconvene at 6 pm for debate and the vote. At 6:15 pm, the council was called back to the chamber, only to have Councilmember Pete von Reichbauer request an additional 20 minute recess to discuss “new information”. After 40 minutes, Councilmember Patterson withdrew her motion to allow more time to work things out and the meeting was adjourned.

Transit advocates at the hearing remain optimistic. There’s still time to convince the other councilmembers to support and adopt the fee.

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Please join us tomorrow at 6pm at the Diller Room for a long overdue STB meetup. Facebook event here. Please note this is a 21+ location. If you have not already done so please RSVP in the comments thread here. There should be lots of great discussion, as a lot has happened since our last meetup.

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Today, the Metropolitan King County Council votes on whether or not it will approve a $20 CRC (congestion reduction charge) car-tab fee to delay Metro cuts until 2014, pass the same decision to the voters in November, or reject the charge entirely, resulting in 600K hours of cuts beginning February of next year.  After three public hearings, a tremendous amount of testimony has been heard in favor of the charge, ranging from disabled riders dependent on transit to people who never take Metro but support those who do.

This afternoon the public will have one last opportunity to weigh in on the issue.  Public testimony on the CRC, officially Ordinance 2011-0288, will be heard around 3pm, but sign-up will begin at 1pm in the 4th Avenue Plaza of the county’s Administration Building at 500 4th Ave.  The council will not vote until all testimony has been heard.

The hearing and vote will be covered in depth on Twitter, which you can follow with the #SaveKCMetro hashtag.

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There are many metrics that Nelson/Nygaard used to evaluate each mode in Seattle’s future High Capacity Transit corridors. Unfortunately, the one I really wanted to see wasn’t included: Annualized Net Cost per New Rider. Let’s break that down.

The cost is annualized because it breaks down the upfront capital cost over a 30-year period to combine it with operating cost; net because it subtracts savings from bus operations made redundant; and “new riders” because it only counts the trips added to the system. It captures what the city would have to outlay to put another fanny in the seats every day. And as luck would have it, one can compute ANC/NR it using the metrics that the consultant provided.

This metric doesn’t capture everything that matters; it’s subject to the assumptions that went into the inputs. Moreover, it ignores trip length, greenhouse gas emissions, rider speed and comfort, what you can get people to vote for, and what capital costs the federal government or private investors might defray. Nevertheless, the winner by this metric is the “CC2” South Lake Union-Downtown streetcar, which connects the SLU and First Hill streetcars. Its ANC/NR comes in at $1.71, 47 cents below its nearest competitor.

The 1.1 mile Corridor_CC2 would run in a couplet down 4th and 5th Avenues. The streetcar would run every 10 minutes during the day and every 15 minutes evenings, and carry about 11,500 people a day in 2030. Most riders throughout the day in 2030 would be standing. At $74m, it’s also one of the cheapest capital projects on the menu; it’s also a down payment on longer potential lines up Eastlake or to Ballard.

Due to the unique nature of this project, there were no analogous bus projects for this corridor. Bus service would remain unchanged.

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If you really want to leave it all behind for a night or two, you can hardly do better than Shaw Island.  The least populous and least-visited among ferry-served San Juan Islands, Shaw is a quiet, wooded treasure.  The island has only one commercial establishment, the Shaw General Store, famously operated by nuns until just a few years ago.  San Juan County Parks operates the lone public campground, charging $12-$16 per night for one of 11 tent sites.  The campsites rest on a cliff above a sandy, south-facing beach with great views of San Juan, Canoe, and Lopez Islands.

If you strap on a backpack with a small tent, or better yet take a bicycle, you can have an easy car-free loop, 2 nights of quiet camping, a late lunch in Friday Harbor, and a scenic cruise back to Seattle…while still arriving back in Seattle for a full night’s sleep before work Monday morning.  Here’s a sample itinerary, below the jump.

Continue reading “Transit Hikes: Shaw Island and Friday Harbor”

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APTA’s annual Multimodal Operations Planning Workshop will be held here in Seattle next August from the 15th through 17th, a three-day event consisting of workshop sessions, panels, and technical tours.  Unlike larger conferences like Rail~Volution, the Multimodal Workshop is much more technically-oriented and typically draws a clientele of transit planners and schedulers from around the country.

While geared more toward professionals in the transit world, the workshop is open to the general public, albeit at a higher price for non-APTA members.  Topics include service scheduling, route design and structuring, facilities planning and more.  Attendees will be treated to a luncheon on the workshop’s first day with guest speaker Jarrett Walker, author of Human Transit.  There will also be four technical tours of various systems in the region, including a joint operations tour in the DSTT.

Registration information can be found here.  Though there’s no set cap on how many can attend, there is limited capacity at the Red Lion, where the workshop is being held.  If you plan on attending, please RSVP in the comments below and register as soon as possible so that APTA and Sound Transit, the host agency, can get a sense of how many will need to be accommodated.  A pre-workshop technical tour will also be held in Portland the weekend before, which does not require workshop registration but does have space limitations so RSVP for that ASAP if you’re interested.

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