[There is a newer edition of this map.]

[UPDATE 10:11 am: Oran has applied some fixes to the pdf for download.]

It has been two years since I first released my Metro Frequent Service Network map. The map highlights all corridors that have transit service at least every 15 minutes during most of the day. It was inspired by the maps produced by the transit agencies in Portland and Minneapolis. Today, I give you a brand new version of the map for your enjoyment and benefit. You may download it as a PDF for high quality printing (8.5 x 14 inch Legal size). The map reflects Metro’s February 2011 service change (tentatively) and Sound Transit’s June 2011 service reductions.

This map takes a very different approach from my previous maps. It covers only the city of Seattle, where most of the frequent service is. Gone is the “one-color-for-one-line-for-one-route” French style map. Instead, colors are assigned to the modes: bus, rapid rail, and streetcar. It is a diagram, not a geographic map, but the major water bodies remain to provide some clues and the lines follow the street grid to an extent. Other features include a table showing the time and days when frequent service is provided, a street index for downtown routes, a list of through routes, neighborhood labels in the background, and icons showing connections to Sounder and the ferries. If so desired, thinner lines can be used to depict routes with less frequent service (every 20-30 minutes).

It has been said before by many but I’ll say it again. I think Metro should promote the frequent service network. It is as significant an asset as RapidRide is and it is service that is already out there. At the very least, show it on the timetable covers and on the system map with a simple yellow highlight. In the long term, the network itself should be restructured to provide more frequent service in more places and be more comprehensible to the average user.

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P-I Columnist Joel Connelly whines about new transportation spending, and in the meantime displays a pretty shocking lack of due diligence:

“What did you do with the money we gave you?” A few years back, Seattle voted for Bridging the Gap, a transportation levy topping $350 million that was the largest in the city’s history…

…Still, the city needs an accounting of how Bridging the Gap bucks have been spent. Voters need to see what higher taxes delivered — or didn’t deliver.”

I’m not sure why it takes a not-even-part-time transportation blogger to invest the two minutes to go on the internet and find the Bridging the Gap website, which has last April’s Annual Report on BTG progress. It’s written to be really accessible to the layman.

With a few clicks, I can find that the report covers the first three years of a nine-year plan. 70% has been spent on maintenance, 22% on pedestrian/bike safety, and 8% on transit. The reports gives lots of details about crosswalks painted and so on.

I realize that’s it’s not in the style of newspapers to break down semi-wonky documents, particularly if they put a pretty happy spin on what’s happening. Nevertheless, if Seattle voters don’t know what the progress of BTG is, there’s only one group to blame and it isn’t the government.

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Alert reader Carl Stork attended an SR520 town meeting and makes a great observation:

While they are considering three different designs for the half-interchange at 84th Ave NE, NONE of the designs will permit a bus route that uses the interchange from serving the Evergreen Point freeway stop. The on and off-ramps are all located on the outside of the freeway and the merge point is relatively close to where the freeway station begins. The freeway station is in the center. From the drawings it will not be possible for a bus entering or exiting at 84th to serve the center freeway stop.

This matters because 84th is where the 271 gets on 520. The 271 is the only route that provides all-day service from the Eastside to UW. When the Montlake Flyer Stop is eliminated, the only possible place to switch from downtown-bound bus (255, 545) to the 271 is at Evergreen Point, which as Carl points out will be impossible in this configuration.

In the peak, there are enough routes from everywhere to everywhere that this won’t be a huge imposition. In the off-peak, there are two ways to fix this without any changes to the roadway:

1. Have downtown buses get off at the Montlake exit, drop people off on the lid, and then get back on the freeway to downtown using the GP on-ramp.
2. Dramatically improve UW service on the 540 and 542; if necessary, cut service on the 255 and 545 to pay for it, and expect people to transfer to Link at Husky Stadium or take East Link all the way in.

Both of these involve time penalties.

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At long last, the City of Bellevue has decided to host an open house on its new B7-revised alignment.  You know, the one they’re spending around around $600K studying.  This represents the first publicized effort on behalf of the City to reach out directly to the neighborhoods that would be affected, which, unfortunately, did not come before the council decided to authorize spending for the study.

Considering that the new B7 Revised displaces 12 very large single-family residences in Enatai, it will be interesting to see how some of the homeowners who’ve opposed B2M for running near them will respond to this monstrosity.  For people sick of poorly-done freeway-oriented transit only designed to stray far away from homes and businesses, this will be a good meeting for you to make yourself heard.

The open houses will take place on Tuesday, January 25th from 5 to 7pm at Bellevue City Hall in Room 1E-108.

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It’s a semi-holiday in transitland:

Info for Metro, Sound Transit, PT, and CT.

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The lack of real-time info at stops and stations is pretty irritating, but perhaps local businesses and onebusaway can fill the gap:

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On Sunday, KING 5 TV’s Up Front program, hosted by Robert Mak, will be covering the East Link debate in Bellevue and will be centered on recent claims made by the pro-B7 Build a Better Bellevue group which allege that Sound Transit deliberately made B7 look worse.  In response to the claims, ST staff have prepared answers/rebuttals which will be released in the Final EIS next spring.

You can watch Up Front this Sunday on KING 5 at 9:30am or 11:30pm (if the Seahawks are more important), on KONG 6/16 at 11am, or NWCN at 8pm.

[Update 5:14pm:] Commenter Joshua Kelley says that another broadcast is on KONG 6/16 at 10:35pm so looks like you’ll have chances to watch it day round.

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A lesser known part of the Sound Transit 2 package is a “station access study” for South Sounder. Beginning next week, there will be open houses.

Possible improvements the agency is studying include increased parking, pedestrian sidewalks, crosswalks and bridges, bicycle commute options, and transit facility enhancements.

All of the events occur from 4-6pm and are listed after the jump. Here’s to hoping the public shows up with something more than “build more free parking”. I’m no expert on these areas, but charging for parking would be a start.

Continue reading “Sounder Station Access Open Houses”

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[UPDATE: PubliCola has a summary of the meeting. Here’s a link to the report and a link to the archived press conference. From the Executive Summary:

Policy Objective: To set rates to achieve approximately one or two open spaces per block on average in a neighborhood business district

2010 citywide paid parking study results:
• Out of the approximately 13,500 paid parking spaces in the city, almost 60%, or 7,800 spaces, were included in the study. All neighborhoods with paid parking were studied, although some were sampled.
• Several neighborhoods, such as First Hill and Commercial Core, were quite full; several had low peak parking occupancy

New 2011 neighborhood paid parking rates
• A target occupancy range was projected so that a neighborhood’s parking rate could be increased, stay the same, or decreased to achieve the policy objective of one or two open spaces. This range works out to be 58% to 78%.
• Generally, if an area’s parking occupancy was higher than the target occupancy, than the rate needed to increase; if an area’s parking occupancy was below the range, than the rate needed to drop.
• With the new data‐driven approach, nine areas will see increased parking rates, nine areas will have the same rate as 2010, and four areas will have decreased rates by $0.50 per hour. Compared to current rates, 62% of paid spaces will see the same rate or a decrease in 2011.

Next Steps
• Rate installation rolls out beginning February 1 and concludes by March 30. Rates are set to change only once in 2011.
• Evening paid parking is expected to roll out starting in April 2011 and continue through September 2011.
• SDOT’s work on the variable pricing feasibility analysis is underway to potentially establish 2012 rates for different parts of day, for rates that change as frequently as on a quarterly basis, and for rates on a finer grain within a neighborhood.
• Another citywide paid parking study will occur this summer to monitor the affects of the rate changes.

Hooray for market pricing!

Original post after the jump.] Continue reading “Live: 2011 Seattle Parking Rates”

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Metro is going through the process of revising its routes throughout Bellevue and Redmond to take advantage of RapidRide B opening in October 2011. The first draft of these changes came out last October, and yesterday Metro released the latest iteration. Random observations:

• The proposal trades peak commuter service for all-day service, a principle that I strongly support. Peak routes 225, 229, 247, 256, 261, 266, and 272 are all gone. Many all-day routes are lengthened; the 271 would join the ranks of 15-minute headway frequent routes, which in East King County are currently only the 545, 550, and what will become RR B.
• It’s a great website. Route maps and system maps, plus explanations of each route that concisely explore the tradeoffs.
• In the system map above you can see the tension between a simple, direct, gridded network and hitting the key nodes. The north side is sort of like a grid if you squint hard enough, but the south is spaghetti as everything gets funneled through Bellevue College, where the demand is, and Metro tries to serve winding suburban streets.
• In retrospect, there are lot of problems with the placement and layout of the Eastgate Park and Ride.
• If these are your routes, you should attend a meeting or take the survey.

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