Final Decision on SE Seattle Nears

Posted on by Martin H. Duke

I don’t have a lot of time to expound on this right now, but the King County Council is set, on Monday, to approve a set of bus route adjustments in Southeast Seattle and Southwest King County.

The full text of the changes is here.  The key change from the Metro staff recommendation seems to be a partial restoration of Route 42.  It will run from Pioneer Square to Columbia City via MLK, instead of from Belltown to Rainier View; will run only 8am to 6pm; and will be at one-hour frequency.  This service is apparently paid for by ditching the idea of improving peak-hour service on Route 9.

This alteration will provide the direct connection from Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS) to downtown that they so loudly clamored to maintain, while minimizing the additional costs to Metro.  Furthermore, it provides a little more East-West connectivity to Columbia City station, something that suffers a bit from planned cutbacks on the 39.

It also looks like the RapidRide A Line is slipping to June 2010, and the Southern half of the 174 will survive until then.

I’m on vacation with very short-lived internet access, and have probably missed some important things.  Feel free to peruse the report yourself and point out other changes from the staff recommendation in the comments.

UPDATE: The plan described above was passed on May 18 with a 9-0 vote.

News Round-Up: 68 days

Posted on by Andrew Smith


in 1968, the first Forward Thrust transit vote got 50.8% of the vote, but failed to get the 60% needed to pass. It was voted on again in 1970, but it got only 46% of the vote that year. The vote came at the height of the Boeing bust, and voters were worried about the local economy and didn’t want to approve new taxes, even though the Federal Government was going to pay $880 million of the rapid transit system’s $1.3 billion price tag. The one that got away…

  • Oran has great video (above) of Orca being used usable in Washington State Ferry fare turnstiles.
  • Community Transit unveiled its first Swift BRT station at its base in Everett. (H/T to Erik)
  • Is the Seattle Times actually in favor of something, anything around light rail? It’s hard to tell but I think so.
  • Fred Jarrett, who is running for King County Exec against Larry Phillips, Ross Hunter, Dow Constantine and Susan Hutchison, is apparently is in favor of removing 40/40/20, the rule that dictates that new Metro bus service is split 40% for the Eastside, 40% for South King County and 20% for Seattle and Shoreline. Metro is in such a budget bind today that won’t have much effect in the short term, but getting rid of that rule could provide buses in need-based formula in the long term. Along with Phillips and Constantine, three of the candidates I know support some alteration to 40/40/20.

70 Days, And Something Worth Noting

Posted on by Ben Schiendelman

Link Light Rail vehicles are 70% low floor. All four of the doors on each side are at the same level as the platform, only a short portion at each end is raised. This means there will be no waiting for wheelchairs to board, as they can roll right on, and no trouble for those who have difficulty climbing steps.

Ten weeks left!

I also want to make a comment about SB 5433 – the bill that modifies local option taxes this year. Just to recap, it allows for two new things: Cities and counties can now ask the public to vote for a congestion charge on car tabs to fund transit, although unlike the MVET this would be flat, rather than based on the value of the car. The bill also changes property tax rules.

Right now, without this bill, the King County Council can vote, without the public, to increase property taxes for ferries from today’s $0.075/$1000 to a total of $0.75/$1000. 5433 makes two changes – it reduces the total allowance  to $0.15/$1000, and it reserves the currently uncollected $0.075/$1000 for transit.

The Governor hasn’t signed this bill yet, and openly anti-Sound Transit Joe Turner has some incorrect reporting on the matter. He claims this is a new tax. Taxes are clearly not his motivation – this reduces the amount of tax the County Council can impose. This would be a good time to call or email the Governor’s office in support of SB 5433, as it will take a big bite out of King County Metro’s shortfall – and save routes we use.

Metro Service Changes: Citizen Reaction

Posted on by Martin H. Duke
Slack Action, via Flickr
Slack Action, via Flickr

On April 28, two King County Council committees combined to receive a report from Metro on proposed Southeast Seattle and Southwest King County service changes, followed by public comment from both the official citizen sounding boards as well as fully private citizens. The two-hour-plus video is archived here. A boatload of supporting documents is accessible from this page and this one.

We’ve covered these proposed changes extensively, but here’s what’s new from the meeting: Continue reading “Metro Service Changes: Citizen Reaction”

News Round-Up: 73 days

Posted on by Andrew Smith
"Riding made EASY" RapidRide
Rapid Ride, photo by Oran

1973 is the year King County Metro was formed from the combining of Seattle Transit and the Metropolitan Transit Corporation.

Here’s a news round-up:

  • Metro is facing a giant budget hole, but King County Council-member Larry Phillips wants to make sure that Rapid Ride, Metro’s BRT system that will open next year, will be prioritized over other service when cuts are made. The Federal Transit Administration has awarded Rapid Ride a $13.8 million grant for buses and stops, and it would be a shame if the service was cut down to make the BRT service infrequent. I think we need a chance to see BRT really work in our region, so I agree with Phillips.
  • The tunneling for the station on Beacon Hill apparently created a ton of sink holes in the area around the station. It’s going to cost about $1 million to fill them all up.
  • May 9th is National Train Day. Unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to take a train that day, but I will be able to in just 73 days.

This is an open thread.

Update: This is a big week for BRT in the Puget Sound region. Today, Community Transit had an unveiling ceremony for its version of BRT called Swift. It will run along SR-99 in Snohomish county starting Nov. 30th of this year. It will have higher service frequencies than Rapidride (10 minutes all day) and use Transit Signal Priority to speed buses along SR-99. This corridor is perfect for BRT and will be very interesting to watch.

What the Mayor Told Us Last Night

Posted on by John Jensen

As you heard earlier this morning, Greg Nickels (the Mayor of Seattle) came to our blog’s meet-up last night. After delivering a speech detailing is 21+ year history of trying to bring rail transit to the region, the Mayor asked the audience for some questions. Here are the more interesting facts we found out:

  • Nickels said he wasn’t “convinced” about a 12th avenue streetcar rather than one that runs along Broadway. He implied that it wouldn’t serve the same area that the original First Hill stop promised in Sound Move would have. But he said there is time to look at 12th, and that the city should.
  • The First Hill Streetcar may not pursue federal funds because it can delay a project for years and the city is attempting to open the line ahead of the planned 2016 date.
  • But the 1st Ave (ID, Belltown, Lower Queen Anne) Streetcar will pursue federal funds and will be started during his next term if re-elected. This line will link the First Hill Streetcar and the South Lake Union Streetcar.

More after the jump!

Continue reading “What the Mayor Told Us Last Night”

Guest Post Series: Sound Move, The First Try

Posted on by Guest Contributor

by GREG NICKELS, Mayor of Seattle and Chair of the Sound Transit Board

scan0001_small
CPSRTA Election Pamphlet (also note the old agency logo on the train)

With just over ten weeks until Sound Transit Light Rail opens, this is my fourth installment on how we got here.

After the three County Councils agreed to place the RTA plan on the ballot, the RTA’s first actual service began on January 28, 1995. Called TRY Rail, this demonstration of commuter rail service carried passengers between Tacoma and Seattle for a few weeks and then between Everett and Seattle. In total, 35,000 passengers rode TRY Rail. Commuter rail was one of the elements of the ballot measure.

The first vote to decide Mass Transit for King County in 25 years (and the first ever for Pierce and Snohomish Counties) was scheduled for a March 14, 1995 Special Election. In addition to commuter rail, the plan contained a mostly surface light rail system connecting Tacoma to Seattle, north to Lynnwood (actually 164th St SW) and east across Lake Washington to Bellevue and Redmond.

The campaign in favor was called “Citizens for Sound Transit,” and the opponents, “Families Against Congestion and Taxes.” Early polls looked favorable with some 60% of respondents likely to vote yes. According to the Pro campaign FAQ:

There are basically two opponents: Ed Hansen, the Mayor of Everett and Kemper Freeman, Jr., a Bellevue developer. Mayor Hansen opposes this project because it doesn’t include light rail to Everett – in other words, it’s not enough. Freeman opposes this plan because he thinks it’s too much.

The campaign was nasty and the proponents often found themselves on the defensive, responding to FACT’s charges that the ($6,700,000,000) cost was too high (compared with buses and freeways), the ridership numbers inflated and it would not put a dent in congestion.

Despite carrying King County 50.3% to 49.7%, getting 61.7% in Seattle and winning in Lake Forest Park and Mercer Island, the measure got only 42.8% in Bellevue, lost Pierce County and did so poorly in Snohomish County (especially Everett) that Prohibition looked popular in comparison. It went down RTA district-wide 46.5% yes to 53.3% no. The region rejected mass transit. History repeated itself – mass transit was once again treated by many politicians in Olympia and the region as political roadkill. It looked like another dead end for rail transit.

The mayor’s previous installments: Counting Down to Link, Light Rail’s Beginnings, 81 Days

75 Days

Posted on by Andrew Smith
Atlanta - MARTA
MARTA station, photo by Charles Fred

75% is the share of construction costs for Forward Thrust the Federal Government would have paid. King County taxpayers would have had to come up with just 25%.

In late 1975, construction started on Atlanta’s first MARTA line, the East-West line. The Urban Mass Transportation Administration – the Federal Agency that become the FTA – gave MARTA the $600 million it had set aside for our area’s failed Forward Thrust that year. Operations on the West line began in June of 1979, and began on the West Line in December of 1979.

Update from Ben:

Amusingly enough, while looking for light rail related ’75s’, I found another countdown from a year ago – here’s a post made when Phoenix’s light rail had 75 days left as well. I think everyone gets excited about having a new transit system!

Also, New Jersey Transit’s SEPTA’s (thanks) light rail system has 75 stations.

Guest Post Series: 81 Days

Posted on by Guest Contributor
stmap
Sound Move Plan

by GREG NICKELS, Mayor of Seattle and Chair of the Sound Transit Board

With 81 days until the opening of Sound Transit LINK Light Rail, here is the third of my posts on the long road we’ve traveled.

The first meeting of the eighteen member Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (RTA) Board took place in September, 1993. I remember very well taking my seat at the table amidst much excitement and high expectations (I am the last of the original RTA Boardmembers still on the Board). King County Councilman Bruce Laing (R-6th) was elected the first RTA Board Chair. A former Hearing Examiner, Bruce was known to all as the epitome of the “honest broker”.

Following the 1988 Advisory Ballot and through the planning process (JRPC) a core of Metro staff formed the backbone of the effort. With the creation of a new, independent government it was time to expand and hire “permanent” staff to conduct the environmental and engineering work necessary to place a measure on the ballot (the State legislation contained a number of requirements to be met prior to going to the ballot, including engaging an “Expert Review Panel”).

The first hire was to be an Executive Director. The RTA Board chose Tom Matoff (former General Manager of the Sacramento Regional Transit Agency) because of his experience in developing Sacramento’s initial light rail project. Tom was a true believer in light rail and felt that a successful, inexpensive  start would pave the way for future extensions, earlier rather than later. This came into conflict with the aspirations of many Boardmembers, particularly those from the outermost parts of the three county district who wanted any plan to include them (this turned out to be quite a drama later).

The emotions were high, the debate heated, but in just over a year (on October 28, 1994) the RTA Board adopted a $ 6.7 billion, phase 1 (based on the JRPC Plan) rail and bus proposal to send to the ballot. The three County Councils were required to vote on whether to continue as part of the RTA and therefore send it to the ballot. After weeks of hearings the three Councils all voted affirmatively in December. The region’s voters would soon be deciding on a Mass Transit plan – for the first time in 25 years!

The mayor’s previous posts: Counting Down to Link, Light Rail’s Beginnings

Olympia Update: Transit Does Pretty Well

Posted on by Ben Schiendelman
Olympia Capitol at Night
State Capitol at night, photo by jwiv

With the legislative session coming to a close, we have some good news to report.

To start with, SB 5433 passed the House with both an authorization for King County to use ferry district taxing authority for transit (discussed in more detail here) and the Simpson amendment to allow transit agencies to ask for transportation benefit districts (discussed here). TCC just broke that the Senate was tied tonight, with Lieutenant Governor Brad Owen making the tie-breaking vote to pass the bill. This is great news for all transit agencies, but especially for Metro.

The transportation budget passed. The I-90 asset assessment remained essentially as Rep. Simpson wrote, funded and inclusive of ST in the process – and moved up a month to be complete by November 1st. Rep. Clibborn’s $10.6 million for R8A preliminary design work survived – and I understand Senator Jarrett supported this as well, although he wasn’t on the conference committee. Regional Mobility Grants survived partially, with $33 million of the Senate’s original $45 million, but I’ll take it – $8 million is included for the $39 million we still need to get Sounder to Lakewood. There was also funding for a third Amtrak Cascades run to Vancouver starting next year, and the final version of the bill kept in the House’s “Seattle pays for overruns” Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement provision.

Given how bad things looked a month ago, this isn’t bad! In addition to the obvious thanks for Rep. Simpson taking the lead here, I also want to recognize that Rep. Clibborn and Senator Jarrett both played roles in making sure all this funding stayed in place, so thank you to them as well. Perhaps we’ll never know what goes on in those conference committees (ahem, transparency initiative?), but we seem to have fared well enough.

Of course, now that we’ve gotten an inch, next budget session I expect Oregon-like funding for light rail and hourly bullet train service from Canada to Portland. Also a pony.