More Weekend Sounder Specials

Posted on by Martin H. Duke

wikimedia

[UPDATE: To clear up some confusion in the comments, whatever net costs exist are borne by Sound Transit.  As spokesman Bruce Gray explained:

The teams have never paid extra for this service. It’s part of our job to serve major events. Since the first Seahawks train, we’ve had great response to these services and have found it to be a great way to introduce Sound Transit to some who would never otherwise use transit.

Consider this a marketing or PR cost if you like.]

Sound Transit is expanding their special sporting event service on Sounder to cover all weekend day games of both the Mariners and the Sounders this year.

As I’ve observed before, sporting event service is a nice combo for rail transit: expensive parking, high congestion that traps most buses, focused arrival and departure times, and an opportunity to serve a constituency that may not have the occasion to use your service otherwise.

Conservation Board Election

Posted on by Martin H. Duke

This is only tangentially related to transit, but most of you probably don’t know we have an election coming up tomorrow, and it’s one where you have to vote in person to participate. It’s for the King County Conservation District Board of Supervisors. The Seattle Times has a nice write-up on why things are the way they are, but the practical impact is that voter ignorance makes it much easier for special interests to capture the process.

There are 7 locations County-wide at which you can vote on Tuesday, including the Seattle Central Library. In keeping with our tradition here we won’t endorse in non-transit-related races, but take a look at the candidates and let everyone know in the comments who they should support.

Sunday Open Thread: Moving through Metro

Posted on by Martin H. Duke

My hometown system…

[UPDATE: A few points I should have made yesterday:

  • It’s interesting to consider that DC decided to move forward on this system at about the same time Seattle rejected starting theirs.  The difference, I think, is an institutional setup where elected leaders make decisions, rather than one where they have to go to the ballot for (super-)majorities for nearly every budgetary decision.
  • DC has a similarly balkanized system: spanning two states and one-quasi state, WMATA runs the subway and some regional buses; then you have at least five county agencies running buses, and two different states running their own commuter trains.
  • Seattle Times editors: please count the newspapers in the video.]

A New Business Opportunity for You*

Posted on by Martin H. Duke

Community Transit is auctioning off some old DART and paratransit vans on March 20th:

The auction will include 13 El Dorado 14-passenger mini-buses, as well as three 15-passenger vans and one eight-passenger van. The El Dorados are equipped with wheelchair lifts. Two of the El Dorados are not in running condition. All the vehicles are retired from Community Transit’s DART paratransit and vanpool fleet.

With Sen. Haugen apparently hellbent on granting private operators full access to public transit facilities, you could set up a service!

In a coincidence, longtime readers may recognize this as the same place I sold my car, and where (full disclosure) my mother-in-law works part-time and I know the owner a bit.

*No, not really.

A Modest Fare Proposal

Posted on by Martin H. Duke
Sound Transit Fare Zones

The last fare thread had a lot of complaining about differential fares between agencies.  And although ORCA is intended to smooth over that complexity, in ideal world similar service would cost the same on each agency.

Judging from the comments, people seem to think this is really important.  An interesting way to judge the actual priority people are willing to give an issue is to trade it off against other priorities.  As it so happens, people hate fare increases, and given widespread budget crises there’s no way agencies are cutting fares.  So here’s a thought experiment that gives everyone the fare parity they value so highly, while also raising some cash for transit:

  1. Everyone adopts the Sound Transit fare zone map, with a new fare zone created for Snohomish County outside the ST district.  Other outlying areas can be absorbed into the adjacent fare zones.
  2. The unified fare system adopts the highest fares at each level.  For adults at peak times, that’s $2.25 1-zone, $3.50 2-zone, and $4.50 3-zone.  Off-peak, it’s $2.00/$2.50/$3.00.
  3. If you like, raise Link fares 80 cents and .5 cents a mile to match Sounder.  Use the same structure for the SLUT and Tacoma Link.
  4. Form a regional fare board to approve all future fare changes.

Longtime readers know that I don’t wring my hands much over fare increases to plug the budget gap, because a large part of the burden is actually borne by employers and the federal government.  What reservations I do have would be swept away by a more systematic way to get reduced fare passes in the hands of people who need them.  On the other hand, I’m not convinced the reduced complexity would really be worth the ridership declines you’d create.

Ferry News Roundup

Posted on by Brian Bundridge

Bremerton ferry was once again down to one boat due to the M/V Kitsap having a cracked hull, discovered during a maintenance inspection. The route is back on a two-boat schedule with the 90-car M/V Sealth on the Bremerton run and the 34-car M/V Hiyu on the Pt. Defiance – Tahlequah route.

M/V Chetzemoka
M/V Chetzemoka by WSDOT

Return of the Port Townsend passenger-only ferry? Not if Commissioner Phil Johnson has his way.

Progress on the M/V Chetzemoka – Placed in water for the first time last week! Wiring work continues.

Keller ferry update – Replacement coming soon?

Progress on the 144-car ferry program

Another name the ferry contest for the second Kwa-di Tabil Class 64-car ferry. Deadline is April 30, 2010

A new version of vessel watch now available.

Kalakala may be moving yet again to become part of a museum (H/T; Jason Hill)

No more free rides for ferry workers.

State is still trying to reduce the costs of WSF.

Ferries still dependant on fuel costs

Wasteful spending on ferry system has outraged leaders and the public. One lucky deckhand made nearly $73,000 in travel reimbursements….

Thinking About Transit

Posted on by Ben Schiendelman
Where we are today.

Every day, when we discuss future transit options, how things are going, what we’re expecting, I see that a lot of us have very different metrics for how we determine success in our transit system. As a result, a lot of our discussions turn into debates about how ‘good’ or ‘bad’ something is today. I don’t want to discourage that – we need to understand what to do next and where the problems are today – but I want to encourage a broader discussion.

Let me start with a little about how I think about transit.

Almost all the time, I try to think on a hundred year horizon. I try to consider what we’re building for the next fifteen years, the PSRC goals for the fifteen years after that, and how other cities have grown in similar situations. I’m also thinking about not just Sound Transit 3, but ST4 and ST5 – how the city might affect what’s in those packages with their own investments, what our next north-south trunk might look like, and how we can change state priorities to help us build intercity rail.

To that end, or rather lack of end, I think we can create a better model for ourselves. Continue reading “Thinking About Transit”

Breaking: Car-Link Collision

Posted on by Martin H. Duke
Train and car after the collision
Train and car after the collision, photo courtesy of KOMO News

[UPDATE 4:36pm According to Metro the accident is cleared, meaning Route 8 is back to normal.  One can only assume the same is true for Link.  Good job, emergency services, and good job, Metro alerts.]

There was a car-link collision just South of Othello at 3:30pm today.   Fortunately, no fatalities, though it’s not clear from the P-I report if the car passengers were injured or not.

Link is likely be single-track for a while, but there are no other details on the service disruption at this time.  Enough of the street is blocked that Route 8 is being rerouted on Renton Ave. between Kenyon and Henderson St.

News Roundup: City Government Ethics

Posted on by Martin H. Duke
Photo by Oran

This is an open thread.

Signaling on MLK (II)

Posted on by Martin H. Duke
“Waiting to cross”, by Oran

Here are some miscellaneous questions and answers from my interview with SDOT Senior Engineer Darlene Pahlman.  For the most part, these words are paraphrases.  See also Part I of this report.

What can operators do to improve their practices? SDOT has transmitted to Metro’s training staff the accumulated best practices.   If operators would like SDOT to come provide another training seminar they’d be happy to do so; please coordinate this through your training focal.

Is manual control of the signals possible? “We can remotely access the controller and can issue manual commands.”

What is the minimum achievable headway is on MLK? “We think we can successfully operate a system at 5 minute headways.”

What is the signal cycle length on MLK? 2 minutes, although there’s no firm bound on how long a car might wait.

Is there a special operating mode at late night or on Sundays? At these times we “run free”, meaning we try to grant demands to cross the tracks as they arise.

Are there any plans to expand the “running free” period? Not unless the data shows us a problem.

Is there any threshold of poor traffic flow where trains lose signal priority? That is no city policy at this time.

Would SDOT consider opening their controller configuration? No, for security reasons.

How are the pedestrian crossings working? At first, we had a lot of complaints about inability to cross MLK on a single signal.  We installed the “countdown” signals and those complaints dropped precipitously.

Bellevue Picks B7 as “Preliminary” Preferred Alternative

Posted on by Sherwin Lee

[UPDATE 3/9 Adam Parast] Here are some informational links about Freedom of Information Laws, of which the Open Public Meetings Act is included. In this situation the sticker is usually about wether an “action” was taken. Details about what is considered an action is about half way down in the second link.

[BREAKING] The Bellevue City Council just voted to send a letter to Sound Transit stating B7 as the “preliminary preferred alternative.”  From my understanding, a vote of 4-3 was taken in favor of a motion that would have amended the letter to read that “the majority of the council favors B7 as the locally preliminary preferred alternative.”  There was some debate over the wording of that sentence, as Councilmember Balducci wanted to ensure that the preferred alternative was only “preliminary,” due to the fact that the Final EIS has not yet been issued by Sound Transit.  Councilmember Lee wanted the sentence to merely state “locally preferred alternative,” showing a clear split in the council.

A second vote was taken to for a motion to actually send the letter, which I understand was also 4-3.  We’ll have more information as soon as it comes.

[Update 11:47pm] Michael Marchand, who we endorsed for Bellevue City Council last year, contacted me with some more specifics about the meeting.  The three votes against the language for B7 were cast by councilmembers Balducci, Degginger, and Chelminiak, as expected.  However, the three votes against sending the letter happened to be cast by councilmembers Lee, Wallace, and Robertson, all having openly supported B7.

I was also informed that were questionable goings-on earlier:

The fireworks really started when the discussion came about the letter and council learned that there were five letter(s) in play and that the amended Wallace letter that was being circulated among councilmembers may have constituted a Open Meetings Act violation. Based on Robertson’s testimony of how she worked on the letter with Wallace, Lee and Davidson, Chelminiak was quite certain that the OMA was violated in this instance and voiced that in Council.

More on the License Fee Amendment

Posted on by Martin H. Duke

[UPDATE 8:45pm: The legislation page says the Senate has officially “refused to concur” with the House amendments, which moves the bill to a conference committee back to the House, where it can “insist” or not.]

If you’re interested in why the Pierce and Community Transit relief passed, Metro relief didn’t, and the license fee’s overall prospects in the Senate, please read Erica Barnett and Larry Lange.

Briefly, Metro didn’t have enough votes.  Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen is likely to kill what did pass, allegedly to enlarge the coalition for a broader transportation measure next year.  Pierce Transit’s reserves don’t run out until 2012, but a measure signed into law tomorrow is unlikely to spare Community Transit residents at least a few months of drastically reduced service.  Whatever agenda Ms. Haugen has, she’s clearly willing to sacrifice the mobility of Snohomish County residents to achieve it.

Signaling on MLK (I)

Posted on by Martin H. Duke
Photo by Mike Bjork

The two main takeaways from my interview with SDOT Senior Engineer Darlene Pahlman:

  1. The City of Seattle’s policy is that Link trains always receive signal priority, regardless of time of day, location, or direction of travel.  The objective is that trains never stop between stations, aside from stops caused by unavoidable human factors.
  2. The signal settings and algorithm is very complicated, and due to fine-tuning has many exceptions. It’s therefore very difficult to generalize into general principles. There are dozens of variables and thousands of permutations and it’s impossible to definitively state how the system will react without precisely defining the scenario and checking the code.

Reasons your train might stop

Continue reading “Signaling on MLK (I)”

Mercer Island Link Workshop

Posted on by Martin H. Duke

If you’re interested in the Mercer Island Link station layout, be sure to attend Sound Transit’s community workshop on the subject this Tuesday, March 9th, from 5-7:30pm with the presentation starting at 6.  It’ll be at the Mercer View Community Center (8236 SE 24th St.)

  • Learn about the East Link light rail system and view in-progress preliminary engineering drawings
  • Share your thoughts about the Mercer Island station layout
  • Tell us more about your community and how East Link can best serve you and Mercer Island.

To beat a dead horse for a moment, Mercer Island residents might let ST know whether or not they want direct Link service to the Downtown Bellevue core, as well as a line that serves the South Bellevue P&R, thus preventing I-90 commuters from having to use the Mercer Island Park & Ride to access Link by car.

Pierce, Community Transit Relief Survive the House

Posted on by Martin H. Duke

The effort to attach amendments to the Transportation Benefit District bill to allow additional license fees for transit has met with partial success.  Andrew Austin at the TCC’s blog reports the amendment for Pierce and Snohomish Counties was successfully added and passed the full House.  The King County equivalent did not come to a vote.   The amendment passed 54-44 on a straight party-line vote, except for 7 dissenting Democrats: Finn, Green, Hudgins, Hurst, Kelley, Morrell, and Probst.   The vote was the same for the whole bill, except Hudgins flipped to vote Yes. Now it’s on to the conference committee, and the amendment’s survival is questionable.

If I’m not mistaken this closes the door on explicit relief for Metro this session, although they may gain from reduced sales tax exemptions.  In any case, Metro doesn’t really hit the wall until 2012, so there’s one more session in which to do something.

Community Transit Makes it Official

Posted on by Martin H. Duke
Photo by Oran

The Community Transit Board yesterday voted unanimously to give final approval to a previously discussed 25 cent local fare increase, effective June 1st, and sweeping 15% service cuts effective June 13th.  There are some details of these cuts yet to be determined, but the Community Transit Blog gives a pretty good summary.

Although we talk about many good things that transit ridership can accomplish, the first duty of these agencies is to provide at least some mobility to those who have no alternative, especially if they make an effort to live somewhere with decent service.  Although Community Transit is not alone in failing to provide basic service on Sunday, it’s a sad day for the region when a large county like Snohomish (aside from Everett) has to take this kind of step.

There is, however, a glimmer of hope for those most impacted by this decision:

The board did approve a $50,000 fund that could be used by community organizations to fill the gaps of missing Sunday service for those with the greatest need. Details of how that plan will work are being developed.

Distracted Driving Legislation Update

Posted on by Adam Bejan Parast
Texting and Driving
Texting and Driving

The Times reports that safety legislation that aims to reduced distracted driving has passed in the House, although less encompassing in form than what originally passed in the Senate. The House bill would limit 16- and 17-year old drivers from using cell phones for calling or texting. Unlike the original Senate bill it does not change driving while talking on a phone without a hands free device from a secondary offense to a primary offense for all other drivers.

The House’s failure to change this just begs drivers to break the law. Its like saying the speed limit is 55 but police can’t give you a ticket  unless you are driving 70. Laws must be readily enforceable or else they are pointless. Half measures like this lead to abuse, making it that much harding to change behavior when the law is strengthened. And the state is already seeing abuse of the current secondary offense based law. A PEMCO study shows that over the last 20 months talking on a cell phone without a hands free device has increase from 17% to 43% and 3% to 20% for texting.

What really gets me is quotes like this from Rep. Dan Roach (R-Bonney Lake) “The libertarian in me comes out with these types of issues”… “It’s not a Democrat and Republican issue. It’s a personal-choice issue.” Huh?

Drinking and driving isn’t a personal choice it is a public safety issue. Distracted driving isn’t any different.

More Space at Brickyard P&R

Posted on by Martin H. Duke
"Snowy Brickyard P&R", by Oran

The Brickyard P&R, which in 2008 was at 105% capacity and in the top 10 in utilization, is opening 200 more spaces this week, nearly doubling its capacity to 442 vehicles.  This will be a relief to the residents of this area, filled with low-density, unwalkable, cul-de-sac oriented development, as it gives them good access to 10 Metro and Sound Transit routes, including expresses to Seattle and Bellevue.  The $2.1m cost was covered by WSDOT’s Regional Mobility Grant program.

Quote of the day, believe it or not…

Posted on by Ben Schiendelman
Sen. Haugen (D-Camano Island)

This is somewhat paraphrased, but overheard on the Senate floor from Senate Transportation Chair Mary Margaret Haugen: “There is no one on the floor of this senate that has done more for transit than I have.”

Noting, of course, that the Regional Mobility Grant program Senate Transportation just stripped funding from was created by Senator Ed Murray…

I’m going to let this be an open thread tonight.