Category Archives: seattle stuff

Proposed south end service changes

Remember all that feedback we provided to Metro and ST last fall? (In case you don’t: It was regarding light-rail/BRT-driven bus service changes in southeast Seattle and southwest King County.) It’s time for round two. The agencies have published their proposed service changes, and they want to know what you think.

Highlights of the proposals now under review include:

Routes 7 and 34 – Decrease some of the express service during peak periods that duplicate Link service, spread those express trips out more evenly, and increase evening service on the Route 7;
Route 9 Express – Add more peak and midday service and extend the route to the Rainier Beach Link Station;
Route 36 – Extend all trips to end at Othello Link station;
Routes 42 and 42 Express – Replace these routes with Link service, and extend Route 8 along Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Route 8 will have more frequent peak-period service.
Route 48 – Shorten to end at Mount Baker Link Station with more weekday evening bus service for the area.*
New Route 50 – Provide east-west service between southeast Seattle and West Seattle via the SODO district;**

Route 107 – Modify routing and improve frequency of service;
Route 126, Route 140 & new Route 156 – Eliminate Route 126 and replace it with more service on Route 140 and the new route 156 between Tukwila/Southcenter and SeaTac via McMicken Heights;
Route 154 – Revise to operate between Tukwila Sounder train station and Federal Center South.
Tukwila International Boulevard Link Station & SeaTac/Airport Link Station – Revise routes 128, 129 (new), 140, 170, and 180 to provide more connections between local communities and these two transit stations. This includes replacing Route 170 with new Route 129 in north SeaTac;
Pacific Highway South – Eliminate routes 174 and 191, and replace between Federal Way and Tukwila International Boulevard Link Station with service from the RapidRide A Line and the new Route 124, connecting Seattle and Tukwila; and
Interstate 5 South – Revise service on routes 179, 194, ST Express 574 and ST Express 577 to reduce duplication between the bus routes and to provide connections to Link light rail.

You can attend one of many open houses or provide feedback via phone or e-mail. (See the press release for details.) All feedback is due by February 6.

* I’m not sure how I feel about this. I see many transfers to the 7 in my future.
** Hmmm. Velly intellesting … I think I could like this route.

Busing this Friday? Check your schedule!

Schedule memorizers (and folks who plan to ride the bus on Friday), please make note: The day after Thanksgiving will be a “partial holiday” for Metro.

On the day after Thanksgiving, a new “partial holiday” schedule will be in place. It features more bus service than on weekends, but less than normal weekdays. Many routes that will not run on Thanksgiving will be in operation on Friday – but with fewer trips than a regular weekday. Both the printed and online bus schedules indicate whether each trip on each individual Metro route will operate on a partial holiday. Look for the “H” symbol next to individual trip times to see if a specific trip is cancelled on Nov. 28.

The easiest way to find out which routes are affected is to check this list.

Also note:

Metro is using the new partial holiday schedule on Nov. 28 because it’s more cost effective, since traditionally ridership on the day after Thanksgiving is about 40 percent lower than a normal weekday. Metro also plans to operate with this partial holiday schedule on Dec. 26, Jan. 2, Jan. 19 and Feb. 18.

Limited bus service on my favorite holiday? At least this year I’ll be ready.

Off peak is the new peak (or, At least Chicklet’s still free)

As expected, the King County Council has approved a phased fare increase, which will begin in February of 2009. The details:

Metro fare increases

(Sorry for the bitmap; I couldn’t get the table format to work when cutting and pasting.)

$2.25? Yeesh. When I started my bus-riding career, peak fare was 55 cents–for a minute, before it got raised to 65. My parents, concerned by my tendency to leave jackets, umbrellas, and et cetera on bus seats, passed up a pass in favor of a book of bus tickets, which they doled out as needed. Come to think of it, Metro didn’t even have student fares way back then. Or maybe it’s just that it was so long ago, my memory has faded. I digress.

There’s not too much to do about this. KC Metro is underwater and has very limited options for getting out of its current jam. I don’t mind using some of my tremendous transportation savings to pay my fair (pun intended) share, but I hope Metro makes good on its promise to distribute more free-ride coupons to the county’s low-income residents. And I really hope there will be an easier way (or better yet–no requirement) to upgrade annual passes this time.

Driving takes a toll

Got an opinion about tolls on 520? Take the 520 Tolling Implementation Committee’s survey before November 30th. According to the committee’s website, “Your suggestions will be included in a report to the state legislature in January 2009, setting the stage for legislative decisions.”

Pardon me … nevermind

Would-be bus (stop) mackers in the ID will have to start getting more creative (but not too creative!) with their opening lines. The time, you see, is available to everyone (everyone who can read roman numerals and tell time, that is), now that the clock at King Street Station is once again functional.

As if I wanted to know the exact number of minutes late my post-TAC 14 is.

Upcoming events for transit types

Climate Lab – Transportation Shift

What: A sustainable transportation workshop hosted by Sustainable NE Seattle and the UUC Green Sanctuary Committee
When: Saturday, October 11, 2008, 9:30 am – 2:00 pm
Where: University Unitarian Church: 6556 35th Ave NE, Seattle, WA
How much: Free
RSVP: www.ClimateDialogues.org/labs

***

MEHVA Fall Foliage Tour
What: “A four-hour trip through the Cascade foothills along the quiet back roads of east King County”
When: Sunday, October 19 (My Gail‘s birthday!), 11 a.m.
Where: The tour starts at 2nd Ave S. & S. Main
How much: $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and children 2-11

I went on this tour (he-ey Warren, Jeff, and John!) in 2006 and highly recommend it. Did I mention there’s a stop at a bakery?

***

Community meetings to discuss south-end route changes

What: Meetings for riders to comment on service changes that are being proposed to accommodate light rail and BRT. Potentially affected routes: 7, 8, 9, 14, 32, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 42, 48, 60, 106, 107, 126, 128, 140, 154, 170, 174, 175, 180, 190, 191, 194, ST 574, and ST 594.

When/where:
• Thursday, Oct. 16 – 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Rainier Community Center, 4600 38th Ave. S., Seattle

• Tuesday, Oct. 21 – 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
New Holly Gathering Hall, 7054 32nd Ave. S., Seattle

• Tuesday, Oct. 21 – 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
New Holly Gathering Hall, 7054 32nd Ave. S., Seattle

• Wednesday, Oct. 22 – 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Federal Way City Hall, council chambers, 33325 8th Ave. S., Federal Way

• Thursday, Oct. 23 – 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Fire District #20 training facility, 12424 76th Ave. S., Seattle (Skyway/West Hill)

• Tuesday, Oct. 28 – 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Jefferson Community Center, 3801 Beacon Ave. S., Seattle

• Thursday, Oct. 30 – 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
SeaTac City Hall, 4800 S. 188th St., SeaTac

• Thursday, Oct. 30 – 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Foster High School, 4242 S. 144th St., Tukwila

If you live in southeast Seattle or Southwest King County, I strongly suggest you attend one of these meetings. Don’t wait until the service changes have been finalized to let Metro and Sound Transit know what you need.

Update: If you can’t attend a meeting, you can provide feedback virtually:
SE Seattle questionnaire
SW King County questionnaire

September Golden Transfer, continued

There’s another deserving co-recipient of Cari’s award: her employer, Children’s Hospital. Thanks to some incredibly creative and hardworking Commute Services employees (and, I assume, a strong commitment from management), Children’s is a leader in encouraging (and facilitating) its employees’ alternative commutes.

Children’s was the very first Transit Now partner and worked with Metro to increase the frequency of the 75 and 25, two routes that serve the campus. (It’s the frequent service of the 75 that makes Cari’s bus commute possible.) The hospital also runs a shuttle, called the Green Line, which transports employees to and from downtown (simplifying some bus commutes) and to and from Children’s satellite clinics (eliminating the need to drive for work-related daytime travel). Last month, the good folks in Commute Services launched Children’s InMotion.

As I mentioned yesterday, I met Cari at the “Car-free with Kids” event the hospital hosted, which was open to employees and patient families and aimed at helping parents explore options for getting around with their children. (I found this event especially impressive, since alternative commuting is often seen as the province of young, single types–not for people with precious cargo to transport, or daycare drop-offs and clarinet lessons to facilitate.)

All these efforts are paying off. Even before the InMotion launch, almost 65% of Children’s employees were using alternative commutes.

“Children’s staff has really embraced the health, community and financial benefits of leaving the car at home,” says Matt Bullen, a car-free parent who also happens to be a member of the hospital’s Commute Services staff. “We understand that, in a sense, Children’s ability to grow responsibly depends on us all.”

Indeed.

Transit Now (but maybe not later)

Despite some pretty serious money problems, Metro is continuing to fulfill its promises to voters by expanding transit service in the region. This Saturday’s shakeup will include two new routes and increased service on many existing routes.

New routes: 157 (serving Lake Meridian P&R) and 215 (serving Issaquah and North Bend)

Routes with increased service: 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 14, 26, 28, 41, 44, 46, 143, 153, 164, 209, 230, 253, 269, 915

(Oh, 27, why do the transit gods give you no respect? Do they not see how efficiently you zoom down Yesler, putting those excruciatingly slow trolleys [not to name names, but the single-digit routes on the list] to shame?)

Also, some good news for bike nerds: Starting on Monday, you can load your bike at any station in the transit tunnel, instead of only at the first and last stations.

You can find all the details in the county’s press release or in this article.

I am happy for the increased service, but–given that there are no prospects for a reversal of the agency’s financial fortunes–I’m worried about how long it will last. Metro needs to start lobbying the state (right now) to authorize more funding options for transit agencies; sales tax is hardly the most reliable or progressive. In the meantime, we need to work together as a community to identify revenue sources that don’t require state approval. Rochester, NY and Detroit provide some instructive examples.

Other possibilities: contracts with vendors at transit centers and in the bus tunnel, leasing (instead of selling) unused property, bake sales (kidding! sort of)…

I’m a bus chick and I vote

Fellow transit types (and generally concerned citizens),

Want more transit–and more transit-friendly elected officials–in the region? Vote this fall (please). You can register online in less time than you spend waiting for a transfer.

Come on! Do it for Seattle. With no NBA season to look forward to, we’ll need something to celebrate in November.