Seattle Transit

Seattle Transit

Seattle’s current transit capacity is far below what is needed to serve its population. As population increases our current system will fall even farther behind what is needed. But since Seattle doesn’t currently control its transit future, we are unable to grow the system to meet our needs.

I propose that Seattle take control of transit, in corporation with larger entities like Metro and Sound Transit, by directing Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) to include transit planning. SDOT would consider what transit opportunities existed and make proposals to the city council to improve transit. These proposals could include re-purposing roads (e.g. 3rd avenue as bus only), funding increased Metro bus or passenger-ferry service, or building and operating a monorail or trolley.

This proposal doesn’t call out any particular transit solution or funding mechanism. Those will need to come out of study by professional transportation planners and elected officials. All this proposal does is knowledge that the current system can’t work, and create a mechanism for Seattle better meet her needs.

Why Metro Alone Won’t Work
King County is one of the most diverse in the country, ranging from nearly Manhattan densities in downtown and Belltown to rural land in the east (see Table 1). This complicates transit planning due to the equity arrangement: when Metro increases service, 20% of the new service is in the Seattle area and 80% to the rest of the county. This leads to two problems for Seattle: we can only increase the total service to the amount that the whole county is willing to pay for and for every $1 that Seattle increases its tax burden only 67 cents is spent in Seattle.

Every transit line has an ideal amount of service, which depends on many factors, but the single best predictor of how much transit an area needs is the density. Seattle’s density is nearly twice that of Bellevue’s and nearly 10 times the rest of the county. The ideal amount of transit is higher in Seattle than in the rest of the county. But the current funding formula does not give Metro the flexibility of putting the resources where there is demand. In addition Seattle voters have shown a much greater interest in funding transit, but transit proposals need to be watered down to win enough votes outside of Seattle.

So Metro alone can’t provide Seattle with the transit options it needs. Even if the funding levels were changed to represent the population, Metro would still be unable to provide Seattleites the transit options they want and need.


Seattle Bellevue Woodinville King Count King Count minus Seattle
Population (thousand people) 582 117 9 1737 1155
% of population 33 7 0.5 0.8 67
Density (thousand people per sq mile) 6.9 3.8 1.6 0.8 0.6

Table 1 Demographics for King County (for 2006 from the Census Bureau)

Principles of Seattle Transit

My vision is that the city of Seattle work towards a transit system that meets the needs of its citizens. This work is in corporation with other transit agencies, not in competition. The vision would follow certain principals:

• Goal of SDOT is to move goods and people, not vehicles.

• Another goal is to reduce the number of vehicle miles driven in Seattle even as the population grows.

• A third goal is that no one should have to watch full buses drive past. If a line is that popular more resources need to be quickly added. The extra buses will lead to shorter wait times, which may induce greater usage and more full buses.

• A fourth goal is that from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. you should be able to get from any urban village in Seattle to UW and downtown in no more than one hour.

• If transit is getting stuck in auto traffic, then a grade-separated solution should be sought.

• When doing cost-benefit analysis include all costs, including the cost of driving incurred by the driver and pollution.

• If we fund extra service on a Metro route, the fare box on that route is shared as a percentage of funding (i.e. if Seattle pays for 1 bus on a route and King County pays for 4 buses, then Seattle gets a credit of 20% of the fare collected by all buses on that route).

Future Water Taxi, Rapid Ride and improved Metro service

Many of you (or all) will have read about the King County Ferry District and the increase in local real estate and other taxes which will fund a longer-term run of the popular West Seattle Water Taxi, moving it to at least hourly service every day for the entire year beginning roughly in 2009. That same new Ferry District will also run some experimental taxis between some or all of these new water-accessible Seattle-area points: Ballard (Shilshoal/Pier 91 or both) to downtown; the UW boat dock area to Kirkland; Des Moines to downtown; Renton-ish to downtown via some area in Madrona-Lechi area; and possibly even an Everett/Shoreline to downtown run.

At the same time, a tax which was voted for in the Transit Now initiative will pay for the planning, development and implementation of five RapidRide routes - RapidRide being the brand which King County Metro is giving to their upcoming Bus Rapid Transit service. The West Seattle RapidRide service will begin in 2011 (two years after the more-permanent, year-round Water Taxi service begins). This service will provide a new generation of greener and cleaner/leaner double-articulated buses running every 10 minutes (plus or minus probably 4 minutes - busier routes more, less busy less) 18 to 20 hours a day, seven days a week. This new BRT service will serve (at this point in the planning) mostly the southwest and central areas of West Seattle. The expanded Water Taxi service will serve mostly the central and north-northeast areas of West Seattle.

The transit service to the southeast and east and central-east areas of West Seattle was recently improved by the same Transit Now initiative by making the Route 120 15-minute service Monday through Saturday (30-minute service on Sunday). West Seattle transit service has been and is being improved substantially. What is still missing are local circulator routes and the time and service level requirements.

It is time for us to begin thinking of what one or more circulator bus systems could be like here in West Seattle. There are significant barriers between the ridges on the west side of Longfellow Creek and the ridges on the east side, but these are not insurmountable. Where should these circulator buses go - i.e., what neighborhoods should they connect and should there be one single figure-eight style route, two or more intersecting circle or oval routes around particular geographic sections of West Seattle. What kind of bus and what frequency of service.

If it takes four buses in each direction to accomplish a four-or-five square-mile area of West Seattle, that would make that circulator service require either eight buses for bi-directional travel or only four for single-direction travel. Do we want bi-directional routes. This question gets to the root of how to define our circulator systems. Where do the 60-30-10 percent of us want to go here in West Seattle. Are there three loops and three frequencies.

Lots of questions to begin to ponder, but, with the activity happening around us with respect to improved transit and the definite and near-term reality of the Viaduct, First Avenue South and portions of 99 being unavailable to us for years on end, it's important to create a useful, logically planned and implemented West Seattle-specific transit system - and by system I mean the "plan" which King County implements here on the peninsula for our use.

Ideally, it should take no more than 20 minutes from anywhere in West Seattle to reach the Water Taxi dock, or the Fauntleroy dock. That's what it takes in West Seattle morning or evening rush hour by car, with all the traffic and lights. The advantage of West Seattle is that our grid - the surface transit network we have as streets and sidewalks and stairways, is more than adequate for the present and reasonable future population of West Seattle in terms of allowing the local residents to get from and to anywhere on the peninsula in a short time - but it's by car.

For public transit to be effective it should take no more than half-again the amount of time it takes by car. Otherwise our use of cars will never be trumped because the one thing we don't have is time. Am I willing to waste an hour just to use public transit to get somewhere that if I drove would take 15 to 25 minutes? The logical answer is no. And that's what we need to work on - planning a public transit system here on the peninsula that connects us with ourselves and all of us with the rest of Seattle and especially the other neighborhoods and areas where we have friends or destinations and visit. Now, we do this with our cars because it's still easier than by transit (mostly!). Here in West Seattle we have an opportunity to look at our own transit future and help design it ourselves based on our needs and requirements and - yes - wants.

Getting downtown is only going to get easier and faster. That's never been an issue. It's the rest of the city and particularly West Seattle. Start throwing ideas on the table. One new advantage King County Metro has, through a Council amendment, is that individual service areas can self-tax (or use general funds) to partner for additional individual area service which is outside of the jurisdiction of the equal area parity funding. It wouldn't be Seattle Transit, or even West Seattle Transit, but areas which can provide either the infrastructure improvement (quid pro quo) or the funding can get additional service. So, even outside of the county funding constraints, there are opportunities. There is also a fund pool for Viaduct-99 out-of-service mitigation and it's conceivable that a form of mitigation could be the funding for a frequent shuttle service between West Seattle's docks, its business centers and recreation/cultural/educational assets and its neighborhoods.

Go for it!

Transit Riders' Union

Here is an interesting article from the Stranger regarding a transit riders' union:

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=433712
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=439163

Drivers Needed

by Erica C. Barnett

Last week's column calling for Metro bus riders to form a transit riders' union prompted a massive, supportive response from an unexpected place—bus drivers.

Metro drivers and customers, I pointed out last week, are natural allies—both have an interest in making the system better. However, given that I also said riding the bus "can seriously suck," I was surprised by the deluge of letters from Metro drivers who wanted to know how they could help. "Metro feels the 'right to ride' is more important than the 'right to ride right,'" one wrote. "Do you have the pleasure of smelling shit, vomit, malt liquor, piss, and Old Spice in your workplace? I don't even have the privilege of stepping off the bus by choice."

Riders, like drivers, aren't demanding that buses be as convenient as driving or as private as taking a taxi. All we want is a bus system that's reliable, safe, and clean—one where we aren't subjected to harassment, aren't forced into confront-ations we didn't ask for, and aren't shoved up against people who smell like shit. A system, in other words, where the rules are actually enforced—and where drivers and passengers are comfortable and safe. But adding security, installing ticketing kiosks, and buying more buses requires funding. A transit riders' union could advocate for that funding.

One of the largest and oldest transit riders' unions in the nation is the Labor/Community Strategy Center's Bus Riders Union in Los Angeles, which formed in 1992 in response to proposals by the L.A. Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) to raise fares and eliminate discount monthly bus passes. The union sued the transit agency in 1996 on behalf of 350,000 riders. To nearly everyone's surprise, they won. The MTA agreed to freeze or lower fares, cut the price of weekly and monthly bus passes, hire additional transit police, and add new buses to its fleet. In 2001, a federal court ruled that the agency had failed to live up to that agreement—spending 90 percent of its money on commuter rail to wealthy suburbs while urban commuters sweated on overcrowded buses—and forced the agency to buy hundreds of new buses to make up the discrepancy.

None of this would have been possible if there hadn't been a strong, independent, and loud riders union pushing for improvements to the system. In Seattle, bus riders have as much of a need in 2007 to improve our system as L.A. riders did in 1992. I'd love to see some smart, organized, ambitious folks get together and make it happen.

Hopefully, all members of the Transportation Action group will have received an invitation to join the listserve. Join and use the simple address to contact all members of the group.

Also, our next SWS main meeting, this coming Monday, October 15, will feature two speakers addressing (one each) the pro and con aspects of the pending RTID (Proposition 1) on this November's ballot. Transportation Choices Coalition's Rob Johnson will present the "pro" side. The Sierra Club will present the "con" side (as of today, Sierra Club had not identified a speaker by name). Join the rest of us at Camp Long Monday evening to get better informed on one-half of the Proposition 1 issue.

The legislature tied the ST2 and RTID together as a single vote for Proposition 1. It's a tough call but this Monday's forum should help you decide.

new list serve for transportation group

We've now got a list-serve for getting messages out to the entire transportation group with a single address. I'll be sending messages via the list-serve to the existing group members. The first message should invite you to join the list. We can all then use a single address to email the rest of us. Stay tuned as I get this underway.

Also, this evening I'm meeting with Chris Arkills to begin the discussion on what the Transportation Symposium we're planning for Spring ought to include and how it ought to be set up. I'll post the results of that initial discussion here and we can all follow through with comments and further suggestions.

Right now we're looking at May 3, 10 or 17 - they are all Saturdays.

King County Metro survey

Chris Arkills has sent me the PDF version of an annual telephone survey which a local survey firm conducts for KCM. It's 2.1 meg and I'll email the file to Transportation Action Group members. In reading over the survey (200 pages, including the questions asked and endless bar and pie charts, they surveyed about 1000 people) it looks like it covers probabaly 75 percent of the questions we had raised in earlier exercised to create a survey.

Read over the file when you get it and let's consider discussing this at the next SWS meeting - Trans. Action Group section.

SWS Transportation Group additional meetings

I would like to suggest that transportation group members consider meeting in between regular SWS meetings. We have a lot of proposals which need to be fleshed out and a fair number of contacts to make or continue discussions with.

Looking for a day and time which meets everyone's schedule. It can be anywhere (we previously used the Uptown Espresso at the Junction).

Sept. meeting Transportation Action Group notes

Thanks to all who were at Camp Long Monday night (Sept. 17) for the SWS meeting. Attending were Bingram Lai, Laura Kennedy Gould, Lucia Robinson, Jackie Brolsma, Andy Silber and Chris Arkills from Dow Constantine's office.

We were asked to come up with three achievable Transportation goals for the coming year which SWS would highlight along with similar goals from the other Action groups. After some discussion, all members agreed that the following were both achievable and represented useful positions for both the Transportation group and SWS to advocate:

1. Reduce car trips - initially we wanted to have West Seattle residents work to reduce car trips by as little as one trip a month, but nearly everyone felt a more aggressive reduction of one trip a week would be better. We will focus on trying to encourage WS residents to reduce trips by any amount. This could be done by any means residents choose - use the bus, walk or bike, telecommute, car or van pool. Car trips could also be reduced by combining various impromptu trips into one better-planned trip (not always possible for the after-school activities but still desirable). We probably need to settle on a good carbon footprint calculator, but my Google research suggests that an average vehicle (4-door, 1.8 to 3 liter engine, 20 mpg) puts about a ton of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere per 1000 miles - or two pounds a mile (which seems high to me so I'd like some help with the equations and calculators). Point being, saving a mile here and there or dozens by not using the car for a day is a small but effective reduction.

2. Partner with King County Metro to work to improve both the efficiency and reach of the bus system for West Seattle. Presently, there is no easy way to navigate the peninsula by bus and that has the effect of causing WS residents to use their car for really short trips here and there. This partnership could entail working with Metro to either help develop a survey or help in its distribution or both. Chris Arkills identified Victor Obeso, King County Transit Service Manager, as a good contact within the bus system. Arkills also identified a survey as being a useful tool. One discussion was on getting Metro transit ridership data and then using less-used routes as a focus for a survey asking why riders did not use that route more. The group was willing to work on a survey but only if it would be a tool which Metro KC would actually use for service or efficiency improvements. Arkills did point out that with the advent of the Bus Rapid Ride service to West Seattle, now scheduled for no sooner than 2011, that existing Metro KC bus hours in WS could be redirected and that routes such as peninsula-wide shuttles could be created and which would feed into the Bus Rapid Ride service. Arkills also mentioned that Metro KC would soon seek membership in a citizen advisory panel to help plan for the rapid ride service, which will follow roughly the existing route of the 54 bus along California and Fauntleroy.

3. Host a West Seattle wide Transportation Symposium this coming Spring (March/April 2008). Arkills said that Dow Constantine was very interested in being a host and sponsor of this event. We discussed briefly what the symposium might be like and indicated that King County Metro, Seattle Department of Transportation, Sound Transit, and other associated organizations and entities (WSDOT Washington State Ferries?) would be good participants. The symposium would be held at some large venue (WS High School auditorium, Sealth auditorium, Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, Hall at Fauntleroy) and would be planned and publicized to enable as large a number of West Seattle residents as possible to attend. Arkills suggested this would be a very good chance for WS residents to indicate to King County Metro what improvements are desired and what route structures might be modified.

Sign the petition to stop this absurd tax!

The recent decision of the state and the county to tax FlexCar and other car-sharing programs like rental cars is absurd. I've been using car-sharing program since its first day and believe it contributes positively to the City. It's a great alternative mode of transportation. Please consider signing this petition even you're not a member. Many thanks.

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?carshare&1

Local rental-tax to be imposed on car-sharing,
effective October 1
Beginning October 1, 2007, car-sharing in Seattle will be subject to a state-authorized, county-administered rental-car tax of 9.7%. This means that Flexcar Seattle members will be charged this 9.7% tax, in addition to the existing sales tax, bringing your total tax amount to 18.7% for any car-sharing usage on or after October 1.

As you know, car-sharing provides a valuable alternative to personal car-ownership and fosters increased use of public transportation among local residents. It is also a membership-based organization, making it significantly different in function and structure from traditional car-rental. Thus, we at Flexcar are working to determine how we can gain an exemption from this tax, as has happened in Portland.

If you would like to voice your support of car-sharing and your opposition to the car-rental tax on car-sharing, please consider signing our online petition. The comments of car-sharing users like you are invaluable in illustrating the many benefits car-sharing brings to our community.

Cascadia Scorecard 2007: How Green Is OUR City?

I found a lot of valuable information from Sightline Institute.

Sightline's Weblog on Transportation

The founder Alan Thein Durning is going to give a lecture next week at the City Hall:

Wednesday, September 12
Cascadia Scorecard 2007:
How Green Is OUR City?

5.30pm-7.00pm
Bertha Knight Landes Room, Seattle City Hall
600 Fourth Ave, Seattle, WA

How Green is Our City

Commuity Open House on Transportation @ Youngstown Arts Center

Come to learn about the proposed projects in your area and help determine which transportation projects will be built in your neighborhood. The open house will be held from 5 to 8 p.m.


Wednesday, Sept 19

YOUNGSTOWN COMMUNITY CENTER THEATER
4408 Delridge Way SW

Check the following links for more information:

Seattle Department of Transportation Website

Seattle Times Coverage

Upcoming events of Transportation Choices Coalition

FRIDAY FORUM - 520 BRIDGE UPDATES
The SR 520 bridge has been in the news a lot recently! So what's going on? For starters, the mediation process is just getting started. In fact, the mediation team which includes our very own Rob Johnson was announced last Friday. In addition, 520 bridge replacement project was selected to receive nearly $139 million in federal funding for transit improvements and a pilot tolling project through the Lake Washington Urban Partnership (Partners include King County, the Puget Sound Regional Council and the Washington State Department of Transportation). Plans are underway for a health impact assessment - the first of its kind in the country for a highway mega project!

So join us at our September Friday Forum and hear from our expert panel about what's going on with the 520 bridge.



Speakers
Jodi Erikson, Mediator, SR 520 project
Julie West, Seattle and King County Public Health
Paul Carr, Puget Sound Clean Air Agency
David Hull, King County Metro

WHAT: Friday Forum - 520 Bridge Updates
WHERE: Downtown Seattle at the YMCA, 909 4th Avenue
WHEN: Friday September 7, 12:00pm - 1:30pm

Join us for a great conversation and as always, feel free to bring your lunch!

Event Details:

WHEN: September 17, 6:00pm - 9:00pm
WHERE: Triple Door Venue and Lounge (216 2nd Avenue, Seattle)
Enjoy dinner and drinks and support Washington's only advocacy group dedicated to transportation.
If you would like to volunteer at the event, send me an email at shefali@transportationchoices.org

The event sells out fast so reserve your seat now! The suggested individual contribution is $75. RSVP NOW: shefali@transportationchoices.org or call 206-329-2336

upcoming SWS main meeting

Chris Arkills, legislative aide for transportation for King County Council member Dow Constantine, will be attending the next main SWS meeting. He will probably want to give some initial comments and then spend time with the transportation action group.

Photo Shot

Update from Bingram:

I got to be a star for half a day. The shooting started out cold and gray in the early morning and quickly warmed up towards noon. Besides getting up at 6am on a Sunday morning, it's an empowering experience. It's wonderful to be around all these like-minded people who are passionate about improving the transportation system.

Check out my blog for more:

http://bingram.wordpress.com/2007/08/26/a-half-day-fame/

Wanna to be a Star?

Here is an opportunity thanks to the City of Seattle:

Many of you have seen the green posters ... "Visions of Urban Sustainability" and "Visions of Sustainable Buildings." Come join Mayor Nickels and County Executive Ron Sims ...

HERE IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY ... YOU CAN BE "FEATURED" IN THE NEXT POSTER!
Sunday, August 26
6:00 am to 1:00 pm
2nd Avenue in downtown Seattle

On Sunday, August 26, the City is shutting down two blocks of Second Avenue and taking five photos illustrating the different ways our streets can be used. The photos will be used on outreach materials including a poster. The shoot will take place between the hours of 6:00 am and 1:00 pm. We are looking for volunteers with bikes and/or cars. Once the number of people participating is known, a schedule will be developed and information on logistics distributed. Read more about the project at


If you, your families and friends are interested in joining us, contact Kristie Maxim at kristie.maxim@onrequestimages.com. We are looking for about 200 people, so feel free to forward this email. If you can't be there the whole time ... I'm sure that will be workable as well ... assuming we get hordes of volunteers!

If we get sufficient volunteers, then you would only need to stay for the specific photos you will be in. The schedule is attached. Thanks all!